I just got this email forward from my friend Don, and it shows the musician Tony Meléndez playing guitar and singing the famous Beatles song Let It Be. Tony is a Nicaraguan American guitar player, composer and singer and songwriter who was born without arms. Check out this video and see what is called ‘human spirit’. Also check out this video where Tony speaks about his journey. An amazing and motivating story.
I heard about this song from a couple of my friends in Bangalore and got hooked to it since then. This song has shades of the popular Kannada hit song Anisuthide Yaako Indu from the movie Mungaaru Male but still this is a very beautiful song, thanks to the magical voice of Sonu Nigam. I recorded this over the weekend when I was at home. As I don’t know even a little bit of Kannada, the diction issues are bound to happen. So pardon me for that and let me know what you think of this. 🙂
Song: Minchaagi Neenu
Music: Harikrishna
Originally sung by: Sonu Nigam
Sung by: Jo
Earlier today, I stumbled upon Kris‘s blog while going through some blog posts related to music. I heard two songs by Kris and am amazed at the kind of talent we have around here. Listen to A World Full of Lies and Hope it’s over.
Have a rocking weekend ya’ll!
Here is an amazing video of a group of students from the Ethnomusicology department of Wesleyan University performing Karnatik music. This was said to have performed during the Navaratri festival. These students train under Adjunct Instructor Balu and Artist in Residence David Nelson. (Thanks to Vidyu for sharing)
Here is a song after a month-long hiatus. I sang this with Srividya Kasturi. This song, En Mel Vizhundha, is a lesser known song from the Tamil movie May Maadham but it is so beautiful with the voices of Chitra and Jayachandran.
Song: En Mel Vizhundha
Movie: May Maadham
Music: A R Rahman
Original singers: K S Chitra & P Jayachandran
Cover by: Srividya Kasturi & Joseph Thomas
Wouldn’t you love, respect and worship a kind of woman like Veronica Guerin? If you haven’t seen the movie based on her life (which has the lovely Cate Blanchet as Ms. Guiren), you should. I’ve been watching it today for the nth time. Now check out this beautiful song which I heard first in this movie. This song, is called The Fields of Athenry, is an Irish folk ballad set during the Great Irish Famine (1845-1850) about a fictional man from near Athenry in County Galway who has been sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay, Australia, for stealing food for his starving family. The song is sung in the movie Veronica Guerin, by Brian O’Donnell, then aged 11, a street singer in Dublin.
(Image credit: www.independent.ie)
Here is a new music blogger who needs your feedback on her songs. Visit Nandita‘s music blog and let her know your comments.
Breathing Under Water
[Anoushka Shankar, Karsh Kale]
(Listen to audio samples or buy from Amazon)
For those who like albums which belong to the world music/fusion music category, Breathing Under Water is a delightful musical experience. This album is produced by Anoushka Shankar and Karsh Kale and have 13 songs in total. The music is a blend of Indian music with modern sounds. Karsh Kale does the guitars, keyboards and live drums while Anoushka Shankar manages the Sitar and keyboards. On the vocals, you have the ever-amazing Sting, the versatile genius Shankar Mahadevan, Sunidhi Chauhan and Anoushka’s half sister and the Grammy winner, Norah Jones.
Instrumental collaborators include Pt. Viswa Mohan Bhatt (Mohana Veena), Salim Merchant (arranger, pianist) and the legendary Ravi Shankar (Anoushka’s father) himself on Sitar.
Confluence II
[Rahul Sharma, Richard Clayderman]
(Listen to the songs)
This is the second album in the Confluence series by Richard Clayderman and Rahul Sharma. Clayderman is on Piano while Rahul plays Santoor. I am not sure if it is because of the lighter orchestra arrangement, but Santoor and Piano do not mix well together in this album. Both instruments stand out on their own without blending well together. Apart from that, it is a nice album for easy listening and to lighten your mood.
Miles From India
[Various artists]
(Listen to audio samples or buy from Amazon)
Producer Bob Belden teams up with Louis Banks and a number of other renowned classical and Jazz musicians from India and abroad to bring this beautiful album, Miles From India. The team has reproduced popular themes from Jazz music legend Miles Davis‘ recordings and put together a blend of Jazz music with Indian music. The artists include people who have worked with Miles Davis also.
Indian musicians include, Badal Roy (Tabla), Louiz Banks, Gino Banks (Drums), Rudresh Mahanthappa (Saxophone), Ravi Chari (Sitar), Vikku Vinayakram (Ghatam), V. Selvaganesh (Khanjira), U. Shrinivas (Mandolin), Brij Narain (Sarod), Dilshad Khan (Sarangi), Sridhar Parthasarathy (Mridangam), Taufiq Qureshi & Sivamani (Percussion), Kala Ramnath (Carnatic Violin), Rakesh Chaurasia (Flute) and Shankar Mahadevan & Sikkil Gurucharan on Indian classical vocals.
I remember an email that was circulated sometimes back with a picture of some beautiful Pakistani girls. It said, “this is what we missed because of partition“. 🙂 Not denying that ( 😉 ), but whenever I listen to some Pakistani music bands and artists, it makes me feel that it is them that the biggest loss of partition.
Recently, I came to know about Coke Studio (through my friend Thulasi), which brings a series of live studio recording sessions. Something similar to MTv Unplugged that rocked the music world. The participating artists include some of the popular names known to Indian music lovers as well – Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ali Azmat, Strings etc. I have heard a couple of recordings and it sounds great.
Check out their episode #4 and realize what we really missed because of partition. 🙂
Nalinikanth Josyabhatla is a techie and a passionate music lover. He loves composing songs and he made a music album in Telugu language with his newly found software. The songs are available in his blog to listen and comment. The first song itself has made my day. Go and listen to his album.
In April this year, I came across a Software (Noteworthy Composer) that can be used to Notate (western) and Simulate the music composed. Slowly, by the end of May, the repository built to about 20+ tunes, some Background Music bits and some western pieces for Piano, prompting me to make a self-driven private Music Album 🙂
