Coke Studios Sessions

Music has the power to get you that inside kick which even charas-ganja can’t give you (can’t testify; am not a doper). It can fcuk (fill) your balls up with innocent testosterone and boye! what to say about the orgasms! Fusion music is one of the most fascinating creative arts – fuse, blend and produce magic. Few days back courtesy my brother, I saw some fusion videos of famous coke studios sessions.

Highly recommended ones –

1) Saari Raat –
Fused with sitar. This song is sung by Ali Noor (vocals, band Noori). His voice has a great pitch and throw. Great voice modulation with impressive improvisation is another major positive for him. The song starts with a slow medley extraordinarily (and strangely) mixed with sitar and suddenly picks up tempo with all instruments in full bang. The orchestration is perfect and all credits to the composer. It gives a fabulous kick and is highly addictive. Just to appreciate this fused creation, do listen to the original piece. It is mainly rock. Who thought to include sitar in this??
The first time I heard this song, I wondered for its absence in India? Generally people like Pritam and Mahesh Bhatt do bring the other side fame on this side. This time it was MTV India Roadies (episode on 7th Feb 2010) which featured this song. Yeah! I knew my choice is universal.
There is one more song (Jo Meray) on the same lines. It too is nice but not as good as this one.

2) Aik-Alif – Fused with Sufi words. Song has a great melody attached to it and it’s mainly due to use of tanpura. Vocals for this song - Saeen Zahoor. Ali Noor (Noori), Ali Hamza (Noori). While Saeen gives sufi touch to it, real magic comes from Hamza (grave and plain). Tanpura medley is its USP.

3) Garaj Baras – This fusion piece has heavyweights in it: Ali Azmat (of Junoon fame) and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (Bollywood fame). The original song was itself a very big hit and was a part of movie ‘Paap’. However this version outshines its filmi version, all thanks to Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. He adds a magical improvised chant of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa which just kicks your dying soul. Sometimes annoying but satisfying. My inside call - Shankar Mahadevan could have done wonders in this piece.

4) Duur and Dhaani – Both these songs are album covers of Strings and are cult (personal preference). This version is fused with HB Gullu’s vintage style of producing melodious surs in sync with movements of hands (illusionary at first glance). Though Strings main vocals Faisal disappoints when you see him experimenting just too much, nevertheless HB Gullu’s style is highly impressive. His hands are in sync with voice. Nice and unique.

Singles –

a) Husn-e-Haqiqi (Vocals – Arieb Azhar) – The song is very lyrical and has quite a heavy dose of sufi(?) verbose in it. Instrumentation is not much but it can be heard for its spiritual lyrics. I could understand only two stanzas – one dedicated to Lord Ram & Lord Krishna and another to Lord Brahma & Lord Vishnu. The song sounds lengthy because of lack of instrumentation; but it’s still worth hearing.
b) Paimona (vocals – Haniya) – The song has arabic lyrics (can’t confirm though) and is fused with an instrument resembling santoor. The song is sung by Haniaya, a voice most suited for blues.
c) Titliyan – this song is the best song from Strings latest album- Koi Aaney Wala Hai. Here it is sung with violin in sync and is definitely better than original. The song is slow and has soul-touching lyrics. Strings at their best in this one.
d) Toomba (vocals – Saeen Zahoor) – This song can be heard for the unusual style of singing of Saeen. Toomba has sufi lyrics and instrumentation too is ok.
e) Aankhoy Kay Sagar (vocals – Shafqat Amanat Ali). This song starts with slow pace which gets rhythmic towards end. Vocals are awesome and you will appreciate the extension ability of Shafqat in this one. The use of dholak makes its tempo more beat inclusive, which causes song’s tempo to rise exponentially towards end. The song is highly addictive and has a dangerous repetitive value.

One artist who was way beyond all surs and rhythms was Atif Aslam. Don’t waste your time and stay away from his number.

So what are we doing here in India with our unique treasure?
Ok, my men are winning Oscars, Grammies. And if you go into Bollywood, money obtained from the audio part is seriously high. But are we experimenting? Are we getting the most from our treasure??
Indian treasure is diversity. And it is very sad to see there is no attempt to bring different cultures/regional musical styles and trying to fuse them. It will be both challenging and magical for the composer if the outcome is divine (and that’s what a musician wants, right!!). But will music channels like MTV rise above the ‘road’ with their stupid shows. Will I ever see different genre of music, say Bengali and Hindi in fusion.
It is high time we have to experiment more with our treasure. Can somebody fuse Avdoot Gupte (Marathi), Raghu Dixit Project (based out of Bangalore), Chandrabindu (Bengali) and The East India Company (Assamese)? Anybody!!

please NOTE: incase you decide to listen to the above mentioned coke numbers, kindly download them from there site and would recommend the videos (.mov files). By the way, all the videos are free (but immense respect earning).

“Sometimes all I want to do is to make people HAPPY and the best part is I can DO IT for FREE” – Speaking Pictures

Sachin Tendulkar – not out after 20 years

Something from my wrist for his wrists.

24th Feb 2010 - the day dedicated to Sachin Tendulkar (God of Cricket he is!). And all those fabulous lines like “form is temporary, class is permanent”…they sound so true once you see Tendulkar. Man! what a knock he had yesterday – 200 not out that too against South Africa.

Left early because the poor office doesn’t have a television. I left my working premises when he was on 126* and by the time the big greeny DTC touched DND expressway, the Nokia tuned to loudspeaker mode and happiness was spread all over the over-crowed vehicle. Cheers n all bliss

ps: for the first time I have put colour to my cartoons. Do you like it...put your thoughts in comments

15th Feb 2010

A day of immense importance as I turned 24 on this day and entered the countdown towards my 25, the silver anniversary. Voila! Am excited abhi se.

And was extremely lucky that evening as I attended the talk by eminent cartoonists @ British Council (CP, New Delhi). Cartoonists included Mr. Ajit Ninan (cartoonist, The Times of India) and Mr. Martin Rowson (cartoonist, The Guardian, UK). The talk started with Mr. Martin Rowson giving a presentation on past and present cartoons taking us through evolution of cartoons. The chronological styled presentation had major events of world cartoonized in the most humorous style; all giving an intended message and making that sarcastic statement. The presentation also made me realize how ‘open’ UK’s society is? Man! They can show off testicles (hand appearing in between legs giving that look of adultery) and butts in newspapers with no fear or shyness. Bush and Blair are the prime guinea pigs for Martin and almost every second cartoon of his had these two world leaders. An eye opener which I got to know from one of his cartoons was that
“total aid given to developing countries was less than one-third of total bonus paid to bankers in US in pre-recessionary market”.
I have started admiring him for his sense of humour. Like me he can humourize just anything ;)

Next speaker was Mr. Ajit Ninan (cartoonist, the Times of India). Incase you follow his cartoons, you will know his style. His cartoons are more statement oriented rather than eye-pleasing. He gave his insights on cartooning and those were simply brilliant. A couple of them –
1) use of minimum words so that even a Chinese can understand what you want to say.
2) the charm of hand-made black and white caricature and the philosophy behind the reasons for one's choice of black or white in his creations

I indeed was very lucky to see both of them cartooning LIVE. Infact I got a cartoon exclusive for myself from Mr. Ajit Ninan – the best of Best Wishes received on my 24th birthday. Man! He took less than 15 seconds to do it. Am wondering whether he actually lifted the pen or not?
The congregation was organized to announce the winners of a cartoon contest (click here to view finalists and winners). I too was a participant but my entry didn’t made it though. Here is mine (copyrights - British Council, CP, New Delhi)


ps: Very special thanks to Su, Tau, KP for taking time and wishing me. Thanks to NRI Singh, Sethi saab for their online versions. Party coming soon…
Cheers
AG

“I want to see myself paying for my cartoons” – Mr. Ajit Ninan
“The essential qualities which a cartoonist should have are arrogance and laziness” – Mr. Martin Rowson

"All you need is passion to learn and practice this art" - Mr. AG ;)

Ishqiya - love and gang-wars

This year is important for events. We have already seen 2010 Delhi Auto-Expo and events like Hockey World-Cup, Commonwealth Games are in queue. But events can't substitute movies. And I am glad that my first movie in 2010 gets thumbs up.

Rating - 3/5

Story -
Ishqiya is a story co-written by Vishal Bharadwaj (Kaminey). He is known for adding twists in his plot. And he doesn't disappoint this time too. SO, we have two thieves- Khalujaan (Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warsi) who share a generation gap between them. They are on a run as a consequence of duping Mushtaq (Khalu's jijaji) of Rs 20L. They find no place to go and finally reach their dacoit friend Vermaji's house in Gorakhpur (eastern UP fame). Vermaji to chal basse hai and have left his wife, Krishna (Vidya Balan) alone. The two thieves now stay at her place and develop a liking for her. While the more aged chor is a silent dreamy lover of her persona, the younger one gets sensual and lusty. A good proportion of the movie is dedicated to this difference of liking somebody. Basically we see two variant of lovers - a silent slow aged man who is gathering courage to advance his moves and the second one a pervert (couldn't find a simpler word). Meanwhile Mushtaq, turns up again and set them another deadline. Post interval is where Vishal's style dominates the story. In order to get those 20 lakhs, they plot a kidnap. Bang! Wonder! How! Abbey ye tha vo!! the last laugh!! There are twists, flashbacks and conning going on in every second scene.
This unfortunately turns out to be the biggest drawback of Ishqiya. Too many twists just too fast. Deception and the feeling of getting deceive needs to maintain a minimum timegap which unfortunately is not properly managed. Hope debutant director Abhishek Chaubey notes this.

Few months back, a movie came by the name of Kaminey (3.75/5 stars from SP). It was directed by Vishal Bharadwaj, was full of twists and had quality in it. I doubt same for Ishqiya. Ishqiya leaves you with a comfortable feel but doesn't leaves impact. It is a feel good movie but not a satisfying one. A good movie but not a very very good one.

Casting-
Naseeruddin Shah is brillant. Infact this can be said as his best performance in recent past. He feels himself old enough to be courteous to the lady, knows his limitations (physical), talks of ‘humare zamane ki baatein' and would take subtle steps like dying his mehendi colored beard in order to look young. Bottomline, he moulds himself into an elderly man who can pursue love of younger age by emoting 'dil to bacha hai ji'.

Arshad Warsi - Break loose out of short-circuit. Warsee here is a macho man who reads lusty novels, speaks with ‘surma-Bhopali’ accent and is a 'pervert'. He is overtly aggressive in his moves and can express them with no hesitation. His butcher looks are borrowed from Chambal's men and wears the darkest shade of kajal. Though I want to conclude that the ‘circuit’ stereotype is still a better role for him.

Vidya Belan – Bold and very bold for two reasons – firstly, for the longest liplock by any famous mainstream heroine in Hindi movies. Second bold is given for silently delivering hardcore abuses. The second bold gets prefixed with ‘very’ as there are no abuses from our two main male leads. Bravo belan!

One confusing negative I felt was the unnecessary abusing. Why so-dirty talking? Why would words like BC come only through non-lead actors mouth. And will somebody in this fast-evolving scientific world explain me the meaning of morphing the simplest of [complex-compounds] - CaSO4 to Chu***** Sulphate. Should I expect a dharna from chemistry teachers on this? Even the IITian Sandy had no answers for this? May be I have to ask some Gorakhpur chap? Help de Neel

“Babban: teri umaar kya hai be
Nandu: paanch kam bees”

ps: Ca(2+) and SO4(2-) were some of the favourite ions during my IITJEE preps. Dedicate this review in memory of them. Keep reacting

pps: thanks to mydala.com for providing me prime time west-Delhi-multiplex tickets @ Rs 75. God bless them especially after 3 idiots (exhaustive case study coming soon...)