How to curate our music intake?

June 20, 2015 by Soumya Radhakrishnan

Since internet has given rise to so many music creators, there is more music than ever to listen to that it’s difficult to outlive them. In this scenario, how do we decide what music we want to listen to? Do we listen to what our friends recommend or do we already know what kind of music we want to look for?
I believe our daily lives play a huge role in curating our music intake. Our lifestyle and routine will decide what kind of music we would want to listen. For example, if you are a person who is a workaholic you might want to listen to some lounge or instrumental music, which will not distract you from focussing on your work. If you are a person who loves to workout in the gym or who is preparing for a half marathon, you might want to listen to some fast paced rhythmic music that can help regulate your heart rate. If you are a new parent, you might want to include classical music that can help calm your child and put him/her to sleep. If you are a person who is religious and would love to go to places of worship often, you might want to include devotional music in your daily diet.
In summary, curating our music intake depends a lot on our lifestyles.

Sou's Voice believes in curating good Indian music based on different themes. Do check out some theme-based music at Thematic Music Series.

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A R Rahman live Chicago Sou's Voice Review

An evening with A R Rahman ensemble

June 13, 2015 by Soumya Radhakrishnan

The last time I went to witness ARR live was in the year 2011. It was in Bangalore and since it was an open air concert and I could only afford the relatively cheaper tickets, the experience was horrible. The sounds were terrible due to the wind and people screaming plus it was more of a pre-recorded lip sync deal.
However, when I went to Chicago this year to watch ARR live, there were a few pleasant surprises.
1. It was mostly, a 'live' concert with just the last set of songs pre-recorded. It sounded so real and not too perfect, which is perfectly fine and human. I felt some 'value' in shelling out the big bucks and driving down to Chicago in the horrible traffic.
2. The main singers, Haricharan and Jonita, were truly mindblowing. They were actually 'singing' and not 'lip-syncing' and it was a welcome change from most of the concerts I have attended lately.
3. My top picks were 'Naane Varugiren' by Jonita and 'Kaadhal Rojaave' instrumental version by the same lady violinist who played during Yanni's concert. 'Thee Thee' from Thiruda Thiruda was also, a treat in which ARR and Ranjit Barot played with a virtual keyboard developed by Intel especially for ARR. Needless to say, the Thee Thee song took me down the memory lane to my dance performance at Raagam, NIT Calicut in the year 2004.
My other favorites were 'Jaane Tu' Jazz version by Annette Philip of Berkeley College and a random instrumental jam led by Ranjit Barot and Annette.
4. ARR was as usual in his normal, humble self. He was still able to hit all the higher notes while singing Dil Se Re. Loved the improvised violin interludes for this.
5. Another notable improvisation was the addition of English lyrics for 'Ishq Bina' sung by Jonita Gandhi.
6. It was good to see some other 'internet-familiar' faces in the artist line-up such as Mohini Dey on the bass and Keba Jeremiah on the acoustic guitars.
Well, it cannot be all that good, right? There were some less appealing things as well.
1. The most irritating part for the first 45 minutes of the concert was the audience screaming and clapping for literally, every single line sung. Some things never change no matter which part of the world you live in.
2. The mixing was terrible as the concert started and we couldn't hear Keba's acoustic guitars at all but, eventually the sound engineer caught up. I am sure the engineer must have had a tough time figuring out the right mix in the beginning amidst the chaos. Thanks to the audience again.

General Observation:

There were only a fewer artists on the stage compared to ARR's previous concerts. The MacBook main stage and Technology has eliminated the need for more humans to bring out maximum effect during a live concert. However, seeing ARR with his YouTube-discovered artists forces me to raise this question - if ARR was discovered in this internet era as an independent musician, would he still have made it big? Well, you never know.
On that note, here is one of my all time favorite songs of ARR, Yeh Haseen Vaadiyaan sung by Sunil Koshy and me and mixed by Anil C J.

This is a cover version of the song, Yeh Haseen Vaadiya. Covered by: Soumya Radhakrishnan & Sunil Koshy Recording & Mixing: Anil C J Original Song Credits: Movie: Roja (1992) Music: A R Rahman Lyrics: P K Mishra Singers: K S Chithra, S P Balasubramaniam Image Courtesy: Self, Google.com Follow me on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sousvoice Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/soumyark Blog: http://sousvoice.blogspot.com/ All rights of the song remains with the original producers and artists.

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A few questions for you

June 06, 2015 by Soumya Radhakrishnan

Dear readers,

My blog turned one last week. As a part of drafting the upcoming year's content strategy for my blog, I would appreciate if you could share some information from your side.

If you have been following my blog for a while, please help me by taking a minute of your schedule to answer the questionnaire below. Kindly, post your response either in the comments section of this blog post or as a personal message.

1. How did you discover Sou's Voice? (For example, Facebook, Google Search, Forums, and so on)

2. What do you think makes Sou's Voice interesting?

3. Which blog post/music resonated with/inspired you the most?

4. What would you like to see more of in Sou's Voice? (For example, Music Videos, Inspirational Topics, Interesting questions/discussions, etc.)

Thank you so much for doing this exercise.

Also, if you haven't subscribed to my blog mailing list yet, you can join by clicking here.

One year of Sou's Voice

May 30, 2015 by Soumya Radhakrishnan

Dear readers,
When I launched Sou's Voice last year around the same time, I didn't have any objective in particular. The only thing that went through my mind at that point was I needed a space where I can share (read, dump) my ideas, thoughts and learnings. I have been carrying a lot of ideas on my mind that I wanted to deposit safely somewhere to make room for more. However, as my blogging journey progressed I realized sharing ideas on the web might actually help a few more people to draw inspiration from. At that point, my conviction to blog only grew stronger.
Now, after a year, my blog has managed to gather a consistent readership of almost 1500 people. 1500 may not be a huge number but, it is definitely, not a small number either. To put things in perspective, I see this readership as a tribe that has paid attention to the work I have been doing. This is really, inspiring and humbling especially since gaining someone's attention has become a scarce commodity in this world of abundance.
The challenging part comes next - to keep up the momentum of what I have been doing till now. Since this is the point where most of us fail, the only way ahead for me is just to keep going.
Thank you for your continued support. It has been a privilege sharing my work with you.

Musically yours,

Sou

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Song of the Season [Spring] - Free Audio Download

May 24, 2015 by Soumya Radhakrishnan

This season's song is available for free download. Go get your copy of Malargale here.

Sou's Voice (www.sousvoice.com) presents Song of the Season, Spring Musical - an alternate version of the Tamil song, Malargale from the movie, Love Birds. Piano & Flute: Princeten Charles (@princeten-charles-artist) Vocals: Soumya Radhakrishnan Music video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVS9atpBZsE Blog post link: http://bit.ly/malargalemusicvideo Subscribe to Sou's Voice here: www.sousvoice.com/subscribe-for-free/

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