Back to discuss Music now!

Hello Friends,

After a gap of almost year and a half, am now back to the Blog as I decided to share some of my thoughts on music..

I started posting some medley mixes based on Ragas, which a few of you would have seen on mixcloud already. Am going to continue writing about these on my blog, so it can be used for future references.

To start with, I will get on to a medley that I posted first on mixcloud. Quite a lot of information is available on the net about ragas and film songs etc.. my intent is not to just write again about that, but to make a blend of such beautiful songs using my little knowledge in music editing and mixing, so that you can listen to the joy of some great songs strung together.

I would now explain a bit about the songs used in this medley first..

The song starts with an eclectic mix of Hindi folkish blended with mild western, with Carnatic lead ins.. and then it effortlessly jumps on to deliver pure Carnatic delight.. Yesudas delivering Maha Ganapatim set to mild drum beats in the background.. what more can you ask for in a fusion setup..

All credits for the blend so far are purely to Vidyasagar, who has made this wonderful stuff in the Malayalam movie "Millenium Stars"..

From here, the song jumps back to Tamil where I have blended the charanam of "Chennai Sentamizh" song from the movie M Kumaran - music by Srikanth Deva.

Largely, this is based on Naattai Raga, and brings forth one of the best blends of various forms of music from India's length and breadth... as such, this is one of my favorites.

Will see you soon with the next mix shortly..

Here is the great composition - largely a beautiful work of Vidyasagar, with a fine work of Srikanth Deva added at the end for a mix effect.

Would appreciate your views & comments..

Mixed Medley by P.K. Hari on Mixcloud

Birbal Stories # 31 - Back to Square One

As usual a lot of people were present in Akbar's durbar. A famous astrologer had come from a far away country.

He was talking about the Solar System and the Earth's shape.
At one point Akbar said, "If the earth is round, and if one travel strait towards one direction, he will come back to the same spot from where he has started the journey."
"Theoretically it is correct", said the astrologer.
"Why not in real life?", asked the king.
"One has to cross oceans, mountains and forests to keep the path straight." the astrologer said.
"Sail through the oceans, make tunnels in the mountains and use elephants to cross the forests." Akbar found the solution.
"Still it is impossible" said the astrologer.
"Why?" Asked Akbar.
"It may take years to complete the whole journey" said the astrologer
"Years? How many?" asked Akbar.
"I don't know. May be a hundred years or more" said the astrologer
"Don't worry I will ask my ministers. They have an answer for everything" Akbar looked at the ministers.
"Impossible to calculate"
"Around 25 years"
"Fifty years or less"
"80 days"
"Why Birbal, you haven't uttered a word" the king showed his surprise at Birbal's silence.
"I was just calculating the time required to go round the earth" explained Birbal.
"And did you get the answer?" asked the king.
"Sure." Said Birbal "It will take just one day."
"Just one day! Birbal, it is Impossible! Even it will take more than one day to cross our country." Said Akbar.

"It is possible. Provided you travel at the speed of the Sun" said Birbal with a smile.

Birbal Stories # 30 - Cooking the Khichdi

It was winter. The ponds were all frozen.

At the court, Akbar asked Birbal, "Tell me Birbal! Will a man do anything for money?" Birbal replied, 'Yes'. The emperor ordered him to prove it.
The next day Birbal came to the court along with a poor brahmin who merely had a penny left with him. His family was starving.

Birbal told the king that the brahmin was ready to do anything for the sake of money. The king ordered the brahmin to be inside the frozen pond all through the night without any attire if he needed money.

The poor brahmin had no choice. The whole night he was inside the pond, shivering. He returned to the durbar the next day to receive his reward.
The king asked "Tell me Oh poor brahmin! How could you withstand the extreme temperature all through the night?" The innocent brahmin replied "I could see a faintly glowing light a kilometre away and I withstood with that ray of light."

Akbar refused to pay the brahmin his reward saying that he had got warmth from the light and withstood the cold and that was cheating. The poor brahmin could not argue with him and so returned disappointed and bare-handed.
Birbal tried to explain to the king but the king was in no mood to listen to him. Thereafter, Birbal stopped coming to the durbar and sent a messenger to the king saying that he would come to the court only after cooking his khichdi.
As Birbal did not turn up even after 5 days, the king himself went to Birbal's house to see what he was doing. Birbal had lit the fire and kept the pot of uncooked khichdi one metre away from it.

Akbar questioned him "How will the khichdi get cooked with the fire one metre away? What is wrong with you Birbal?"
Birbal replied "Oh my great King of Hindustan! When it was possible for a person to receive warmth from a light that was a kilometre away, then it is possible for this khichdi, which is just a metre away from the source of heat, to get cooked."

Akbar understood his mistake. He called the poor brahmin and rewarded him 2000 gold coins.