au·gust [aw-guhst]
adjective
1. inspiring reverence or admiration; of supreme dignity or grandeur; majestic: an august performance of a religious drama.
2. venerable; eminent: an august personage.
Visited Veena Musicals to replace the strings of my Guitar. Like the way the bookstores impress me, I have become a fan of this musical instrument store for its vast collection.
Reminded of Friedrich Nietzsche saying Without music, Life would be a mistake.
Sukanya is my choice of winner for the Airtel Super Singer 2012
Here is my take on Vijay TV's Airtel Super Singer 2012 results - UNFAIR.Unfair because it finally became Cuteness Vs Talent and the former won.
I have been watching this program regularly and if I ever sit before TV, it is to watch this.
Regarding the Contest Results:
According to me, first place should go to Sukanya, 2nd place to Yazhini and 3rd place to Pragadhi
Aajeeth too deserves a place - but his was voice is yet to develop for a contest singing. He is certainly good singer for his age.
Gautham is good but he should not be disappointed given his wrong choice of songs and lack of some confidence.
Sukanya reminds me of previous year's singer Alka Ajith; her choice of songs and demonstration of talent deserves her a place in Tamil Music. She said she comes from a remote village. I am sure some one like her coming this far will never be stopped by a contest result.
Online voting and SMS voting concept is absurd and 'any one can vote any number of votes' is hampering the talent.
Regarding selections for Finals:
There were some good kids like Anu who deserved a place in the final. I was amazed at her husky voice.
Its a incompatible combination of junior and senior kids; carnatic and non-carnatic.
If the selection intent is 'chella kural' (young sweet voice), Anu, Yazhini and Aajeeth can be in the finals. There were few more kids whose name I dont remember handy.
What this program mean to me?
Just wonderful! Such grand programmes are really great and gives a new experience to the budding singers.
While some may think that the participation could impact their studies, I feel education need not always be the mainstream - it could be other way round. Music first, studies next.
It is really good, this program continues year on year.
Regarding the prizes, I agree the prizes should be grand - but not sure if 3 BHK house is suitable.
The kids get a stardom and will be on stages in the coming days.
The presence of AR Rahman gave a God like presence, especially when he entered. I wished he could have spoken little more.
Regarding the judges, I would say Chitra always gave sincere and serious comment. Other judges like Shubha and Mano are bubbly and friendly - I think given that its a kid programme, they also should be around.
Was there something wrong with Audio in the Finals? I do not know - for Aajeeth, I could hear the special effects for his high pitch singing for the first song. For Suganya, 'minsara poove' was affected by lack of music synchronization. Gautam's esteem had something to do because of poor orchestra, I guess.
The comperes Bhavana and Anand did a good job. Bhavana's lipstick and Anand's 'mokkai' is too much :-). It will be a good idea to have singers as comperes like we had Chinmayi in the past.
The episodes were going on and on, sometimes gave a feel 'when this would end'. Even the finals was close to midnight that I went to bed after Sudha Ragunathan's performance.
By the way, what was "Airtel" doing here? Did I hear their name in the sponsors?
I felt good for the parents who come from middle class background.
The money, fame and grandness will motivate the schools and parents to put their children into this program. Parents should NOT encourage to participate in such contests and make them fail unless they are serious its only for the experience and NOT for the winning.
Having listened to Maestro Ilayaraja's How To Name It and Nothing But Wind, I kind of know how symphony sounds like. And his recent contribution has been Thiruvaasagam.
I often wanted to listen to Mozart and Beethoven. You would have probably read science articles on how listening to Mozart music improves brain skills!
I always wanted to listen to Mozart and Beethoven, though I do not know how to appreciate their greatness.
Yesterday, I gifted myself with a collection of Beethoven's symphonies and started listening to them!
I will research to understand the music better. No matter what, its repeated listening that helps understand any classical music. Those legends did not have the "commercial pressure" that our current musicians have. The genius in music can be interrupted thoroughly only by experts. For common man, its music for soul.
Recently, happened to watch interview of Vani Jayaram, an amazing singer among us who has sung in almost all the Indian languages. She has a very mesmerizing voice. I bought a mp3 collection of hers and listening to her voice during drive. A sample song of her magical voice; the lyrics of this song a gifted one; and my all time favorite Sridevi.
Some of the popular hit songs have catchy, peppy tunes but do not have good lyrics - atleast not suitable for the children to listen. They do not have good usage of language either. Because, the producer wanted it, because the actor has an image, because the fans want it, because the music director has the stuff, such music is embedded into the film. The carnatic-music-trained kids pick these songs, sing them in competitions, orchestra, and all public functions and the family enjoys the kids' talent. The lady singer has a manly voice to give a peppy feel, so all the kids sing so. Like National Awards for the best, can someone derecognize such songs - our industry is producing so much song every year and 80% of them being junk. Enough of MuSick.
I am listening to one song in the car repeatedly, repeatedly அமுதே தமிழே, அழகிய மொழியே, எனதுயிரே. This is a beautiful song from a movie called கோயில் புறா.
After listening to the song, I am so touched and my heart melted at the music, voice, lyrics and there is a divinity in that song. I tried singing the line "சுகம் பல தரும் தமிழ் பா";
It took so much time for me to memorize this simple line. And another line "என் கனவும் நினைவும் இசையே இசையிருந்தால் மரணமேது". What a confident singing! This song is a great praise of the Tamil language. I mentioned about the divinity. There is a great devotion in the singing. The lyrics and music complement so well. You need not be a 'music scientist' to appreciate this song, but this song will simply mesmirize you.
From the various websites, I understand the ragaa of this song is ரசிக ரஞ்சனி (What a name!)
I searched for more information about this song; so, I provide more references here.
There are two other songs in which he has deleted both Ni and Ma in chakravaagam. I don't think that such a raga exists in carnatic music with any known name. Those two songs are "amudhae thamizhae" (kovil pura), and "nila kuyilae" (magudi). They are simply excellent. One should be an artist and play those songs to know their quality. Amudhae thamizhae starts like Sa Ri Ga,Sa Ri Ga, Sa Ri Ga Pa Ga Ri Sa, Sa Ri Sa Da Sa...Pulamai Pithan's lyrics glorified that song. In the charanam he says, if you listen to and speak Thamizh, " Oon mezhugai urugum, athil ulagam karainthu pogum", such is the beauty of this language! One cannot write any better,about the greatness of Thamizh language.
LYRICS OF THE SONG
Film - Koyil pura
Song - Amuthey tamizhey
Singers - P. Suseela & Uma Ramanan
Music - Ilayaraja
அமுதே தமிழே அழகிய மொழியே எனதுயிரே
சுகம் பல தரும் தமிழ்ப் பா
சுவையோடு கவிதைகள் தா
தமிழே நாளும் நீ பாடு
தேனூறும் தேவாரம் இசைப் பாட்டின் ஆதாரம்
தமிழிசையே தனியிசையே தரணியிலே முதலிசையே
ஊன் மெழுகாய் உருகும் கரையும் அதில் உலகம் மறந்து போகும்
பூங்குயிலே என்னோடு தமிழே நாளும் நீ பாடு
பொன்னல்ல பூவல்ல பொருளல்ல செல்வங்கள்
கலைபலவும் பயிலவரும் அறிவுவளம் பெருமை தரும்
என் கனவும் நினைவும் இசையே இசையிருந்தால் மரணமேது
என் மனதில் தேன் பாய தமிழே நாளும் நீ பாடு
Tamil friends, please listen to this song, share this with your family and friends, teach this song to your kids and those who want to improve their tamil pronounciation.
I always struggled with what music to listen in car. In the initial days, I listened to FM most of the time. Later, I had started collections of Illayaraja hits etc. For several months, the same CD songs was played on, on and on because my daughter had some favorites. The singers repeated the performance any number of times till they had hiccups one day. All the CDs are now crying for 'renewals'.
I decided to go for new songs collections - Illayaraj, Yuvan, Harris Jayaraj, A R Rehman, Kamal hits and so on. I bought some collections from Landmark, Jayanagar. But, believe me - all the collections that were titled Hits are really a waste! For each CD, that I played I skipped to the next song within few seconds. Wondering what is the taste of the person who compiled all these songs. My next angry was towards those musicians. The songs had uninspiring music that I feel the awards offered should be taken back!
I tried playing spiritual songs - it didnt inspire. Then played Goa music - after 5 times of listening, nothing was new.
Once my friend suggested that the best thing to do is collect the favorites songs into the computer and write it into a new CD. That seems to be the right suggestion!
However, today I listened to songs from Bharathi - what a music and Bharathiyar's lyrics
நிற்பதுவே நடப்பதுவே by Harish Raghavendra
கேளடா மானிடவா by Rajkumar Bharathi (he is great grandson of Bharathiyar). I could not get the online video version of it.
Very inspiring music by Illayaraja. I would like to translate these songs in English and publish my version sometime.
And the best thing to do is to sing on your own - your version, your tune, your modulations, your lyrics - who cares; who can listen amidst the honks :-) ?
