The genius Carnatic vocalist Madurai Mani Iyer (1912-1968), possibly the greatest exponent of live improvisation in Carnatic classical music, popularized this "English Note" composed by Harikesanallur Mutthiah Bhagavathar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNjl5w8Prw0) to showcase his autodidactic (self teaching) talent in expanding beyond his strictly classical training. This piece was extremely popular with an independence era audience that felt pride in one of their own "getting" western music while no Englishman could perform a Thodi alapana. 

Obviously as a Indian classical musician, Mutthiah Bhagavathar only composed the main melody, an incredibly catchy and hummable tune that would have worked in the best courts of Vienna. But Western classical music is about harmony layered over the melody and I was surprised that no one had taken a crack at taking this really catch melody and writing a String quartet around it. 

There were some interesting challenges. Mani Iyer clearly did not keep harmony in mind when he wrote the piece so there are places where the melodic sequence presents quite a hard challenge to harmonize, but all in all, I think it turned out okayish. 

Again, I am quite an amateur and It will be great if more talented musicians take this melody and set it to even better background scores :)

English Note (by Madurai Mani Iyer) - String Quartet

Vidya Sankaranarayanan (https://www.facebook.com/vidya.sankaranarayanan) is an extraordinarily talented Bharatanatyam dancer who trained under the legendary Thanjavur Kittappa Pillai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._P._Kittappa_Pillai). She is, in the rich tradition of T Balasaraswathy, a gifted vocalist as well. 

She also happens to be my cousin so this is a family production of S Chidambaram's classic "Kanda naal mudhalaai" in Raga Madhuvanti. 

It's a trip hop version featuring violin, cello, keyboard and programming by me. The chords used are primarily variations of Gm, D and A 

Lyrics Translation

My love overflows my dear since seeing you, holding a spear (vEl) in your hand (kai), oh compassionate son of Shiva.

The people will come and sing (paaDum) songs (paNNisai) for you, Kandan (a name for Murugan) my child (baalan), to bring you happiness (sugam).

My heart has not forgotten (marakavillai) your blue (neela) peacock (mayil). I have not forgotten this love (nEsam) mixed with affection (paasam). Oh this sharp-eyed festive (kOla) prince (kumar) has been in the temple (kOvil) of my mind (mana). Showing a small smile (kurunagai), he placed (sooti) a fragrant flower (narumalar) of love within us. 

(source: http://www.karnatik.com/c1437.shtml)


Kanda Naal Mudhalaai

"Redefining the concept of Coalescence"

CREDITS :

Percussion - Raghav Viswanathan

Keyboards and Synth - Sooraj Kumar

Guitars - Sanjeev Krishna Ganesh

Bass Guitar - Murali Dhananjey

Vocals - Sudharshan Ashok

Violin - Shravan Sridhar

Drums - Prakash Thanigaivel / Vignesh Ashok

Sound Engineer - Navneeth Balachanderan

Lyrics - Shruthi Vishwanath

Recorded,Mixed and Mastered @ " The Red Pencil Company " , Chennai

Creative Designs and Artwork - Harini Venkataraman

A Sarvam Production ©

The Journey

Vocals and music arrangement : @bharadwaj-cv ( #bharadwaj-cv )
Do hit the small like button if you like it. Earphones recommended :) Learnt this song from Bombay Jayashree mam, 2 years back. Thought would give it a shot. This is my tribute to her :)
You can also check my other works on youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/ganeshbharadwaj?sub_confirmation=1

Hamir Kalyani | Sharadhe Karunanidhe | Carnatic fusion

Composed by Shri Andal, an 9th century Aalwar saint

Copyright © 2016 Vinod Krishnan

Vocal and background score: Vinod Krishnan
Mixing and mastering: Nick Dawes


karupUram nArumO kamalappU nArumO
tirupavazhach chevvAi tAn tittirukkumO

maruppositta mAdhavan tAn vAiccuvaiyum nATramum
viruppuTruk-kETkinrEn sollAzhi veN shangE

uNbadu sollil ulagaLandAn vAi amudam kaN paDai koLLal kaDal vaNNan kaittalattE
pEN paDaiyAr un mEl pErum pUsal sATruginrAr paNpala seiginrAi pAncajanniyamE

Copyright © 2016 Vinod Krishnan

Karpooram naarumo

the ragam - Vaagadeeswari, Something which haunts without any reason . ;) !!


Relaxing with Vaagadeeshwari

Sita Kalyanam

An Indian Classical version of the Stranger Things theme

Stranger Hamsadhwani

An orchestral adaptation of Naadaloludai by Thyagaraja in Raga Kalyana Vasantham

Naadaloludai

I asked my 80 year old grandaunt (Saraswathi Sankaranarayanan) who is stuck in my place due to the Covid-19 lockdown to record a simple song that my 8 year old son could learn to sing. She picked this 500 year old Tiruppugazh 1328 (Erumayil Eri), and I played the violin accompaniment and added an ambient guitar background
Lyrics/Translation: http://kaumaram.com/thiru/nnt1328_u.html#english

Erumayil Eri

Presenting my next original composition 'Dreams In Tune' set in Ragam Kanada. The track portrays various emotions and explores the nuances of this soulful ragam. Sit back and experience this kanada contemporary. 

Composed, Arranged and played on Violin - Durai Srinivasan
Percussions - Martin.

#kanada #dreams #contemporary

Dreams In Tune | Durai Srinivasan | Martin

I take the ridiculous and the sublime, add cellos, violins, guitars and random internet collaborators to make music of sorts

Kanda Naal Mudhalaai

Krish Ashok