Cribbers' Junction: November 2005

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov 30, 2005

Song: Downtown (napster)
Artist: Petula Clark

Reason for the post -- (1) heard this song on Seinfeld (Episode: The Bottle Deposit (1)) ... the way the song was used in the episode was really hilarious ... and (2) was randomly browsing on napster recommendations, starting with yesterday's song, and I ended up with this song ...

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov 29, 2005

Another irish singer post ...

Song: The Blower's Daughter (listen/see) (lyrics)
Artist: Damien Rice
Album: O

Monday, November 28, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov 28, 2005

Song: Koi Humdum Na Raha (listen) (lyrics)
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Composer: Kishore Kumar
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov 27, 2005

Song: Azhage Sugama (listen)
Singer: Srinivas, Sadhana Sargam
Composer: A R Rahman
Lyrics: Vairamuthu

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov 26, 2005

Song: Inside Your Heaven (listen/see)
Artist: Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood was last year's American Idol finalist (?), which was when I first heard her. She was really good in that final. Recently, I came across this single she released (probably as part of American Idol) on napster.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov 25, 2005

Song: As time goes by (napster)
Artist: Tony Bennett

Einstein is one sceintist who has caught the fascination of one and all ...
" ... yet we get a trifle weary,
with Mr. Einsteins theory ..."

Anyway, this post is basically a plug for the movie Casablanca. This song first appeared in this movie -- people who haven't seen it, this movie is a must see. I can't classify the genre -- weirdly romantic, but basically drama.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov 24, 2005

Song: More than a Feeling (napster)
Artist: Boston
Album: Boston

This was a major 70s band. Supposedly this band's music was the precursor to contemporary heavy metal bands. Other good songs by this band are 'Dont Look Back' and the classic light rock song 'Amanda'

As for this song i first heard it when I created my radio station on yahoo! a few years back and really liked it. For a whole month I was stuck with only the tume of this song. Only yesterday I remembered a couple of lyrics and hence was able to identify the song. I think the time has come for commercial music portals like yahoo!, itunes, etc, to incorporate "Query by Humming" ;-)

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Song of the day, Nov 23, 2005

Song: You're beautiful (listen/see)
Artist: James Blunt

Nanduh introduced me to this song a couple of days back- i really liked it. Typical Brit guy...typical brit song. Hope you like it. Free video are there.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov. 22, 2005

Song: Temptation (napster)
Artist: Diana Krall
Album: The Girl in the Other Room

NFC mentioned Diana Krall last night. Says that reviews for home-theatre speakers recommend playing Diana Krall to check out how good the speakers are with respect to vocals!

This album is a very jazz oriented one. In most parts it has jazz covers of many pop/country songs (which I have never heard before).

Monday, November 21, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov 21, 2005

Song: Fusion 2 (listen)
Artist: Moksha

Moksha is a fusion band from Cornell!! I heard them at the recent Diwali Show. They were not at their full strength (no violin, mridangam) but were still very impressive. The lead guitarist's (Aditya Iyer) guitaring was the high point of the performance. The music on their website is quite mature and very good.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov. 20, 2005

Song: Kalaivaaniye listen)
Movie : Sindhu Bhairavi
Ragam : Kalyani

A Carnatic Music post from me, inspired by Vivek & Co.'s splendid performance last evening at the Society for India Diwali show. This is a song composed by Ilayaraja for the movie "Sindhu Bhairavi" in Tamil. Every Carnatic song is characterized by a Ragam or scale. A Ragam, in turn, is specified by the sequence of notes for the up-scale (Aarohanam) and the down-scale (Avarohanam).
This particular song although characterized by a very common ragam, "Kalyani", has only the up-scale and no down-scale. If you listen to the song carefully, you will notice that the notes rise in a certain sequence and then jump down instead of following some scale of descent.
I will try to translate the lyrics when I get the time.

Friday, November 18, 2005

A timely thought about the blog

Look at the description of the title of the blog above (the line below the title); replace the first and third 'crib' by 'pj'. And appreciate the result :-)

Cricket Timepass

This I guarantee you is hi-funda timepass. Go to Google Video and search for cricket. In there take a look at the Zaheer Khan video - -this is total hi-funda long-distance (or short-distance?) onnetut, and the highlights from the unforgettable 1999 world cup semifinal. There are many others that are pretty interesting too.

-VV

ps: I think the Zaheer Khan video, which incidentally is from B'lore (LP's long-distance inspiration?) would be infinitely more enjoyable if Ravi Shastri had spared us his expert commentary.

Cribbers' Junction

Finally I posted the fall pics I took.. chk it out at http://acsp.ece.cornell.edu/members/anima/album/fall-05/index.html

Song of the day, Nov 18, 2005

Song: Daffodil Lament (napster)
Group: The Cranberries
Album: No Need To Argue

This is my favourite song by The Cranberries.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Song of the day, Nov 16, 2005

Song: Ezhisai Geethamae (listen listen to clip which says S Janaki)
Singer: K J Yesudas
Album: Rasigan Oru Rasigai

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov 15, 2005

Song: The Man of Constant Sorrow (napster) (video) (lyrics)
Album: O Brother Where Art Thou (Soundtrack)
Artist: Soggy Bottom Boys (!)

I heard this song first in the above movie. It is very characteristic of the movie (which is a very interesting adaptation of the 'odyssey' of 3 prisoners in Mississppi -- a must see). It seems to have been sung by many other country singers like Bob Dylan, Aisson Kraus, etc.

The lyrics are quite foreboding (and for once not about your girl ...) but the music is light and in fact foot-tapping!

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Song of the day, Nov 13, 2005

A Sunday and a longish post on classical music. This time it is Arabic classical music. Simon Shaheen is a Palestine born oud and violin virtuoso and composer. He grew up in the Israel city of Haifa.

Of growing up as a Palestinian musician Shaheen says, "Living in Israel, I couldn't go to any of the Arab countries. I remember when I was like five years old, playing the oud and the violin, everyone who listened to me used to say 'What a talent, it's so sad that this little boy can't go and play in Beirut and Cairo and Damascus.' You know we're talking about surrounding cities and countries that the borders were closed. I couldn't go there. So one way to fulfill this dream was by coming to the United States in 1980 and as an immigrant, obtaining the citizenship and the American passport, and then and go and visit the Arab countries."

The first piece is from a historic concert "Two Tenors and Qantara" -- the two tenors being Wadi El Safi (the Voice of Lebanon) and Sabah Fakhri along with Simon Shaheen's orchestra Qantara -- at Las Vegas in the spring of 2000.

Song: Al Qantara (listen)
Album: Two Tenors & Qantara
(I could only link to a sample to this song. If you come home sometime, I will play it for you guys. It is really amazing.)

The next one is an amazing fusion between Arabic and Indian classical music. You can hear both indian and arabic classical music without one drowning the other.

Song: Dawn (Rag Kirwani - Maqam Nahawand) (listen ... search for simon shaheen on the page)
Artists: Simon Shaheen and Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

Finally, the next two are from Simon Shaheed's latest album 'Blue Flame'. The music in this album has elements of jazz added to the arabic orchestra. Nevertheless, the music is really good.

Song: Olive Harvest (listen)
Album: Blue Flame

Song: Blue Flame (listen)
Album: Blue Flame

More Poetry ....

But this time it is not an Indian. Wislawa Szymborska (Poland) won the nobel prize for literature in 1996. These are her poems i liked a lot ...

On Death, without Exaggeration
Utopia
The Joy of Writing

Friday, November 11, 2005

Song of the day, Nov 11, 2005

Song: Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon (listen) (lyrics)
Singer: Uma Devi
Album: Dard (1947)
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

Shakeel Badayuni has penned great songs for movies like Mughal-e-Azam, Baiju Bawra, Bees Saal Baad (Kabhi Deep Jale ...), Chaudvi Ka Chand, etc. The above song is the first song he penned for a movie. On his first meeting with Naushad, Shakeel Badayuni summed up his poetic prowess in one line
"Hum Dil Ka Afsana Duniya Ko Suna Denge,
Har Dil Me Mohabbat Ki Ek Aag Laga Denge.."

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov 9, 2005

This Mani Rathnam/Ilayaraja 's first combo ... This is Mani Rathnam's first movie.

Song: Naguva Nayana (listen)
Singers: SPB and S Janaki
Album: Pallavi Anupallavi
Composer: Ilayaraja

Translation of the pallavi of the song :

When the eyes smile, the silence is sweet, and the hearts resonate together, who needs words?

This is a new language, a melodious poem. Who needs a poet to sing this song?

The rest of the song is not that great -- the original itself (in dig) is okay, but not worth the translation.
(It's stuff like: I will make you laugh today; I will never let go of your hands, and so on)

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Vikram Seth

Past few days I have been reading Vikram Seth's poems. I love most of his poems. Predictably or unpredictably, I like the romantic poems more than others. I like the way he packs intense emotion into matter-of-fact words or says something witty in a very lyrical way. I thought I'd post some of them here. If you like the poem, do drop in a line.

I know a lot of people, many in my family, whom I can imagine saying the poem below :)

Prandial Plaint

My love, I love your breasts. I love your nose.
I love your accent and I love your toes.
I am your slave. One word and I obey.
But please don't slurp your coffee that way.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Since it's the season..

Song of the Day, Nov 7, 2005

Song: Jesus, bleibet meine freude (Jesus, joy of man's desiring) (napster)
Artist: Yo-Yo Ma
Album: Essential Yo-Yo Ma

People who do not have napster, but have a mac (and flaunt it around), one of the tunes used by iphoto for slideshows is this very tune. This is a slightly faster instrumental version of the original Bach Cantata # 147.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Fall @ Ithaca, 2005

Ithaca Falls ...

near ithaca falls ...

behind AKP home ...

and finally ... the photo ...

For the rest of the photos .. come to my office to see prints.

Song of the day, Nov 6, 2005

Another telugu song. The reason for the post are the great lyrics in the song (Pappu can you translate for junta?)

Song: Premaledani Premincharaadani (listen) (lyrics)
Singer: SPB
Album: Abhinandana
Composer: Ilayaraja
Lyrics: Athreya

There's no love, don't love.

That there is no love, that one shouldn't love,
That you are the proof for that, let me proclaim..
...oh my dear, hats off to you.

That one is not even human with a broken heart,
That even hard rocks [unlike you] shed tears,
That the fire of jilted love will never douse,
Let me knock on the bolted doors of your heart and tell you.
Without peace, you have become lifeless.
Stripped of life, devoid of love and care, I exist.

That I should continue life, wiping your memory off,
That I should die if can't wipe your memory off.
This mad-man knows but is helpless.
Let me sing this till my heart bursts,
and in those countless pieces,
That it'll be you over and over again, let me lament.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Song of the day, Nov 5, 2005

Song: Raga Piloo link (also on napster)
Album: West Meets East (The Ravi Shankar Collection - The historic Shankar-Menuhin sessions)
Artist: Pandit RaviShankar and Yehudi Menuhin

This album is a collection of various pieces recorded when Pandit Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999, bio) "jammed" together in the late 60s. All the pieces in the album are really good.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Song of the Day, Nov 4, 2005

Album: House of Flying Daggers (napster)
Composer: Shigeru Umebayashi

This is a very good album (sort of similar to Crouching Tiger... and Hero but more melodic). The tracks that are really good are :
Lovers (Mei and Jin)
Farewell No. 1
Farewell No. 2
Beauty Song

The translation for the lyrics for the 'Beauty Song' that I found on the web is (should ask some chinese junta for exact meaning)

a rare beauty in the North, she's the finest lady on earth
a glance from her, the whole city goes down
a second glance leaves the nation in ruins
there exists no city or nation, that has been more cherished
than a beauty like this.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Song of the day, Nov 3 2005

Song: Ghallu Ghallu listen

Singers: SPB, P. Susheela

Music director: Ilayaraja.

I wanted to post this gult song "Ghallu ghallu". I recently heard this song again and was smitten by its melody and the singers' voices. But most of all its the beauty of the lyrics. So much that I translated the lyrics for you. I didn't capture the lyrical beauty and alankarams but the rich metaphors should come across.

The female lead is a gifted classical dancer more interested in becoming an air-hostess than a dancer. The male lead is persuading her to be more disciplined. Their arguments are interesting, and contrast different philosophies towards life.

Lyrics

SPB: let anklets resonate ghal-ghal-ghal
while like lightning you dance,
the excited sky'll burst with joy jhal-jhal-jhal,
the dark clouds can't pour such sweet drizzles,
green pastures'll undulate on this earth.

Sus: Anklets resonate ghal-ghal-ghal
while like lightning I dance,
the excited sky'll burst with joy jhal-jhal-jhal,
like a mischievous stream i flow,
with no limits on speed.

SPB: let anklets resonate ghal-ghal-ghal
while like lightning you dance,
Sus: the excited sky'll burst with joy jhal-jhal-jhal,

SPB: Your gait will be rhythm itself.
Sus: aha-hahha-haahaha.
SPB: You'll sway like a flower in the fragrant malaya hills.
Sus: ahahaa hahahaa
This zephyr wont be bound by fish-nets.
Who'll teach the mountain streams to meander, anyway?

SPB: Even 'Time' has its routine (discipline)
Sus: It won't learn your lessons though.
SPB: If not bound by the swirling hair-locks of Nataraja,
would the bursting, leaping Ganges have any value?

Sus: Anklets resonate ghal-ghal-ghal
while like lightning I dance,
SPB: the excited sky'll burst with joy jhal-jhal-jhal,

Sus: You can't bind the leaping waves in rhythm.
SPB: aha-.....
Sus: Can't confine a sweet dream song to a raga.
SPB: Will waves ever reach the skies they desire?
To melt like a dream, is that the point of life?

Sus: You can't say no and command
SPB: aa aaa ........
Sus: You can't say no and command
my drifting thoughts and dreams.

SPB: Wish-streams shouldn't cross limits
Sus: Restricting the tireless playfulness of the springs of fragrant gardens is pointless.
Isn't it pointless?

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Song of the day, Nov 2, 2005

This seems to be a new movie (on Taj Mahal, again!), the music for which has been composed by Naushad ...

Song: Apni Zulfein Mere listen
Singer: Hariharan
Album: Taj Mahal
Composer: Naushad

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Song of the day, Nov 1, 2005

On occasion of Deepavali ...

Song: Ninne Nammithi(nayya) listen (also on napster)
Singer: Sudha Raghunathan
Composer: Mysore Vasudevachar
Ragam: Simhendra Madhyamam