How I 'almost' became a playback singer →

In one of my earlier posts, I had written about my dreams of making it big in the music industry some day. In this post, I am going to tell you how I 'almost' made it into the movies as a playback singer. 

I was called in by this music director, Vijay Krishna in Bangalore to record a 'track' for the song he was composing for the Kannada movie, Auto. I was so excited hearing about it and instantly, took an auto (as in auto rickshaw - see the connection. It was as though the universe was telling me something) to the studio. The very thought of telling my family and friends with pride that "Yay! I am going to be singing in a movie" only made my heart beat faster while I was on my way to the music studio. 

Little did I know then that I was going to be a muted singer in this project. I saw my co-singer, Sunil Koshy waiting for me in the studio and I shared my happiness with him. That's when he explained the difference between track singing and playback singing. All of a sudden, the dream bubble I was in got BUSTED. It made me feel like a deflated balloon. 

Nevertheless, I rose like a phoenix (yes, it was a big deal back then) and finished my recording. Now, as I write this, I am laughing at the person I was back then, the person who thought for a moment that she was going to be a celebrated playback singer overnight.

Here's the song I recorded that day as a muted singer. It was later, released in the voices of established playback singers, Harish Raghavendra and Harini Tipu. The song has traces of raag Reethigowla and Jog.

Thankfully, my vocals are not muted in this version.  

Do you have any experience of track singing or do you know any track singers who made it big in the music industry? Share your thoughts. 

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How earworms help in marketing businesses? →

In one of my earlier posts, I had written about how music can help increase sales in businesses. In this post, I will write about how music can help in marketing businesses. 

If we are very familiar with a name, it means that the name has been marketed well enough to stay in our memories. That's what jingles do - they create a repetitive loop a.k.a an earworm in our brains and this repetition makes the jingle-associated-brand name familiar to us. That way the brand name stays in our memory for a long time. Some of the jingles that I grew up listening to include those of Jungle book and Hamara Bajaj, to name a few. 

I got an opportunity to sing jingles too, for the UAE based radio channel called Gold FM. Here are the two jingles I did along with Suchitra Lata and Gokul Abhishek of Music Mint, Bangalore and Harish Sivaramakrishnan and Ganesh Ram Nagarajan of Agam. The jingles were originally released during Onam, 2010. 

What's your favorite jingle/earworm track and why do you like it?

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Local yet, global - It's World-music day! →

Isn't the title analogous to the phrase, "think globally and act locally"? Yes, the genre, world-music is no different than that. A local flavor of music available for a global audience is what it is all about. 

Globalization and the internet has reduced the knowledge gaps considerably and has shown how powerful common man's ideas/thoughts are. They have helped several local artists attain global fame as well. Truly, we're blessed to live in an era where technology has made lives easier and the internet has helped common man identify his calling and achieve success in many ways. 

Here's an original composition from my home production, The Cocoknot Theori. The track has both local and global flavors and has traces of raag Sumanesa Ranjani in Carnatic music blended with progressive rock and heavy metal grooves. 

Outlived by The Cocoknot Theori from The Cocoknot Theori on Vimeo.

Who's your favorite artist and what's your favorite track in the world-music genre? Share them in the comments below. 

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Sou's Voice and join me on Facebook and Twitter. Check out www.sousvoice.com for an alternate perspective on Indian music. 

3 reasons I like unplugged singing →

I've always been a fan of unplugged style as I believe its the purest form of singing. Here are three reasons why I like this style of singing:

1. It's very much real and natural.

2. It's a highly beneficial voice culture technique for singers.

3. It's easy to identify improvement areas while singing in this fashion. 

Here's my unplugged version of the song, Saawre Tore Bin from the movie, Bandit Queen. 

Do you enjoy singing/listening to unplugged music and why? 

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Sou's Voice and join me on Facebook and Twitter. Check out www.sousvoice.com for an alternate perspective on Indian music. 

Some fond memories about the 'young king' (literally) of music →

The musical maestro, Ilayaraja, celebrated his birthday last week and this post is a tribute to the 'young king' of music. Here are some of the fond memories I have about his music:

1. I grew up listening to him and he played a significant part in shaping up my musical tastes. 

2. When we got our first tape recorder in our home, we played his song first and since then every audio equipment that we bought had gone through a similar process. 

3. I was born in the 80s and the very first Raja song I heard (if my memory serves me right) was 'Thooliyilae' from Chinna Thambi, which still happens to be one of my all time favorite songs. 

4. My 'chithappa' (dad's younger brother) introduced me to Raja's music when I was a kid and I'm extremely thankful to him for doing that.

5. I have always thought (sometimes, I still think) that the raagas Mayamalavagowla and Keeravani were meant for his compositions. Ilayaraja must have milked out the essence of both the modes till the very last drop.

6. I covered one of his compositions which was liked by many. The song is 'Kaatril Varum Geethame' from the Tamil movie, Oru Naal Oru Kanavu composed in the raaga, Kalyani. Check it out:

What are some of your memories about Ilayaraja and his music? Did his music influence you in any way? Share them in the comments section below. 

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Sou's Voice and join me on Facebook and Twitter. Check out www.sousvoice.com for an alternate perspective on Indian music.