Odd Time Signatures...

As I learn more, the similarity between odd time signatures viz. 3x4, 5x4, 7x4 etc. beat cycles in Western music system, particularly in rock genre and those in Indian classical music is striking.

In fact, each of these time signatures have a technical name (taal or tALam) given in the Indian classical music system. This blog will take a closer look at these rhythm patterns and try to illustrate with a few examples from Indian film music.

Recognizing and Counting Odd Time Signatures: The trick is in counting, not playing.

Let's first start with a demonstration of how to recognize and count odd time signature. Some of the ardent followers of Indian film music and those into Indian classical music would be able to recognize these rhythm patterns quite easily. Here goes:




More to follow...

Ilayaragam's Debut - Arangetram

Hardly a week passes by without one hearing about yet another Bay Area desi band. This time, it is a Tamil light music band called 'IlayarAgam' (translated as 'Youthful Melody').

Ilayaragam is steadfast in promoting their vision, which is to (a) play only melodies and (b) to stay away from kuttu pATTu business. They want to play melodies, which are masterpieces and stir our souls every time we listen to them. These are songs which we have all been listening to since our childhood and will cherish them in our hearts, till the day we forget ourselves. As the band name itself suggests, the song list would consist mostly of Maestro Ilayaraja's compositions. Good numbers from other composers (who have been keyboardists with Ilayaraja or keyboardists with Ilayaraja's keyboardists), :-) will also be chosen.

Ilayaragam's vision is bold and greatly differentiated from other Tamil light music band's 'formula driven' agenda of serving a 'buffet' of Tamil songs, of which kuttu pATTu is a standard item. It's a highly commendable vision and I wish Ilayaragam good luck in spreading its melodic fragrances far and wide.

On March 7 2009, Ilayaragam went on stage for the first time. Their debut performance was called Arangetram (literally meaning going up on the stage for the first time). Although short and sweet with only 7 songs, it was a very well received show. The audience greatly enjoyed the song selection and went home craving for more. They raved about the orchestration, especially the keys, lead, rhythm, bass and drums, which are absolutely essential for bringing an Ilaiyaraja number to life on stage. Although I liked all the songs, my personal favorite was Oh Butterfly - what a melody from Ilaiyaraja! The band just nailed it and I had a great time mixing the sound for that song and also of course for the entire show.

The song list and order was as follows:

1. Overture (Original composition by Vidya Shankar in Raga HarikAmbhoji)
2. Sangeetha Megam
3. Enna Sattam
4. Sundari Neeyum
5. Oh Butterfly
6. Ooru Sanam
7. Nenjukkul
8. Ennamma Kannu

The Ilayaragam Arangetram show consisted of the following members:

Singers: Rangarajan Ramachandran, Gopal Tiruvengadam, TN Arunagiri, Janani Vishwanathan
Chorus: Srividya Guru, Swetha Venkataraman, Jenita Mariadasan and Uthra Ramachandran
Keyboards Main: Vidya Shankar
Keyboards: Ramakrishnan Guru and Nathan Narayanan
Conductor: Ramakrishnan Guru
Bass Guitar: Rangarajan Ramachandran
Lead Guitar: Easwar Swaminathan
Rhythm Guitar: Ashok Jayaraman
Drums: Saravanan Chidambaram
Pads: Nathan Narayanan and Logesh Manohar
Sound Engineering and Recording: TN Arunagiri and Nathan Narayanan
MC: Anitha Rangarajan

Videos are available here: http://tinyurl.com/iragam-videos

Audio recording highlights are available here:

Raga Shack is Born

It was the 15th day of March 2009 - the day when Raga Shack was born. The band aims to bring the best of Western music elements and Indian traditional music together to a maximum number of audience. As the name suggests, the band is open to improvisational music but when it claims a certain Raga is being played, it will strive to stick to the grammar of the melody (Raga) and time signature (Kaala Pramaanam), rhythm and tempo (Laya).

The members of this band just not want to play or sing but aspire to evolve as musicians and come out of the copy-exact mode that many popular light music bands operate in (doing cover versions). A critical part of that evolution process depends upon consistent effort in learning new things and becoming better at those by constant practice, so playing or singing becomes second nature.

Currently, the band has members with the following competencies:

1. Bamboo flute - Hindustani/Carnatic
2. Indian Classical violin
3. Lead/Rhythm guitars
4. Bass guitars
5. Keyboards
6. Western drums
7. Indian percussion (Mridangam/Tabla)
8. Indian classical vocals

The band members eagerly look forward to great jam sessions, where they would not only internalize their learning but more than that, simply enjoy the Music. Once that happens, raising the audience to the band's wavelength will follow naturally.