Inside Man....

'Chaiyya Chaiyya' - we know that this song rocks, we know that it haunted us for a long-long time when it was released and we know that it still haunts us...like most of Rahman's works.

This part of the world though is slowly but surely discovering more and more about Rahman. Bombay dreams, some remixes of his songs in Brit club mixes, Bombay Thems, Lord of the Rings and now another biggie ....A Rahman song opening the title credits for a mainstream Amru movie. A Rahman song rocking an american movie hall playing a mainstream commercial movie.

As it turns ot, the whole song played even at the end of the movie ...while the credits were being displayed ...

I culdn't but help smile and feel proud about this yesterday night ......when I was watching the movie ...

Rahman rocks ...he rocks like no one else and some people just got a taste of it.

As for the movie itself, cool one, worth every penny ....

-A

Back to you ...

Heard a lot from my collection of rock over the past few days, a lot of Jazz and tried a bit of Blues too. Liked it, luved some of them, but in the end, felt that they missed something ...

The completeness, the magic, the melody ...the Soul .....

Am back to you Rahman ......
The way you weave your magic, I don't think anybody else can. The pure depth in your music cannot be compared to and cannot be matched ....

Have been Hearing Dil Se (the title song) in a loop .....and each time I hear something new in it ...last I heard it it was a strange tune ..that I even though plays on and on during the course of the whole song, is prominent only at the fag end of the song when the rest of music has almost ceased. I think that Rahman now is at that level where he plays with music and musical instruments and just thinks, what next should I create magic with :-).
Good for people like me though ......I live and I breathe his music ....


Saw some people posting requests to rate songs of Rahman and make it number 1 etc. A humble request to such folks - please do not diminsh the greatness of this man by such talk. His music, his magic and his greatness are best represented by his humility, his silence with words and letting his music do the talking ....Do we really need to vote and rank and try to elevate him by such petty things ...feel these are just mere writings and mere rubbush ...

I know that you folks really adore Rahman's music but I fell that if u really respect and adore this Rahman and his music - just hear his music, yes write appreciative posts and discuss that ...that ought to be it ....

Rahman is much above all this ...he is at a place where other music directors, I feel can only dream of ...IMHO, there is no comparison ...and IMHO, rankings, ratings if such a thing exists all begin at no. 2 ...at least for me ...they will always be like that ....

This is from my Dil Se ..... :-)


-A

You are beautiful ...

Back to Bedlam - James Blunt

and what is this doing on my blog ...well for starters, I liked it ....and where does the Rahman connection come in ??? well ...this is something that Rahman liked too (read that somewhere) n is hearin these days :-).

So I heard the whole album and I must say, I am hooked on ...hooked on to the extent that I now own both the acoustic Live version as well as the normal album version of this album ...
Brit Rock I feel, has always been in between Rock and Pop and this one is no different. Coldplayish in style, this guy sometimes sounds a wee bit like David Gray too .....but then its different. Good use of the guitar and the piano but the voice modulation is the one that does the most to pull you into each song ....

Easily, 'You are Beautiful' and 'Wiseman' win the battle amongst the 10 songs on the CD (12 on the acoustic version which also includes a cover of the Pixies - Wheres my Mind).

Its been some time since I have heard one whole album by one artist (of course I am not including Rahman into the list:-))

Go get it ...

Dave Gilmour is out with a new one too ...I started my journey in rock thru Floydd and so nething from them is a must-hear if not a must buy for me .. - Its called 'On an Island' - not bad though not great too ...

-A

Birthday cake...

a wonderful cake baked by my girl ....for my bday .....Good job ..lady ....
Not the best of birthday's healthwise though ...was in bed for the entire day with a high fever ...so the only drinks allowed were 'hot water' and 'hot rasam' ....

I completed yet another year on this planet couple of days back.....and now have been listening to Rahman for 14 years :-)

Know what - sometimes I feel that I have made so many people listen to Rahman ..rather forced them into it ...that I feel funny about it. Well ....to think of it ....I did them good though ...or else their lives would have been empty ..he he

And I quote Richard Corliss on rahman ...so true this is ..

"Rahman doesn’t even write what’s thought of as world music. He writes a world of music — so broad and deep, so instantly likable and lastingly satisfying, it is the whole world. I hope that, sometime soon, our part of the world catches up with Rahman. Until we do, an important part of our internal juke box will be bereft. "

in what he refers to as "our part of the world" - he means the US ..I guesss

Hadn't written in a while ...still in bed ..not fully the normal me. But felt like writing about the cake and ofcourse Rahman :-)

-A

A Book Review and Music talk ...
Finished reading the 'Namesake' some days back - its by Jhumpa Lahiri.
When I had read her first book - The Intrepretor of the Maladies', I thought, it was just a 'beginners luck' or a 'one book wonder' but boy ....was I wrong ...terribly wrong.....
Oh Yeah !!!!


The Namesake is a great book capturing the life of an American born Indian Bengali boy whose parents moved to the US in the 60's. The life in which he fails to connect to his strange name, a life where he fails to connect to the Indian traditions and a life where he fails to connect to his parents. Though, this book could have been yet another boring account of Indians in the US (and probably some might still say that its boring and slow), what sets the author apart is how she has not stuck to any period or any particular incident for more than the required time - in short, I found the Namesake a real pacy one ....

Not intending this to be a spoiler and hence I stop here. Read it....I would say....

Music Talk
Hmm ...Rahman ...and more Rahman and even more Rahman. I could go on and on and on ....but I guess I will discuss something else today .....
though a 'Godfather' review from me is still pending...probably, will get that done this weekend.

'Good Will Hunting' ....first saw the movie over the weekend ..immensely liked it and noticed that the soundtrack was good ....n so got it and heard it ....
Alternative in flavor.....mostly by Elliot Smith ...who as I just Googled and found out is no more. Sad, that ....
Also hooked onto some timeless ones by Led Zep and Alan Parsons ....
woiiiiiiii .....I am glad there is so much music all around and I hv an ear for it :-)

-A

Blessed .....continued


Oh yes ..I have been too lazy and a trifle busy too to post the pics but as they say - better late than never (though its not applicable here :-) ). Just posting the best of the lot ....web-space conservation :-) (rather my inability to place the pics properly on this page)






Just one funny incident from that day or rather an incident which kinda shows what happened to me when I met the 'god of music'. When I handed over my sheet of paper to Rahman, he asked me what to write - I froze and stood there stupified for around 15 seconds - regained my senses and blurted - please write anything that you wish to - got his autograph that way :-)


Godfather

Heard the songs from this one. Saw some posts saying 'Rahman is Back' - Well where did he go ...folks ....???? he was always there ...right at the top - the only problem is that he is so high that you sometimes don't see him :-).

The song sung by Rahman himself in this is album is something that I want to write about but right now, my words are failing ......and the remaining album too, is brilliant ...

more on this album later - for right now, I have just absorbing each bit of each song .....

-A

Blessed !!!

Attended the 'Tribute to Rahman' at Stanford yesterday. the hall was packed with no space even on the steps leading to the stage ....packed to the core ...jam packed ...

Sat beside him for a while, shook hands with the man, got his autograph and clicked dunno how many snaps of him - mesmerized is the word.
As humble as he is known to be, As cool as he is known to be and As great he is known to be ...witnessed it all ...first hand ...

A dream come true it was....hv grown up listening to rahman ....and now that I hv met him and seen him ....I can say ...I am blessed :-)

Wud be posting pics from the show sometime today or tomorrow ...

-A

Shalimar the Clown


Morning today ..the 8:15 shuttle to SFO - the last few pages of Rushdie's -'Shalimar the clown' and finally page 398.

Great book this - beautifully gelling a revenge story and the lives of people and history and the present state of Kashmir. Unlike certain other books that take sides...this book beautifully captures it - from the point of view of mere humans - humans beyond caste, beyond religion and beyond the riches n the poor. People have suffered. People have been tortured. People have been killed and people are killing.

We, the human race, are a sad lot. A beautiful land which so very easily could have been amongst the best places to be in the world, is today - nothing but a wasteland. Today, I guess half of them or probably even more do not even know what they are fighting for.
When will this bloodshed end. When will people learnt to respect the value of 'life'.

A work of fiction - this was - but it did its trick. It told what it was actually supposed to tell.

-a

India
I miss India ..I miss the people ...the hustle on the roads ...the greenery in kerala ...miss my folks ....miss playing in the fields ....
life was so much more fun as a kid running around, playing ...no worries ...

hmm...I guess I miss much more than just india :-)

the pic btw is my ancestoral home in a small village in kerala - that will remain forever in my memories as a place I used to visit during my summer vacations and where I hv had the time of my life ....


God
(and I mean god of music)
Rahman - it seems he is in Stanford,CA next week. Its not too far for me ...dunno if I will go ...hope I get some company for it ...

am immersed in music ...

life goes on ....

-a

When is the last time a music was discussed for over 5 days ...each song ...each guitar streak ..beats and what could have been done better and what not.
RDB (Rang De Basanti) is forcing people to do that ....and its Rahman ....the magician at it again
Busy week for me ....the music of RDB is growing on me even more ...God ..how does this man do this ...
Some Kitaro and some Alan Parsons find their way into my ears too but am back again n again to the magician ...

Life is strange ....not sure sometimes what to do about it ... People are strange too ....

Read some bad things about India ....or rather about bad things happening in India .....the corruption ...the politics ....frustrates me ....but then it always does ....
What do I do about it ....NOTHING :-

Work to do ..so much of it ...almost time for my daily mocha break too .....

Feb 2nd ......06

-A

What do I write ...where Do I start ....So much to do ...so much that I think ...
Yet ...I don't know where to begin ....

One Musician
All I know is that Music means life to me and one musician more than anyone or anything in this world has influenced me ....and millions of others.
This blog will from now on have in some form or the other have a reference to him.You would find a millions blogs on this guy and his biography with both his critics and his followers writing a lot about him. I do not know what I am going to write about him but sure, i intend to be different.
his name is A R Rahman

The Color Black
The Color Black - that interests me too. They say its Dull. I do not think so though. So, my blog would have a black background .... :-)


I begin today. The date - January 31st 2006