High on Keeravani and LSD...Distortion and Kalyani

This blog is not dead....yet! Well, I am back after a long hiatus, a sort of a summer mini hibernation if you can call it. The sun has been extremely generous on Pune this summer, belting the city with much vigour while I have been cooling my heels esp for the past three weeks with absolutely no work other than chatting, orkutting, and reading all blogs and the forwards a software engineer is greeted with in his/her mailbox, every morning! And I have been religiously following this strict regime for over two months now that I almost fell into a rut had it not been for forums like Orkut, which paradoxically though has the potential to make a person a net addict. And I have almost become one I think!

With the summer in all its magnificence, what else have I been upto then?Like I said, nothing much other than orkutting and chatting. But thanks to these wonderful forums, I caught up with old friends, made new ones, fell in love with Keeravani (not a girl, duh! - the raga!!!) and LSD - L. Shankar's Double. I got some of his and L. Subramaniam's best music from an orkut friend. I was listening to both the maestros after a long time, that it gave me goosebumps to hear those same tracks I grew up listening. Conversation, Flight of the Bumble Bee, Pancha Nada Pallavi in Keeravani, Who's to Know, Natural Elements....:)

My dad was a music buff in his younger days and had quite a good collection - from MJ to Nazia Hassan to Yesudas to LSu and Shakti. Having started learning the violin at an early age, I had a predilection for Dr. L. Subramaniam and Shakti. Their music mesmerised me, with their speed, the entegetic compositions, and the occasional slow-paced ones. LSu was a childhood favourite and an idol. I wanted to be him, wanted to play like him when I grew up. But in the later years, I have become a fan of L. Shankar too; I think he is a tad better than LSu, but then both are geniuses! More about them later!

I have also been listening to some of Guitar Prasanna's music. Now here is one musician who really knows his stuff; he knows what they mean by 'fusion' of Carnatic and Jazz and Blues. Been listening to a couple of songs from his album ' Be The Change'. I never thought Kalyani would sound so awesome on an electric guitar. The track 'Raga Bop' has Prasanna jamming on Kaapi in acoustic guitar, on top of a jazz based bass line and soft drums alone! The best part is when he changes the rag to Varali and changes back to Kaapi and goes onto play on a jazz scale interspersed with Kaapi. Musical ambrosia! Its been a long time dream to learn jazz. Its one of the most advanced forms of music of the Western world and it would be lovely to learn the basics. There is another track called 'Ta Ka Ta Ki Ta Blues' - very peppy, with light distortion and a mellow saxophone. I get remined of 'Caroline in the City' whenever I hear the sax in this track!

But the pick of the lot is the 'Kalyani Connection'. I am always a fan of any ragam with Prati Madyamam; that periya Ma gives an ethereal feeling to the ragam I feel. The soft distortion on which the lead is played, with acoustic strumming/picking and a melliflous piano in the background, and an acoustic guitar and a piano jam later leaves you with a sense of tranquil and peace.

Though I was never followed his music in the past (been to one of his live concerts when it happened in Pondicherry once, that was when I saw the bass God Keith Peters in action!), I am pretty excited about his new album 'Electric Ganesha Land' a tribute to Jimi Hendrix.

I never meant this post to be a review. Got carried away I guess. lol. So what else have I been upto? Made a trip again to campus, played infront of the BITSian audience in the audi though it was just a bass loop and I had thought I'd never get another chance to play in the audi again, did the usual introspection routines and realised a lot many things about myself, got myself out of an extension of my relocation here in Pune. So well yeah, I have been busy doing everything but work at office and listening to quite a lot of good music, with the usual Floyd thrown in between all this. And oh yeah! Have also been trying to study all those darned Englipis words for GRE! :P If it were not for the music, into a rut I woud have fell. Thank you god, for such lovely music.

Rest in next.

Have a great weekend!