Minor Scale

Logic suggests that the chances of a non-Indian making keema of your name is considerably reduced with a name like Anandamoorthy MaternalVillageNada PaternalVillageKesam. Atleast the attemptee might fake a polite smile and formally request help with the tongue-twister or in some cases, permission to just call you AMP.
But no such small mercies with five-six letter names like mine which instantly metamorphizes into sounds that vaguely resemble your original name. Thus, I’ve been referred to as Maanuck, Maanjo and only on rare occasions been treated to, Mmm…mmaa…how do you say your name? .
My mostly Hispanic hairdressers call me Mano since J is apparently just a showpiece in their alphabet. My cellphone company sent me bills in the name of ‘Manjov’ for sometime until I got off my lazy ass and made the “outraged” call. But for most, I’m Manaash which, if you really said it aloud, doesn’t sound too bad. Or maybe I’ve just gotten used to it, except for the odd instance when some master of wordplay addresses me as Menage a trois followed by self-amused laughter.

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It’s bad enough that Rajinikant has decided to take long breaks from Tamizh cinema, but now one has to endure every other moron trying to emulate him in finger-whooshing and spewing “acerbic” dialogues. But atleast it’s funny. For those who know Tamizh, here is an audio excerpt from the Sarath Kumar starrer, ‘Aai’.

The Setup:
The hero is a military officer on vacation who decides to turn ‘Vigilante’ for 2 weeks after having observed a police atrocity. So amidst wreaking havoc on the Police Department wearing freakish disguises, he messes with the wrong guy, our villain, Kota Srinivasa Rao. But Kota tracks him down eventually and the following takes place during their first meeting.

Aai Showdown - Real Audio

The rest of the dialogue, I found hidden as an Easter Egg on the DVD.

Kota: Aaaaai. Naan nadanthitte vaetti kattravan. En Kitte Vechikaadhe.
Sarath: Naan paduthikkitte pant pOdravan. Enne pagachikkaadhe.
Kota: Aaaaai
Sarath: Aaaaai
Kota: Aaaaai. Oru Glass thanni kondu vaa. Kudichittu innum idhu maathiri pesuvom.

btw, Telugu movie fans can look forward to a Balakrishna remake of the same sometime soon. Yummy!

More photos taken from my Hi-Def TV: Flickr: Grammy 2005

Strangely enough, the award I applauded for the most was not even presented tonight. It was Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media won by Zach Braff for Garden State. Other than that, it didn’t transcend beyond the usual awards show. The usual faces won. Same old speeches & increased applause for the more popular dead musicians mentioned during the In Memoriam segment. Death, alas, is not the great leveller! In fact, Rick James received more applause than Jerry Goldsmith, thanks to Dave Chappelle.

What I remember from the show:

- Bono from U2 performed a song in memory of his father, who was apparently an opera singer. Then went onto mention that he believed he had inherited his father’s tenor voice. The song even had the lines You’re the reason the opera is in me. Huh?
- Prince was not present to receive his award. Thank God!
- Penelope Cruz said Led Zeppelin was all about great rok. Spoken like a true Mallu, Pene-mol. Oh wait, aren’t you Spanish?
- Rock ‘n Roll can be dangerous & fun at the same time, said Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer of Green Day. Profound.
- Matthew Mcconaughey added an extra note to his Texas twang while introducing the Southern Rock tribute segment. Nice job, cowboy!

Complete Winner List: GRAMMY.com

Starring - Jeeva, Gajala // Direction: Ameer
Listen to Raam @ Raaga.
Raam - Official Website (Flash required)

Jeeva, true to his name, is defying an early death to his career and making a comeback with this movie. And maybe a weird hairdo is what Jeeva needs now to salvage his career(!). Of course, his Dad, Super Good Choudhary also has something to do with this, but atleast this time father/son picked a director with atleast one hit to his credit. Raam will be former Bala assistant, Ameer’s second venture after Mounam Pesiyadhae. And he has decided to stick with Yuvan Shankar Raja for the music. Apparently the music is hot in Madras, atleast according to Sify.com

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Last night I was telling a friend how some remix enthusiasts had gone to work on a relatively obscure Ilaiyaraja song, layered it with some Black Eyed Peas music and rechristened it the Elephunk Theme. Well, how stupid did I feel today when I discovered that the “enthusiasts” were the Black Eyed Peas themselves, this year’s 4-time GRAMMY nominated hip-hop group.

After Dr.Dre’s experiment with Bappi Lahiri’s Thoda Resham Lagta Hain ended in a lawsuit, maybe someone told BEP to lay off Indian composers. The song from the Rajinikant starrer Sri Raghavendra, of all movies, called Unakkum Enakkum Aanandham was originally on their album, but for some reason, seems to have been pulled out from later releases.
As for the remix itself, only S.Janaki’s vocal track has been retained, alongwith Raja’s funky bass from the original. Guess the fascination is only for female Indian vocals. Poor Malaysia Vasudevan!

For the curious few, this is what S.Janaki is singing about. (mp3: Unakkum Enakkum)

Ikkuchakaangu Ikkicha Ikku Chakkangu Chaan
(Verily Verily I say unto you, Blah Blah Bleh Blook)
Unakkum Enakkum Aanandham Dham, Vidiya Vidiya Sondham
(You & I will find hap-hap-happiness by dawn)
Padukkai Araiyil Aarambam-bam, Pudhiya Pudhiya Inbam
(In the bedroom beg-begins, newfound pleasures)

Do not doubt my translation skills, the lyrics are actually that pedestrian.

Well, not a visual treat like the Janet Jackson episode from last year, but a disappointing auditory revelation about the source of one of his song bits.

Damn the Internet. Atleast that’s what Indian composers must be saying everyday. Plagiarism in Indian music, which for a long time was kept under wraps & unleashed on an unknowing audience, has been coming to light over the past some years. You hear a song that sounds vaguely familiar and 1/2 times, a combination of Google & some file sharing technology leads you to the source without too much effort.
Like today, while watching one of those Super Bowl ads for Diet Pepsi, I heard a song that immediately triggered off warning bells about a AR Rahman song from not so long ago. For what its worth, the tune I heard did not make up the entire song, rather it figures during the final 20-30 seconds of the title song from Daud. But it sucked for me personally because that was probably the favorite portion of the song for me.

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AR Rahman says in this news article,

“My previous film was ‘Warriors of Heaven and Earth’. This is a Chinese film. I had to fly between Chennai and London to complete the film’s re-recording. Chinese people like Mohana raaga. I had composed most of the tunes based on this raga and on Sindhu Bhairavi. They loved the tunes,” he said.

Interesting. Some googling ensued & revealed the following information about Mohana from this site.

Gamakas for all swaras. Found in Chinese, Japanese and Swedish music

Ilaiyaraja, from what I’ve read, is sometimes called Mohana Raja considering that many of his songs have been in this raagam. Some of my favorites:
Malargalil / Singer : SP Shailaja / Movie: Kalyanaraman (1979)
Meenkodi Thaeril / Singer: KJ Yesudas / Movie: Karumbuvil (1980)
Naanoru ponnOviyam / Singers: SPB, P.Susheela and S Janaki / Movie: KaNNil theriyum kathaigaL (1980)
Poovil Vandu / Singer: SPB / Movie: Kadhal Oviyam (1982)
Vei Vela Gopemmala / Singers: SPB, SP Shailaja / Movie: Saagara Sangamam (1984) [in Tamil, Vaan Pole from Salangai Oli].
and arguably, the best one:
Ninnukori Varanam / Singer: Chitra / Movie: Agni Natchathiram (1988)

I’m sure MSV has also some gems in this raagam, but from the songs I know about, the best one has to be Kamban Yemaandhaan / Singer: SPB / Movie: Nizhal Nijamaagirathu (1978)

Now, if only someone could come up with a list of Great Mandarin Hits in Mohana & Sindhu Bhairavi.