-
Drumming for Entrepreneurs
I had a different experience today evening. I actually played drums! Yes I played a musical instrument. TiE Chennai had organised their Charter member meet today as a precursor to annual TiECon event, before the dinner we had a musical treat by Mr.S.Murali Krishnan, who runs Jus Drums a School for Percussion in Chennai. The sheer number of instruments he had around him and the ease with which he moved between them was a delight to watch. Within the first 10 minutes he managed to get the room full of suits energised and raring to go. As a highlight Murali made every one in the audience join him in playing a rhythm,…
-
Frog sound wooden toy from Thailand
Last week I travelled to Thailand – Bangkok and Phuket with my family. While visiting one of the souvenir shops in Phuket, my son spotted this wooden toy frog. At first, I discounted it to be yet another showpiece, you see plenty of wooden artworks in Thailand. On enquiring with the shop assistant, we learned the toy frog was actually a musical instrument. You need to remove the wooden stick from frog’s mouth, then press and move it against the spine of the frog in a reverse direction (tail to head). The frog produces a sound mimicking a live bullfrog. Impressive stuff. Immediately I bought the toy for 200 Thai…
-
Music Box
It is strange this post is from me, considering I love electronic gadgets and keep buying more of them than I really need. My parents are in their 80s and they are not comfortable using a computer or mobile devices. I have got them a Sony MP3 Player and a Logitech Slimbox to listen to music. A Google TV, an Apple TV to watch movies and see pictures, but after a day they give up. It’s no fault of them, they are a generation that’s used to touching/feeling switches and knobs; not just touching them. Recently when my uncle was visiting us after we moved back to our house following renovation, he gifted them an electronic Music…
-
Celebrating Madras Week with music
This year on the occasion of Madras (Chennai) Day celebrations on 22nd August, there has been 3 music videos released. It is befitting these are released on the 375th birthday of my home town “Chennai”. It was on this day in 1639 the British East India Company under Francis Day bought a small strip of land stretching 3 miles on the place where Fort St.George (Tamil Nadu state assembly) is present today. The three music videos seen below are: The Madras Song by Muruguappa Group Madras is Beautiful by Madras Photo Factory Chancey illa by Anirudh/The Times of India
-
Thiru M.S.Viswanathan CD Relaunch
Few months back Mr.Kamesh Bavaratnam (@kameshratnam) contacted me through Twitter asking if I had any Gramophone records of Mellisai Mannar (King of Melodies) Thiru M.S.Viswanathan (MSV). That’s how we started one of our many messages over past few weeks. Thanks to an invite from him I went for today’s Relaunch event of MSV’s Thrilling Thematic Tunes Album by MSVTimes.com. I learnt that this Album was originally launched in 1970s during a time when MSV was at his career peak working endlessly on Tamil Film music compositions. HMV had worked with MSV in bringing out this compilation of his individual tracks titled “Thrilling Thematic Tunes”. The album’s LP Record was the…
-
Aaha Kaadal and fine lyrics of a Tamil film song
Recently for some time, this Tamil song is playing in a loop in my head. Such fine lyrics and melodious music. Music which makes you feel cared & hugged. The song is “Aaha Kaadhal Konji Pesudhe” from the movie Moondru Per Moondru Kadal. Music is by Yuvan Shankar Raja and song is sung by Nandhini Srikar, who was discovered by singer Hariharan helping her to make her debut in Tamil film ‘Uyirodu Uyiraga’. See these few lines from the song, think of them, you will love the song more: ஆஹா காதல் கொஞ்சி கொஞ்சி பேசுதே, ஆளை மிரட்டி கள்ளத்தனம் காட்டுதே. ஒரே பெயரை உதடுகள் சொல்கின்றதே, அதே பெயரில் என் பெயர் சேர்க்கின்றதே. வினா தாளில் வெற்றிடம்…
-
My new Gramophone Player
When I was a small boy Cassette tapes had become mainstream, but in our house, we still had many Gramophone Discs and a player to play it. So I have had hours of entertainment listening to Illayaraja’s Tamil hit songs and BoneyM songs from the LP records. But in the 1990s the player broke down, the discs scratched and lost, leaving me only with the memory of them. I felt LP records carried in their music a bit of magic, it was fun to pick up the needle and place it gently on the record with care not to hurt it – like a bee drinking honey from the flower…
-
Digital Music Player for my parents
My Dad & Mom are Senior citizens and they are not tech-savvy. Their favourite music, comprising mostly of classical & devotional is in Cassettes which have worn out and storing cassettes take up huge space & they get dusty as well. The answer is to move digital, but they are the not portable music player (iPods) people, they want to listen to their music in a Music system in living room and they want to use something that is very easy to operate. A few years back I found just one such device – Logitech Slimbox (the predecessor to Squeezebox), bought it when I went to the USA. This device…
