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I was visiting the late L Vaidyanathan, composer brother of L Subramaniam in 1987 when he first played me the music of Vangelis and explained to me his ability to bring soul into synthesizers. My memories of listening to his music on headphones on the way from Bangalore to Chennai after finishing arranging work for music composer Vijay Anand while travelling in third class due to delayed bookings are still fresh. Vangelis' music used to transport me to another planet, releasing me from those inevitable noises in a train. It was such a surprise when one of my friends took me to Vangelis' house last week in Greece. He is very philosophical and a great lover of art and science. He still plays the keyboard with a child-like interest. I asked him if he is interested in doing an Indian project with talent in India. His response was, 'Why not?' Here is the picture of him and I! |
Monday, October 26, 2009
Legend meets Legend!!! Rare but Fair!!!
The Tale OF TWO Legends!!!
A tale of two Legends!!!
Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, aged 36 and 34 respectively, have rejuvenated themselves enough to be back at the top of their games, in a different kind of way
Sidharth Monga in Vadodara
October 24, 2009
If reasons are to be found to not look at this as just another seven-match ODI series, meaningless but for the No. 1 spot in the dubious ICC rankings on the line, don't look beyond the leading run-getters of both teams. They are also two of the greatest batsmen of our era, and definitely two most consistent across the two forms that they have played for most of their careers. If the marketing man had had the time to build this series up, there wouldn't be a better peg.
Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, aged 36 and 34 respectively, have rejuvenated themselves enough to be back at the top of their games, in different ways. Not that the dips were long, but there have been stifled, sporadic calls for them to quit at least one form of the game, if not both. For players who have played so well for so long, motivation is not likely to be an issue, but it is also conspicuous they now derive joy from different aspects of their games.
Tendulkar has been remarkable for not living in denial. He realised long before the rest of the world did that he needed to change his game. He respected age. He stopped making jaws drop, and instead began to appeal to the wise heads that will admire a swallowed ego and a more complete batsman. For about a couple of years we found it hard to reconcile the consciously cautious man of this decade with the terror that bowlers knew in the one before. As with all rediscoveries, this took some time, and once the new Tendulkar started scoring consistently again, we began to marvel. Genius had worked, and we didn't even realise.
Since the start of the year 2008, Tendulkar has averaged 47.05 (career average 44.48) and struck at 90.22 per 100 balls (career strike-rate 85.74). That he has played just 23 matches over the period shows he has picked and chosen. It's a conscious effort to stay fit and ready till the 2011 World Cup, something that can't be easy for a man who has played through pain for most of his career. But he wants another shot at the World Cup, missing which might cause him more mental pain than the physical pain he has endured. And when it comes to the next biggest challenge, playing Ponting's men, it is natural he play.
Australia, though, don't evoke the awe they used to or the aura they used to carry. Ponting's has been a bittersweet experience of captaining the side: two Ashes losses in themselves would have been reason enough for capital punishment for an Australian captain in an era gone by. A first-round exit in the 2009 World Twenty20 goes with it. But Ponting and the Australian board realise that perhaps their team has to spend time rediscovering itself, much like Tendulkar has done with his game. It shows in how they don't talk big before the big series; winning has become the new talking.
Although Ponting may not figure in the list of greatest captains from Australia, his team, like Tendulkar's game, has maintained a certain level of efficiency. But Ponting needed to do more than chew nails, spit in his hands, look frustrated on the field and get frustrated on the field, and that need to express himself has manifested itself best in his batting. It is remarkable that captaining a side that has fallen from the lofty Australian standards of years gone by has not had any conspicuous effect on his batting. Perhaps it has contributed to him taking it a notch higher. The batting crease is the only place he can carry his brashness to. Frankly, what would the best hooker and puller in the world be without that last ounce of brashness?
Can Ponting bring that quality to a country that hasn't been kind to his batting, with the added burden of leading an inexperienced line-up? For once he will get to put himself in Tendulkar's shoes. In the 46 ODIs that these men have played against each other, Ponting has been on the winning side 28 times. In those 28 games, his average has risen from a career 43.16 to 52.6, an expected variation. But in the 15 games that Tendulkar has won, he has had to raise his game to an extent where his average goes from a career 44.48 to 84.28.
Roles have changed slightly now. Tendulkar has Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni around him; Ponting makes his way in after an unsettled opening combination, and is followed by Michael Hussey, Cameron White and James Hopes.
Even at their ages, and despite the presence of young dashers, these two men make for the most intriguing contest of the series. What's more, Ponting has to lead a somewhat unfancied batting line-up in this series. It's a combination that sometimes manages to get the worst out of them, and might just provide one of the separators in the Greatest of Our Time debate.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
JINGLES by A R RAHMAN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Before becoming a Movie composer Rahman has shown his glory in Non film music field and ads and jingles. That time he was A. S. Dileep. A R Rahman's first break in advertising field came through when he was asked to compose the jingle to promote Allwyn's new Trendy range of watches, in 1987. This ad invited attraction towards Rahman's talent. More and more offers came in his way.Rahman became favorite composer for the well-known brands like Boost, Titan, Hero Puch and Asian Paints. The jingles that he composed for the Leo Coffee ad starring Aravind Swamy and the Asian Paints ad directed by Rajeev Menon also won him awards and recognition. He also won an award for composing the theme music of the Madras Telugu Academy's Spirit of Unity Concerts. During his stint in advertising, he released his first ever complete music album, of Islamic devotional songs, titled 'Deen Isai Malai', in Tamil. This was later followed by 'Set Me Free', an album of English songs which was the launch album of singer Malgudi Subha, by Magnasound, where Dileep set the songs to tune. Subha had earlier sung for Dileep in many jingles. His career graph began to take the upward path, and as the result of his music's growning popularity he was invited by the famous director Maniratnam to compose tunes for his new film Roja. From then a new era of music has started. Full credits goes to the world renowned Music composer Rahman. He still makes his impression on both film and non-film field through his enchanting music. Some of his Ad jingles are:
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Non-Films |
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Jaya He |
The International Fleet Review is an event of great National importance where for the first time India will be hosting 30 other Navies of the world on a very grand scale. BharatBala Productions have created a film for the Indian Navy in English and Hindi to be telecast on all television channels including Doordarshan. The soundtrack for the film is composed by A R Rahman and the voice is rendered by Amitabh Bachchan.
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Desh ka salam |
A Timeless moment India came to a standstill | ||
Desh ka salam was an effort to salute the martyrs of India. 960 million indians came together for a ten minutes to pay a tribute to them and their heroic act. A dynamic statement on india's last independence day of this century. Desh ka salam - a 10 minute film - a musical tribute by the greatest music maestros of India, also featuring Lata Mangeshkar's 'Ae Mere Watan ke Logon', specially re-rendered for this film. This film was telecast across all television networks national and satellite, its audio was broadcast on all the networks of All India radio and web-cast on the Internet - simulataneously at 8 p.m. on August 15, 1999. 3.70,119 internet users across the globe logged on to the web at 8:00 pm on August 15, for the 'live' webcast of 'Desh ka Salaam' on http://www.deskasalaam.com. Telecast on 43 television channels at the same time, across India and worldwide. Reached 90 million viewers and Radio audience across the country. Broadcast on every radio network of All India Radio.
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India on IMAX |
A R Rahman in Bharat Bala Production "India on IMAX" film premeired at the launch of the first IMAX theatre in Mumbai. In keeping with their pioneering spirit in filmmaking, BharatBala Productions (BBP) has once again taken on the role of the leader in technological innovativeness in India, by producing the first Indian film on the IMAX format. The film made by Bala and Kanika is the first Indian production in the large format and will be screened at every film show at IMAX Adlabs, Mumbai. This film is of seven minutes duration depicting the magnificence of India, making an extraordinary impact on the IMAX screen.India on IMAX - the first ever film made worldwide about India on the large format. The film that shall bring to India the magnificence of an IMAX experience. The forerunner to many more Indian IMAX experiences in the future.
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Ekam Satyam - Munich Concert |
Melodious strains of 'Satyameva Jayate' (Truth alone shall Triumph) by music wizard A.R.Rahman provided an appropriate icing to an enchanting concert by pop king Michael Jackson in Munich on Sunday night in aid of the world's poor children. In the fusion experiment promoted by the Hinduja Family Rahman and his fellow artistes including Shobana and Prabhudeva, rung the curtains down on the nine-hour open air concert after Jackson electrified a 55000 strong audience with his famous numbers including 'We are the world' at the gigantic Olympic Stadium. The song Ekam Satyam was sung by A R Rahman & chorus and lyrics by Kanika Myer.
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Hey Jawan Tujhe Salaam |
A.R.Rahman was one among many cricketers, filmstars and other entertainers who participated in the Kargil Benefit Evening organised by Sahara at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on 11-07-99. The proceeds of the evening will be donated to the Central Defence Relief Fund. The evening featured a football match between filmstars and cricketers and an entertainment show. ARR rendered the Maa Tujhe Salaam number with the phrase 'Maa Tujhe Salaam' changed to 'Hey jawan Tujhe Salaam.' .The song was 'Hey Jawan Tujhe Salam' and was performed by A R Rahman & chorus. Mehboob wrote the lyrics
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Oh Bosnia |
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Zindagi Se Pyar Karo |
A. R. Rahman performed at the AIDS Awareness Concert organised by Mukti, A Smita Thackeray Foundation in association with the UB Group at the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai on the 24th of Dec 1998. A. R. Rahman's performance was the finale of the concert which had a turnout of nearly 60,000 people. A. R. Rahman performed a song specially composed for the occasion, "Zindagi Se Pyar Karo" which was the theme song of the campaign.
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Colours - Golden Krithis |
A. R. Rahman has assisted Ustad Zakir Hussain and Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan on thir World tours as Keyboard player.At that time his name was Dileep. Later this concert was converted to album named "Colours-Golden Krithis".C Jeyasekar was the music director.
Songs were
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Friday, August 21, 2009
'If cricket is religion, then Sachin is God', is enough to describe what Sachin Tendulkar is to his fans all over the world. The Master Blaster has been the pioneer of cricket and arguably one of the best batsmen in the world of cricket. He is the highest run-maker in both the One-Day Internationals and Test version of the game with highest number of centuries and he is raring for more. The little master has been the nemesis for bowlers all over the world and continues to haunt them on any surface. His ability to play according to the situation makes him almost perfect.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
INDIA'S MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS ARR and MASTER
MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Arts and Entertainment: A.R. Rahman
Age: 43
Musician and Composer
Long the voice of modern Indian pop music, Rahman this year earned international recognition as the Oscar-winning composer of the soundtrack for Slumdog Millionaire. He has brought an urban sophistication to Bollywood soundtracks, mixing jazz, rock, and reggae influences with Indian classical music, and using electronic sound-editing, initially uncommon in India, to complement lyrics from some of India's best-known poets and songwriters. His songs have often catapulted even lackluster films to box-office success.
ANDREW YATES/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Sports: Sachin Tendulkar
Age: 35
Cricket Star
India's most revered cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar broke onto the world stage at 16 and since then has become the highest scorer ever in both forms of the game. Picked as the second-best batsman in history by Wisden, the renowned cricketing almanac, Tendulkar often walks out to the batting pitch to the roaring expectations of hundreds of millions of Indian cricket fans. But off the field, he has become the largest sports brand in India, signing promotion deals that are reported to be close to $45 million over his lifetime.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
SECOND BEST EVER:::
THE WISDEN ANNOUNCES THE ALL TIME BEST::
MASTER U r Awsesome!!!
Test Batsmen:
Don Bradman
Sachin Tendulkar
Viv Richards
Garry Sobers
Allan Border [ Images ]
Jack Hobbs
K Barrington
Sunil Gavaskar
Greg Chappel
Brian Lara
Test Bowlers:
Mutthiah Muralitharan
Richard Hadlee
S Barnes
Shane Warne
C Grimmett
Glen McGrath [ Images ]
Dennis Lillee
Malcolm Marshall
Imran Khan [ Images ]
Courtney Walsh
One-day Batsmen:
Viv Richards
Sachin Tendulkar
Brian Lara
Dean Jones
Michael Bevan
Sourav Ganguly
Mark Waugh
Zaheer Abbas
Jaques Kallis
Saeed Anwar
One-day Bowlers:
Wasim Akram
Allan Donald
Waqar Younis
Glenn McGrath
Joel Garner
Saqlain Mushtaq
Mutthiah Muralitharan
Shaun Pollock [ Images ]
Shane Warne
Dennis Lillee
THE ASSETS:
ACADEMY FOR MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES (OSCARS)
Best Achievement in Original Score for a Motion Picture - Slumdog Millionaire (2009)
Best Achievement in Original Song for a Motion Picture - Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaire (2009)
BAFTA
Best Music(Slumdog Millionaire)
GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
Best Composer(Slumdog Millionaire)
CIVILIAN AWARDS
Padmashree (Jan 2000) Title awarded by the Government of India
Awadh Sammaan (May 2001) awarded by Uttar Pradesh government
Al-Ameen Education Society Community Award (2001)
Amir Khusro Sangeet Nawaz Award (2002)
Lata Mangeshkar Samman, awarded by Madhya Pradesh Government 2005
Mahavir Mahatma Award Awarded by the Oneness Foundation, April 2005
Stanford University Award for Contribution to Global Music Jan 2006
NATIONAL AWARDS
Roja (1993)
Minsara Kanavu (1997)
Lagaan (2002)
Kannathil Muthamittaal (2003)
FILMFARE AWARDS
Best Music Roja (Tamil, 1993)
Best Music Gentleman (Tamil, 1994)
R D Burman Award for Best new musical talent (for Roja, Hindi; 1995)
Best Music Kadhalan (Tamil, 1995)
Best Music Rangeela (Hindi; 1996)
Best Music Bombay (Tamil, 1996)
Best Music Kadhal Desam (Tamil, 1997)
Best Music Minsara Kanavu (Tamil, 1998)
Best Music Dil Se.. (Hindi; 1999)
Best Music Jeans (Tamil, 1999)
Best Music Taal (Hindi; 2000)
Best Music Mudhalvan (Tamil, 2000)
Best Music Alai Payuthey (Tamil, 2001)
Best Music Lagaan (Hindi; 2002)
Best Background Score Technical Award The Legend of Bhagat Singh (Hindi; 2003)
Best Music Saathiya (Hindi; 2003)
Best Background Music Swades (Hindi, 2005)
Best Music Rang De Basanti (Hindi; 2007)
Best Music Sillunu Oru Kadhal (Tamil; 2007)
Best Music - Guru (Hindi, 2008)
Best Background Score - Guru (Hindi, 2008)
Best Background Score - Jodhaa Akbar (Hindi, 2009)
Best Music - Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (Hindi, 2009)
SCREEN AWARDS
Kadhal Desam (South - Tamil; 1997)
Minsara Kanavu (South - Tamil; 1998)
Vande Mataram (Non-film; 1998)
Taal (Hindi; 2000)
Best Background Score Rang De Basanti (Hindi, 2007)
Best Composer Guru (Hindi; 2008)
Best Background Score Guru (Hindi; 2008)
Best Music - Guru (Hindi, 2008)
Best Background Score - Jodhaa Akbar(Hindi, 2009)
Best Music category - Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na(Hindi, 2009)
DINAKARAN CINE AWARDS
Minsara Kanavu (1998)
Jeans (1999)
Mudalvan, Kadhalar Dhinam (2000)
TAMIL NADU STATE AWARD
Roja (1993)
Gentleman (1994)
Kadhalan (1995)
Bombay (1996)
Minsara Kanavu (1998)
Sangamam (2000)
CINEMA EXPRESS AWARD
Roja (1993)
Gentleman (1994)
Kadhalan (1995)
Kadhal Desam (1997)
Jeans (1999)
KALASAAGAR AWARD
Roja (1993)
Gentleman (1994)
Kadhalan (1995)
Bombay (1996)
FILMFANS' AWARD
Roja (1993)
Gentleman (1994)
Kadhalan (1995)
Bombay (1996)
CINEGOERS' AWARD
Roja (1993)
Gentleman (1994)
Kadhalan (1995)
Bombay (1996)
ZEE AWARDS
Zee Cine Awards (2008) Best Composer and Best Background Score Guru
Zee Sangeet Awards (1999) Dil Se.. Zee Cine Awards (2000) Taal
Zee Gold Bollywood International Awards (2000) Taal
Zee Fairglow Awards (2002) Best Music Lagaan
Zee Gold Bollywood Awards (2002) Lagaan
Zee Cine Awards (2003) Best Music Saathiya
Zee Gold Bollywood Awards (2003) Best Music Saathiya
Zee Cine Awards 2003 Best Background Music The Legend of Bhagat Singh
Zee Cine Awards 2007 Best Composer Rang De Basanti
INTERNATIONAL INDIAN FILM AWARDS (IIFA)
Best Music Taal (2000) Best Music Lagaan (2002)
Best Music Saathiya (2003)
Best Background Score Saathiya (2003)
Best Background Score Rang De Basanti (2007)
Best Song Recording Rang De Basanti (2007)
Best Composer Rang De Basanti (2007)
Best Music - Guru (Hindi, 2007)
GLOBAL INDIAN FILM AWARDS (GIFA)
Best Background Music Rang De Basanti, 2007
Best Music Rang De Basanti, 2007