Thank You, Evergreen

As a token of appreciation for writing a review of their debut album on my blog Evergreen sends me their debut CD and a Tee.





Thank You, Evergreen.

A nice Christmas gift and what a nice way to begin the New Year.

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year, 2010

Here's wishing all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year. May all your dreams come true this New Year, 2010.

Best of the new Tamil movie songs

Starting with the best, Vijay Antony's reputation as a good music director will only be further consolidated with the release of the movie, "Aval Peyar Thamizharasi". He has managed to make some good numbers different from his usual repetvoire of danceable songs.

Start with the duet "Nee otha solla sollu" a song with simple but nice lyrics. Check out the Santoor tune when the song ends.
Next check out this lovely number by Malgudi Shuba and bound to be a hit, "Kol taana ranghubai".
Next come the three songs by Veera Shankar, "Oththayadi padayailai", "Madathu oli vilakku" and the best of the three, the soulful, "Aararo Aarirao" sung in a very unique style. I am looking forward to the video for this song. Vijay Antony certainly deserves credit for the composition and the way it is sung.
"Guju guju goods vandi" is bound to get popular and get fame for the kid who sang it.
"Yethanaiyo katha undu" is sweet and "Palayn kota by V Antony is ok. "Vadakka Thekka" is sung by Vineeth Srinivasan, son of popular Malayalam actor Srinivasan. Vineeth has sung some bit hits in Malayalam cinema in recent times.

I rate songs from "Payya" next best in this review. "Poongatre Poongatre" by Benny Dayal, "En kadhal solla" by Yuvan and "Thuli thuli" by Haricharan are all good.

And finally check out "Ading Ading" by Dimaan for the movie "Odipolama".

Is Idea Star Singer a Malayalam Programme?

After actress Sheela commented on one of the perfomances today I was reminded of an article I wanted to write long ago. I wanted to do it when Roy, the CEO of the Confident group was giving away the award for the Idea Star Singer winners of Season 3. He commented on how ISS being a Malayalam programme had contestants singing more Tamil, Hindi and non-Malayalam songs. Much to his vexation, the contestants were singing Tamil songs even on the awards ceremony. Sheela's comments on today's show about why cannot Malayalam "adi poli" songs instead of Tamil songs be sung went un-answered.

Contrary to these programmes in similar competitions in Tamil contestants do not sing even one non-Tamil number. In fact they are not supposed to do so. Only in the non-Tamil or Other Languages round can they sing songs made in other languages.

ISS need not be as stringent as the Tamil programmes are but if the organizers want to call ISS a Malayalam show then they must curtail the songs being sung in other languages. The same goes for similar such shows on Asianet and other Malayalam channels too.

A new band that shows promise

Evergreen is another rock band from the land of Avial and Motherjane and from the quality of their music it looks like they may have come to stay too. The green and fertile strip of coastland on the Indian subcontinent facing the Arabian sea may not be the rock destination of India but many of the bands from Kerala have swayed the masses. Evergreen is going to do that too.

Unlike every other new hard rock and metal act in the country taking to "Death Metal" these days, Evergreen's debut album "Beyond and Between" exudes rock and it gets better the more you listen. I don't see any rush here on the album to play blistering solo's, riffs, and thundering grooves. Instead the band takes it easy with some lovely ballads such as "Epilogue" and an acoustic number too. There are faster numbers but they don't wear you down like those "Death Metal" growls of other metal and hard rock acts burgeoning in India.

The album opens with the hard-rocker "Vengeance" clearly showcasing what the band is worth. "Vengeance", the fastest and hardest song on the album distinctly shows the band's musical tastes in the heavy sounds of the 80's, from bands like Whitesnake and Deep Purple. Saji Antony's keyboards on "Vengeance" and later on "Sublime" definitely proves this.

"From here to clarity" is mellower when compared to the opener but I was happy it wasn't another head-banger. Then comes "Altar of dreams" that begins slow but gradually moves to a faster number and it features some nice guitar work by Sunil Silvester, the band's guitarist. I don't know why an acoustic version of this song was included though it does sound good too. Evergreen could have added a new song instead. I must also mention Jagan George whose vocals are noteworthy, steering each song. His voice reminds me so much of another singer but I am not able to nail it right now.

You also get a feeling of the sounds of the 80's bands such as Journey, Toto, Europe and The Scorpions. "The Calling", "Run to the light" and "Sublime" reflect this.

"Epilogue" is a nice concluder where you'll hear only vocals and keyboards. The first time I heard this song, I couldn't help playing it twice.

Other personnel in the band are Arun and Suraj who provide all the needed bass and percussion support.

The album and ringtones are available for free download at www.gimmesound.com/evergreen. and you can catch the band at www.evergreenrocks.com where you can listen to the audio songs with better clarity and also watch some of the band's videos.

How much of their sound is going to be accepted by this generation is the question. Evergreen has a long way to go and much to learn to add novelty and variety to their music to keep their fanbase interested, but they do have the potential. Their album is cetainly worth more listens than one.

Classic Malayalam folk song on Idea Star Singer

Oh yes, I still manage to watch ISS in fits and starts though I try to avoid all the nauseating parts whenever possible.

Preethi sang the beautiful "Pallivaala Bhadra" yesterday. I was reminded then of another singer from a previous show of ISS Season 3, Aarabhi who also gave a beautiful rendition. Preethi's performance was more tight and slightly improvised but somehow I'll give the innocent looking Aarabhi the award for the better performance. Here they are, the two videos. Aarabhi's performance was the first time I was listening to this lovely song.

Preethi's performance yesterday.


And Aarabhi's performance in 2008.


Such a danceable folksong, the dancers for both the songs were superb. This song could be a great candidate for Avial's next album. If only Avial could improvise and make a great version of it. Avial, are you listening?