The Singing Rhino Show

2010-05-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

The "minor" symphonies

Drifting away from the contemporary styles of music, here is a post to do justice to the master Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Mozart is known in history as a composer of mad talent. There might be some dispute as to his character. What stands absolutely undisputed is his sheer genius.

In his entire career Mozart wrote only two symphonies in a minor key, and they had such an impact that to this day, the continue to be referred to as G Minor Symphonies. A minor key casts a very different kind of mood compared to the major key for instance. Whether he intentionally wanted to introduce this mood by using a minor key is for historians and music critics to answer. But these songs have achieved their objective of touching the souls of its listeners.

Perhaps the only competition these symphonies have is each other. Hence the symphony no. 40 is often called the Great G minor symphony whereas the symphony no. 25 referred to as the little G minor symphony.

The Little minor symphony

The Great minor Symphony

2009-10-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

What is a raga?

At the very root of Indian classical musical tradition is something called the ragas. And although they are quite well known world over, they are still largely misunderstood. To the western world ragas were gifted by such music stalwarts as Pt. Ravi Shankar (whom George Harrison fondly called the Godfather of World Music).

What had intrigued George Harrison back then and still continues to puzzle many a listener is the unique sound of the Indian classical scales. The musically educated mind finds it difficult to understand the reason for this vast difference between the eastern and the western sounds.

One of the most common misconceptions is to call a raga an Indian classical scale? Well it is to some extent similar to the western modes or scale as there are only some permitted notes or swaras in each raga. But that is where the similarity ends. Each raga has particular stress on the ways one ascends or descends the scales( Called the Aarohan and Avrohan). The notes may vary in the aarohan and avrohan|. Some notes in a raga can be more important than others in the sense of the stress that is placed on them. Think of it like an accented scale where you stress a particular syllable(here note). These important notes are known as the vadi and samvadi. Then there maybe a characteristic motion associated with a raga, known as the Pakad(or Swarup).

And the list can go on depending on how perfect one wants the raga to be. This explains why although there are only a few modes in western music there can virtually be 100's of ragas. There are something similar to the western modes in indian music called the thats and in essence any of the ragas must belong to one of these thats. Each raga may only slightly be different from the other but may cast a completely different mood. The distinction between the ragas are thus made mainly on the basis of mood they cast. (Raga comes from the Sanskrit Word ranj meaning to colour ( the mind?)) .

One of the many thats

The classification of ragas is thus quite abstract and a lot of ragas end up having rather interesting names depending on what mood their creator thought they were casting. Each raga is often also associated with a time of the day they can be played in. For example the Bhairavi is typically played in the early hours of the dawn the Malkauns after midnight. Malhaar is the monsoon raga.

The above is a typical example of Raag Malkauns in Md.Rafi's voice.

A major part of the Raga thus relies on the feeling that the musician attaches to it. Hence it is difficult to think of a raga as something that is merely a bunch of notes. As Pt. Ravi Shankar explains above you must breathe life into it. These are the features that give the unique sound to a raga and indian semi classical music in general which builds on these ragas.

Sources:
http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/raga.html

2009-01-12T12:25:00.000-08:00

Roberta Flack's multiple Grammy winning rendition of Killing me softly (With his song). the sublime melody takes you to a melodious escapade of ethereal tranquility. The number was released as a single for her 1972 album, Killing me softly with his song. Legend has it that the "soft killer" singer reffered to here is none other than "American pie" Don Mc Lean.

24 years later in 1996, hip-hop group The Fugees recorded their own version of killing me softly with Lauryn Hill as the lead singer. This gave the song a renewed popularity in an altogether different light. Do compare the two versions, both legends in their own realm. More at Wikipedia .

2009-01-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

My first post as the co-author of this blog.

I do not know for sure how techno music evolved.(Wikipedia tells me somewhere in Detroit). As with all genres of music it took a considerable time before it could be finally recognized as a genre.

But unlike other genres it rapidly became an excuse for the musically less gifted to leap into the music scenario. Sorry for being so harsh in my very first post, but the rate at which techno is turning mindless is alarming. Not only are the impostors disillusioning the genuine techno fans, but also trying to pass cheap music loops as techno music.

I certainly disagree that techno music lacks any "musicmanship" altogether. As Steve Mizrach points out there is plenty of music in other genres as well that could be accused of every blame that you decide to heap upon Techno Music. Techno or no, music is to be judged by the artistry in its making. What is disturbing about techno is how easily crap is passed off as an iconoclastic tune.

Thus to all ye fans

Know your Techno.

2009-01-11T08:38:00.000-08:00

This is Snow Goose Excerpts, by the legendary 70's band, Camel.
Camel is one of the most unheard of bands in India, but this is something they don't deserve especially due to the presence of a large fanbase of progressive rock in this country.
Camel had a unique sound and were particularly remarkable in their live performances. Their perfect blend of psychedelic, blues and classic rock made perfect grounds for the progressive genre to sneak in their music. The airy keyboard, 'fat' bass and melodious guitar solos gave Camel a respectable following in the days of heavy metal.
To complete their strong lineup they had the fervent young drummer Andy Ward, grooving in tender rolls and cooking up patterns sometimes totally new to his audience. His patterns and fills did much more than just backing up the guitar solos, as their audience would would often stare mesmerized by the two instruments soloing at the same time.

More about camel at Wikipedia .

Another Camel wonder, Never let go.

2008-09-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Wonderful folk song by Iron and Wine (one of his most famous score).

Whow! what a video.

These official videos on http://last.fm are simply loveable. The track gets scrobbled from the video itself.

2008-07-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

Knocking on heaven's door

Created by Bob Dylan, Knocking on Heaven's Door has appealed to musicians of all genres alike. It has been so widely covered and has enjoyed such a variety that none has. With a solid two para lyrics this song has no hidden hints to find and it has gained all the more importance in today's world with growing violence and terrorism. Violence is not something man is comfortable with, be it the miscreant or the victim.
Dylan is clear with his words and has some awesome tune to this. I post here the original and few covers. Check them out.

The Bob Dylan version (not exactly the original, but kind of Dylan covering himself)

The (most famous) GNR cover

Avril's impeccable take

Roger Waters' cover

And Finally Eric Clapton (Tribute to the two Bobs, Marley and Dylan)

...

2008-07-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

From Chuck Berry To Judas Priest via Kishore Kumar

A rare Judas Priest cover of Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode.
The blues/rock-n-roll original deserved a metal cover and who could do it better than the priests.
There are several other covers of this song but nothing feels better than hearing Rob Halford singing it for the Priests. His 4 octave range does justice to anything he lays his hands on. Glenn Tipton and Kenneth Downing also pays an apt tribute to Berry.

So check it out.

And the original

I am also appending this post with an Indian rendition of 50's early rock-n-roll by the inimitable phenomena, Kishore Kumar, from the movie Asha, 1957.

2008-07-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

The Priests of Metal

It feels good to be in Blogger again after 2 years.

Of the many not so worshiped names in the world of music the name that comes to my mind now is Judas Priest. The priest started off as a low key bunch of headbangers who were struggling to convince the British audience about their flavor of music. They could hardy unplug the ears lost in psychedelic Beatles one one hand and the fiery Led Zep on the other. Although metal was introduced before Priests jumped into the scene. The high pitched Black Sabbath made their mark with their World War II ballads. The priests were struggling hard and this was not to end until they were introduced in the west. Just over the Beach Boys the rock and roll was taking a restless turn and Judas Priest banged into the scene with the Second British Wave, the wave of metal.
The Americans had never felt the speed and power before and the music came as amazement for them and instant fame for the Priests. And 'Screaming for Vengeance' was just the icing on the cake. Their music grew and began to influence several other names who later a the greats of
today.

Their best album for me are Painkiller and Angel of Retribution.
Long Live Judas Priests