Unai Arindal Nee Unai Arindal

As we are fast approaching the end of year 2009 given my schedule at this time of the year, I am not sure if I will have time to make another blog post before 12/31. So I decided to end 2009 postings on a philosophical note and some food for thought. Thus, I came about making this song.

While Late MGR was a great actor, I always thought his movies got that extra lift from social themes and some catchy songs. This song from the original movie Vetaikaran was sung by TM Soundarrajan for KV Mahadevan's music and as you might have guessed the lyrics was penned by Kanadasan.

Those were the days when MGR was an active Dravidian moment disciple with political ambitions and a number of his social and philosophical songs captured the hearts and imaginations of the general Tamil population more specifically the economically and socially backward ones.

Considering the new Vetaikaaran movie starring Vijay came out recently, I thought this would be an apt moment to do this golden oldy.

Let me take this opportunity to wish all my listeners "Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year"

As always, enjoy this song and please comment.




To view my video montage of this song please click here.

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Nejukul Peidhidum

In my profession there are 2 words that are very important, "logic" and "rationale" akin to "disease" and "cure" for doctors; having said that its only logical that after having recorded "En Iniya Pen Nilave" I had to do this song since in the movie Vaaranam Aayiram "En Iniya Pen Nilave" is sung by Surya as a prelude to this song. Anyway, I wanted to do a karaoke of this song and was looking for a pretext and/or a opportune moment. Harris Jeyraj does very few movies every year and though some of his songs sound very similar he has a great sense for melody and understands the pulse of today's youth. This is one of his catchy number gently sung by Hariharan.

The different thing about this karaoke is that there are several humming, chorus & interjections that it gave me an opportunity to understand the basics of voice mixing. My older daughter provided me support in a small way by lending her voice in one place which I thought came out well.

I hope you enjoy this karaoke and as always provide you feedback / comment.




To view my video montage of this song click here

If you'd like to download this song, please right click here and save target as...

En Iniya Pen Nilave

I don't think you'll hear me sing too many Jesudas songs, but there are millions of his fans who wouldn't believe if you tell them there are other singers as well (you know what I mean). However, one of my favorite Jesudas song is from this movie "Modu Pani" with Prathap Pothan and Late Shobha in lead roles. Besides Jesudas's voice, the greatness of this song is its simplicity. In those years when very little technology was prevalent, Illayaraja had to entirely rely on his brilliance when it came to handling / mixing instruments. The melody of this song and its cinematography was just too good.

I think I have made a decent attempt in bringing back memories for some of you and I hope to continue doing the same with few other forth coming songs.

As always, enjoy and please leave your comments.




If you'd like, you can download this song by right clicking here and save target as....

Pani Vizhum Malar Vanam

By now millions of people would have sung this song as a karaoke, on a stage, in their bathrooms...just amazing song! As I had mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, Illayaraja is very kind to certain producer / director wherein music in their films stand out. One such director who happens to be that lucky person is yesteryear Producer-director Sridhar. Most of the songs in his movies become a superhit and end up being chart busters composed by none other than our "Mr. Raja".

This song brings back memories from 80s wherein this was one of my favorite solo number that I very often sang in various competitions (and won as well!). Easy on the ears with a feet tapping rhythm. While this movie Ninaivellam Nithya didn't turn out to be a hit, it introduced actor Gemini Ganesan's daughter Jiji as co-star opposite to Karthik (another actor Muthuraman's son).

Once again as it has happened before, I am not too very impressed with the karaoke track that I was able to get to perform this song, but have made my attempt with what I got.

Enjoy and please comment.



If you would like to download this song, please right click here and save target as..

Kal Ho Na Ho

I rarely watch Hindi movies, but few years ago this one (Kal Ho Na Ho)was recommended to me by few friends. I made an effort to pick this up from my video library and watched this movie with my family and was touched. In this day and age where there are very few movies that you could watch as a family (you know what I mean), this one is a safe bet.

Except for the star cast, this movie otherwise is quite simple and to great extent same old drama; but, the powerful performance of Shahrukh, it’s awesome locales and effective supporting crew added to its glamour and neat narration. Some of the background score from this movie (though might sound repetitive) they were soothing to our ears and was very supportive to the storyline.

This title song sung by Sonu Nigam was at the top of the charts and if you haven't heard the original score before, I am sure after you hear this karaoke you'll be able to appreciate its top position.

As always enjoy & please leave comment




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Ankhon Mein Ajab Si

Ok, this is a song that I stumbled upon just couple of hours before I decided to make a karaoke. I haven't heard this song until I happen to visit another blogger's site wherein he had written so passionately about this song and infact recreated this entire song in his keyboard and some wonderful software to produce this almost replica of the original song from the Hindi feature Om Shanthi Om starring Shahrukh Khan. When I heard this the first time, I immediately decided to make a karaoke of this more so because of the effort and time put in by this wonderful Dr. Ashwinkumar Murthy http://drashkum.blogspot.com. Please note that the background score belongs to him.

It took me atleast couple of hours to understand the lyrics, tune and its gamakams. Hindi being not my first language, I found it a bit difficult to get the lyrics right though in the end I think it turned out OK; however, I still wanted to get this out and solicit your feedback.

As always enjoy and comment



If you would like to download this song, right click this link and save target as...

Jotheyali Jothe Jotheyali

I have been searching for a long time for this all time great Kannada song (Karaoke version) from the movie Geetha. What an amazing song by SPB and Janaki. Its feet tapping rhythm, captivating lyrics by Udayashankar and most of all scintillating / heartwarming music by Illayaraja is simply superb.

Since its Kannada version, we have heard its Tamil version in the movie Nooravadhu Naal starring Vijayakanth, Mohan (in negative role) and Nalini and recently in the Amitabh Bachan / Tabu starrer Cheeni Kum. Infact remake of this song in Hindi as early as couple of years ago (after such a long gap from its original version) goes to prove the ever greenness of this awesome song.

While it’s true that I am a great SPB fan, I liked this song particularly for its smoothness and melody.

I have tried this duet as a solo which in a way limited my options but still felt you all will like it.

Enjoy and comment.




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Paadu Nilave

The next song is from the Tamil feature Udhaya Geetham. Belief was, movies produced in the combination of Kovai Thambi, Actor Mohan, Illayaraja & SP Balasubramanian was destined to become a super grosser. Though quite a few of such movies didn't have much substance, the sheer (special) magic created by Raja & SPB in a way assisted Mohan to achieve stardom and filled Kovai Thambi coffers. Revathi who played the female lead role in this movie was infact cast with Mohan in several other movies.

This song that I have sung was one of hits from this movie where all the songs were chartbusters. The soundtrack tapes were much sought after those days (1985) and infact not a single radio station missed playing these songs atleast once a day.

Enjoy this awesome & melodious song; this also is one of my favorite songs.

Nilave Vaa

Lots of work related travel in the recent past has been keeping me away from my desk at home with very little time to indulge in my passion (singing!). This weekend I did find sometime and thought I need to catch up with you all.

This next song is from a National Award (1987) winning movie Mouna Raagam. This movie won several awards and also got the director Mani Rathnam a Silver Lotus for the best regional film. Needless to say this was an awesome movie with lot of drama/emotions/lighter moments and ofcourse enthralling musical score by none other than maestro Illayaraja. While all the songs from this movie were super hits and remained in the top of the charts in its time, this particular song sung by SP Balasubramaniam is such a melodious gem that I am sure it will remain a captivating one across all generations. Infact my six year old daughter who happen to hear this song for the 1st time was so much impressed that she has been humming this tune quite often.

As always your comments are welcome, enjoy this wonderful song.

En Kadhale En Kadhale

Wow! what a song! This amazing song under genres blues sung by SPB, penned by Vairamuthu and music by ARR is really top quality. From the film Duet this song was at the top of the charts for several weeks in a row. This Vairamuthu's song when sung by SPB really brings the meaning to the fore.

Those were early days when people were really questioning or rather suspecting ARR's genius wherein lot of his songs had some similarity; however, this one really stood out and exhibited his ability to do blues to folk to carnatic...

I am a great fan of this song and was waiting for sometime to identify a good karaoke track. Once again I have made a humble attempt to recreate this great SPB song.

Hope you enjoy this one.

Dancers Kondatum 2009 - Family Reunion Celebrations

Recently, in celebration of our family getting together after several years, all of our children had setup a talent exhibition program titled "Dancers Kondatum". I need to confess that it was an awesome evening wherein all of us thoroughly enjoyed the program put up by Prashanth, Ram, Suvarna, Sneha & Nikitha (all of them children of our family). Within a short span of time, these children conceived, scripted, performed and presented an excellent show that all of us were enthralled by such exhibition of outstanding talent. The evening was so infectious that I am unable to recall a single person not singing or dancing. Thanks to these kids this was one truly great evening that we all spent as a family.

In the true spirit of sharing this memorable & joyous evening, I would like to share short videos that I have now hosted in youtube. If you are interested please email me at usindians@optonline.com for video access.

Though some of you might not have been physically present on that day, I am sure when you see these videos it will bring a smile to your face.

Enjoy!

Kangal Irendal Un Kangal

It has been a while since I have blogged here for good reason (vacation related travel, family get togethers, etc.). However, I took sometime amidst tight schedule to make this karaoke of this nice song Kangal Irendal Un Kangal... from the movie "Subramaniapuram" which incidentally happen to be name of a town in Bangalore where I had few wonderful cousins. What struck me about this song was music director James Vasanthan's guts to almost remake an old tamil song from the same ragam created by Illayaraja for the movie Kavikuil?, Chinna kannan Azhaikiran... sung by Balamurali Krishna.

This song in my mind was very refreshing and kudos to the music director, and relevantly new singers Deepa Mariam and Belly Raj.

The quality of the karaoke version I was able to get was not that great hence I had some difficulty in the rhythm and delivery of this song.

Enjoy the song and I am hoping to get more regular with my karaoke's

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Anjali Anjali Pushpanjali

Duet (Tamil feature) was one of those remakes based on the film Saajan (a hindi blockbuster) that didn't turn out to be same as its hindi sibling. Starring Prabhu and Venkatesh with Meenakshi Seshadri adding color to the screen, this movie had some wonderful song of which this number Anjali Anjali really reached the top of the charts in its time. The Sax played on screen by Prabhu was just awesome. SP Balasubramaniam as usual was at his best in this yet another high pitch song. While I couldn't get the original soundtrack (karaoke), I settled for this keyboard remix of this melodious song and have attempted to make my own.

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Company Video Challenge

Late last year, we had a video challenge in my company requiring the participating teams to submit a 90 sec video; this was based on my company's 4 core values for a grand first price of a 42 inch LCD tv. The attached video in this blog was conceptualized, video-graphed, and edited by me, while my brother and one other team member provided able support. While we didn't win the 1st place, our video made it to the top 10 amongst 47 other submissions making us eligible for a consolation prize of 1 year free subscription for Netflix DVD rental.

I was really impressed and satisfied with the end product we delivered in this effort. Noteworthy in this video is that all the cast members are our colleagues who extended their cooperation in enabling this to the top 10.

Enjoy this video, filmed on one of our companies core values "Employer of Choice"

Padum Pothu Naan Thendral Katru

This is one of those olden goldies which exhibits SP Balasubramanian's melodious voice. Infact, when you compare some of his old songs (period when he came into film singing) with his more contemporary ones, you can feel the tenderness in his voice in those songs from yester-years.

This song from the film Netru Indru Naalai made in the year 1974 starring MGR, Manuja, Latha had MS Viswanathan scoring the background music happens to be one of my favorite numbers. Very simple and soulful this song makes older generation folks get nostalgic with pleasant memories of those golden years.

Though a tough song originally sung in high pitch by SPB, I have tried to do this karaoke with available soundtrack from online. Enjoy and provide your comments.

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Vigneswara Ninage

In my first blog I had indicated that carnatic music is one of my passions. While I have been through formal training in carnatic music for almost 5 years, I also took Karnataka, India state exam for junior level and passed with a state rank. However, as years passed my passion took a back seat as other priorities in life took front seat. Anyway, I am trying to brush the dust of my old lessons and I am trying to recall this forgotten talent that I have. In pursuit of the same, I am beginning to showcase some of the carnatic songs that I think might be easy on your ears starting with this Panthuvarali ragam based song which also happens to be one of the very first song I learnt from my guru Sri. Prabhakar Master (nephew of Late. Sri. Violin Chowdaiah).

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Melliname Melliname

While several new Tamil film music directors have mushroomed in the recent years, I need to confess only few have impressed me. One such director is Mani Sharma. While all of his songs are not the greatest, this one from the movie Shajahan, a Vijay starrer really made it to the top of the charts. Infact almost all of the songs in this movie were reasonably good; coincidentally, the singer of this original soundtrack Harish Ragavendra was also relevantly new to the industry. This catchy melodious tune was penned by Vairamuthu and was equally well choreographed on screen.

I started thinking this should be a easy one to make a karaoke but later realized the rhythm and the lyrics were indeed tough to sync. Anyway, I made a honest attempt and rest is left for your comments.

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Enavale Adi Enavale

Hi:
This was one of the very first songs sung by my schoolmate Unni Krishnan. I still remember the days when we participated in inter school culturals together and brought home many laurels as vocal singers. In this song (which I later sung in my wedding during a function called "Nalangu" for my wife), we can feel the freshness in Unni's voice. After this one, there was no looking back for him in the tamil film world. Whenever this plays out, I am always reminded of my wedding. Oh, those glorius days... :-)

Hope you enjoy this karaoke.

Thrimurthi Day Celebrations - Bridgewater, NJ USA

Hi All
After quite a few years, I had the time and patience to sit and listen to carnatic music on the occasion of Thrimurthi Day celebrations in Bridgewater, NJ. I need to confess that I had some vested interest in the form of my daughter who was also singing on the stage. After sitting through this program for 2 hours, I concluded on two things: 1. I am going to attend more such programs 2. I felt that the future of our Indian culture and heritage is safe in the hands of these young kids who are aspiring to become tomorrow's MS Subbulakshmi, Semmangudi, Santhanam etc.

While at the oust I need to state that these kids have put in a lot of effort for this good performance, I am sure with more practice this could easily become outstanding in the near future. Kudos to teachers of these students for training these kids nicely.

I truly enjoyed this evening and I am looking forward to many more.

If you are unable to see the video below or would like to view the video in High Definition (HD), please click the title above for video.

Interesting Video

Hi:
Late last year we had a video contest in our company based on four key values that our company had established. Though we didn't win the coveted #1 spot we as a team (5member production team) were proud to note that we were among the top 10 finalist nationally.

Personally, it was very satisfying for me since this video was based on the concept I created as well as completely captured and edited by myself with some great support from other team members.

Enjoy this video (click on the title for the video) and let me know your thoughts.

Adiyila Katr Adicha

While SP Balasubramaniam has sung several pathos songs, this one from the film Villan was a wonderful slow pathos song. Though very short, I was really impressed by the way SPB has sung this song. While at the oust this songs ooze sorrow, if you carefully listen to the lyrics, it in a way motivates one to keep fighting and move on with life.

I personally like this short song and wanted to do a karaoke of it. Enjoy!

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Kadhal Rojave..

This is one of my all time favorite song by SPB and music by AR Rehaman. At its time thiz song was at the top of the charts for many many weeks and in fact brought ARR to limelight and through its hindi version to bollywood. This was also one of my very first songs that I performed in a stage back during my days in Saudi Arabia. The lyrics is very refreshing and the video for this song was very captivating. Enjoy this karaoke attempt by me using my broken microphone.

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Elamai Enum Poongatru...

This is an another wonderful song created by the 3 "G". Sung by the Great SP Balasubramaniam and once again magic created by the Great Ilayaraja. This song from the tamil movie Pagalil Oru Nilavu was penned by the Great Kanadasan. When all the right ingredients are in the mix, how can this not be one of everyone's all time favorite song.

So go ahead and enjoy my humble attempt.

Comments are welcome.

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Ilaiyanila....

Hello! I am Shiva...a singer who is passionate about tamil film music (Ilaiyaraja) and classical music (carnatic). On here, I plan to upload songs in karaoke that I have sung from various movies that are my eternal favorites. Feel free to get in touch or write to me about your thoughts. Here, I am uploading my first song, Ilaiyanila...from the movie Pazhanangal Mudivathilla. In this movie, SPBalasubramaniam sings this wonderful, lilting tune composed by another all time genious, Illaiyaraja.

Happy Listening...

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