Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
- In: Airtel Super Singer | General | Music | Reality Show | Television
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The Black & White round day 2 was interesting with some surprise performances. First PBS was missing today even though Manorama Aachi was still there viewing the performances. Already there were two spot selections from day 1 and day 2 had 5 performances in the offing.
The first performance of the day was Vijay Narayanan. His was a very inconsistent performance. I just felt that his pitch was all over the place when he started but later on he picked up. The judges felt the same and rightly he wasn’t spot selected. I guess Vijay has to do something about his “Sruthi” if he has to progress in this competition and currently looks like the one to receive the axe in this round unless he does something spectacular tonight.
The second performance of the day was Raghini. I just feel that Raghini is always a hit or Miss Singer but yesterday she gave a stellar performance with the “Elandha Pazham” song and the judges loved it. The good thing about her performance last night was that she was smiling throughout her performance and also after it. The Judges and Manorama Aachi were really impressed with her version of the song. She was spot selected two rounds in a row which is impressive if we take into account that she was mostly in the final two before the recall. It seems like Raghini is improving. This is a good thing as it will help her to go further in this competition.
The third performer of the day was Ravi who was in his elements yesterday. He sang a classical based song yesterday which we know is a meat and drink for someone with the caliber of Ravi. He absolutely mesmerized the judges and the chief guest of this show Manorama Aachi, who stood up and applauded Ravi’s performance. It was a brilliant performance from him. I am positive that I saw some tears coming down from Srinivas’s eyes yesterday. Even though Ravi got spot selected Unnikrishnan requested him to perform on the third day too.
The fourth performance of the day was Ranjani who gave a good performance. She sang a song which was perfect for her voice and pulled it off brilliantly. The judges liked it and she was through to the next round to join Ajeesh, Renu, Raghini and Ravi.
It seems like Rohit was unable to come in yesterday due to some unforeseen circumstances, the judges said that he can perform with Prasanna and Vijay on the third day. That ended the show last night and without doubt the performer of the day was Ravi.
I am not sure who will get eliminated today but I am guessing it will be someone between Vijay and Rohit. Lets wait and see.
The Super singer B&W round day 1 completed yesterday in the US (Yeah the show is a week or two behind here) and it was fantastic. The contestants had to sing B&W songs and it was a great performance from all the three singers who sang yesterday. It was also fantastic to see PB Sreenivas coming in as a chief guest along with the legendary Manorama Aachi. They seemed to enjoy the show very much as the contestants sang classics which were beautifully rendered.
First contestant on the stage was Prasanna and he started off with a bang. He sang “Kettukodi Urimimelam” (Original Sung by TMS) with lots of energy and I thought he did a great job. It’s not easy to sing a TMS song as he had such a high range and is a legend in Tamil cinema. Prasanna, I felt did justice to the song and was unfortunate not to be spot selected.
The next contestant was Renu and I normally don’t like her performances as its one dimensional. She normally picks out either Susheela or chitra songs and always struggles with the breathing. Yesterday again she picked out a Susheela song but she was bang on this time. The round demanded such a song and her rendition of “oru naal yaro ennai” was very nice and sounded great. Manorama was completely spellbound and said that Renu took her back to the olden days. It was a good performance from Renu after a series of mediocre attempts in the earlier rounds. She was the first contestant to be spot selected yesterday.
The final contestant of the day was one of my favorites Ajeesh who was dressed up like the legendary comedian Nagesh who passed away recently and sang “Avalukku Enna”. Ajeesh has a fantastic voice and always sounds great and as usual it was a good performance from him yesterday. It was great the way he has improved so much during the course of the Airtel Super Singer and seems to be working hard on ironing out the flaws. He along with Prasanna is one of the most improved singers since the start of the competition. I really enjoyed his performance and the judges did too and rightly spot selected him.
So three singers perform on day one and two of them spot selected. I am really looking forward to the day two as my other favorite Ravi will be performing and I am sure he will do a good job. Airtel super singer once again proved that it’s the best talent hunt show in Tamil and has the best voices among all the other shows in other channels.
Just before I finish the piece, I have to mention that Malini yugendran is getting on my nerves with the way she presents the show. It’s unfortunate that chinmayi left the show and we have to deal with this substandard attempt at presenting the show. I really feel sorry for Yugendran though as the poor guy hardly seems to get a chance to talk. Anyways the contestants though with their performances make the show a great watch, in spite of Malini’s constant hamming.
Airtel Super Singer
Posted on: March 9, 2009
- In: Entertainment | Music | Reality Show | Television
- 4 Comments
Airtel Super singer is finally reaching the business end of the show. After meandering aimlessly for the past few weeks they have finally got back to the serious competition. The Super Singer is one of the better talent hunt shows in Tamil. I have watched few other channels trying to ape the concept but have pretty boring versions. The SunTv’s “Adhiradi Singer” is one of the worst in the pack. For some reason I am unable to watch that show in spite of my undying love for music.
Coming back to the super singer, I am happy that they have finally returned to the serious competition and the countdown for the best singer of the year 2008 has begun. The show for a while was making no sense to me. Yeah I can understand the recall round as all the reality/talent shows on Indian television have that concept but bringing back 4 singers was little bit over the top. The top 6 singers were already identified and probably adding two more singers from the recall round would have been appropriate.
Well currently they have 8 singers left and the funny part is that the two singers who got eliminated were the ones recalled. The reason for this show to stand out from the rest is their judges. Srinivas, Sujatha and Unnikrishnan are legends in their own right and are great singers. Most often the comments are measured and they give proper suggestions to the singers. They strictly stick to music rather than stupid antics to increase TRP’s for the show.
Airtel super singer for sure is one of my favorite programs on television. Well my Favorites in Top eight are Prasanna, Ravi and Ajeesh. I am fine with Rohit, Raghini and Vijaya Narayanan but I don’t think that they will win the competition. Anyways let’s see how the competition shapes up this week. I just feel that they have brought the four contestants back into the show only to eliminate them one by one, as we saw in the last couple of weeks. Already Hari and Aruna have been eliminated and for some reason Renu seems to stick on after mediocre performances just because the judge’s think that she has a good voice.
Well let’s hope that the show now moves on fast and there are no breaks in between as it has dragged around enough to get the viewers frustrated.
Anoop makes it to the top 13
Posted on: March 6, 2009
- In: Music | Television
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Anoop Desai makes it to top 13 in American Idol
Anoop Desai makes it to the top “13” (Yes that’s right 13 and not 12) yesterday in the Judge’s wild card round. When Anoop’s name was not called out in the end I was little bit disappointed but when Simon asked him to stay and told him that they have decided to make is top 13, I was like everyone else surprised but was elated. I thought that Anoop deserves to be in top 13 more than Sanjaya did.
I hope that he makes it to the top 10 and keeps going. Only thing he has to make sure is that he chooses the right song which suits his voice. Well now I am really looking forward to the next week’s show and I hope Anoop does justice to the selection.
American idol wildcard – Go Anoop
Posted on: March 5, 2009
- In: Music | Television
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It will be interesting tonight and I will get to see Anoop Desai perform once again on the stage in the Judge’s wildcard round. I lost a little bit of interest this year when Anoop did not make the top 12 earlier but this will be his second chance and I think he might just make it. I hope he does as it will keep me glued to this season of the Idol.
I am keeping my fingers crossed for tonight’s show. Go Anoop go!!
A R Rahman wins the Oscars
Posted on: February 23, 2009
- In: Entertainment | Music
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ARR with Oscars at LA Kodak Theatre
AR Rahman did our nation proud by winning two Oscar awards for his musical score in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. A R Rahman won won the awards for the best original score and also the best music awards to complete a wonderful night for the Indian technicians at the Oscars at the Kodak theatre in LA.
There were more celebrations for the Indians a Resul Pookutty and Gulzar also winning the oscars for Best Sound Mixing and Best Original scores respectively.
ARR has really taken the Indian music global and made all Indians proud. The musical genius
Collection of my thoughts
Posted on: February 19, 2009
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | Entertainment | Immigration | Music | tennis
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The Indian team with the trophy in SL
AR Rahman with the Golden Globe
I have had a frustrating last few months which came to an end yesterday with the visa approval. For all of us here the extension process has been a real long and frustrating journey which controlled our thoughts for all these months. I have decided to put in a summary of the happenings in the last few months about which I was planning to write about.
Indian cricket team’s successful 2008 and the NewZealand tour
I would like to begin with the exceptional season the Indian cricket team has been having since they won the Perth test match last Jan. The only blip being the test series in Srilanka. The Indian team under Dhoni has performed really well and are in top 3 in both forms of the game. The recent series in SL where Dhoni’s men won 4-1 further emphasized their raise in the shorter format of the game. The Indian team has found great bunch of youngsters who are hungry for success and want to win every game. Having said all that Dhoni’s great test is just around the corner, the tour of NZ. This will be his first full tour as a captain of the Indian team. India would be looking to win the test and the one-day series against the Kiwis which will not be an easy task.
The Kiwis have had a good series against the Australians recently where they drew the one-dayers 2-2 and lost the one-off Twenty20 by one run. They will be full of confidence and would be hoping to drive their home advantage to trouble the Indian team. The Indians on the other hand would want to erase the memory of their disastrous 2002/03 tour to the Kiwiland by turning in good performances in the both forms of the game. If India play to their potential they should win the series. The series gets underway with the first of the 2 Twenty20 games next wednesday. Lets hope that the series is competetive and may the best team win.
Slumdog Millionaire and A R Rahman
Musical genius A R Rahman made every Indian proud when he received the Golden Globe award for the best original score for his song “Jai Ho” in Danny Boyle’s award winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. There has been lots of speculation in the Indian media reagrding the movie as well as A R Rahman’s music claiming that both are over-rated. Few people in the media have slammed the movie and some also said that it has shown India in a poor light. As far as I am concerned the movie was just okay and was nothing great but thats my opinion. To be frank its a movie made by a British director in India and if Hollywood calls it as the best movie of the year then so be it. I dont think that this movie showed anything wrong about India.
At least the movie was made in India. How many bollywood directors make movies in the slums of Mumbai? How many Indian directors who commented on this movie can make a movie which will prove otherwise? Actually no one cares. Its just that this movie has become so big that people have decided to cash in on its popularity. The Johars and the chopras have stopped making movies in India and few more directors probably will follow suit. I guess we have to treat SM as a hollywood movie which has been made in India with Indian actors, thats about it. We have made so many substandard movies in US and UK, they dont claim those as theirs and slam it in the their media when we give awards to those movies. So lets just be realistic, Hollywood thinks its the best movie of the year so thats where it ends.As far as the award to ARR is concerned I am really proud of him and his achievements. He has put Indian music on the world map.
Whether this is his best composition is open to speculation but there is no denying the fact that he deserves all the accolades he is receiving right now. Lets not unnecessarily dissect the music and enjoy the success of one of the finest composers in India. Congrats to ARR on his Golden Globe and hope he wins Oscars too.
Tennis in India
Tennis in India received a tremendous boost when Yuki Bhambri won the junior Australian Open title earlier this year. His victory along with the performance of Somdev in the Chennai open gives great hope to the Tennis scene in India. Mahesh won yet another mixed doubles championship, this time with our own Sania Mirza to make this the most memorable Australian Open for the Indians. Sania though continued her horror run in singles when she was beaten in the second round. Hopefully Somedev and Yuki can take the Indian Tennis forward and make a successful transition to the senior level.
Thats all for now from me. Lets hope that India continues to shine in 2009 and we have more awards and titles to add.
Sargam – An experiance to remember
Posted on: April 30, 2008
- In: Music
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When I saw that my company is conducting its annual day I wanted to participate as a singer in the same. When I enquired about the same I was forwarded to the right contacts and thats how I got associated with Sargam (The name given to our Orchestra). When I decided to sing for Sargam my agenda was two fold, first to obviously sing and the second one was to make some new friends. Being in a very small team comprising of just myself and my colleague I do not get to meet too many people. So making some new friends was also a part of this exercise.
So everything was set and I was called over for the first day of practice by the event organizer. The meeting was to pick and download the karoake for the songs to be sung by each person. Before even going there I was pretty much set with mine as I kind of played safe by opting to sing a song which I had performed during my college’s International night. From that day onwards the entire excercise was a joy ride for all of us. For the first time since I came to Bloomington in Nov of 2007, I had something to look forward to when I left from work.
Every meeting was total fun with all of us taking pot shots at each other and at the same time the atmosphere was totally professional. There were totally 7 singers in the team including myself and the practice sessions were a total blast. The entire team was really great and we really cared for each others performance. There was few hiccups here and there but overall the experiance was totally worthwhile.
The actual event itself with the grand stage and Sizable audience was kind of overwhelming for me atleast but I think we all did a great job. Well all of us put up a great effort and the outcome was fantastic. As far as I am concerned I made some new friends along the way and also got to perform in front of a decent audience.
Being part of Sargam was really a great experiance and hopefully the same team can get together again next year.
Sargam – An experiance to remember
Posted on: April 30, 2008
- In: Music
- Leave a Comment
When I saw that my company is conducting its annual day I wanted to participate as a singer in the same. When I enquired about the same I was forwarded to the right contacts and thats how I got associated with Sargam (The name given to our Orchestra). When I decided to sing for Sargam my agenda was two fold, first to obviously sing and the second one was to make some new friends. Being in a very small team comprising of just myself and my colleague I do not get to meet too many people. So making some new friends was also a part of this exercise.
So everything was set and I was called over for the first day of practice by the event organizer. The meeting was to pick and download the karoake for the songs to be sung by each person. Before even going there I was pretty much set with mine as I kind of played safe by opting to sing a song which I had performed during my college’s International night. From that day onwards the entire excercise was a joy ride for all of us. For the first time since I came to Bloomington in Nov of 2007, I had something to look forward to when I left from work.
Every meeting was total fun with all of us taking pot shots at each other and at the same time the atmosphere was totally professional. There were totally 7 singers in the team including myself and the practice sessions were a total blast. The entire team was really great and we really cared for each others performance. There was few hiccups here and there but overall the experiance was totally worthwhile.
The actual event itself with the grand stage and Sizable audience was kind of overwhelming for me atleast but I think we all did a great job. Well all of us put up a great effort and the outcome was fantastic. As far as I am concerned I made some new friends along the way and also got to perform in front of a decent audience.
Being part of Sargam was really a great experiance and hopefully the same team can get together again next year.
- In: Entertainment | General | Music
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Recently an article on a famous website stated that director Mysskin of Anjathe fame has decided to act as hero in his next movie. This is not new to Tamil cinema as we have seen Cheran, SJ Suryah, Thangar Bachan, Praveen kanth and Perarasu trying their luck in front of the camera. To be frank it has been a real torture for the audience to see them performing the lead roles in the movies. Recently Cheran expressed dissapointments on the comments from the media for sarcastically comparing him with Kamal Hassan. Why does Cheran want to become like Kamal? Cheran is not an actor, accepted that he is a very competant director but I think that his aim should be to become like a Maniratnam or a Balachander rathan than trying to become an actor like Kamal.
The Tamil directors for a long time now have underestimated the intelligence of the movie going public. People for sure dont want to pay money and watch perarasu delivering punch dialogues on a big screen. The work of a creator should remain behind the scenes and try to make people see them through the characters on the screen. The success of directors like Mani Rathnam, KB, Balu Mahendra, Bharadhiraja was based on their great screenplays and scripts which made the viewers appreciate them without them having to come on the big screen. So whats with this new trend of directors becoming heroes after couple of successes in the box office? I will never know the answer to that.
The fact that list keeps growing is a worrying factor for the tamil movie watchers around the world. Its not only the directors but now a famous song writer Pa.Vijay also has decided to act in movie as the male lead. We all can take the example of Sonu Nigam, who after couple of unsuccessful ventures decided to stick to his strength which is singing. As a fan of “Good” tamil movies it pains me to watch these directors trying to act.
Well unless and until these directors realise themselves that they are more of creators than actors we will not see the end of this fiasco.
girisopinion
My Thoughts 