As predicted Sonia and Vivekanandan win ISS 2008

Didn't watch the show though I was able to hear the proceedings from the adjacent room. I asked Chaithu and Jaya to mute whenever Ranjini would do the talking. It was terrible to watch or hear her bragging and screaming "..one crore..one crore..".
The show sucked as usual and the winners were anyone's guess.

By the way when I received a "Happy Vishu" SMS from Roopa, last year's SSG winner on Amritha I was glad I was still there, somewhere in her memory.

ISS 2008 heading to a ridiculous finale

Couldn't they find a better category than the "Viplavazham" songs that they are having right now and that too in the final stages of the competition.

Then comes the ridiculous marks. "3" for Somadas's kutchery performance. I couldn't watch the same but when Chaithu told me the celebrity guest gave a 3 I was thinking why waste anymore time on this stupid show.

Poor competition at ISS 2008

Maybe the people behing ISS 2008 are wondering why they had to have seperate prizes for the ladies and the gents. In the ladies section there is hardly any competition. Instead of running the show any further they simply can give away the award to Sonia. Gayathri seems content with second position (I believe the second prize is 100 sovereigns of gold) and is offering little or no competition.

As for the gents though Prashob did well in the Kutchery round it wasn't really the show of someone fighting for the first prize. ISS fans will recall last years' masterpiece from Thushar that left the judges crying. It was Thushar's leap to the top 5 position.

In fact last year's show was good enough till the end though everyone knew that Najim would eventually win. Last years winners and participants would also find this years competition and prizes a little hard to digest.

Meanwhile, today is Somadas's acid test as he is singing the Kutchery round. May God help him.

Another exciting thing. We just came to know a couple of weeks ago that Vivekanandan is Jaya's second cousin's son. I have a great song for Vivek to perform live on the violin but will that happen. Let me try.

ISS -2008 -Sonia sparkles, Gayathri does miserably yet judges praise her

It was a total disappointment watching a breathier Gayathri sing "Kannan varum Velai". Her voice was so muffled and so much out of tune when compared to the original. The entire performance was a disaster but I wonder why judges didn't want to tell her that. Instead they kept beating about the bush telling her she was OK, good etc.

On the other hand Sonia did extremely well singing "Oru Murai vandhu paarthaya" and though she was given an 89 I don't think she got the praise she deserved from the judges except for Usha Uthup.

Jins does well at ISS 2008

I haven't written much about Jins though he is a good singer at the competition. However only a few performances of his had impressed me. But yesterday I thought he did well in the Kutcheri round though there were flaws. I wonder how Somadas is going to handle this round.

Jins performance is in two parts. If you wish to watch here they are.

Gayathri of Idea Star Singer 2008 gets married?

This morning Jaya gets a call from her cousin who tells her that Gayathri's marriage photos are splashed all over the web. According to what I have been hearing and reading Gayathri got married in hushed-up-quick marriage just days ago. I Google for the same and dozens of URLs appear in the search results. Click any one of them and they lead you to her marriage pics that look very genuine.

Wonder what's going to happen to the show. Will Gayathri continue or quit? If she walks out there is hardly any competition left for Sonia. I hope that doesn't happen. Gayathri is after all such a fine performer.

Gayathri didn't disappoint one bit

What an amazing performance! Gayathri was at her best, completely poised and relaxed, the mark of a truly great performer. After listening to the original I am beginning to like this one that the Gayathri at ISS sang because the original has a huskier voice sung by the singer Gayathri (also of the same name).

Check out her performance below. Judges were very impressed.



You can compare the performance with the original and judge yourself. Check the original here.

Vivekanandan continues ISS with another stellar show

Yesterday Vivekanandan delivered another stunner in his smooth voice by singing a tough composition from "Bharathom". Singer Venugopal was right when he said Vivek had added his own meat to the difficult number originally sung by Yeshudas. Vivek is back in the competition and at the top.

Vivekanandan delivers a stunning pro-performance on ISS 2008

It is only recently that I have been watching ISS more frequently unlike ISS 2007. Vivekanandan was my initial favourite but later fell out in favour because of poor performances. But he is slowly making a comeback and yesterday was a smashing comeback performance.

In fact I was surprised at the low praise that Sharath and Venugopal gave for Vivekanandan after yesterday's awesome performance in the Fusion round of the competition. Being proficient on the violin Vivekanandan used it to enhance the total effect of the fusion song where he stretched his vocals to the limit including even a little pop-like vocal. The video actually showed judges completely blown by the performance. At one stage Sharath's mouth was literally open.

Vivek's long performance is in two parts.





Highly appreciative was Didi's comments but when she said something about George Benson, that was when I was really fell for what she said. So obviously I am going to explain what George Benson does and how Vivekanandan performed a similar thing.

George Benson is more popularly known for making hits such as "The Greatest Love of all" which became a huge hit for Whitney Houston in the late 80's. But what many don't know is that George Benson is one of the greatest guitarists around. His style is predominantly jazz but his style seems to transcend all genres. He plays a custom made Ibanez guitar and besides his melody and virtuosity what he is popularly known for is his "scat" singing, i.e singing along with his guitar licks and solos the same note that he is playing on the guitar. He does it with precision and speed. Check out his song "The world is a Ghetto" from the album "In Flight".

So what George did using his guitar Vivekanandan did playing his violin and Vivekanandan did go another further step in that that he was singing Carnatic swarams simultanesouly playing the same notes on the violin. Vivek's was difficult because he had to use his vocals while simultaneously supporting his violin below his chin.

Earlier Gayathri's ghazal wasn't bad either. She could have slowed down a bit.

More good performances at ISS 2008

Rahul springs a lovely surprise by singing the best ghazal so far in the competition. My only regret was the duration of the song. It could have been longer. Rahul can pull of a victory in the competition if he could use some killer instinct towards the end of the competition.



Sonia does a great job at singing "Ninnukori Varnam" effortlessly. I fully agree with Sharath's comments as those were the only errors I could make out. She was spot on and with a voice as this she did full and more justice to the original. Even where I thought Chithra strained in the original Sonia did it with utmost ease.



The Prashob Durga duet lacked lustre. But looking forward to some big performances today.

Roopa vs Gayathri

Like what happened last year with Roopa of SSG I am hunting down video after video and comments of Gayathri on Idea Star Singer 2008 and I must say I am blown away. Jaya's prophecy saying I would be jumping to another singer is almost coming true but not quite.

To me Roopa is a benchmark when it comes to judging singers of these singing-talent shows but then can somebody beat her?

Here are two of the fine videos I found of Gayathri's performances and I must admit she is a talent to reckon with.

This first video is of the song "Sharike" performed by Gayathri. It is followed by Roopa's video and so you can compare the two. My comments follow the two videos.



and Roopa's



With Roopa I found her hand, body and facial expressions dominating her performance. More energy seemed to be spent in those activities. Her singing looked strained when compared to the literally effortless way Gayathri sang the same song. And because Gayathri is more composed and with a great posture most of her energy was diverted to her song. She also seemed lost in the song and the singing as compared to Roopa who was very connected to the audience, judges and Stephen on the keyboard. I must say I found Gayathri's performance much better. It was pleasant for the ears too. I didn't find the relaxed feeling I had with Gayathri's performance in Roopa's.

Here's another song of Gayathri, "Sharapole", which the judges have lauded so eloquently you will have to watch it to believe.



There's another contender for Gayathri on the show and she is Sonia. I have seen some of her performances and they are good. I don't know if I will have the time to check her out too.

I feel somewhat embarrassed about my previous post

Was I flattered so badly? From the dismal reviews I have been getting when I showed the video to sis, who didn't even want to waste one moment on it I am beginning to wonder whether there was really something good about the Gayathri-Vivekanandan performance I wrote about in my previous post. The same old cringe-material did take me for a ride. Gayathri sure gave a good singing performance. She acted well too but the whole thing still sucks, making her enact and perform all those sensuous things. After all what is this competition about? Acting, Dancing or Singing?

In fact Asianet seems to be doing more damage than good to these young singers. I am told they are made to sign contracts that doesn't allow them to perform for non-Asianet programmes for up to two years. And on top of all this act, dance, mimic, do comical things. Roopa, last years SSG winner on Amritha channel told me how participants had to undergo gruelling hours of orientation and grooming. How many of today's singers did all this to reach their current status in the world of music. For almost an entire year (the entire duration of the ISS competition) these kids will have to forgo their careers, be that even music. No wonder several participants left half way to get back to school and college. They might have realised that ISS is only ruining even their singing careers.

I feel sad for not only Roopa but all the other top singers too. Where they just pawns in a game where television channels are at war with one another for selling more products/services, getting advertising and sponsorships via more viewership.

God save these kids.