I am happy Gayathri is still there in the competition and last night's performance would have been a knock-out one if only she hadn't lost control of the words of the song in some places.
Her looks, attire, attitude and her sensuous body language were perfect for the remix song she performed. I don't know what singer Venugopal found it so annoying in her performance that he had to comment so poorly. I had a strong feeling that he was so spell boutnd with Gayathri's performance he could only chide her instead of lauding her. What a loser! I wanted to throw him out of the judges panel for the way he was talking last night. As it is his sissy attitude gets on my nerves. At the end of it all he still says "..but Gayathri you did your part well.." Well that's exactly you need to be saying for a performance as that.
What Venugopal found annoying every one of the other judges loved it. What Venugopal also doesn't know is that the original was a sensuous number in itself and by using a techno remix song of the original and taking it to another sensuous level is in no way doing injustice to it. I can understand when judges were annoyed with the remix of "Inji Iduppazhaga" but then that's how most remixes are made. If the judges are pissed with the remixes they must vent their anger on the people who made these remixes on the first place and not on the hapless contestants. Why then in the world do they have such a "remix-round" in the competition.
Way to go Gayathri.
Meanwhile I am reminder of Roopa's performance in last years Super Star Global where I told her the lyrics to "Thulluvatho Ilamai". Roopa unfortunately lost sight of the lyrics in her performance. Roopa also did tell me that Gayathri had contacted her for advice. Was it Roopa who adviced Gayathri for the remix round. Gayathri certainly did better.
Showing posts with label Idea Star Singer 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Idea Star Singer 2008. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The simple formula to win Idea Star Singer
Or for that matter any singing competition in India.
The contestant be allowed to choose his/her song to perform.
The contestant that chooses the best songs that matches his or her style and voice will emerge winner. By best songs I also mean rare and old songs, not necessarily hits.
Looks very simple isn't it. But that is the truth.
Unfortunately contestants are offered very little creativity to exercise. Most of the songs they are singing are co-erced upon them by someone going by their own list of favorite songs. There are just too many hits and in a competition like Idea Star Singer where you can sing Tamil, Hindi and other languages besides Malayalam the list of hits are almost infinite. Many hits have yet to be sung. The others are mismatched with the wrong singers in the competition.
So a contestant with decent singing skills only need to get to know the good songs to perform. So the winner will also be one who has good taste and isn't it a good thing if the winner is also a person of good taste?
The contestant be allowed to choose his/her song to perform.
The contestant that chooses the best songs that matches his or her style and voice will emerge winner. By best songs I also mean rare and old songs, not necessarily hits.
Looks very simple isn't it. But that is the truth.
Unfortunately contestants are offered very little creativity to exercise. Most of the songs they are singing are co-erced upon them by someone going by their own list of favorite songs. There are just too many hits and in a competition like Idea Star Singer where you can sing Tamil, Hindi and other languages besides Malayalam the list of hits are almost infinite. Many hits have yet to be sung. The others are mismatched with the wrong singers in the competition.
So a contestant with decent singing skills only need to get to know the good songs to perform. So the winner will also be one who has good taste and isn't it a good thing if the winner is also a person of good taste?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Idea Star Singer 2008 brimming with good performances
After Sonia's duet yesterday it is the turn of Gayathri who makes a comeback with "Kavithai Paadungal" from Punnagai Mannan in the Ilayaraja hits round.
But it was Prashob that stole the show with his Gazhal performance. My only question is should everyone singing the Gazhal give an introduction to the song in Hindi/Urdu?
It is in two parts. Here is the first.
and here is the second.
There were mistakes but Prashob's performance was much better than Vivekanandan's "Chupke Chupke".
This was followed by the "Sing with a 2007 ISS singer" and Rahul did a good job singing his duet with Vani Jayaram. Rahul is getting better with each stage and in my opinion Rahul and Prashob both stand a good chance of winning the competition from among the men.
But it was Prashob that stole the show with his Gazhal performance. My only question is should everyone singing the Gazhal give an introduction to the song in Hindi/Urdu?
It is in two parts. Here is the first.
and here is the second.
There were mistakes but Prashob's performance was much better than Vivekanandan's "Chupke Chupke".
This was followed by the "Sing with a 2007 ISS singer" and Rahul did a good job singing his duet with Vani Jayaram. Rahul is getting better with each stage and in my opinion Rahul and Prashob both stand a good chance of winning the competition from among the men.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sonia delivers a stunner at Idea Star Singer 2008
I couldn't help watching ISS 2008 today when I knew last years winner, Najim Arshad was singing a duet Sonia. After watching today's performance I thought there was a female winner of the competition in Sonia. This was the second time Sonia was teaming with Najim and today's song was even better than their first. I tried watching the song with my eyes closed and I couldn't help admire Sonia's brlilliant beautiful voice. Coincidentally Sonia gets 84 that she won last time for her earlier duet with Najim. I wish Sharath was here today to see her perform a great song and like he did last time I am sure he would have heaped his marks and praises on her. The only sad thing was that no one seemed to be appreciating Sonia as much as they were about Najim.
Here is the video of the peformance.
and if you missed her previous duet, here it is.
But Sharath would not have appreciated Vivekanandan who sang Ghulam Ali's immortal Ghazal "Chupke Chupke" very poorly. Except for the diction Vivekanandan was trying to imitate Najim in last year's show in costume and introduction (which really looked so lame). Judges including Usha Uthup were praising the performance and I wondered why.
Here is the video of the peformance.
and if you missed her previous duet, here it is.
But Sharath would not have appreciated Vivekanandan who sang Ghulam Ali's immortal Ghazal "Chupke Chupke" very poorly. Except for the diction Vivekanandan was trying to imitate Najim in last year's show in costume and introduction (which really looked so lame). Judges including Usha Uthup were praising the performance and I wondered why.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
A sensuous performance on Idea Star Singer 2008
Unlike Idea Star Singer 2007, the 2008 season completely fell out of favour on me for the following main reasons -
1. It started too soon without giving us a break from the 2007 episode.
2. Ranjini is the host.
3. Other stereotypes like dancing, acting that are getting on the nerves of everyone these days.
8:30 and the T.V at home is invariably tuned into the Asianet channel telecasting ISS but I stay in my room doing my work on my computer. There are songs that impress me and I come out and watch occasionally but most of the time everything sucks and disgusts so bad I stay away from it all. The new stars of this season are emerging but somehow the talent is not like we had last time. Prashob, Vivekanandan, Rahul, Parvathi are names that come to mind as the cream of the crop. Somadas has replaced and even overthrown Sunny of ISS 2007 for the sympathetic vote but Somadas is certainly the better singer. His rendition of Shankar Mahadevan's "Varaha Nathi Karai Oram" during the earlier part of this ISS was splendid. Catch it on YouTube if you missed the show. What a relief to see Ramya in the place of Renjini. Those days are gone.
These days better singing has been tempting me to watch some of the performances. I am going to write about one such performance, the duet between Vivek and Gayathri that was telecast last Friday. Jaya was already shouting from the hall, "Come and take a look at what's going on." and I knew instantly that cringe-material was being shown. But the female portion of the song was so good that I couldn't help listening to the song. I stayed away from watching but I didn't know what I missed. But the comments after the show was so good I realised I may have missed something.
I finally saw it on YouTube last night and I don't know how many times I watched the concluding portions of the performance. Yes, these days ISS is simply pushing their performers but it was not so bad as I thought it would be. Anyway it was simply too good to watch Gayathri. She exuded such sensuousness, honesty, bashfulness and grace that it was difficult to not fall for her. It looked as though she was really in love with her co-singer Vivek who faltered many a time during the performance. Was it because of her moves? Except for some breath control her voice was sweet and perfect. She sang with total ease, something that I have been observing of her in her previous performances too. She not only sang her parts well but did other non-singing parts too which as Sharath pointed out were done by other artistes in the original. Her gaze throughout her performance was a movie Director's delight. Her concluding parts of the song, where she sensuously says her lines and emotes as Vivek approaches her was the real killer. Take a look at the video below.
Certainly I will be looking forward to her next performances but this kind of acting/emoting may not be something we'll get to see.
1. It started too soon without giving us a break from the 2007 episode.
2. Ranjini is the host.
3. Other stereotypes like dancing, acting that are getting on the nerves of everyone these days.
8:30 and the T.V at home is invariably tuned into the Asianet channel telecasting ISS but I stay in my room doing my work on my computer. There are songs that impress me and I come out and watch occasionally but most of the time everything sucks and disgusts so bad I stay away from it all. The new stars of this season are emerging but somehow the talent is not like we had last time. Prashob, Vivekanandan, Rahul, Parvathi are names that come to mind as the cream of the crop. Somadas has replaced and even overthrown Sunny of ISS 2007 for the sympathetic vote but Somadas is certainly the better singer. His rendition of Shankar Mahadevan's "Varaha Nathi Karai Oram" during the earlier part of this ISS was splendid. Catch it on YouTube if you missed the show. What a relief to see Ramya in the place of Renjini. Those days are gone.
These days better singing has been tempting me to watch some of the performances. I am going to write about one such performance, the duet between Vivek and Gayathri that was telecast last Friday. Jaya was already shouting from the hall, "Come and take a look at what's going on." and I knew instantly that cringe-material was being shown. But the female portion of the song was so good that I couldn't help listening to the song. I stayed away from watching but I didn't know what I missed. But the comments after the show was so good I realised I may have missed something.
I finally saw it on YouTube last night and I don't know how many times I watched the concluding portions of the performance. Yes, these days ISS is simply pushing their performers but it was not so bad as I thought it would be. Anyway it was simply too good to watch Gayathri. She exuded such sensuousness, honesty, bashfulness and grace that it was difficult to not fall for her. It looked as though she was really in love with her co-singer Vivek who faltered many a time during the performance. Was it because of her moves? Except for some breath control her voice was sweet and perfect. She sang with total ease, something that I have been observing of her in her previous performances too. She not only sang her parts well but did other non-singing parts too which as Sharath pointed out were done by other artistes in the original. Her gaze throughout her performance was a movie Director's delight. Her concluding parts of the song, where she sensuously says her lines and emotes as Vivek approaches her was the real killer. Take a look at the video below.
Certainly I will be looking forward to her next performances but this kind of acting/emoting may not be something we'll get to see.
Friday, August 01, 2008
ISS, what a mess
I have almost stopped watching Idea Star Singer 2008. ISS is loaded with crap this season.
The list of lousy things you are getting this year -
1. The show has become some kind of a soap opera or the typical Malayalam serial that millions in Kerala or all over the world watch. It has crying and lots of it and most of it for no reason. Judges cry, the audience cries, Ranjini cries and the participants also cry. One of the poorest duet performances was for the song "Enthinu Veroru Suryodhayam". The original is one my favorite songs and it was butchered on ISS. On the show one of the participants who is visually impaired (female) was on a wheelchair and the male doing favors for her as though she were his lover as implied by and play-acted upon by the song. The audience and judges were wooed by the shit the two were doing on stage that left everyone crying. I ran away from the T.V.
2. Organizers of the show can convert the show into a match making business. Participants in duet songs are made to show chemistry, emote and what not. So hapless participants have to look into each others eyes frequently, one of the most embarrassing thing someone can do, play-act or pretend perfect love and such. Judges frequently and unabashedly comment on how a participant looks. So where's the music?
3. Judges seem to be awarding marks either too lavishly or too poorly.
4. The clapping is edited and inserted and perfectly phony. Every clapping scene from 2007 is the same in volume, duration and probably no. of claps too.
5. Guests like Suraaj (I have great respect for his mimicry) and Kalabhavan Mani (i have respect for his humility) are not actually entertaining on such shows. Suraaj was taking the participants for a ride and Mani was taking the judges for a ride. Sharath was sportive to react jokingly when Mani indirectly called him a "Chekuthaan".
6. Finally Ranjini adds unnecessary laughing to her list of painful activities on stage. More guessing and mathematical games abound.
Not that there is no talent but they are all overshadowed by the hype and melodrama that is going on.
Somadas is emerging a likely hero in the footsteps of Sunny in the last year competitions but he is better than the sympathetic vote winner of ISS 2007. Vivekanandan and Prashob could be hot favorites. Parvathi among the girls has originality but something magical and original needs to be in ISS 2008 for me to become a loyal viewer. It was nice to see 2007 winners and participants but ISS need to rescue itself before the viewing audience starts dumping the show.
The list of lousy things you are getting this year -
1. The show has become some kind of a soap opera or the typical Malayalam serial that millions in Kerala or all over the world watch. It has crying and lots of it and most of it for no reason. Judges cry, the audience cries, Ranjini cries and the participants also cry. One of the poorest duet performances was for the song "Enthinu Veroru Suryodhayam". The original is one my favorite songs and it was butchered on ISS. On the show one of the participants who is visually impaired (female) was on a wheelchair and the male doing favors for her as though she were his lover as implied by and play-acted upon by the song. The audience and judges were wooed by the shit the two were doing on stage that left everyone crying. I ran away from the T.V.
2. Organizers of the show can convert the show into a match making business. Participants in duet songs are made to show chemistry, emote and what not. So hapless participants have to look into each others eyes frequently, one of the most embarrassing thing someone can do, play-act or pretend perfect love and such. Judges frequently and unabashedly comment on how a participant looks. So where's the music?
3. Judges seem to be awarding marks either too lavishly or too poorly.
4. The clapping is edited and inserted and perfectly phony. Every clapping scene from 2007 is the same in volume, duration and probably no. of claps too.
5. Guests like Suraaj (I have great respect for his mimicry) and Kalabhavan Mani (i have respect for his humility) are not actually entertaining on such shows. Suraaj was taking the participants for a ride and Mani was taking the judges for a ride. Sharath was sportive to react jokingly when Mani indirectly called him a "Chekuthaan".
6. Finally Ranjini adds unnecessary laughing to her list of painful activities on stage. More guessing and mathematical games abound.
Not that there is no talent but they are all overshadowed by the hype and melodrama that is going on.
Somadas is emerging a likely hero in the footsteps of Sunny in the last year competitions but he is better than the sympathetic vote winner of ISS 2007. Vivekanandan and Prashob could be hot favorites. Parvathi among the girls has originality but something magical and original needs to be in ISS 2008 for me to become a loyal viewer. It was nice to see 2007 winners and participants but ISS need to rescue itself before the viewing audience starts dumping the show.
Monday, June 16, 2008
"Of course" she's back
If you thought you could do away with her, you got it all wrong. Ranjini is back on Idea Star Singer after Ramya the new host was on the show for a couple of weeks after ISS 2008 began. This only goes on to show how any habit is hard to change. People who has been watching Ranjini and cursing her cannot seem to get rid of her on the show and have voted her back. Music director Sharath who was also one of the judges in the ISS 2007 panel is also back. Although I like most of his comments and his technical ability he is not one of those who you can take easy or for a ride. I have a feeling it won't be long before M G Sreekumaran also returns to the judging panel. Ouseppachan is a bore most of the time.
I have some early favorites in both male and female contestants in the show, I will wait for some more weeks when only the cream of the crop is filtered. The show gets more interesting after that happens.
I have some early favorites in both male and female contestants in the show, I will wait for some more weeks when only the cream of the crop is filtered. The show gets more interesting after that happens.
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