Random (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na)

This is as random as I can get, given my current frame of mind. So I saw the movie everyone was HARPING about ever since it’s release a couple of weeks back (or has it just been one week?)—Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. And I liked it. It’s a simple movie minus any frills. Girl and boy are best friends and don’t realize that they are made for each other while the entire world around them seems to know the simple fact. Ya, no spoiler warning needed even. But there’s some freshness in the movie that makes you smile as you think about a couple of dialogues, and even the cliches make you take a trip down memory lane. Gen Y gets a new “hero” in Imraan Khan (Thank god for the extra “a” in the first name or I always think of the legendary cricketer first) and Genelia’s truly affable (her Hindi’s a bit Mac but yours truly has a Hindi diction about which the less said the better…so) and the Khans could’ve been a bit courteous to her and invited her to at least half the parties they attended post Imraan’s launch…

Anyway, my purpose of catching this movie before it disappeared from the multiplexes was two-fold: I wanted to hear the music on the big screen. Once, when i went to watch Yuva in a theatre, everyone hooted and whistled when the names of their favourite stars (read Abhishek Bacchan, Rani, Viveik or Viviek or Vivek Oberoi, and Kareena/Kareina) flashed on the screen. I was the only one to hoot when ARR’s name flashed on the screen. The morons thought I was slow. Ever since, the hooting has stopped but I had the irresistible urge to do it again yesterday. The editor however dunked a bucketful of ice-cold water on me. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Jaane Tu Mera Kya Hai was ruthlessly snipped off! Also, Kahin toh only plays for a little while a la a background score. Even ignoring the ARR fan in me, I could not help but wonder if the blossoming romance or the romantic inclination between the lead pair could have been showcased better. And why would you chop off gems composed by someone like ARR—songs that fit the context sooo darned well: I can SO picture Aditi singing the former and the helplessness and latent romantic feelings of the lead pair when playing the latter!

I know that Boss’ music is appreciated by those who have the sense and ability to comprehend and appreciate it, but there’s a little part of me that still craves for some mass appeal for ARR. That little prayer didn’t go unanswered I guess for in addition to a whole lot of people crooning to the songs in the movie hall, when I went to the planet M store in Inorbit (it’s more like an outhouse but who cares) to get a copy of the CD for my cousin dwelling in the United States of Amreeca, I couldnt find it. I must have been the first person to have an expression of wondrous disbelief writ on my face when I asked the helper: “Is the CD out of stock?” He smiled and nodded and I did a little woohoo and left the store humming…Jaane tu ya jaane na.

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to one who lives there,
She once was a true love of mine.

Simple and soulful. Soothing voices. Simon & Garfunkel. But there’s more to this song than just (the great) S & G. And that’s why the post.

A complete version of this ballad tells the tale of a young man asking his former love to perform for him a series of impossible tasks, following which he will accept her love back. Often, it is sung as a duet, with the woman then giving a series of equally impossible tasks, promising him his seamless Cambric shirt (one of the impossible tasks) once he accomplishes the tasks assigned to him. This ballad in turn has been proposed to be inspired from an old Scottish ballad (ooooh, i know!) in which an elf threatens to abduct a young woman to be his lover unless she can perform an impossible task; she responds with a list of tasks which he must first perform, thus evading his forced love. Later versions invert the direction of desire, with the elf proposing tasks which the lady must perform in order to be accepted as his lover.

“For thou must shape a sark to me,
Without any cut or heme,” quoth he.

Here’s the amazing part: There are versions A–M (13 versions) of this ballad and 8 additional copies! One of the versions that comes closest to S & G’s song is

‘The Cambrick Shirt’

Gammer Gurton’s Garland, p.3, ed. 1810

1 ‘Can you make me a cambrick shirt,

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Without any seam or needle work?

And you shall be a true lover of mine

2 ‘Can you wash it in yonder dry well,
Where never sprung water nor rain ever fell?

3 ‘Can you dry it on yonder thorn,

Which never bore blossom since Adam was born?

4 ‘Now you have asked me questions three,

I hope you’ll answer as many for me.

5 ‘Can you find me an acre of land

Between the salt water ad the sea sand?

6 ‘Can you plow it with ram’s horn,
And sow it all over with one pepper corn?

7 ‘Can you reap it with a sickle of leather,
And bind it up with a peacock’s feather?

8 ‘When you have done, and finished your work,
Then come to me for your cambrick shirt.’

This one also explains the duet bit because the first verses of the traditional English ballad sung by male voices corresponds to the questions of the elfin knight, while the latter verses correspond to the maiden’s response.

Looking for the song’s origin, some historians refer to the Plague. They interpret the lyrics as the dramatic story of a sick and dying man, banned from the city because of his illness. The herbs are considered symbols for fighting off the epidemic. Other accounts of the origin are more romantic (and vastly preferred I am sure) as they see the lyrics as a complaint of a man whose lover has unexpectedly deserted him to pursue work in the prosperous big city. In this case, the references to parsley, sage, and thyme are taken as symbolically representing the powers of these herbs to counter bitterness (parsley), to offer strength (sage), to imbue a loving remembrance (rosemary), and to give courage (thyme). Also, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme are the ingredients of a love spell that was very popular in the Middle Ages. I love the interpretation in this website. 😀

S & G have two versions of the song. One is the version Simon learnt—a recent telling of the ballad (lyrics here). The more interesting (one of my favorites) and the popular one is the Scarborough fair/Canticle version, which has a beautiful arrangement and is brilliantly performed. Simon learnt the original arrangement from a folk artist Martin Carthy and Garfunkel set it in counterpoint (overlaps in a sense; listen to the song and you’ll get what it is) with Canticle, a reworking of Simon’s 1963 song “The Side of a Hill” with new, anti-war lyrics. The two songs are completely unrelated; in fact, while one mourns a lover, the other’s about war. However, the sheer brilliance of the arrangement and the rendition leave you mesmerized and hazy to bother about details at the first hearing. Sarah Brightman and various other artistes (including Martin Carthy himself) have done their versions of the ballad but none of them are a patch on S & G. The Sarah Brightman version leaves you with mixed feelings. Her voice is angelic and the use of the violin orchestra gives the song a very grand feel but the use of drums and electric guitar and the arrangement in some places makes it modernized, which, in my opinion, takes away some of the traditional charm of the folk song.

S & G are clearly the masters! Go acoustic! Long live S & G 🙂

In the rains, there is not a more dreamy song I can think of to make the day more…well…dreamy.

Experience the magic! Cheers! 😀

If you say that you can’t, then I shall reply,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Oh, Let me know that at least you will try,
Or you’ll never be a true love of mine.

Love imposes impossible tasks,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
But none more than any heart would ask,
I must know you’re a true love of mine.

Maestro’s top 10

I found this article on http://www.rediff.com, which stated that when ARR (A R Rahman ya!) was asked by Hindustan Times (a daily) to select 10 of his best compositions (i think they mean works), he chose the following 10 films:

1. Roja

2. Rangeela

3. Bombay

4. Dil Se

5. Taal

6. Kandukodein Kandukondein

7. Zubeidaa

8. Lagaan

9. Rang De Basanti

10. Guru

In my opinion, this is a very mass-appeal masala mix that has been dished out (here). It has the films that recorded chart busters. No surprises here types, if you get what I mean. From the above, you must’ve gathered that this list is rather disappointing to me. So which are the ones that didn’t make it to the list but are SO worthy of being up there?
1. Alaipayuthey (How the freaking hell did this get missed out!)

2. Thiruda Thiruda (kannum kannum and Chandralekha man!)
3. Jeans (!!!)

4. Tehzeeb (ARR’s MOST underrated work in my opinion)

5. Swades (missed this out! you gotta be KIDDING me!)

6. Duet (amazing mix of music—blues, carnatic, the works)

7. Meenaxi (brilliant music wasted!)

8. 1947 Earth (BOSS!!!)

Well, it’s rather difficult to come up with just 10 of the 18 (total) films mentioned in the post since a Zubeidaa is so different from an Alaipayuthey, which is again different from a Lagaan, which sounds nothing like Jeans or Rangeela. You get the drift. So we’ll just settle for the fact that different people have different opinions and that the 10 of your favourite blah routine does not work when it comes to selecting ARR stuff.

Opinions please.

Splurge on you crazy woman!

They ought to ban this place called Landmark. Or just shift my office elsewhere. Or maybe I could do with a little bit of self-restraint. But now is not the time to rue. That bit’s done while signing on the merchant’s copy of my bill payment. Landmark’s beautiful. Even if they don’t have any of Vikram Seth’s poem collections [Am I a lil too forgiving today?]. I have my precious copies tucked away. 😉

So why raving about Landmark? They have something called a “Definitive collection” for various artists. And I got myself one of these beauties. Pink Floyd. Aaah!! 😀 The best part about this collection is that it is damn cheap. So you get 3 discs…yes…1…2…3 disks in one collection for a price of 600 INR!!! If you do some quick math here, you’ll realize that it comes to 200 Rupees a CD. Now where else will you get a Pink Floyd…no no…any decent English artist CD for 200 bucks?? But that’s not the best part. So there’s a 25% off on this collection, which means I paid 450 bucks for 3 CDs!!! Yay! 😀

*Deep breath*

It’s not any CD collection either. The first 2 discs are from P.U.L.S.E and the third, A momentary lapse of reason. Naturally, the second disk is the whole of The dark side of the moon. I already have close to 3 copies of the album but even then, it’s totally worth it.

Below is the song list.

1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond
2. Astronomy Domine
3. What do you want from me
4. Learning to fly
5. Keep talking
6. Coming back to life
7. Hey you
8. A great day for freedom
9. Sorrow
10. High hopes
11. Another brick in the wall (Part two)

THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

1. Speak To Me
2. Breathe
3. On The Run
4. Time (including Breathe Reprise)
5. The Great Gig In The Sky
6. Money
7. Us And Them
8. Any Colour You Like
9. Brain Damage
10. Eclipse
11. Wish you were here
12. Comfortably numb
13. Run like hell

A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON

1. Signs of Life
2. Learning To Fly
3. The Dogs of War
4. One Slip
5. On The Turning Away
6. Yet Another Movie
7. Round And Round
8. A New Machine Part 1
9. Terminal Frost
10. A New Machine Part 2
11. Sorrow

The only thing I didnt like is the cover: It doesn’t have Roger Waters [because of the whole “Pink Floyd” royalty thing]. It just doesn’t look complete. And anyway, the pics of the other members ain’t too good either—they neither look like they used to do in the days of yore [long before I was born 🙂 ] nor do they look like they do now. So the pic’s not becoming at all.

I wish it could’ve been something like this:

Next stop: Piper at the gates of dawn.

Okay then folks, time to get back to em, the Floyd.

I‘ll see you on the dark side of the moon!

My unintended choice to live a Sunday

Your much awaited Sunday is a day away. You are desperately looking for options to make the best of it by doing something different—enrolling for a day’s course in candle making, a visit to the national park, organize a cleanliness drive for the residential society…anything! Just when you are scouring for every remote possibility that promised just that, an invitation crops up from the most unexpected quarters. My friend, N, was performing at Prithvi Cafe as part of the Yuva Thespo@Prithvi initiative!

I missed the first few songs and made a grand entry during the first break. My mood was somewhat dampened but the bright cheery faces of my ex colleagues and present colleagues, friends of friends, et al. lifted my spirits. Two pics later, my friend strode across to the podium [a makeshift stage] to attend to the unfinished business. Everything was forgotten when the strumming of the guitar began and the voice oozing charm hit our ears (soul??) with a subtle force that left everyone mesmerized.

One look at the song list and it was clear that N aimed to acquaint us with several beautiful but unexplored songs (by rookies/forgotten artists and even established artists) that didn’t quite receive the acclaim they ought to have received when released. [Every rose has its thorns would be one such song because Poison was a heavy-metal band and this was one of their rare mellow songs—unfortunately, it received criticism as opposed to critical acclaim]. Some cliched romantic numbers [as he put it] and a generous dose of Sting were thrown in to keep the junta going. Since I am decidedly partial to Sting, and considering what a fabulous job N does when it comes to Sting numbers, I would say that Message in a bottle, It’s probably me, Fields of gold were all smashing. The point to be noted here is that Message in a bottle can be rather difficult without percussion (although Sting has a version too—MTV unplugged] and the other two were done to perfection. Roxanne receives a special mention because N did his own version with different jazz styles in the rendition. Five stars and a thumbs up for that…woohoo!! Sting apart, among my favourites he belted out that day were Ground beneath her feet, a John Mayer song [I STILL haven’t figured out the lyrics and that dork has yet to reply to my mail in which I have asked him just that 😦 ], and the song that’s still playing in my head—Unintended. I am at a loss for words when I try to describe the way this song was performed. It was all soul and not even the loud aeroplane take-off could distract the audience. Mesmerizing, spell-binding, dumbfounded—a gamut of emotions aroused by Unintended. Maybe it was the simplicity of the lyrics, the sincerity with which the song was performed, the soulful strings…

This talent stock finally saw some sense last year when he wrote a couple of songs and recorded them while living in a desert land and making money. So we got to hear a couple of these promising songs; you can hear them here [Some people complained that the damn thing doesn’t work…just let me know if you are really desperate to hear em 😀 ].

The mood and the atmosphere were perfect. The sweltering heat somewhat left people miffed but we constantly played hide-and-seek with the sun by shifting spots regularly. I love Prithvi Cafe, its ambiance. There’s coffee when you need it, good songs in this case, informal wooden, rickety benches where I could sit cross legged [soo comfy] and trees. A lunch at Alfredo’s followed where we toasted to N…

My unintended choice to live this Sunday at Prithvi turned out to be the best break from routine I could’ve asked for.

Musical nirvana

When it comes to music, in my opinion, the people in this world can be clearly divided into two kinds—the ones who truly understand A R Rahman and the others who don’t; the former will also claim to be among his ardent fans. Such is the magic of A R Rahman (There is another category, non-existent as far as I am concerned, comprising those who enjoy the odd ARR chartbusters. To the likes of such, keep moving…).

I started learning music at the age of four years. Back then, I did it just because my mother wanted me to and everyone else was into it. By the time I finished school, I was a trained singer and had participated in god-knows-how-many competitions (my mother was realllyy persistent), but I had yet to LOVE music with a passion that she did. Sure I sang with a lot of emotion while performing but that was just because it was the norm. Enter, A R Rahman. ARR, as we the fans fondly address him, changed all this and more—I was introduced to a whole new concept that was music.

At this point, I have written and rewritten (thank god for Ctrl Z) what I think can best describe ARR. In doing so, I have realized that it is most difficult to accurately describe a person you admire a GREAT DEAL. So let’s just get to what I find most fascinating about ARR. For one, I have yet to see the same kind of versatility in ANY other composer. He knows and appreciates the norms but dares to venture. His unusual compositions scream uniqueness, and when ARR speaks about some such songs being among his favourites, you can hear in his voice the rush he gets out of doing something different, radical. Change is inevitable—some fans accept it and some don’t. I am at a loss for words when those in the latter category claim that today’s ARR is different from the ARR of the Thiruda Thiruda days. But had he remained the same, the critics would’ve slotted him as something he was unjustly accused of anyway: repetitive (did I just hear someone say Himesh Reshammiya?). Moving on, ARR has matured as a composer, and it’s time we mature as fans too. Over the years, the audience at home has ‘come of age’ too. Else, instead of ARR making news today, 20 years from now on, young blokes shaking their head desolately would mutter that ARR had been ‘ahead of his time’.

As a rule, I never listen to ARR at work or any place where I am required to pay close attention for rather obvious reasons—With ARR’s music playing, I can think of little else. It’s amazing how the summoned sounds submit to ARR, the master, when he’s creating magic…be it the bold use of the Shehnai in Yeh Jo Des, the crisp jal tarang in munbe vaa, a South American acoustic instrument to recreate the magic of the desi iktaara, or something known as an Armenian Duduk (I hadn’t even heard of this instrument till I read ARR’s interview on Warriors of Heaven and Earth!!!). His unpredictability combined with sheer melody makes for a real ARR treat!

:: Sigh :: I haven’t even finished written a quarter of what I set out to write, but before I begin to sound like an obsessed fanatic (if I haven’t already) and a terrible bore at that, let me sign off…

As I type this, click-happy that I am, I have tuned into my collection and my head(phones) fill(s) with ARR music

:: bliss ::

Like God says, ‘There’s so much to hear’ 🙂 Period.

Deadlines make you stop with one endeavour and move on to the next. Otherwise there is no end to how much you can improve on what you create.

-A R Rahman