During Dasara, on Saraswati Puja, I worshiped my divine Veena with the roses and Parijata. All reading materials, including books, pens and musical instruments are worshiped this day seeking the Goddess blessings for studies and learning.

I love music and have loads of collection on my iPod that 80 gb is falling short of. Be it a sufi, a classical, an instrumental, I have myriad genres of music stored on my iPod. Without music, I wonder how life would exist on earth. I am sure everyone of us, listen to radio, at least while commuting in the bus or train. Some are also inspired to sing or learn a musical instrument though we are not trained. Well, speaking of singers or musicians who are self-trained, Kishore da is my favourite.

I am happy to watch this video featuring Usman Riaz, a self taught musician, and his thirst to learn a variety of musical instruments, all by himself listening to the hundreds and hundreds of audios on internet. When I listened to his compositions, I was totally mesmerized and started to search for some more compositions by him. He comes from a family of artists and musicians. Usman started playing classical piano at the age of six and taught himself to play a variety of instruments from the internet. When people say, they download and learn to play the guitar seeing the youtube videos, it still takes me to surprise, how!

Unlike, other areas of learning, music needs a lot of dedication and concentration. I, myself, having learned basics of Carnatic music, find it very hard to follow the musical notes on the internet and request my teacher to correct me when I play out of tune. I confess, two of the western musical instruments I own, both Piccolo, a western classical flute and keyboard, I have failed to play with without flaws and a Tanvajur Veena. But this video talk by Usman is truly an inspiring one. He explains how he had to pause, to get the exact finger position. At sixteen, he played a guitar. He used the knowledge acquired to make his own music, orchestras, paintings and relate them. This does not limit him to compositions, but goes a step ahead body percussion and making films.

He shares his experience of traveling across the globe, one among the 32 musicians in the US and his happiest moment of sharing the stage with his internet Guru from whom he learn to pluck the guitar strings. Usman has set an example on how people can make use of the internet in a good way, by learning most toughest things at ease. This video is a source of inspiration to those who complain, that they couldn't find a teacher!



Check Usman's webpage: http://www.usmanriaz.me and get lost in music.Who knows, you would start playing some tunes on your abandoned guitar seeing this video. For now, I am dusting my long forgotten instruments and searching for online lessons.

This post was written in association with Indiblogger for IDEA Caravan by Franklin Templeton Investment which partnered the TEDxGateway.

I like listening to songs of all genres, be it Kannada, Tamil, Telugu or Hindi, that are melodious.Maestro Illayaraja is one of the famous South Indian music composer from the Tamil film industry. He has also contributed to the Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi film industries. One would be mesmerized listening to his compositions.

Noted Veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh playing Raag Mand of Hindustaani music. One of my favourite composition. :)

© Manasa. All rights reserved.

Miniature Veena. New addendum to the Dasara Dolls. :)

Veena is one of the most divine Carnatic music instruments.

© Manasa. All rights reserved.

I have been listening to this sing Taye Yoshada as a Comtemporary music. Beautifully sung by Carnatic Vocalist Sudha Raghunathan as a playback singer from the movie Morning Raga.



© Manasa. All rights reserved.

Ustad Bale Khan Memorial Trust and Antara Arts organised mesmerizing Sapta Sitar On Sunday, Feb 13th at JSS Auditorium. Musicians playing Sitar are from the Khan family. Sitar was introduced to South India by the Khan family.

The photo clicked above got published in Deccan Herald. Though, no photo credit was mentioned.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/137965/soothing-sounds-sitar.html

© Manasa. All rights reserved.

New ear cushions

My head phones unusable

Head phones with new ear cushions

I was in class 6 when I watched this Malayalam movie: Manichitrathazhu. Though, I did not know Malayalam language, I was able to follow this movie and watched it on some channel at home. The movie was released in the year 1993. The lead role was played by actress Shobana who is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. This movie is one my favourites. Remember, language should never be a barrier. The story line of the movie being Shobana suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder and concludes with her chopping the head of dummy toy whom she thinks is a king and recovers from the disorder. Shobana also won Best Actress Award for this movie.
Following the success of this movie, remakes were done in several languages including Kannada (Aaptamitra), Tamil(Chandramukhi), Telugu(Chandramukhi) and Hindi(Bhool Bhulaiyaa). Though, the movie was a flop in Hindi due to the flaws in direction, it was a major hit in Kannada and Tamil.
In Kannada, the lead role was played by Late Soundarya in Aaptamitra (year 2004) which was her last movie and was released after her death. Though, Soundarya wasn't a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, her performance was fabulous. The reason I liked these two songs is because of the fast beats. Though, Chandramukhi has the same song in the ending, it was too slow and did not amuse me much.
The Bharatanatyam dance video of the original movie: Manichitrathazhu


The Bharatanatyam dance video of Aaptamitra

I watch them many times in my iPod :)