Rahul Deshpande’s Audio Blog

About a year ago, I discovered that renowned classical vocalist Rahul Deshpande has been publishing an audio blog on Soundcloud. Rahul Deshpande is the grandson of Vasantrao Deshpande (who we have discussed on this blog before). He is very active in the theatre scene, where he has recently revived old musicals (or Sangeet Natak as they are called in Marathi) with new actors. One of these musicals, Katyar Kaljat Ghusli, was recently made into a movie, where he provided the voice for the character of Khansaheb. He also organises the very popular Vasantostsav festival annually, in the memory of his grandfather.

In his audio blog, he covers a range of musical styles including bhajans, bandishes, ghazals and even popular music. This includes him singing parts of,  or entire pieces and then going on to explain the various nuances not just pertaining to the music, but also the lyrics. This is accompanied by anecdotes and his own path to becoming a successful musician.

So do check it out!

Albert Marsicano

Right then. So several months ago, I promised four recommendations. Clearly that has not happened, and for once, boredom is not the reason. Anyway, here’s the third of those four recommendations.

Albert Marsicano is this Brazilian guy who learnt his art from the very best – Pandit Ravi Shankar – and yes you guessed right, he is a sitar player. His website also tells me he is quite the academic types and has published several books on poetry right from Basho to Keats, not to mention several papers and articles on music

I discovered this guy by accident when I was looking for a particular Hendrix video on youtube. One of the related links was a rendition of Purple haze on the sitar. I quite liked it and searched for more. I found more great stuff by this guy.

Here are a few videos. Enjoy

Purple Haze:

Kashmir:

And my favourite of the lot – Iron Man.

 

 

The Manganiyar Seduction

Here is the second of the promised four recommendations from my side.

Roysten Abel is an awesome guy. Brought up in Ooty and an alumnus of NSD, he is instrumental in coming up with one of the best musical innovations I have seen in the Manganiyar Seduction. After his stint at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, he started putting up his own shows. He created acts featuring street musicians who were out of work and toured Europe. After this success he also made a few more plays including one on the life of Anne Frank.

The Manganiyar Seduction however is by far his most interesting work.

The Manganiyars are a muslim community from Rajasthan and consider themselves descendents of Rajputs. They are famous for their typical folk music which makes heavy usage of bow instruments (including a particularly interesting instrument called the ‘kamayacha’ which has a large sound box and thus gives a great resonating sound) and vocals. They mostly sing songs about maharajas and, if wikipedia is to be believed, even about Alexander the great.

But, you must be wondering, where does the seduction come in? The ‘Seduction’ comes in form of the visual presentation of the show. A hundred odd musicians sit in cubicles (very similar to those in Hollywood Squares, just a lot cooler) which are lit up in bulbs and have a red theme – supposedly a direct reference to the Red Light district of Amsterdam.

In addition to this, you have dancers on the stage (as can be seen in the pic). There is not much more I can really say to describe this, but implore you to watch the video and see the magic for yourselves.

Enjoy.

Oh, by the way, you can see Roysten Abel’s website for more info about The Manganiyar Seduction as well as his other stuff, which I am sure will be awesome as well.

 

Krishna Das

It’s been a long time since something was posted on this blog. To tell you the truth it was mostly procrastination. Now I’ve finally got around it and have 4 new recommendations which I will post over the next week or so. Here is the first one.

I’ve been a doing a lot of random Youtubeing and random reading lately. On one such random walk, I chanced upon a very unique artist. He went by the name of Krishna Das and had recently released an album called “Heart as wide as the world”. I looked him up on youtube and found him to be quite fascinating.

He was born Jeffrey Kagel and was a regular follower of the 60’s rock scene. Somewhere down the line he met a chap going by the name of Ram Das who had just come back from India and could not stop gushing about his guru – Neem Karoli Baba aka Maharaj-ji. Jeffrey too went to India and found Maharaj-ji and stayed with him for a good three years. He learnt devotional music and studied Bhakti Yoga. And then Jeffrey Kagel  returned to the States but as Krishna Das.

What makes his music extremely different is that he mixes the normal Western rock and roll tunes, and the normal blues chorals with kirtans, yes you read right – kirtans!

Krishna Das does not have a great voice, but he does bring a lot of feeling into his singing, much like Bob Dylan(who also does not have a great singing voice) and that really makes all the difference.

The mixture of kirtans and blues is very interesting to say the least. It is actually quite commendable that he has been able to mix styles as disparate as these to come up with a very new sound which, quite frankly, does not fit into the generic genre of ‘New age music’ that critics have dumped him into. His genre ‘kirtan roll’ ( as he calls it) is something that deserves a bit more recognition.

He uses both Indian and western instruments – Harmonium, table, violin, guitar etc. The use of the guitar on kirtans and the use of the tabla and harmonium on blues is yet another unique aspect of the music.

Do check out this guy. Whether or not you like listening to kirtans mixed with blues, if you listen to him in a purely musical sense, you will find that he does have rhythm and soul, and strictly musically speaking,his work  is very good to say the least.

Here is my favourite song by Krishna Das called Narayana/For your love which combines the kirtan “Narayana Narayana Narayana
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudeva” with the Yardbirds classic “For your Love”. Enjoy:

Recommendations from across the border

This post is essentially about a Pakistani Television show called Coke Studio. It is possible that many of our readers have already seen and heard stuff from Coke Studio. Coke Studio is a show that premiered in 2008 and is already into its third season. It features prominent artists from Pakistan who try to fuse their individual styles and genres to create a “hatke” soundscape. IMHO, they do a great job. Here are some songs you should listen to:

1. Arif Lohar and Meesha Shafi – Alif Allah
2. Zeb and Haniya – Nazaar Eyle, Paimona, Bibi Sanam
3. Abida Parveen – Nigah-e-Darwaishan, Ramooz-e-Ishq
4. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Ali Azmat – Garaj Baras
5. Shafqat Amanat Ali – Khamaj, Kuch Ajab Khail
6. Aunty Disco Project – Sultanat
7. Noori – Hor Vi Neevan, Tann Dolay
8. Sanam Marvi – Pritam
9. Tina Sani – Mori Araj Suno

Any more “likes” from your end are most welcome!

(Hat tip to Sangeetha Ramaswamy for introducing the blogger to Coke Studio)

Vasantrao Deshpande

After a pretty long lull, during which our dear readers have hopefully been able to digest all the previous preaching, here is another recommendation.

Dr. Vasantrao Deshpande belonged to the so-called golden era of Marathi music. He took tutelage from different schools of music which lent strong musical foundations. He had a firm grasp not just over Marathi and Hindi, but also Urdu. Apart from being a vocalist, he was also proficient at playing the Tabla.

He was a highly skilled Hindustani classical vocalist, but his fame came mostly through Natyasangeet (literally, musical theater). His performance as “Khansaheb” in the play “Katyar Kaljat Ghusli” was probably his most popular stage appearance. This, and his fluency in Urdu led to his being titled Pandit Vasantkhan Deshpande. He also sang for Marathi films. Other than music, he was also an academic and he earned a PhD for his study of Hindustani Classical Music.

His vocal style was very different from that of his peers. He was greatly influenced by Master Dinanath Mangeshkar. A powerful voice coupled with immense control over his voice gave greater colour and depth to his singing.

A multi-faceted singer, a must hear.

Recommended recordings:

1) Numerous renditions of numerous ragas (especially some classic versions of Marwa and Maru Bihag)

2) Surat Piya Ki

3) Tejonidhi loh gol

4) Ya bhavanatil geet purane

5) Mruganayana Rasika Mohini

6) Kanada Raja Pandharicha

7) Shatajanma Shodhitana

Of course, I cannot include all over here. In case you would like to recommend a track you like, the comments section is always open.

The music of Cowboy Bebop

The music of Cowboy Bebop

This post is a guest post. Which is our way of saying a reader has sent in this article. (Hint: send in your articles! They’re always welcome). The author here is Mohit Karve.

Let me start off by saying that my knowledge of musical styles is limited. I cannot say with authority that a particular song is one genre or another. However, I do think I can distinguish between music that is brilliant and music that is not. It is with only that yardstick that I present to you Cowboy Bebop.

Cowboy Bebop is an anime from the late 1990s. And a fantastic one at that. Cowboy Bebop is set in the 2070s, where space travel is commonplace, following the fortunes of four bounty hunters aboard a spaceship of the same name. You can accuse it of lacking a coherent story. In fact, rather than a very loose thread holding the series together, the episodes are mostly stand-alone, and generally end on a tragic note. Yet, what the series does get right is the feel. I cannot describe it properly. The series makes you feel for the characters. The series establishes a brilliant relationship between the viewer and the characters. But I digress. This post is for the music of Cowboy Bebop, and not the series.

The music then. CB draws heavily on American music of the 60s and the 70s. Most of the episode titles make references to musical styles or specific songs. The episodes themselves are called sessions. Music is intertwined into the very essence of CB. The music explores a rich palette of music- beat, arabic, lounge, swing, heavy metal and a lot more. However, most of it falls into jazz, rock and blues. The people behind the music are a Japanese band called the Seatbelts, and prominently the composer for the band, Yoko Kanno. What you are treated with is a mix of music- slow and fast, to suit every mood.

There’s the excellent starting credits music – “Tank!” It’s an instrumental piece, and features a long solo on a saxophone. It’s a fast paced and vibrant track, and the first thing that you’ll hear if you start to watch CB. Then there’s “Space Lion”, a laid back, slow track. It has a wonderful mix of the sax and tribal chants. It fits in perfectly at the end of Jupiter Jazz, in partial mourning of the death of a character. And talking of death- the series has no aversion to violence and blood. You’ll see a lot of both in most episodes, if not all. “Tank” and “Space Lion” are excellent indicators of the contrasting music that the Seatbelts have played for the CB soundtrack.

The end credits song, “The Real Folk Blues” is an out and out rock song, sung in Japanese, and is another of the memorable songs on the sound track. There’s “Call me, call me”, a soft rock song (in English), that comes in at the end of the soul shattering session 24 – “Hard Luck Woman”. If you’re a fan of the mouth organ, there are two tracks that you’ll love- “Spokey Dorkey” and “Don’t Bother None”. “Don’t Bother None” features a mouth organ/ piano solo that literally drowns you in a flood of sublime music.

Mention must also be made of “ELM”, a single musician song- there’s just a guitar and a vocalist, who’s singing nothing in particular. There’s also a lot music that falls in the category of “Random Japanese Stuff”, which is still great to listen to. I could go on and on about various individual songs, but this post grows too long. The entire soundtrack is a very good listen, but it’s probably better to invest a few hours watching the whole series. You will certainly not regret it. The music takes what is already an iconic series to soaring heights. Whatever sort of music you like, the sheer diversity of CB’s music will definitely have something for you.

Recommendations:

I’ll post Youtube links, since these songs may not be easy to find.

Tank! – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-TAxm00jOg

The Real Folk Blues – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BQs9onayvU

Space Lion – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKnVaDwUg5s

Don’t Bother None – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJaf1k_EdNg

ELM – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR4TDBXebWc

Green Bird – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9POYDoHXUX0

Gotta Knock a Little Harder – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdE1JCEKtg4

Happy listening, and I hope you watch this (almost) legendary anime at some point in the future!

The S D Burman Era in Hindi Films

S D Burman, one of the best composers in Hindi films through the 50s and 60s hails from Tripura. He composed music for 100 movies, including Bengali films. He was of the royal lineage and began his initial training under his father (Nabadwipchandra Dev Burman) who was a sitarist and a hindustani classical singer.

He learnt under several eminent musicians comrprising K.C. Dey, Ustad Badal Khan (Sarangi player) and Ustad Alauddin Khan.

Although he started his career off with East Bengali and Tripuri folk-music, he soon made a reputation for himself in folk and light classical music. His first major hit was ‘Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya’ from Do Bhai (1947) sung by Geeta Dutt. His huge repertoire of folk tunes of the different traditions in the Tripura Kingdom majorly influenced his film compositions. He composed some beautiful folk songs like ‘O re majhi’ from Bandini, and ‘Chal Ri Sajni’ from Bombay ka Babu, the latter being soulfully sung by Mukesh. All the songs in Bandini are of an authentic rural nature.

Songs like ‘Poocho na kaise maine’ in Raag Ahir Bhairav from the film ‘Meri Surat Teri Aankhen’ are indicators of the fact that Sachin Da was profilic in classical music also. He used the very east Indian folk sound of Raag Pahadi frequently in his compositions. ‘Dil pukare’ from Jewel Thief, ‘Kora kaagaz’ from Aradhana, ‘Gata Rahe Mera Dil’ from Guide and ‘Dil ka bhanwar’ from Tere Ghar ke Saamne are a few songs in Pahadi.

His music immortalized movies like Pyaasa, Bandini and Devdas. In 2004, the soundtrack for Pyaasa was chosen as one of “The Best Music in Film” by ‘Sight & Sound’, the British Film Institute magazine. “Jaane woh kaise log the “ by Hemant Kumar (Hemanta Mukhopadhyay) and “Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye to kya hai” by Rafi from Pyaasa describe heart wrenchingly the agonies of a struggling poet.

He also sang a few songs like ‘O re majhi’ from Bandini, ‘Allah Megh De’ from Guide and ‘Safal hogi teri Aradhana’ in his unique raspy voice that had a very pleasant rustic touch to it. He won the National Award for best male playback singer in the year 1970 for Aradhana. Incidentally, Aradhana is the same film that has the number ‘Roop tera mastana’ and the famous ‘Mere Sapnon ki Rani’ (in which Sachin Karta made son RD play the mouth organ) which was the anthem of romance for the youth in the late sixties and early seventies and to some even today 🙂

Some of his songs are surprisingly very simple (easily sung or played) yet tremendously catchy like ‘Hai apna dil to awara’ from Solva saal, which has a delightful mouth-organ solo as its interlude, ‘Hum aapke aankhon mein’ and ‘Jaane woh kaise log the’ from Pyaasa, ‘Jeevan ke safar mein rahi’ from ‘Munimji’ and several others through which he conveyed his sheer genius with a handful of repetitive notes.

He also excelled at dealing with moods and emotions. Some of his best melancholic numbers to name a few are ‘Hum bekhudi mein’ from Kala Pani, ‘Dukhi man mere’ from Funtoosh, ‘O jaanewale’ (Bandini), ‘Jaayen to jaayen kahan’ (Taxi Driver), ‘Yeh Duniya’ (Pyaasa) and whole soundtrack of Devdas. He composed foot tapping comic numbers like ‘Babu Samjho Ishaare’ and ‘Paanch Rupayya Bara Ana’ for the then super hit comedy ‘Chalti ka naam gaadi’. Plus there is a hoard of stupendous romantic numbers among his compositions which would be too many to pen, even if you picked a small percentage of them.

Dev Anand was really taken with the magic of S D Burman’s music that for nearly all his movies Sachi Karta was the music director. They came together for some musically amazing films like ‘Guide’, ‘Teen Devian’, ‘Paying Guest’, ‘Bombay ka Babu’, ‘Nau Do Gyaarah’, ‘Tere Ghar ke Samne’, ‘Prem Pujari’ and several others. He masterfully used Mohd. Rafi, Hemant Kumar and Kishore Kumar to sing for Dev Anand. Needless to mention that all of them executed their jobs to perfection. IMHO Kishore’s best songs were composed by Sachin Karta (‘Khilte hain gul yahan’ from Sharmilee being one of the best).

Even towards the end of his career (and life) he gave music to big hits like Abhimaan, Chupke Chupke and Mili. His last composition on his death bed was for ‘Maine kaha phoolon se’ from Mili.

He remains to be the only music director to have won the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Music direction which was awarded to him in 1958.

Recommendations:

Na Tum Hamen Jano (Baat Ek Raat ki)

Din Dhal Jaaye (Guide)

Aise To Na Dekho (Teen devian)

Aankhon Mein Kya Jee (Nau Do Gyaarah)

Yeh Raat Yeh Chandni – Hemant solo version (Jaal)

Hai Apna Dil To Awara (Solva saal)

Jalte Hain Jiske Liye (Sujata)

Chal Ri Sajni (Bombay ka Babu)

Ore Majhi Mere Sajan Hai Us Paar (Bandini)

Khilte Hain Gul Yahan (Sharmilee)

Jayen To Jayen Kahan (Taxi Driver)

Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (Nau Do Gyaarah)

Tu Kahan Yeh Bata (Tere Ghar Ke Samne)

Aaj Phir Jeene Ki (Guide)

Gata Rahe Mera Dil (Guide)

Khoya Khoya Chand (Kala Bazaar)

Phoolon Ke Rang Se (Prem Pujari)

Shokhiyon Mein (Prem Pujari)

Chudi Nahin Yeh Mera (Gambler)

~ ~ ~

This post is the first guest post on this blog. It was written by Vinatha Iyengar from Bangalore. Loads of thanks to her.

In case you too want to publish something on this blog, mail us : askingfortreble@gmail.com

A spoonful of genius: CREAM

Few bands have existed with the same level of talent and individual brilliance as Cream. This English band was formed in 1966 by three of the greatest musicians to have walked this earth: Eric “God” Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. Each of them are good enough to make a successful band all by themselves. That is probably why Cream was the first and (in my opinion) the only band worthy of being called a ‘supergroup’.

Clapton had already proved his mettle with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and the Yardbirds. Bruce was known as amazing sessions musician with talent in playing several instruments. Baker came from a jazz background and this largely explains his virtuosity [More on Jazz drumming in a later post] .

When Cream released their first album, Fresh Cream, in 1966, they were an instant hit. It contained several blues covers such as Willie Dixon’s Spoonful, Robern Johnson’s Four Until Late, Muddy Waters’ Rolling and Tumblin and Skip James’ I’m so glad. All these songs are legendary. Cream almost made them their own with their power packed renditions. Spoonful in particular was haunting with its long drawn out guitar phrases and Bruce’s powerful vocals. The originals on that album included Sweet Wine (excellent song, nice lyrics, wildly fluctuating tempos), Sleepy Time Time which is again in the same vein as Spoonful, NSU with its powerful vocals and nice melody. My favourite song from the first album is however the little known track, Cat’s squirrel. It is an amazing instrumental with Bruce on the harmonica. Everything about the song is perfect.  The album also has Toad which is gut-busting drum solo, one of the longest in a rock song.

Their next album Disraeli Gears had quite a few more original songs. ‘Disraeli gears’ was produced by Felix Pappalardi *. The tracks on this album moved away a bit from blues and came closer to rock (though the blues influence is clearly visible). Clapton was particularly brilliant in this album with memorable riffs like Sunshine of your love and SWLABR, subtle guitar work in Strange Brew and very nice change with soft eerie music in We’re going wrong (the blues influence I was talking about) and the unique Tales of the Brave Ulysses with alternating soft guitars and heavy vocals.

The next album Wheels of fire contained songs like White room and Politician which became later known as ‘typical Cream songs’ with their blues based riffs, powerful vocals and intricate drumming. A unique song as far as songs of Cream are concerned, Pressed rat and Warthog, also featured on this album. This song had narration by Ginger Baker and no singing at all. Other good songs in this album are Deserted Cities of the heart and Those were the days, both with very nice lyrics.  This album contains one cover: Born under a bad sign by Albert King. I really don’t have words to describe it, other than Hendrix’s instrumental version of this song; Cream’s version is probably the greatest ever.

The last album Goodbye contained some of their unreleased songs. Most notable songs are the simplistic Anyone for Tennis and brilliant Badge (which features George Harrison on guitar).

If you asked people to name a song by Cream, most of them would say: Crossroads. This song was not in any album but was recorded live by Cream in 1968. This cover of Robert Johnson’s classic is considered by many to be the greatest version of the song (I feel it’s better than Johnson’s original). Crossroads is a small tablet which encapsulates everything great about Cream. Clapton’s slightly faster riff sets things off, Bruce’s bassline is amazing and Baker relentlessly plays along with the rhythm as he has done on so many occasions before. Clapton sings this one, unlike most Cream songs, and does a good job of it.

What made cream so great was that all three musicians knew how to complement each other. In Cream there were three lead musicians. No one played second fiddle to anyone. Clapton was the melody god with his riffs and tunes. Bruce held the song together with his solid bassline and commanding vocals, and Baker redefined drumming for all music to come. Baker used to actually play drums according to the lead guitar i.e. he used to play along with the melody instead of playing his normal beat and the others following. His playing ranged from the extremely subtle to the wildly powerful, such was his range. To really get what I am trying to say, get your hands on Billboards top 100 for the years 1964 and 1965 and listen to 20 songs at random. Then listen to Cream and you’ll see what I mean by Baker changed drumming forever. Clapton’s reputation has a mind-blowing guitarist was cemented for ever with Cream.

It’s one of the biggest tragedies in music that Cream lasted for only 4 albums and just about 2 years. In just two years they gave us such a treasure of music, that they will always be rated as one the greatest bands ever.

So in conclusion to end this post, as usual, the must listen list:

Ideally you should listen to all their songs.  But for someone who wants to give Cream a try first:

–          Crossroads

–          Spoonful

–          Sweet Wine

–          SWLABR

–          Tales of Brave Ulysses

–          Toad

–          Cats Squirrel

–          Strange Brew

–          Deserted Cities of the Heart

–          Badge

What are your favourite songs? Let us know in the comments.

*Felix Papplardi  later formed the band ‘Mountain’ ,Detailed review later , for now you can listen listen to Mississippi Queen, Great Train Robbery, Yasgurs Farm.

RIP Ronnie James Dio

Music lost one of its most entertaining figures yesterday: Ronnie James Dio.

He took his name from a member of the mafia named Johnny Dio and started his career as early as 1957 at the age of just 15. He started as the bassist of The Vegas Kings which later became Ronnie and the Redcaps. He took over as the vocalist in a few years and never looked back. He had a band called the Prophets in the early 60’s which was popular in the American club scene but had not quite made it professionally. IN the late 60’s he formed his first successful band : The Elves. His work with the Elves more or less cemented his reputation as heavy metal singer (though the term ‘Heavy Metal’ would be coined later, you get the point). IT is said that his work with the Elves largely contributed to his being chosen as the vocalist of Rainbow by Ritchie Blackmore when he formed his own band after quitting Deep Purple. After about 3 albums, he left Rainbow and joined Black sabbath (who had just booted out Ozzy) and made some of the best Sabbath music from the non-Ozzy period. This too however did not last. Finally Dio formed his own band named , well, Dio.

Dio was one of the biggest bands of the 80s, a decade in which metal ruled the world of music. In the 90’s Dio broke up and Ronnie went back to Sabbath and few more criss crosses. The last band he was a part of was Heaven and Hell.

He was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2009 and finally succumbed to it yesterday, the 16th of May, 2010.

Dio will forever be known as a powerful vocalist who lent his voice to Rainbow, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Dio – four of the most iconic heavy bands of the last 30 years. His vocals on a live version of Smoke on the Water are to die for.

A bit of trivia: Dio was not just the great heavy metal vocalist, but he also gave heavy metal its most famous symbol. That of the corna. I remember an interview of his where he said his grandmother used to show the corna to ward off evil. That Dio started the practise of the associating the Corna with Music is almost universally accepted.

So this was AFT’s tribute to one of the greatest musicians in the history Heavy Metal.

In case you have no idea what we are talking about, listen to some o Rainbow’s earlier stuff. Specifically songs like ‘Man on the silver mountain’ , ‘Temple of the King’ , ‘Stargazer’, ‘Run with the Wolf’ and ‘Kill the king’