Thursday, December 18, 2008

Best young voice heard...ever!




This is one of the best young voices that i have ever heard. Where do i start and how do i describe about this lady's singing! Amazing and impeccable rendition of the Maestro Ilayaraja's composition from the film Hey Ram. I should say...this is better than the original rendition by Ajay Chakravarty. Ofcourse his singing is good, however, Divya is one step ahead in the race!

I feel so good listening to her and i couldn't find words to describe how it feels for me. Her voice has a soul and it makes you feel so good. I have no clue how many times i heard this till date. I did hear Ajay Chakravarthy's rendition of the same song and believe me... Divya's was the best. It is always very hard to beat the original rendition of a song. Kudos to Divya who made that magic. Hear this rendition by Divya continuously for 100 times, you still can't take your ears off....Take my word for these words and thats the way she has created the magic!!!

I have no clue if her voice has been recognized among the music directors, however, i wish she makes wonders with her voice and have a great career in music. Wish her all the good luck and let her get all the best things in life.


Heartfelt Wishes from Bala.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

"Performing while singing" - Today's approach to Film Singing: Good or Bad?


The approach to playback singing has undergone a drastic change giving more importance to performing while singing. This is the thought i have seeing all the reality shows.
Back to back while shifting channels we observe that reality shows and mega serials have increased in numbers. Am going to stick to the reality shows specific to singing in this post. The competition among the private channels are forcing them to start similar programs by trying to attract more visitors to the respective channels. This idea is acceptable as far as the quality is not compromised and if a bit of creativity is added to make it more interesting.
Performing while singing can be acceptable as far as the people love to do it just the way it comes to them. Otherwise the soul of the song and the performance is getting dropped a bit as they had to concentrate on performing as well. Now, i have seen so many people who sing very well are giving fake performances as they are expected to dance while singing. I think...it is enough for a singer if he/she captures the soul of the song and give their best to do justice to the composition. The contact with the audiences will automatically come as they keep performing. However, when the soul of the song is brought out by the singer...i think...the contact with the audience should automatically work out. If not...it will happen as long as they keep performing in live shows.
When they are in the studio recording for a film song...it is only the feel and soul of the song that matters not the performance. So, ultimately the requirement in playback singing is just the singing, however, performing while singing is the next generation paradigm. A perfect example for singers who did wonders with their voice just by singing are Mrs. S. Janaki, Mrs. Chithra and so many others in the list can be added.
If a singer is comfortable in performing while singing...then it is good that he/she develops that quality, otherwise, as a viewer i feel the contestants are forced to perform and it doesn't look nice on the screen when so many people are watching it. Let them just sing...we can still listen to it if their singing is good. Just for the sake of driving more traffic to their channels, these private TV program organizers are incorporating insane ideas which makes people not to watch the program anymore.
I appreciate the fact that lot of hidden talents are getting recognized through these reality shows, however, i wish that it is more real than reel!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

On Thatha's rememberence...after his death!



Respectful homage to my dear Thatha

Life has been a means of learning from this great man...all through my life! He has truly lived till his last breath without giving any sort of problem to the people around him. A man...who lived active all through his life. Being the third son in the family he is the only person who was very much responsible with all his blood relations. He was a good son...good father...lovely Grandfather and a good Great grandfather as well!

Sometimes we feel why are we missing so many moments in life being helpless. Living so many miles away when your dear ones are breathing their last few minutes...you are just helpless spending your time by thinking about them...That's life! I was in a deep sleep on Sunday - Dec 14, 2008 morning until i got a call from my sister about my Grandfather's death around 5.15. Never expected one...as he was active till Dec 14 morning. He fell down and had a stroke and my family knew about it after taking him to the doctor. He had his food in the hospital and slept...and there ends his life in sleep around 3.20 pm IST Dec 14, 2008. Good for him as he did not suffer much...Thank god for giving him a peaceful death compared to so many people who have suffered much during their last days.

About his character...a very straight forward person who calls a spade a spade! This shows his honesty towards everything in life. Sometimes...people think that why he is so straigtforward...however...this quality he possess is better than people who beat around the bush:)!

The most Charismatic person i have met ever in my life is... my Thatha! I wonder how a person who is more than 90 years old had charisma to that extent...unbelievable! I think...he was good to everyone in his life to an extent and know better about self and like the way he is...being himself! Above all...a blessed soul i should say...passing away peacefully finishing off all his duties in life. He was also blessed by the almighty to lead his life till his Kanakabhishegam and also bless all his 3 sons 60th B'day. Not only that... Thatha prayed for everybody's well-being till he lived.

A person who has seen five generations would have definitely seen everything in life...Ups and downs,experience with many people around him and what not?! I should tell about the disciplined life he led all through his life. Discipline in every aspect...be it leading a simple life, having proper restricted food, mingling with people or the kind of love and affection he had for the people around him. He was a retired school teacher...may be that has taught him a lot of stuff! I still wonder how one of my Thatha's student had a deep respect for him. He used to take my Thatha's blessings for everything in his life. Even his children who are grown up now had a deep respect for my Thatha.

Most of his life has been in manual way than the machine one...what i mean here is...we travel by two wheeler or 4 wheeler nowadays and wish to have a luxurious life. He was happy with the way he lived...walking, travelling by bus and train was his way of living. May be in the recent past...he was not let to do all that and people around him wished that he also should not strain himself at this age. A few years back he used to walk around 3-4 kms from our home to our peripa's house every now and then. Bus frequencies were less and hence he used to walk all the way. Nowadays...we are not even able to think about walking for such a long distance. He managed to do all of that in those days.

Days with Thatha

My Thatha used to take me to School everyday when i was at class V . I studied at KV Island Grounds which was quite far from Madipakkam...infact extreme end i should say. He should have been 75 at that time. Every day morning he used to drop me at school travelling by bus and train and evening my mom used to bring me back. This happened for about a year and he managed to drop me at school for about a year till i changed my school.

I can never forget the Vijayaganapathi temple where he used to pay for archana every month on SangadaChaturthi for the entire family and i used to take him to the temple in my two-wheeler to collect prasadam. He also asks me to take me to Bank, post office and other places if he has any work in my two-wheeeler. I am blessed to do all of that to my Thatha. Till his 80's he used to actively involved in gardening at our house. He also covers all our books before the school reopens during our school days. One thing that anybody can observe is his perfection in whatever he does...be it keeping his cloth shelf or maintaining his belongings, diaries, etc everything used to be neat and tidy.

We are blessed to see his Kanakabhishegam in July 2007. This was one occassion which everybody wouldn't get and we are happy and so much blessed to see this. Above all...seeing the moment with both Thatha and Patti together is something great! I remember one interesting incident near the Function hall after the Kanakabhishegam took place...the school teachers and maids in the nearby school came to take blessings from my grandparents without even knowing who they were. Since it was a rare moment people voluntarily came to take blessings! Only then i came to know about the Kanakabhishegam's real impact!

I like him so much and feel for only thing that happened...i was not able to see his face at last! All my cousins and family members were blessed to see his face at last...am the only person who was not able to see his face finally. I feel so much for this only reason...am otherwise okay that he passed away peacefully without any problems. He is undoubtedly a blessed soul in this earth as everybody says! I pray to god that my patti be given strength in every possible way to lead a life with his rememberence.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

An Enthralling Composition!!!

Thanks to Airtel Super Singer to come out with a great start this season. I am a person who is an ardent fan of carnatic music. I am a good listener, however, not a good singer though!

Sriram Parthasarathy's composition of a Bharathiyar song - 'Yaadumagi nindrai kali' touched my heart! I heard the other compositions of the same song, however, Sriram's beautiful composition tops the list.

Vijay TV's training session episode was fantastic. Sriram's teaching of the whole song with alap, nuances together with how to bring out the feel in a song was damn good. I watched the episode "n" no. of times to learn the song. For a person who doesn't know about alap and raaga...well...this one brought in so much of meaning to learn the alap and then try the song...Great effort!

Sriram ji...you made a layman learn the song...An Enthralling composition! Your composition and the teaching method brought in the urge to learn. Thanks to your great effort and to vijaytv for telecasting the same.

Appreciation - A key to Happiness

There are lot of reality shows happening in private channels these days. Among them Music is one thing which could drive all age groups towards the show. One such show is - Airtel Super Singer. I could see lot of budding singers having amazing musical talent. It is a delight to watch all of them who have reached this level in the show. Amazing improvements among the contestants side based on the feedback the judges give for each of their renditions.

See the level of exposure the contestants are getting through this show, I must say, it is amazing! I am not watching the live shows as I reside in the US for a short while. So, I wait for Mondays every week to check out the shows online after it gets uploaded a few hours later. I also discuss about the contestants performance with people who love this show. The reach these people have at the end of the day is fabulous!

I felt i should congratulate and wish them all the good luck to get all the best things in life. It brings out so much of happiness when somebody tells, "You did a fantastic job". The amount of appreciation brings in so much of happiness in anybody's life. They feel good about it from the heart. I did congratulate one of the contestants leaving a scrap in her scrapbook in one of the social networking websites once i landed in searching her profile! I also did get a reply saying she felt so good seeing my message and her words were from the heart...i could sense it! This is all about a word of appreciation that could bring in happiness to the person whom you are appreciating.

For budding singers and for somebody who is trying hard to get into the professional musical field, it is important for the audience to encourage them. Your words could make a lot of difference! This is not only for the musical field, i would say for anything in life, a word of appreciation along with encouragement would make a difference in a person's life.

From the bottom of my heart, i wish all the contestants in the Super Singer Show - All the very best and wish they get all the best things in life. Music is one thing through which you can impress anyone in any age group. Everybody in this world is not gifted with a very good voice and talent in music, those who do, appreciate it if they make complete use of it to delight the people who are hearing them singing.