So! How did this come to be?

Well, I had already been following Michel's work for a while when we "missed" our first opportunity to work together: that was for Carlo Presti's open collaboration on Smooth. Indeed Carlo had mentioned the possibility of Michel doing a solo on this track for which I'd written lyrics but in the end he got so many offers that Michel played on another version (but on the other hand it enabled me to discover Tom Adams's guitar maestria!).

Here are the two tracks if you're curious:
Spiderdrum – Fi-vre-lyrics-and-vocals-by
Spiderdrum – Camimi-jazz-carlo-presti

Then, one kind comment leading to another, I finally told Michel how I would love to work with him at some point and the timing was just right as he was precisely looking for a lyricist.
When he sent me the first draft of Happiness I immediately set to work taking the title - as I often do - as a starting point. Only, the most interesting angle it seemed to me was to go, in a way, against the music and the precise idea of happiness. It was not an easy job writing lyrics about depression and "mal être" around Michel's intricate melodic line but I loved doing it and was pleased when Michel told me he had been moved by my modest words.

Then, the piece went on to evolve in an unexpected way when Rudi and Kosmee brilliantly reappropriated text and music giving us this very personal interpretation. Hats off to them as well as to Mario for doing a truly great mixing job!

If you enjoyed Happiness, be sure to check their respective clouds:

Michel Martineau @michel-martineau
Rudi Lockefeir @ruud-lockefeir
Noémie Costa @kosmi-1
Mario Mauer @mario-mauer

Happiness

You got it all, as they say
They don't see any calls for you to feel that way
They don't see any reason why
You sometimes feel like you have died

You have someone and you have kids
Then why would anyone slide off the road?
Why should you feel so lost and scared?
Why feel so scarred and unprepared?

So you pretend and you smile and you sing
Around the bend you feel a new thing
Coming your way but you can't see
You only know there'll be a day
When you have to be
The one to face the real
Alone to try and deal
With this terrible mess
They call happiness

You take a pill, when you feel down,
There on the window sill, as if already drowned
You feel so bad when you can't smile
You wish you were not so fragile

So you pretend and you smile and so you burn
Around the bend you feel a new turn
Coming your way and you will freeze
And you will fall,
There in the way of all, 
Cos you can't seize
The day, as they do all
all you can do is collapse in the hall
Right there and curl up like a ball...

And you are young! And you're ninety!
And when you hear that song you're sure that you are empty.
Afraid to talk, afraid to sleep,
To slip into a night so deep...

So you pretend and you smile and you sing
Around the bend you feel a new thing
Coming your way but you can't see
You only know there'll be a day
When you have to be
The one to face the real
Alone to try and deal
With this terrible mess
That they call happiness




Happiness - collaboration with Michel Martineau, Rudi Lockefeir, Kosmee and Mario Mauer

Tamil devotional album. lyrics by Geetha Subramanian, voice and compositions by Pavithra Chari 

Aaradhyam

Happiness arrives, greeted by the elements :)

Lyrics and Vocals: Pavithra Chari
Arrangement: Anindo Bose
Produced at: Plug 'N' Play Studios, New Delhi

Copyright 2015 - Pavithra Chari & Anindo Bose

Elements

My Ukulele take on KT Tunstall's song "Stopping the Love" from her album "Eye to the Telescope"  

Stopping The Love Ukulele Cover

Track 4 of the Funkify Project. This one is what I would like to categorize as Southern Fried Funk. 

Paul Harder - saxophone
Dave Friend - guitars, bass and drum programming

Terminal City - Paul Harder / Dave Friend

Night Dreamer

"Keep on, don’t look back, hold on to this love..."

First, long awaited collaboration with Vocalatti, and her sultry vocals - a great performance indeed, but also a tribute to her very poignant lyrics - take them in.

Then, Derek Cornett a.k.a "Larry Carlton/Earl Klugh/George Benson" (your choice) delivers the smoothest, laid back guitar imaginable.

Magnus, you're zooming in on the appropriate sentiment with aplomb, your EWI always a pleasure to listen to.

And then our own "Paulinho da Costa", multi-talented MoodyMo adding the final layer on the cake with his subtle and stylish percussion.

From vision to fruition, thanks to the ever-awesome collaborators from all over the world; as always no boundaries in the world of music.

I thank you all.

Concept: Peter Bennborn & Magnus Jansson
Music: Peter Bennborn
Lyrics: Vocalatti

Vocals: Vocalatti (@vocalatti)
Guitar: Derek Cornett (@derek-cornett)
EWI: Magnus Jansson (@the-ewi-master)
Percussion: MoodyMo (@moodymo)
Rhodes/keys/synths/drum & bass programming: Peter Bennborn

Mixed & Mastered: Peter Bennborn

Lyrics:

Is it time for us
To take just what we had
And walk away just as friends
It seems to me that every time
That we said goodbye
All that sadness in your eyes

Fate can be so cruel
When others break the rules
No one gets another chance
I find it hard to think that
You're never coming back
All is wasted what we had

Chorus

Keep on
Don’t look back
Hold on to this love
That we already had and
Try to start again
Let this love begin
And never let it end

Looking back to when
Our feelings had to end
Was the last thing on my mind
I wanted to always stay here
So you and I
Could find peace within our lives

Nothing stays the same
Two people are to blame
For changing other people’s lives
If I knew how
I would have stayed in that fairytale
Feeling free and so alive

Chorus

Move on start a new
You’ll forget these things
That life has put us through
And try to love again
You'll remember that
You and I were friends

Buy on iTunes

Keep On (ft. Vocalatti, Derek Cornett, Magnus Jansson & MoodyMo)

This wonderful song concept was written  by Peter Bennborn and Magnus Jansson.  Peter kindly asked me to add a vocal and a lyric to it.. which I must say ,came very easily to me!

Peter Bennborn  wrote such a beautiful and soulful melody..lovely piano and synths  .....very tastefully done!

The awesome guitar solo  that you hear ,is by Derek Cornett  ...and wow is that something !!

Magnus Jansson also provides some very impressive EWI 
Moody Mo then adds the proverbial icing with some superb percussion!!

Please go over and listen to more!!!

https://soundcloud.com/peter-bennborn-project
http://soundcloud.com/the-ewi-master
https://soundcloud.com/derek-cornett
https://soundcloud.com/moodymo




Keep On  (Peter Bennborn Project) Derek Cornett,Magnus Janssen,and Moody Mo

Our final song from the newly released album "Elements" 
Sit back and enjoy! 

Lyrics and Vocals: Pavithra Chari
Arrangement: Anindo Bose
Produced at: Plug 'N' Play Studios, New Delhi

Copyright 2016 - Pavithra Chari & Anindo Bose

Seeker

This is a composition on Deepavali by my guru Shubha Mudgal ji, based on a text from the  “Brajnidhi Granthavali” said to have been written by Maharaja Shri Sawai Pratapsingh ji Deo of Jaipur under the pseudonym “Brajnidhi”.

The lyrics:

दीपमालिका के दिन आयो 
नंदराय सों कहत घरनी यो, यह उच्छव मन भायो ।

Vocals: Pavithra Chari
Recorded and mixed at: Plug 'N' Play Studios, by Anindo Bose

Deepmalika Ke Din Aayo (A Deepavali Song)

pavithra.chari

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