Updates

Recently I have been following few other blogs which I have added it to my Blogroll on the right.

Kumars Planet is by Kumar, who is a Sound Engineer-Musician residing in Bangalore. He posts interesting musical quizzes on his blog, mostly on tamil film music. He also does some interesting remixes and recreates the orchestration of existing songs.

7 Swara is by Emjay. He mostly writes posts on Ilaiyaraaja and his music. Interesting to read.

I started a new blog sometime back to post my favorite interludes in songs. Will try to keep it alive by posting frequently. They are also linked to on the right side under the heading "song bgms that i like".

I have also added my twitter updates on the right hand side of my blog under the heading "what I am doing". You can find my updates there or on twitter.

Regarding the Remix contest by ARR, I submitted my entry earlier this week. The deadline was extended till 15th of this month. They don't display the entries uploaded because of copyright issues that might arise in the competition. Also the Intellectual Property Rights of all submitted entries rests with Nokia. So, right now I am not posting my remix entries on my blog. But may be after the competition I might post it.

Remix Contest by A R Rahman

Nokia along with A R Rahman has announced a remix contest at remixrahmansada.com. Participants are invited to remix a couple of songs from Rahman's forthcoming movie Ada. The voice track samples are available at the site and you can do your own remix and submit them. The winner will get to do the full remix in A R Rahman's studio. The deadline is May 31. More information available at the above site.

Thanks to Suresh for informing me about this contest. I am planning to participate in it.

Also refer http://rahmaniac.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/remix-in-your-own-style-rahmans-ada/

Online Radio Stations

I recently discovered some online radio stations that play non-stop music (mostly western) over the internet. The one I am currently listening is AOL Radio. There are different stations for different genres of music like Jazz, Western Classical, Country, Rock, Hip-Hop, Pop, Dance, World Music, etc. And under each category, there are various sub-categories. My current favorites are Jazz (Martini Lounge, Romantic Jazz), Western Classical and Country. Each station plays non-stop music without any audio advertisements. Since it is a radio station, you cannot choose the song you want or fast-forward songs. The songs are being played in different stations and you can tune in to the station you want. It is like the WorldSpace Radio online. It doesn't have any indian classical music stations, but it covers a wide variety of different genres.

I checked my internet usage logs and found that listening to about 1 hour of music will take up 45 to 50 MB of your bandwidth.

Let me know if you are aware of other good free online radio stations.

RiyazStudio - for Tanpura and Tabla accompaniment

I recently tried out the RiyazStudio software, which is a nice little software for Tanpura and Tabla accompaniment. If you are practicing indian classical music at home and would like some accompaniment in tanpura and tabla, then this would be a right fit for you. You can vary the pitch, the tuning, the taal and the tempo. Here is the link to the website:

http://www.riyazstudio.com/

RiyazStudio combines tanpura and tabla machines in a responsive and easy-to-use PC-based practice environment for North Indian classical music. RiyazStudio uses real tabla loops - 150 of them - in contrast to often mechanical sounding tabla machines that set individual tabla bols at rigidly set intervals. Whatever pitch you sing or play at you'll have a choice of different tabla tunings in the main talas. You can even adjust the tabla style without changing speed.

Overall I like this software and am planning to buy it. It costs close to $40. You can get a free temporary license and use it for 30 days before actually deciding to buying it. Some of the features would be disabled in the free temporary license. And if you actually buy it during the trial period of 30 days, you get a $5 discount. I don't sing, but I am planning to use it in some of my compositions.

According to their FAQ, they seem to support only Windows PC. So if you have a Mac, I am not sure if their suggested workaround would work.

Telex Pandians Theme Music

Telex Pandians is the name of a cricket team in our office. I had composed a small theme music for this team, the theme being "Terror". This was used as the background music for their flash based website. Here is the piece, let me know your feedback.

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

The Rap was sung by my colleague, Naveen.

Not exactly remixes

Here are a couple of songs in recent times, which are not exactly remixes but are inspired / lifted from old songs.

1) "Ah mudhal akku thanadaa" from Jithan

This is one of the few kuthu songs that I like. Music is by Srikanth Deva. Only later did I realize that the full tune is lifted from an old MGR song: Koduthathellam Koduthaar. They have changed the time signature to 6/8 (kuththu beat) and have written new lyrics for it. I have overlapped both the songs and you can listen it below. You can listen to the new song on the left channel and the old one on the right.

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

2) "Jalsa" from Chennai-28

Some couple of lines alone remind you of the popular old song "Senthamizh then moziyaai". Listen to the mix below.

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

I used Audacity, the free audio editor and recorder, to mix these tracks. I had to change the pitch so that both the songs overlapped are in the same shruthi. Because of this, the voice would have changed. Now-a-days, with the help of technology, the tempo of a song would be constant through out the song. But in those days, the tempo has to be maintained manually and hence the tempo will not necessarily be constant throughout the song. Because of this, I also had to alter the tempo in various places. I will also post a series of articles on this blog on how I do sound editing.

Learn more about ragas

I stumbled across a site www.sawf.org when I searched for information on raag Jog and recently for raag Shree. There is a music section in this site and there is quite some information available on certain ragas on this site. A raag is not just about arohanam and avarohanam. The various prayogas of the raag are explained along with some sound samples too. I found this very informative and I believe you will too.

Here is the music section of the site:

http://www.sawf.org/bin/tips.dll/getclasstips?class=EZine&subclass=Music&user=Sawf+Archives&pn=Music&start=-1

Speaking about ragas, I will write a series of posts here on certain ragas and how some of the music directors have used the raga in film songs. I will be focusing mostly on tamil film music, since that is what I know. I will also keep a focus on present day music directors and hence I can write about only a handful of ragas. Please keep in mind that since it is film music, don't expect too much classical adherence to the raga.

Duet Music

I was watching Actor/Producer Prakash Raj's TV interview on Pongal. He was talking about his newly launched label "Duet Music". He wants to create a platform where musicians (other than those related to films) can showcase their talent. Music albums is not yet popular in south and it seems he wants to encourage such albums and also form a business around it. As Prakash Raj mentioned in an interview:

“In another three years I wish to make music a buoyant, thriving industry, independent of cinema. The thought made me float Duet Music as a label for talents. Unlike places like Punjab where the art is celebrated, most of us have an ear only for film-oriented stuff. A capable flautist or sitar player warrants a showcase too. Duet will do it,”

Duet Music recently released its maiden audio, the songs from the yet to be released movie, "Vellithirai". In an unique move, he also released the karaoke versions of the songs in the movie, so that people can sing along with it.

I think this is a welcome move by Prakash Raj. His "Duet Movies" already identifies good scripts, new directors and encourages them.

Favorite songs of Music Directors

Here are some of my top favorite songs of each music director. I can keep listening to these songs without getting bored. I generally won't change the station / channel when I listen to this song on air. Each and every music director have their own specialty and these are some songs that I enjoyed listening too.

I have not included Ilaiyaraaja, since there are lot of songs of his that I can keep mentioning. It is difficult to point out top 1 or 2. Similarly I have not included A R Rahman too.

Here is the list in no particular order:


Yuvan Shankar Raja

Idhu Kadhala - Thulluvatho Ilamai
Pogaathe - Deepavali


Harris Jayaraj

Ennai Konjam - Kaakha Kaakha
Ennai Pandhada - Ullam Ketkume


Bharadwaj

Enakkena - Paarthen Rasithen
Thaiyathaa - Thiruttu payale


Vidyasagar

Anandham Anandham - Murai maaman
Pinjumazhai Saaral - Varnajaalam


G V Prakash

Idhu Enna Mayam - Oram Po
Minnalgal Koothadum - Pollathavan


Karthik Raja

Veesum Kaatrukku - Ullasam
Konjum Manjal - Ullasam


Ramesh Vinayagam

Kadhalai Valarthai - University
Enna Idhu - Naladhamayanthi


Deva

Nalam Nalam Ariya - Kadhal Kottai


S A Rajkumar

Anandham Anandham - Poove Unakkaga
Irubadhu Kodi Nilavugal - Thullatha Manamum Thullum


Devisri Prasad

Un Paarvaiyil Paithiyam - Unakkum Enakkum


Dhina

Uppu Kallu - Karuppusamy Kuthagaitharar


Imaan

Manjal Mugame - ABCD


Sirpi

Ragasiyamaanadhu Kadhal - Kodambakkam


Sabesh Murali

Unnai Charan Adainthen - Thavamai Thavamirundhu


Mahesh

Poonkuyil Paadinaal - Nammavar


Vijay Antony

Uchi Mudhal Padham Varai - Sukran


Mani sharma

Hey Penne - Aasai Aasaiyai
May madham - Shahjahan

Minnalgal Koothaadum

One of the recent songs I like very much is the "Minnalgal Koothaadum" song from Pollathavan. This is a very simple song with simple tune, simple beat and simple accompaniments but I never get bored of this song, even though I hear it on radio almost dailly. This song is picturized on a hill station and the song conveys the appropriate mood. I observed that when we listened to this song on the bus during a trip to Coorg. I was impressed with the fact that even a simple song can be made into a big hit with the right ingredients. Bombay Jayashree's voice in this song is another big plus. Manjal Veyyil song from Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu (Harris Jayaraj) is yet another example of a simple song with the right ingredients making it a super hit.

There is some freshness in G V Prakash's song. I especially like his "Idhu Enna Mayam" from Oram Po and the "Vizhiyil" song from Kireedam.

One more recent song that I like is the "Yaarukku Yaarendru" song from Ajantha composed by none other than Ilaiyaraaja.

And this is my last post in the year 2007. I had published the maximum number of posts in this year when compared to the earlier years. Hope I continue to keep my blog active during 2008.

Wish you all a very Happy New Year !