Ideas & Views

What are the various aspects of a musician? Rather, what are the qualities that are required for a performing artiste to become one and be one? What distinguishes him/her from others and does that serve as a Selling Point to the audience? There are various aspects to a musician as there are to music itself. I put them down here not in the order of importance, but as they occurred to me.  Training ( Patantharam ) - There is a significant ignorance amongst the non-trained listeners that anyone with a good voice and capability to develop it could be a successful musician. They will quote Ilayaraja, SPB and Chitra for examples. Little do they know how skilled a listener Ilayaraja is. A good author is a voracious reader. So is a music composer a tremendous listener and a discrete one at that. Wouldn't Ilayaraja take the effort to get trained when he chose it as a career?  Once SPB/Chitra got a chance, wouldn't they run to get the fundamentals strong and steady? They may ...

Why not the full Bhaire Bhanwari concert? Why are people so frugal in sharing the best music?   Ma'am  (my friends know the connection)  walks a new mile every day. Hats off to her. Would love to have a glimpse of her in concert again. It has been many years since the last one and I have grown very thirsty for her music. "Bhakthi in Music, to Music" - in its pristine form, flows through her to the world. What a manodharma!  I used to think - Adi Sankara, Azhwars, Saint Ramanuja, Koorathazwan, Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Vivekananda - and so many saints and stalwarts walked on earth. But, why did I not have the blessing to be born in their time period or witness a great soul? With BJ, the feeling is complete and transcendental.   I badly wanted to listen and immerse myself into this Bhaire Bhanwari after reading about it. Time hasn't come for it.

It has been many years since I came across anyone who is as excited to sing as excited to explain . Gowri blew me off. Enthusiasm flowing in music, backed by strong theory, made me stop whatever I was doing and drop my jaw in awe of this musician cum rasika. As much an erudite scholar, she is a class musician as well. Wow. Enjoyed every once of this playlist. Nota bene: For readability, I kept the Smt and other terms of reverence out. Smt. Gowri, it is.

I have lost touch and taste for fiction. Harry Potter was the only interesting read I spent hours before. Picked up this book of Chetan's from the local lending library while searching for some interesting read to keep me sane from the boredom of Trichy.  Trichy is a unique city (like any other). There are plenty of rural areas around it where you can actually spend quality time with people and farms. Mukombu and Kallanai dam are attractions to some extent too.    I did my high school at Trichy . All my friends and I have moved out to wherever our jobs took us. Trichy  was boring to me because I didn't have a circle in which I can socialize for long hours. More so because  I had to stay home most of the time with my toddler and the elderly group. We didn't  have  much conveniences and entertainment media at home to beat the heat either.  Coming to Revolution 2020 , I found the title to be really odd for the plot. It just doesn't su...