Karhtika Vilakku celebrations at our Thrissur House

Celebrated Kaarthika vilakku pandigai with Appa Amma in our Thrissur House. Deepa sruti helped lighting and preparing the lamps for kaarthikai pandikai

Happy Karthikai greetings to all.

Starting to Sabarimalai tomorrow by the blessings of lord Ayyappa with Sruti.

Sixth Sense

SixthSense is a wearable gestural interface device that augments the physical world with digital information and lets people use natural hand gestures to interact with that information. It was developed by Pranav Mistry, a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab.
The SixthSense prototype is comprised of a pocket projector, a mirror and a camera. The hardware components are coupled in a pendant-like mobile wearable device. Both the projector and the camera are connected to the mobile computing device in the user’s pocket. The device projects visual information, enabling surfaces, walls and physical objects around the wearer to be used as interfaces; while the camera recognizes and tracks the user's hand gestures and physical objects using computer-vision based techniques. The software program processes the video stream data captured by the camera and tracks the locations of the colored markers (visual tracking fiducials) at the tip of the user’s fingers using simple computer-vision techniques. The movements and arrangements of these fiducials are interpreted into gestures that act as interaction instructions for the projected application interfaces. The maximum number of tracked fingers is only constrained by the number of unique fiducials, thus SixthSense also supports multi-touch and multi-user interaction.

LataMangeshkar turns 80 - A Great Legend

On September 28, 2009 India's Great Legend Lata Mangeshkar turned 80. A wonderful singer, Lataji is the second vocalist ever to have received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

I am posting a wonderful moment of lataji sharing with Javed Akhtar on CNN-IBN for a special interview telecast on her birthday. Lataji was referring to the old system of recording and how difficult was in those days to record one song. Her first hit was perhaps the song sang for Madhubala in 1949 in the film Mahal called Ayega Aanewala. At the time of recording lataji was told that the first part should sound as though the voice was coming from far away. At that time, recording techniques were not as advanced as they are now. lataji was made to stand a good distance away from the microphone and while singing she came closer and closer to it. Finally when the Ayega bit came she was supposed to stand next to the microphone to get the right effect. She had to do the entire process some 25 times to get it right.

Saraswati stotram

This is a beautiful musical prayer for Goddess Saraswathi, the goddess of Knowledge Science and Arts. The reference of Saraswati is as old as RIG VEDA.
According to Vedas, Maha Saraswati is the presiding "Goddess of the Final episode of Devi Mahatmya". Here she is believed to be a part of the trinity of Maha Kali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati.

Golu2009EventonSept20th2009

On Sept 20th Golu invitation was given to all our freinds. My sishyas rendered keertanams on diff dieites. Highlight was keerthanam on Guru by Rangasree and SreeRangaPrasad.

Navarathri 2009 BommaGolu

Navarathri 2009 Bommagolu was prepared by Sept 17th Thu and Sept 18th Fri being Amavasi day. Srutimma was the designer for the golu stand and she prepared the banner in her computer.

dorakalyanam

Presenting the highlights of DORAI's Kalyanam held at Madurai on Sept 2nd (THIRUONAM NAAL) 2009. Event covered by Deepa thru Apple IPHONE 3GS.

Onam Ponnonam 2009

Wishing all of you Happy Onam !

PaadasmaranaSukham in Lathaangi ragam

Recorded this song as I got lot of spare time. First of all it's ramadan and moreover, deepa and sruti left for a short vacation to attend marriage in Madurai. Lathaangi is a rare ragam used in films.

A Great Classic song composed in rare ragam (in filmworld) lathaangi. Please excuse the quality of the track I got in analog is not at all clear but still wanted to do this as this is one of my favourite songs.

In my limited knowledge, in mal film only dakshinamoorthyswami has composed in lathangi for an unreleased movie sung by (who else) ganagandharvan yesudas staring ‘swarangale sapthaswarangale’ not so popular as the film was not released.

Other than this, in Tamil Maestro ilayaraj composed a super hit song ‘chinna raasave chitterumbu…’ in lathangi. He has presented an incredibly pure Lathangi in a “tappaanguthu kind of format” in this song. It was a mega-hit song reverbrating throughout the Thamizhnadu, from the slums to the elite! Prabhu Deva (became famous thru this song) and Sukhanya danced for this song in the film ‘Walter Vetrivel’. Classic example of maestro’s intelligent use of a hardcore classical raagam and becomes wonder-struck! Ilayaraja has tuned another Lathangi in eeramaana rojavE (adhO mEga oorvalam).

Film : Sallapam
Lyrics : Kaithapram
Music : Johnson
Singer : K J Yesudas
Karoake track by: MohanKumarIyyer (as offering to great ganagandharvan who's done a marvellousjob (as usual)).

Apple iPhone 3GS

Getting Apple iPhone 3GS is like dream come true. Apple released this only in Hongkong as SIM FREE and thanks to Apple, finally got a SIM Free official Apple iPhone on Aug 16th. The phone is real SMART Phone. The interface is stylish and very easy. Attractive features are Voice command, Video , and video editing and sending to Youtube or facebook directly.

Now using Apple iPhone 3GS as Mobile Broadband device with Nokia E90 Communicator.

Thiranurayum in Nattakurinji

When I heard this song for the first time itself, it was registered and became crazy on this. Recently when I checked my ipod it showed this song played more than 500 times. Our great ganagandharvan's rendered this song so beautifully that no one can do full justice to the song. The song is composed in Nattarkurinji which is rarely used.

Tried to sing to the best of my abilities, but found the magic touch given by wizard KJY is missing.

Film : AnandaBhadram (2005)
Music : M.G. Radhakrishnan
Lyrics:GireeshPuthancheri
Singer:K.J.Yesudas
Karoke sung by : MohanKumarIyyer

NakshatraDeepangal

NakshatraDeepangal | Online recorder

This song is from the 1978 film 'Nirakudam' starring Kamalahaasan and Sridevi (B/W movie directed by bhimsingh). It had music by Jayavijaya (disciples of Chembai vaidyanatha bagawatahar). The song was so popular and even today no body dares to sing this song on stage and even if they attempt the singer and the performers are seen struggling in the charanam as it is quite difficult. A great composition. It has got the Double swarams of chembai in the charanam, which yesudas has handled in his own inimitable style. It's quite difficult to sing that portion.

Interesting fact is although this song mentions chembai singing in Navarathri mandapam, he never performed in the navarathri mandapam concerts and also yesudas hasn't performed in the mandapam till date.

Blip

A nice animation by Irish students of Animation. 

Blip from Sean Mullen on Vimeo.

Paying Tribute to RafiSaab

Mohammed Rafi, that name will never be erased from the music world. He's a true genius personified. Rafi's association with Naushad helped the former establish himself as one of the most prominent playback singers in Bollywood. Songs from Baiju Bawra (1952) like "O duniya ke rakhwale" and "Man tarpat Hari darshan ko aaj" furthered Rafi's credentials. Naushad, began favoring Rafi as the male voice in almost every song composed by him. Rafi would sing a total of 149 songs (81 of them solo) for Naushad. 

One of my favourites by Rafi saab, which was not featured in any movies, is this song 'Jis Khwaab ke raat ..'. The tune is really haunting and has got an emotional touch. The original track is much slower. I have used the track of malaylam song (which Naushadji composed in 1989 and became superhit duet of that time sung by Yesudas and PSusheela). 

Presenting this song to the memory of Rafisaab who lives and will always live in our hearts and soul. 

D K Pattammal passes away

Another carnatic music doyen passes away. Heard the news in the evening. She passed away on July 16th Thursday noon.

Hailed as one of the “women trinity” – M.S. Subbulakshmi and M.L. Vasanthakumari were the other two — of Carnatic music, Smt. Pattammal carved a niche for herself, which was marked by an uncompromising adherence to tradition, deep engagement with technical nuances and emphasis on bhava and rakthi.

In the unique timbre of her voice and unmistakably clear diction, compositions of Subramanya Bharati and Papanasam Sivan reached the masses. She had the honour of performing at the foundation-laying ceremony of the Bharati Memorial at Ettayapuram.

Smt. Pattammal’s background that was steeped in orthodoxy, but her contributions were progressive — from being one of the earliest women to give vocal recitals on a concert platform, to becoming one of the first women artists to handle the ‘Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi,’ traditionally considered a male bastion.

Smt. Pattammal was also one of the earliest Carnatic musicians to sing in films, beginning with ‘Thyaga Bhoomi’ and later, for others, including ‘Naam Iruvar.’ As someone who popularised patriotic songs, she was invited by the All India Radio to sing on the eve of Independence. She was a recipient of several awards including the ‘Padma Vibhushan’ and the ‘Sangeeta Kalanidhi,’ which she received from The Music Academy in 1970.

Srutimma's Trophies

On July 12th Sunday 2009, BPS Cultural Fiesta winners were awarded the prizes. Sruti got first prize in Classical and Light music. Also she was awarded as Best performer among Junior Boys and Girls. 

 

Lal 's excellent Performance in BHRAMARAM

Was waiting for the movie release as this was blessy's 5th installment and after Tanmaatra, blessy-mohanlal film. Went to Gulf cinema on Sat evening with deepa and sruti with much expectation and it was well maintained. 

Bhramaram is a genre breaking movie. A new kind of thriller genre to malayalam cinema. Shot on eight locations within 54 days, most of the story takes place between Coimbatore and Munnar.Blessy the director  has successfully managed to build in the necessary tension and suspense around the lead character, which pushes the movie till the interval. And the second half is a real splendour with one of the best performances from the versatile star in Lal. He, with the help of fabulous frames and interesting dialogues, propel the movie toward the climax, which is a real stunner. 

Historic Match

What a match it's ! Its a great fight between gladiators. Gladiator Russel crowe was also there to watch the fight. If someone missed yesterday's wimbledon final, sorry guys you've missed the match of the century, for the HIstoric Last set.

Noopura - Annual Day Celebration of CEC-Doha

Rushed to Doha cinema by 5:15 pm after picking deepa and sruti from the makeup camp of CEC. by 6 pm sharp the programme started. Sruti was performing today in 3 items of bharatanatyam.

It's a colorful evening of Classical Dance, Music and Martial arts presented by students of Children Education Centre Doha. Started with Rangapooja to the tune of Vaishnavajanatho which morphed later to mahaganapathim in nattai and leading to grandfinale of vishnusahasranamam verses 'shuklambaradaram' and saanthaakaram. It's hearttouching to view all the dancers in rhythmic synchronization and in the end they formed a beautiful lotus. It's followed by several items in bharatanatyam. later martial art karate was demonstrated followed by keyboard recitals by some students. Carnatic music students performed Swathitirunal's version of Ramayanam in raagamalika set to roopaka taalam. The programe ended with dance drama 'Maanishaada' which was innovative in its presentation aptly using the projection systems for creating the background of forest. few highlights below is not clear as I was shooting with my nokia E90 communicator. later will get some beautiful coverage when official video is released.

   Newspaper report published in Gulf Times about this programme. 

Anjali Kalyanam Highlights

It's memorable function indeed. I was attending our traditional marriage after around 5 years. And this was 3 days marriage with joy, tears and tradition all mixed in one package. Well done, Rajumama, for your great endeavour and prayers, god has given a wonderful gift to cherish for ever. Visiting Chennai and met all our relatives after more than 8 years. 

Watch the highlilghts of the marriage function of 2 days cut into less than 5 mts. 

Wait after pressing play button for buffering and reduce the volume of your speaker or player as the sound in the hall is not edited.

UP - Animation Movie

Up is a computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios about a cranky old man and an overeager scout who fly to South America in a floating house suspended from helium balloons. It is distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, and premiered by opening the 2009 Cannes Film Festival as the first animated film ever to do so. The film was released on May 29, 2009 in North America and scheduled for release on October 16, 2009 in the United Kingdom. 

On its opening day, Up is estimated to have earned $21,400,000. It went on to be at #1 at the box office with an estimated $68.2 million.

production designer Lou Romano has posted a massive post on his blog, chock-full of production artwork and tests from his work on Pixar’s newest film, “Up”.

Visit http://louromano.blogspot.com/

Dubai in Recession

Dubai is going thru the tough times in this period of recession. Go thru the photos which photographer Mouse Chellappan had captured in his innovative camera, which is not visible for normal cameras. The above photo shows the famous Dubai Metro which gives cost effective solution in the time of recession. Click to ENLARGE. 
Poor fellow who bought the dream vehicle of his life, HUMMER, is not ready to leave his favourite. Giving innovative economical finish for the recession and use to the maximum. 
Kerala has extended its support by offering 'cheap' and the 'cheapest' transport in the world the notorious, ooops, famous KSRTC. Yesterday KSRTC started its service from Dubai direct to Valaanjeri kerala. 

U Tun Verdict

The Recent verdict by Indian Electorate was a classic U turn, which inspired me to draw the below cartoon.




PLEASE CLICK ON THE CARTOON TO VIEW IN DETAIL

Yatho Annah Tatho Manaha

If you wish for a healthy mind and body, our ancient Indian Culture and scriptures suggest VEGETARIAN FOOD.

One of the great minds in California University, Prof WinBurg, did an experiment. Wild Animals like Lion, Tiger and leopards were caged in the backyard of his huge house and he started to take care of these animals. Once he had a sudden idea to give vegetarian food to these carnivorous animals and started feeding strictly vegetarian food, that too in Indian Style. After about 75 days, these animals were freed and allowed to walk in the backyard of his house. He noticed that they were all very calm and peaceful. He had a powerful electrode with him the same kind used in circus to control animals. He realized that he did not need an electrode to control these animals. Using all his experimental data, he wrote a book on the subject. He concluded that book using a sanskrit verse from the upanishad

"YATHO ANNAH: TATHO MANAH:" meaning our mental state depends on the food we eat and it is not about just the body. The above incident was narrated by great philosopher and scientist Dr Gopalakrishnan in 'Jeeva Dhara' programme. (Sri Gopalakrishnana is the director of Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage and his lectures of our indian heritage is a treasure to preserve. I have a very good collection of his lectures and often it inspires me to do any kind of job).


Now, watch the video telecast in Amrita TV about 3 months back about a VEGETARIAN Crocodile living in a Kerala Temple.

Happy Mother's Day

A Special Gift in the form of Song to my mother on Mother's Day. Rendered this song late in the night and some areas there's slight pitchout. I did this in one take in order to post on mother's day.  

Pramadavanam a Classic

HHAbdullah had lot of beautiful melodious songs. MGSreekumar got his first national award from this movie for 'Naadaroopini ' in kaanada raagam. But the most haunting ever green song will be pramadavanam by our great gaana gandharvan set in the raagam Jog by genius Raveendranmaash.  My humble attempt to sing this great song may not be on par with the original. But still I have tried my best to do justice to this most melodious song I liked. After singing this song my admiration and devotion towards our great singer yesudas has multiplied especially for his inimitable innovative sound and the style of singing he had invented thru 4 decades.

Pramadavanam Veendum | Upload Music

Maargazhi Raagam - Visual Audio Treat for Carnatic Rasika

At Gulf Cinema on April 29th 2009 Wednesday at 6:50  p.m. on reaching the theatre after beating the C-Ring road traffic, couldn't control the excitement and suspense, thinking what will be in store in this 'movie' and how they'd have presented.  And  the movie started at 7 p.m. with a meaningful musical silence with titles rolling on the screen and after that started flow of rich carnatic music (with out gimmicks) with wonderful raagaalapanas, difficult swarasangatis that took breath away. 

The experience offered by this film was the first of its kind. A Great Innovation to present Carnatic Music in the form of a movie. Sridhar's Audio design , the visual treat of PC Sreeram's Digital RedOne Camera, aesthetically designed sets by art director  rajeevan and satish kurusowa's crisp editing gives a different kind of treatment for this carnatic music movie.  One can't express this musical voyage in words. should watch in a DTS theatre to get the real feel of it. 

Attaching a trailer which gives a glimpse of this concert movie. 

Memorable Evening of Bharathanatyam and Ghazal

It's a memorable evening of bharathanatyam and ghazal at Doha cinema on 22nd April 2009 Wednesday. As usual following the soorya standard time, the programme started at 8 p.m. with bharatanatyam. Next day was a working day and inspite of that, we never wanted to leave the auditorium and stayed back till 11 p.m.

Click on the pictures to view enlarged. 

World Earth Day

Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. This date is Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.
The United Nations celebrates an Earth Day each year on the March equinox, which is often March 20, a tradition which was founded by peace activist John McConnell in 1969.

April 22, 1970, Earth Day marks the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Approximately 20 million Americans participated, with a goal of a healthy, sustainable environment.
Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his old staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.
Mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of environmental issues onto the world stage, Earth Day on April 22 in 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. The April 22 Earth Day in 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. For 2000, Earth Day had the Internet to help link activists around the world. By the time April 22 came around, 5,000 environmental groups around the world were on board, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in a record 184 countries. Events varied: A talking drum chain traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, for example, while hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., USA.
Earth Day 2000 sent the message loud and clear that citizens the world 'round wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy. Earth Day 2007 was one of the largest Earth Days to date, with an estimated billion people participating in the activities in thousands of places like Kiev, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela; Tuvalu; Manila, Philippines; Togo; Madrid, Spain; London; and New York.
Founded by the organizers of the first April 22 Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect change in local, national, and global policies. Earth Day Network’s international network reaches over 17,000 organizations in 174 countries, while the domestic program engages 5,000 groups and over 25,000 educators coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year. Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a half billion people participate in Earth Day Network campaigns every year.

IPL Fever

IPL has started from today. My Cartoon on this.

RamaKatha A Classical Song

Ramakathaa Gaanalayam Super Classic of all times | Upload Music

Recorded in 2007 for a gulf based programme telecast in KairaliTV called Qatar Kanavugal. A great composition by Raveendran maashu which should have given him National Award for best music Director which he never got. This song fetched Yesudas one more national award.

Happy Vishu

Vishu Greetings.

This song was composed and recorded in my doha binmahmoud house in the year 2003 for a vishu programme by my friend Balu (Balamurali). He composed this song penned by Gopi who is working in Tayseer Doha. Balu also handled the Dholak, Tabla, Mridangam instruments. Keyboard was played by Arun and rhythm composer by Manoj. We did the recording track by track. It took one full night. I did the track vocal for balu who was supposed to sing but finally the same track was used for the programme. One of the precious gems from balu which's gone unnoticed.

Performance at CEC on March 26th 2009 by Sruti

Sruti performed at Children Education Centre as part of farewell programme. Photos taken at our home after the performance.

Jai Ho ARR

Watched the SUN TV Special episode of ARR beign felicitated by entire musical family at Chennai on March 1st 2009. (Telecast on March 8th 2009). Got really touched the speech of Maestro Ilayaraja pouring accolades. Heaping laurels on Rahman, maestro Ilayaraja said that there are only a few who possess immense talent and go on to make it big. Rahman is a phenomenal musician. He added, "If MSV is Athara Sruthi, me Panchamam and ARR has gone to Uchcha sthyai." (Sa-Pa-Sa) a beautiful personification of these legends.

I do consider Tamil Music period as the same. MSV-IR-ARR. It's really a musical heaven with only musicians felicitating ARR. Few exceptions were there like Director K Balachander, AVM Saravanan and few others. Could see old singer PBSreenivas, TM Soundarrajan, L Raghavan. S. Janaki created sentimental waves. This feliciation function 'll be  a mile stone in the Indian Music history.

 Rahman was really humble and in the end speaking on the occasion, he said, ‘I was bit disappointed watching media channels especially certain websites that were continually passing abusive comments by comparing Ilayaraja sir with me. He’s the great master of all times and I’m nothing when compared to him… Elder Musicians like him laid the foundation and I’ve represented them for these awards’

Jai Ho Rahman. 

Dharavi becoming Tourist Spot !

This's the cartoon that flashed in my mind the moment 'Slum Dog Millionnaire' was declared winner of the oscar. Dharavi will be a tourist spot in future.. especially for AmeriKans..(Indian Americans as well). 

Click on the cartoon to view.....after this getting inspired to draw more cartoons...hmmm. let me give it a try ! The Cartoonist inside me is coming back again...