www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZw3TLfthEE

[update Aug 21 midnight]

Just came back from Molly’s live show @LilyPad. The music transcended into spaces so intimate, you cannot hide. I asked her to play “Satin Pull” and she did. When was the last time, music has felt so pure, I don’t remember.

There were a couple of other artists, a dark edge rock vocalist (Molly, again) from Jaggery, the other was Goli. She played a Cello. Molly’s song — “Whirlpool” was performed by all three, with backing vocals by theOther “Mali Sastri”. Blew me away.

Listening to Wind Chains now.

[/update]

It’ amazing how music can grow on you, while listening to an artist, LIVE. The performance. The passion. Like a new breath. I haven’t been active on picking up new music since the last four years. Perhaps Buddha Bar, Karunesh, Chris Spheeris and the world music radio on ITunes has made me lazy. Pandora on IPhone certainly got me closer to my kind of music.

Of late, I’ve been listening to a lot of acoustic rhythm piano with minor/major key tonality. Clint Mansell and Eric Bachmann being heavy influences of this genre. Its almost like a Dream music, floating you into layers of (un) consciousness. Sometimes, lost. I love this. Specially when you’re into a meditated soul in chasing your creative pursuits. My last story that I wrote, had some heavy listening of this acoustic sonority.

Coming back to “Organic Music”. Why does it grow on you? I don’t know. I think it’s to do with the passion from the source. When you see Beer made of hops, from a local family and its served to you fresh from grandma’s hands, the Beer tastes better than anything you’ve tasted before. Same with the feel of organic soaps and home made food. And perhaps, that’s the same with local independent musicians who work for the sheer passion. Its so beautiful, its infectious.

I went to an open mic + art gallery hosted by a friend. There were poems, short writings read by a few good local artists. And then there was a pretty girl playing the piano. Sorta reminded me of Tori Amos. I was on my fourth wine glass. It felt like I heard something familiar. A deep voice. Smooth as silk. It was a phenomenal piece — “Smoke, Pins and Paper”.  She can’t be newbie, I thought. Bought the cd, “November Antique” from her and shared my new found interest in piano, and the recent crush on Margeda Irglova’s music from “Once”. Not surprisingly, she likes the band too.

I came home, listened to the songs, again and again, specially the song, “satin pull.” Little did I know when I looked at her website -- Molly Zenobia, she had two previous albums, there are torrent files already and some youtube links. I think I’m going to buy the other albums from her, personally.

Please buy it here, if you can. This is incredible music. A rare gem. Someone said in a website review,

“This music can break your heart. It reconnects you with something you’ve forgotten about yourself, calling up instincts and memories long buried by the pressures of life”

Couldn’t agree more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSL_qayMCc

The last movie that blew me away was “The Fountain“, with staggering visuals and haunting soundtrack. And then I saw Once today.

It’s rare to see a beauty so aching, an acting so real, a love in it’s purest hope and form. Made with an almost documentary realism on the streets of Dublin in 17 days, with two handy cams at a cost of less than $150K with the same star cast that wrote and performed for the music in the film, this “musical” is an astounding achievement. The director took a risk in choosing professional musicians over professional actors, but Glen Hansard (of the well-known Irish band the Frames) and Marketa Irglova (a Czech singer/songwriter) are not only remarkably charming together (they’re actually dating now), but they’re equally adept with the more melancholy shades (Hansard’s lonely soul, stuck on an old flame; Irglova struggling to support a mother and daughter). Burdened and brokenhearted, their musical bond is the heart of the film and of their love.

Very few interpretations of love in the contemporary world have succeeded without making it sound cliched. A perfect marriage of music and film making, a “musical”, it may call itself and turn you away but this film can touch you in so many ways, not possible in any other mainstream cinema. So much, that the lead pair do not even share a single kiss or a hug together throughout the movie. No looking into eyes. No holding each other. No missing each other. And that is precisely why this movie is so beautiful -- nothing ever gets told in this movie and leaves the viewers to interpret emotions. The only other movie of this genre of “untouched love” is perhaps -- Before Sunset

From the Sundance film guide: “A Dublin busker, who ekes out a living playing guitar and repairing vacuum cleaners for his dad’s shop, meets a young Czech immigrant who sells roses on the same street. She likes his song, and what’s more…she has a broken vacuum cleaner! They soon find themselves playing music together in a nearby music store (since she can’t afford a piano, the owner lets her play his floor models). Over the course of a week, they form a musical rapport and, newly inspired, decide to record an album.”. He has a broken heart and she is a single mom, still married.

Watch the movie first and listen to the soundtrack. It’s worth it. Really. Specially the songs -- Falling Slowly, If you want me.

“Once” won the Oscar for best original song in 2008, best dramatic world cinema at the Sundance Film Festival and another 18 awards this year.

Here’s what one review site says about this song …

The soft and subtle waterfalls noises melting out with soulfully romantic vocals come as another musical delight by Mithoon in “Javeda Zindagi (Tose Naina Lagey)”. The romantic idealism rendered through Hasan Kamaal lyrics are visited through the sounds of natural delights and classically enriched vocal impact by new singing talents Kshitij and Shipa Rao. Kshitij rising and echoing classical vocals (“ragas” and “alaaps”) comes flying with fine rhythmic balancing of guitar strumming, violin notes and tabla loops. Shilpa Rao breathy vocals strike enchanting feminine equilibrium to Kshitij’s emotionally quivering vocals. Hear it for soulfully delightful romanticism as it makes two in succession after “Maula Mere Maula” by Mithoon.

You can download the songs from here. Chk out the first song – Maula mera Maula as well.

some of my abstract thoughts in a fictional rendering in an attempt to translate this in human emotions ...

in my memories to stay … in those beautiful thoughts that we shared
in a cauldron of joy & pain, happiness & hope, confusion immersed…
if only I could trespass my conscience and wait all my life living in a beautiful rendering
i only wish that my instincts take me down one more time, not because I want to
but because it will never be the same again without you
not in this lifetime not till i stop thinking of you and
… not till I know there is hope in this beautiful world!

Joe Satriani – One word – Awesome & Incredibly talented!

The show here in Blore, Palace grounds started off on a low note but there was a decent turn up of people at the end. Used 2 be a joe, steve vai, Dream theatre fan back in College days (not that Im not now., but am tuning to mostly 2 World, New Age music of late). Anybody whoz a guitarist & wants to see how someone can play the chords like their own vocals, this man is a living legend, absolute genius. 3 hrs of non stop entertainment & the crowd had it all.

Though the stage setup & light show was poor, his guitar made all that we wanted for the night.
JOE rules.

For the good part, the compilation of the songs for the 2 hr concert for his best of course. “Every breathe you take”, “Roxanne” (an extended 15 min version), “englishman in new york”, “desert rose” & my fav “shape of my heart” were all in there. It was good & this guys is def a classic.

But yeah, what was disappointing was the extravaganza & the prepublicity for the show. 16+15 tons of equipement? state of the art light shows? Imean where were all of them? I think the stage was pretty ordinary with absolutely no special effects or light n sound sync. Very Very normal, this was def not expected from an international artiste like Sting. OR maybe its the sponsors who couldnt invest in more …

Ahh . anyway., I wont regret. Its been good to see him.

In comes – Strings, Im not a big follower of this band (I guess I have been out of popular music from the last one yr ever since Ive shifted to world & fusion music genre) but these guys were not impressive at all & whatz more is that their attempt on hindi popular nos – argh please, reminds me of the flat voice of adnan sami

ahh .. here comes the jugalbandi of sorts bet indian ocean & strings … the start was good but it sounded banal & repititive not to mention our tabla guy trying to stand on his two feet (with high does alchohol screaming thru his eyeballs!)…

Anyways, a good time pass for the night …

From delusion lead me to truth
From darkness lead me to light
From death lead me to immortality.

vidyam cavidyam ca yas
tad vedobhayam saha
avidyaya mrtyum tirtva
vidyayamrtam asnute

He who knows both knowledge and action, with action overcomes death and with knowledge reaches immortality.

yasmin dyauh prthivi cantariksam otam
manah saha pranais ca sarvaih tam
evaikam janatha atmanam anya vacah
vimuncatha amrtasya esah setuh

In him are woven the sky and the earth and all the regions of the air, and in him rest the mind and all the powers of life. Know him as the ONE and leave aside all other words. He is the bridge of immortality.

indriyebhyah param mano
manasah sattvam uttamam
sattvad adhi mahan atma
mahato vyaktam uttamam

Beyond the senses is the mind, and beyond the mind is reason, its essence. Beyond reason is the Spirit in man, and beyond this is the Spirit of the Universe, the evolver of all.

yada pancavatisthante
jnanani manasa saha
buddhis ca na vicestate
tam ahuh paramam gatim

When the five senses and the mind are still, and reason itself rests in silence, then begins the Path supreme

- Came across this while listening to the Matrix Revolutions soundtrack, quite ironic that most of us dont know about this …. inspite of seeing matrix, we never accomplish the grt composer Don Davis to compose a theme on one of the most sacred Sanskirt upanishads/verses of all time …

March 6th, saturday, 6:45 pm, we were inside the Symphony hall.,which
is one of the most prestigeous indoor concert halls (classical) in UK
& my first impressions about the hall was mindblowing!!! It has that authentic rich classicla
feel to it. My seating was just a few rows in front of the stage ..
(28.50£) So, i was a blessed creature that night

Lights off … the symphony orchestra team moves in on the stage …
its 7 pm, saturday night, a full house, 90% asians of course … with
10% brit population … Samina ali khan, the sexy hostess for the night comes in & introduces the members of the orchestra, the chief conductor for the day – James
Shearman. Of course finally …. ar rahman enters in a black indian style
suit with the newly shaven head … he looked diff ,claps in the audience … applause all over !!! It started with a a typical Q & A style., she asked him of the obvious diff in arr’s physical appearance & then everyone including me shouted .. where’s the hair gone?? arr’s been to Hajj & as a part of the holy pligrimage he had to shed it off …arr started off by conducting the orchestra with the theme song of ‘Warriors of heaven n earth’ which was brillaint!! The whole theme for the concert was of the same nature where there would be a some q asked about the next theme being played with a couple of personal q & then the chief conductor would conduct it. All in all there were tracks from Warriros of Heaven & Earth (5), Bombay (theme played twice), Lagaan theme , taal (nahi samne), Meenaxi (3), Legend of bhagath
singh (theme & another track).

It was a little dissappointing to see very few nos being played & the
duration being only 2 hrs. I could see a lot of dissappointment in the audience as they were expecting the usual song n dance nos from his films. There were a few instances when the crowd was shouting for …’Vande mataram’ ….& ‘tamil songs please’ .. but arr politely refused all saying that he would like to keep the sanctity of the nights theme ie., SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, & that perhaps was the main reason why he didnt even dare to conduct vandemataram that night! in fact he said ‘I would prefer an indian orchestra to play vande mataram!’. I cant really say about each of the themes played as it can only be heard .. words are’nt enough to describe … specially when i heard Bombay theme (twice) it was just incredible!!I still feel that … “if there is a single composition in this world which can elevate pain, sorry, joy & the spirit of mankind … in one single piece of music …i cant think of any other compostion other than – BOMBAY THEME.

& now for the best part., this is definitely exclusive to those who attended the concert. The vocalist for the night was Rashid Ali. & my oh my …. what an incredible talent he is !!!! He did open the show with his ‘ya allah …’ rendering … after that it was a unique blend of fusion & classical vocals for the prelude of Lagaan theme … brilliant !!! Not to mention the best for the day was …. hold your breath!! Does anybody remember Bombay’s soundtrack?? Its when Arvind Swamy meets Manisha Koirala …’Oh sare re sare sa ni …. ga ma pa .. .. pa ma pa re..’. This is actually one of my fav vocals from arr, which he had sung in the movie. Out here its rashid who in his unique fusion style had rendered this piece beautifully. There’s this beautiful twist he made on the actual tune & then it slowly evolved into the bg shouts in the movie (during he bomb blasts) ‘ ahh … aa a … ahh’.
(In fact i have recorded this on my handicam, ive got around 15 mins
of footage for the night… will upload it sometime) This guy is
great, def arr’s new found talent … watch out for him!!!

The hostess had promised to the crowd that arr would sing atleast
once & kept the schedule after the Interval (20 min brk)!! Soon after
the break, everybody started cheering up, shouts everywhere ‘Dil se re’ (including myself), then arr in his calm style took over the piano …. & phew!!!!! i cant believe this
vocals… in fact none if would have the faintest idea of this calibre of vocals from arr himself!! He started off with a classical vocal with a little fusion (like rashid), playing soft gentle piano aside,,, the vocals builded up … & then to my utter surprise it was Dil se re . Never did my imagination dvelve into such heights …. I’mean how could you expect a highly westernised no like Dilse re be rendered in an ‘unplugged version’ like this one ….All in all .. this is my favourite of the concert. Once again, it will be my previlege to post this track to all arr fans, but please bear with me.. for the time ill take to do it .. Well, the show ended , whilst people were asking for more … arr
repeated the Bombay theme & Warriors of Heaven n earth… concluded the show with ‘good bye’ from Warriors. There were some interesting q asked to arr during the whole duration , most of the times arr was very shy to answer them at times sounded so kiddish .. but hell what!! He’s not attending a HR interview to be concerned with his presentation skills!! He also requested to all the fans to encourage & promote the beauty of Symphony & classical music, not to give so much importance to computer music ., there was applause throughout the crowd.
One of my fav q asked to arr was:-
Samina – ‘rahman , you are also known for your talent in playing some instruments. Can u tell us which one do you play the best or which one are you good at?”
rahaman – ‘Well … actually … NOTHING!’

I’mean there’s so much of innocence in ar rahman’s answers that at times he is just too modest. Defintely, this is a man who talks less & does more!!

My opinion, IT WAS good, but im not very sure how CBSO’s talent was utilised to its best… as im not a critic of classical or symphony orchestra… I really dont know the diff.I was also dissappointed with the sound System as i was expecting a world class acoustics from the concert (with Bose speakers, in the hall my expections were tripled). But surprisingly the acoustics did not have a thundering impact … it was just plain n neat. Specially the second half of bombay theme (where all the violins start), sounded so very normal, i would have expected a heavy surround effect for the same…

I do have my reservations & comments that it was of very short duration & I was expecting nos like – Barath humko – Roja, Vennilave -yesudas song (Duet), Earth theme music, beacause these well fitted in the synphony theme. Also its a shame that arr did not conduct the Orchestra (except for the theme of Warriors ..) Itwas CBSO’s chief conductor ., So it was like arr was just sitting there & we were watching somebody else conducting his music! It didnt sound fair to me atleast! Lastly his interaction with audience was very less .. I would expect that he respect his fans the same way as we idolise him … Imean what is He … if not for US ????anyway, its to be understood that arr is not much an interactive, expressive person So i will take that into granted!!!

For me he’s still a GENIUS, a Prodigy in the making …

i managed to take some snaps . chk them out

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/priyatam_uk/album?.dir=/4173&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/priyatam_uk