Shanka-Naada

2004-12-24T10:33:00.000+05:30

God & Goddess!!! do they really exist ? this may sound too philosophical!!! But........read on...
I had been procrastinating for a month since I registered at this blog site. I was like: "what do I have to write and why blog ?" But, as ever thanks to Balu who pushed me to start with this. So, thought of having multiple blogs discussing various subject. To start with I have come up with this one for just 'Music'. So the title 'Shanka-Naada'.
I am not sure how I picked this art of listening to music. I appreciate music of any kind and music keeps me wondering as to how can something be so abstract but still so very beautiful. As a kid I used to enjoy the kannada chitrageethegalu and hindi chaya geeth on the radio. I still remember the first song I learnt to sing - "Kaanadhanthe Maayavadhanu, Namma Shiva Kailasa Seri Kondanu'. Well, I think I did get a reward in my school for this song. Those days were during my primary schooling. As I started listening to Tamil, there was Isaignani Illayaraja. His music was definitely different from the rest. His evergreen tunes are always a melody to listen. Be it in tamil, kannada or telugu movies. Actually, by listening to Illayaraja I developed the interest to learn violin. His albums 'How to Name It' & 'Nothing but Wind' were the ones that inspired me to pick up on violin. These tunes are ever rhyming in my ears. Though I tried to really start with violin few years ago, it never took off. So, hoping to start with it again soon.
Coming back to the story, I was happy listening to the film music until we(Myself and Balu) heard Yanni - Live At Acropolis at NIIT computer drome. Well, we should actually thank Anand of NIIT for introducing us to Yanni. That changed my perspective towards music as I delved deeper to seek beyond film songs.
While I was in Paris, I had an opportunity to go to the concert 'Shakti' with John McLaughin, Zakir Hussain, Mandolin U Srinivas & Selva Ganesh. So, there I got into traditional Indian Music. Then during the same period, I generally came across this song 'Endaro Mahabavulu' by John Higgins. I think it was Balu again who had sent me the link. Amazing!!!!! It was a beautiful experience. I had wonderful pair of head phones and played the music loud into my years. I still remember the enthusiastic voice of John Higgins that made me play the song repetively. So, then I started venturing into the ocean of carnatic music and started listening to Maharajapuram Viswanathan, Sirkazhi GovindaRajan, Maharajapuram Santhanam, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Bombay Sisters, M S Subbalakshmi, D K Pattamal, M L Vasanthakumari,Balamuralikrishna and Yesudas K J.
As I am writing this blog listening to 'Brochevarevarura' by MS Subbalakshmi, somewhere back in my mind I hear this statement that good music is definitely something to do with divinity and so the statement - "God and Goddess do exist" and their language is the 'Music'.