Woke up this morning singing this song and decided to go with the flow and record it in a single take. 

Mehdi Hassan is undoubtedly my most favourite Ghazal singer, and this song is one of my favourites. Absolutely loved Arijit's cover in Haider as well. My cover has influences from both the original and the Haider version. Hope you like it. 

Song: Gulon Mein Rang Bhare
Original composition and rendition: Mehdi Hassan
Lyrics: Faiz Ahmed “Faiz”
Guitars and Vocals: Vijaynarain R

Gulon Mein Rang - Mehdi Hassan Cover

I learnt this thirupugazh a couple of weeks back. I was hooked to the song ever since. The ever-talented artist, Upasana (find her art here: https://www.facebook.com/pennandpencil/?fref=ts )drew this wonderful image portraying the story behind the Thiruvaanaikaaval temple for the Lord, Jambukeshwara, for which this thirupugazh has been written, on my request. I was mind-blown at all the nuances she has worked on to represent all the important factors of this story.

Although simple, the meaning of the verses are highly mesmerising. The lyrics are as follows:

nAdi thEdith-thozhuvAr pAl
nAnath-thAgath-thirivEno
mAdak-koodaR pathi nyAna
vAzhvai-sEra tharuvAye

pAdar kAdhaR-purivOne
pAlai thenOth-th-aruLvOne
AdatrOgaik-k-iniyOne 
Anaik-kAviR perumALe!

English translation/meaning(translated by Upasana):

Your devotees roam about seeking You, worshipping You...
Will I ever join them?
The wisdom that helps one merge with the Universal Being (The Lord of Madurai),
Only You can bless me with, in this life!
He Who adores the sweet sound of Tamil hymns,
He Whose grace is as sweet as milk and honey,
You are He, Who blesses the dancing peacock with joy,
O Lord of ThirvAnaikkaval!

You can read the story behind the thiruvAnaikkaval temple here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jambukeswarar_Temple,_Thiruvanaikaval or http://www.thiruvanaikavaltemple.tnhrce.in/history.html



Thirupugazh - Naadi thedi

Poo Avizhum / New Mic Check :P

Disclaimer: this is a light hearted take on the original song by A.R.Rahman, whom I worship, and is not intended to offend the sentiments of either ARR fans, Woody Allen fans or anyone else. 


Deconstructing Harry(s)- Raasali (cover/tribute/YOLO)

Nilaave Vaa - A beautiful melody by Ilayaraja. I've recorded  karaoke track here. I've probably skipped a beat towards the end, kindly forgive. :) Hope you enjoy. 

Nilaave Vaa

Shasvathi (https://soundcloud.com/shasvathisiva) and I are big fan-girls of singer Bombay Jayashri and this song from the movie 'Theri' sung by her, has us hooked to it ever since we listened to it. We hope this would be a start to more covers together in the future.

Thaimai

This is a cover of a beautiful uncommon version of Vande Mataram originally sung by Shwetha Mohan that featured in the Malayalam film "Action Hero Biju". Prashanth (https://soundcloud.com/greyandred) did this lovely arrangement for this cover and I sang along. Do use earphones/headphones.

Nilaave Vaa

Shasvathi Siva