Music Mondays - ஏழு ஸ்வரங்களுக்குள் எத்தனை பாடல்..

Music Mondays (3) - Songs I like - ஏழு ஸ்வரங்களுக்குள் எத்தனை பாடல் - கண்ணதாசன்  

I first became familiar with this song, when I was growing up as a kid in T.Nagar.  We used to live very close to Krishnaveni theater and every one living close by will get to 'hear' most of the movie every night whether they like it or not.  That is because, theatre guys used to keep all doors open for ventilation (and save electricity !!!) and most of used to sleep outdoors due to constant power outage.  (If you must wonder, Krishnaveni theater had a generator and they used it sparsely to just project the movie.. !!!).

Every night, on the clock (around 10:00 PM.. I think) this melodious rendering by Vani Jayaram used to fill the air waves.  I started liking it even though I didn't quite understand much of Kannadasan's philosophical lyrics.

But over the years, this song grew on me and I started liking it even more.  Now, this song is in the top of my all time favorites.  One line that is close to my heart is.. "ஏனென்ற கேள்வி ஒன்றே என்றைக்கும் தங்கும் - மனித இன்பதுன்பம் எதிலும் கேள்விதான் மிஞ்சும்"

படம் - அபூர்வராகங்கள்
பாடியவர் - வாணி ஜெயராம்
வரிகள் - கண்ணதாசன்
இசை - எம்.எஸ்.விஸ்வநாதன்

ஏழு ஸ்வரங்களுக்குள் எத்தனை பாடல்
இதயச் சுரங்கத்துள் எத்தனை கேள்வி
காணும் மனிதருக்குள் எத்தனை சலனம் - வெறும்
கற்பனை சந்தோஷத்தில் அவரது கவனம்

காலை எழுந்தவுடன் நாளைய கேள்வி
அது கையில் கிடைத்த பின்னும் துடிக்குது ஆவி
ஏனென்ற கேள்வி ஒன்றே என்றைக்கும் தங்கும் - மனித
இன்பதுன்பம் எதிலும் கேள்விதான் மிஞ்சும்

எனக்காக நீ அழுதால் இயற்கையில் நடக்கும்
நீ எனக்காக உணவு உண்ண எப்படி நடக்கும்
நமக்கென்று பூமியிலே கடமைகள் உண்டு - அதை
நமக்காக நம் கையால் செய்வது நன்று

ஆரம்பத்தில் பிறப்பும் உன் கையில் இல்லை
இதில் அடுத்தடுத்த நடப்பும் உன் கையில் இல்லை
பாதை வகுத்த பின்பு பயந்தென்ன லாபம் - அதில்
பயணம் நடத்திவிடு மறைந்திடும் பாவம்

நாளைப் பொழுது என்றும் நமக்கென வாழ்க
அதை நடத்த ஒருவனுண்டு கோயிலில் காண்க
வேளை பிறக்கும் என்று நம்பிக்கை கொள்க
எந்த வேதனையும் மாறும் மேகத்தைப் போல

#Favorite Songs, Music

மனமே கணமும் மறவாதே

Music Mondays - Songs I like - மனமே கணமும் மறவாதே - பாபநாசம் சிவன் 

I got introduced this song recently.  The more I listen, more it sinks in.  More so because I can relate to the last charanam. (சரணம்).

It was about four years back and I had just landed in New York.  Got the news about my father that has been 'pending' for sometime now.  He had been bed ridden after a stroke for 9 years and has been slowly receding.  Not knowing when, I had taken to my regular business travel and here I was in a hotel in Long Island and got to know that Appa is in his last moments.  While I was waiting to travel back home, I got to see his last moments via skype.

Though Sita, my mother and kids were all around, they couldn't do a thing.  They were all helpless watching him struggle and fade away.  Those last moments of my father are buried deep in my memory and they now come back alive whenever I hear this song..

மனமே கணமும் மறவாதே
ஜகதீசன் மலர் பதமே

மோஹம் மூழ்கி பாழாகாதே
மாயா வாழ்வு சதமா 

நாதன் நாமம் நீ பஜி என்றே
நாளை என்பார் யார் அதை  கண்டார்
ஆதலால் பவ ரொஹம் ஒழிந்திடவே

நடையும் தளர தேஹம் ஒடுங்க
நாவது குழர கண்கள் மங்க
என்ன செய்வார் துணை யார் வருவார்
ஈசன் மலர் பதமே 

My First Sabha visit for this Music season was NOT for Kutcheri..

செவிக்கு உணவில்லாத பொழுது சிறிது வயிற்றுக்கும் ஈயப்படும் is the wise saying.. but in my case.. it was the other way around today.. 

Generally this time of the year, I enjoy a few concerts and the canteen delicacies as a bonus.  But, I missed more than half the season this time year due to my Sao Paulo business trip.  So, I wanted to catch up at the first available opportunity.. 

My first visit to Sabha this season was not for a Katcheri but for lunch at Naradagana Sabha Canteen.  I was at work and wanted to grab something for lunch and closest Restaurant happen to be the Sabha canteen.  I expected the place to packed but the place was sparse and we found a table fast.  Not to be outdone, serving was fast too.  The food was good & tasty as usual but for a small mix up by the waiter.  I had asked for Onion Rava Dosa and he got me a Onion Dosa which was tasty as well.

Though not sure, I think the prices have gone up.. This could be an interesting study.. who makes 'more' money..? Sabha thru concerts or Canteen thru the Sabha crowd.. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the later..

After taking care of my lunch needs, got some melodious Violin  rendering by a young artist in the Mini Hall.  The Hall wasn't full but that's a pity because Shreya Devnath was great.

I am at best a music aficionado 'wannabe' but even I enjoyed her rendering.  I liked the fact she paused to announce the raga / tala / krithis.. which gave me some reference points to cling to.

Got to do this more often... hopefully the other way around..

Singing Must Continue

I don't think Jaya TV should be telecasting Nithyasree Mahadevan's concert when she is mourning  the loss of her husband.  It was in bad taste, though it was recorded earlier.

However, listening to Nithyasree got me in rewind mode...

I first to listened to Nithyasree in 1992 or 1993 in Columbus.  She was not married and was Nithyasree Sivakumar then.  It was a small informal concert in the attic 'hall' of one of our family friends' and the crowd was not more than 75 rasikas.

The post concert conversation was about her marriage and 'anxiety' about the 'shape' of her music career post marriage.

Now Nithyashree's musical journey has come to a abrupt halt, hopefully only temporarily.  In the intervening two decades, her musical journey has come a long way and her music has captivated thousands across the world.

My heart goes out to Nithyasree and the bereaving family.  May God give them the strength to tide over this crisis.

But, Listening to Nithyasree Mahadevan in Jaya TV, I only wish her musical journey continues at an appropriate time in not too distant future.

Chennai Music Season 2007 - 08 - Report # 3

Chennai Sangamam
This is a new kid on the block. Mrs. Kanimozhi and Father Gasper Raj of Tamil Maiyyam started this last year and it seems to have come a long way in just one year. Chennai Sangamam showcases the vibrant music & dances of the soil in many parks across Chennai during Pongal week.

I got a glimpse of it on Jan 15th in Nageswara Rao Park and here is illustrated report of that day in the Park.


Came across this interesting decoration while heading to Nageswara Rao Park. A small roadside Pillayar temple decked up with all kinds of fruits.


Paraiyattam - It was a repetitive fast beat with tempo building up slowly..


Guess Who? - Her concert was next


You are right.. if guessed Sudha Raghunathan. It was quite a contrast to to see her perform right after the paraiyattam. But then both of them equally represents 'Tamil Culture'.


Chennai Music Season is equally popular for the 'canteen' and Chennai Sangamam was no exception. Chefs from Five star hotels around Chennai were romped in to put up open air stalls. At times, it looked as though there was more crowd here than at the open air auditorium.

A short clip of Paraiyattam


A short clip of Sudha's concert

Chennai Music Season 07 - Report # 2

We knew the concert to go to.. yet (Dec 25, 2007)
This time we were prepared. We knew exactly where and which concert to go. We even planned to park the car elsewhere and walk to Music Academy, we were that planned but didn't plan for the small detail.. tickets.

Music Academy is notorious for parking or lack of it, so we figured out parking elsewhere and walked to the Music Academy hoping to enjoy the concert of TN Seshagopalan. But then the small problem I mentioned earlier became the show stopper. We didn't have tickets and there were 100 other hopefuls like us hovering around for the tickets which simply wasn't there.

We stood in the line for a few moments and quickly realized the futility of it. The only ticket that might sold are the 'no show' seats and that would be known only 20 minutes in to the concert. What is the possibility of over 100 people not showing up? None?

So, we quickly decide to go Kamarajar Arangam to try our luck with Anuradha Sriram's concert. And this proved to be good choice.


When we reached Kamarajar Arangam, Sudha Raghunathan's concert was still in full swing to a full house and we got catch last three renderings. It was standing room only, still we enjoyed every minute of it. Since all the three songs were in Tamil, I could enjoy them better.

Overflow audience were accommodated on the stage very close to the performer. This is actually a good option which I got to leverage a couple of times few days later.


After the concert, SPB was invited to the stage to felicitate Sudha Raghunathan. This was an opportunity for everyone to than everyone and their brother (sister and their dog). This simply went beyond control with people milling all over the place asking for autographs and stuff. This kind of thing ought to scripted and managed properly.

Sudha Raghunathan - Kandal Nall Muthalai & Kurai Onrum Illai snippets



The next concert on the same stage was by Sriram Parasuram & Anuradha Sriram. It started about 30 minutes late due to Sudha Raghunathan's spill over. But the place wasn't as full as Mrs Raghunathan's concert and we got some decent place to sit and enjoy the whole concert. This concert was kind of a unique one, a Hindustani, Carnatic fusion. Mr Parasuram was accompanied by Tabla & Harmonium as his accompaniments and Mrs Sriram by Violin and Mrudangam. I have seen / heard lot of 'pairs' performing but this is perhaps the only 'husband and wife' pair performing jointly.

Even though Mrs. Sriram is more 'popular' than her husband Mr. Parasuram due to her movie interludes, I actually enjoyed and liked Mr. Parasuram's renderings and voice more than Mrs. Sriram's.

Sriram Parasuram & Anuradha Sriram - சம்போ சம்போ ராகம்- ரேவதி (Samboo Samboo - Ragam Revathy)

Chennai Music Season 07 - Report # 1

My Discovery of Chennai Music Season 07 (on Dec. 24, 07)
The Tamil month of Margazhi (மார்கழி மாதம்) in Chennai is synonymous with classical music, the world knows and I have known it too. But I have never been in to it, not when I grew up here nor when I returned back a few years back. But I discovered the music season on its waning days just a few days back and it was merely happenstance. Wondering what is he talking about..? read on...

Early this week, under duress from kids we made an impromptu decision to head out ECR Road for a movie and dinner. But the Chennai traffic had other plans for us. Being the Christmas eve evening, roads were unusually congested and we were stuck near RK Nagar for over an hour. With no progress in sight, I took an executive decision to take the next available turn and go wherever the traffic would allow us to. That's when eureka stuck, why not try a music season concert. We never been to one.. so why not. None of us had any clue as to what is happening where, so decided to head to the nearest one which happened to be Image Auditorium in MRC Nagar.

I was thrilled to be going to my first concert of any music season, but that was short lived. We were greeted by an empty auditorium complex and had to search hard for the program announcement. We eventually did find an announcement for a SriLankan folk dance. Since the overwhelming majority voted against it, I resumed my chauffeur duties again to try our luck at Petachi Auditorium, which is hardly a few kms away. As we neared the auditorium, I had a feeling of deja vu and was right, a dance program was on the cards here as well. By then, we were all grumpy and hungry and I wasn't ready to get back on the wheels again. But, after much persuasion I relented and drove to Narada Gana Sabha which is just a few hundred meters from Petachi.

Murphy's law stuck us again and it was another dance program at Narada Gana Sabha as well but by a well known artist Shobana. I put the car keys down and refused to do anymore Sabha hopping and headed straight towards the Sabha cafeteria for some decent food.


Thus we ended up going to the dance program by Shobana. It was a full house and we had hard time finding seats together and ended up sitting separately. Rajesh Vaidya was on Veena and was very pleasant to hear.


I am no dance or carnatic vocal connoisseur so I will not even attempt to say anything about the performance. Regardless of the first day experience, I resolved to go for few more concerts this year and I did. In the coming days, I will post on them.

Lesson from day #1
Check Schedules and plan ahead- Spur of the moment decisions don't work. Check schedules and select the concert to go. There is plenty of options available, but need to plan in advance.

Remember Shakti - Delightful Performance

I went to different kind of concert in Chennai a couple of days back. This is the carnatic music season in Chennai and there is already boat load of kacheris that are happening. Amidst of all the classical stuff, a fusion concert appeared in the Chennai music scene.

The fusion program by Remember Shakti brought in the some of the best in the industry. The show was great with solid performance from all around, but I was completely floored by the superlative performance of Ustad Zakir bhai. He handled Tabla & Drums at the same time with ease and marching them to different beats. I wonder, how he was able to send different signals to both of his hands at the same time.

Overall, the performance was great and thoroughly enjoyed it. One request for next time.. Please start on time.. The program was set to start at 7:00 PM but didn't till 7:45 PM. It was a horrible waste of time all around.


Ustad Zakir Hussain on Tabla & Drums, U Srinivas on Mandolin, Shankar Mahadevan - Vocal, John Malaughlin on Guitar and Selva Ganesh on Ganjira, Gatam & Mirudangam. Special appearance by Vikku Vinayakram.

Short Clip from the performance.


Better clips in YouTube

Review in The Hindu

Vande Mataram

Awesome rendering of Vande Mataram.. Just looking at the innocent kids and the power of the composition brought tears.. I hope you enjoy it too..



Related Link
my earlier post on Vande Mataram with a different set of kids singing to the music composition of AR Rahman.

Ilayiyaraja Rap..?

Ilaiyaraja's Madai Thiranthu tune for a rap song.. Interesting attempt by some folks in Malaysia.. check this out..


(Via - Karthik Vijaykumar)