Ringtones

Posted on March 12, 2012 by RK

With so much great music around, I figured it was dumb to use stock sounds as ringtones. I set out to creating a few ringtones myself, using great compositions others have created from time to time.

Would like to share few of those for your enjoyment. You may, of course, download these and use it on your phone. I am including both MP3 versions and also including 3-step instructions for making this work on your iPhone. Full songs are not suitable for ringtones – especially in phone cultures where users are directed to VM after 3 rings, hence I have kept the duration of ringtones to 30 seconds or less, which also means some thought has gone into which segment I chose for a particular song J

  1. Non, Je ne regrette rien – by Charles Dumont
  2. Azhagu Nilavu – by Ilayaraja
  3. Seer Konduvaa – by Ilayaraja
  4. Dancing in Breezes – by U Shrinivas
  5. The Wish – by John Mclaughlin
  6. Den Bortkomne Sauen – by Carter Burwell

About each of these I can write long stories on why and how I picked each one of them and how I perceive these sounds, but I will let the sounds speak for themselves.

Here’s how you can make these MP3s work on your iPhone as ringtones:

1. Add the MP3 to iTunes (like you would any other song)
2. Right click on the track and click on “Create AAC version”
3. Right click on the newly created AAC version and select “Show in Windows Explorer”
4. The file will have a M4A extension, rename it to have a M4R extension instead
5. Your new ringtone is ready. Import it to iTunes and sync with your iPhone
Posted in Entertainment, Gadgets, Mobile, Musician Tributes | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Manadhil urudhi vendum

Posted on February 25, 2012 by RK

Million dollar dream is today not just American – but not too long ago, to express a dream purely based on material pleasures was frowned upon. Especially in India, it was taboo to pursue money (along with sex and power). People virtualized their dreams in other forms that were associated with humility and decoupled from sex, money and power.

Bharathiyar once again broke the silence and sang explicitly about the things he had less of. For example, he almost always suffered scarcity of money to run his family. So that comes out (my interpretation) several lines in this poem:

“நெருங்கின பொருள் கைப்பட வேண்டும்”

“கைவசமாவது விரைவில் வேண்டும்”

“தனமும் இன்பமும் வேண்டும்”

But he never loses sight of the other things he always pursued and thought was important for any individual.

“மனதில் உறுதி வேண்டும்,  வாக்கினிலே இனிமை வேண்டும்

நினைவு நல்லது வேண்டும்,”

“காரியத்தில் உறுதி வேண்டும்”

As well as, his concern and dream for the larger society never got missed:

“பெண் விடுதலை வேண்டும்”

“மண் பயனுற வேண்டும்”

Here goes the entire poem:

மனதில் உறுதி வேண்டும்,  வாக்கினிலே இனிமை வேண்டும்
நினைவு நல்லது வேண்டும், நெருங்கின பொருள் கைப்பட வேண்டும்
கனவு மெய்ப்பட வேண்டும், கைவசமாவது விரைவில் வேண்டும்
தனமும் இன்பமும் வேண்டும், தரணியிலே பெருமை வேண்டும்
கண் திறந்திட வேண்டும், காரியத்தில் உறுதி வேண்டும்
பெண் விடுதலை வேண்டும், பெரிய கடவுள் காக்கவேண்டும்
மண் பயனுற வேண்டும், வானகம் இங்கு தென்பட வேண்டும்
உண்மை நின்றிட வேண்டும்
 

At one point in life, I used to listen to this everyday like a prayer song. I miss those times.

Posted in Indian Culture, Inspirational Thoughts, Literature, Tamil | Tagged | Leave a comment

Spellbound – Cloud Computing

Posted on February 21, 2012 by RK

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Our search for/ definition of truth

Posted on February 13, 2012 by RK

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Coffee with me

Posted on February 5, 2012 by RK

When I was not successful getting guest writers for my 300th post, I turned on my creative hat and wrote a post in the Q&A format, with me both questioning and answering. I use the same format below to describe an experience I had recently – meeting the revered musician, composer, conductor, singer, writer – Ilayaraja.

How did the thought of meeting Ilayaraja occur?

Ever since I first met Ustad Zakir Hussain, it occurred to me that celebrities are not mean people. At least not all of them are. That allowed me to fantasize meeting (and taking pictures with :-) ) the people I most admire and respect.

Specifically, how did the IR meeting come about?

IR is right up there on my to-do list. If you don’t know that about me, you don’t know me. When I planned my trip to India, I went “Why don’t we try to meet IR this time?”. I asked a friend of mine and as it turns out, I had asked the right person.

Was it that easy?

To me, it seems like it was. But I had learnt from musicians performing in IR’s orchestra that he is quick to turn down people, especially when they come in the way of his work process. So, as much as I prepared well and partnered with the right people, the actual meeting was still an accident.

Did you talk to him? Did he talk to you?

I talked to him in praise and he did not respond. I did not expect anything different – because it takes a lot of substance to strike a conversation with somebody like him. Besides, I was already interrupting him in his work day. Of course, people like Zakir Bhai are exception to this – because their charisma and flamboyance makes up for your (lack of) substance.

So, what was he in the middle of?

IR was in his creative process of coaching a handful of chorus singers for a re-recording piece in his current work, a movie by name Dhoni. It was during a break he took that I met him.

Who else did you meet?

I was equally happy to meet some members of his orchestra, whose work I have known for a long time – Arulmozhi a.k.a Napolean (Flute), Prabhakar (Lead Violin), Purushothaman (Conductor), Ganesh (Sitar) etc…I also saw many more people who I knew by name, but did not necessarily talk with.

What is your biggest learning from this meeting?

It is that the singers and instrumentalists most of the times forget what they create. Each new day forces on them an intense meditation process of the score they are working on for that day. So, the music that haunts us day in and day out on our iPods are simply forgotten by them. When you tell them how great their performance was on a particular piece of music, they go, “Did I do that?”

Who else is on your list?

If I say that now, my future pictures won’t have a surprise element. However, I can say that most of them will be related to music.

Trivia

By some estimates, Ilayaraja’s movie projects alone count to about 940 or 950. He still spends 14-16 hours per day at work – which means we can soon expect his 1000th movie :-)

Posted in Interviews, Music, Musician Tributes, Personal | Tagged | 13 Comments

Colors of Raja

Posted on January 18, 2012 by RK

Thanks to Suresh, I came to know about what I believe is the first formal release of Ilayaraja’s soundtracks. Released on MP3-only basis on CDBaby, this offers for the first time clean tracks of his re-recording scores from more than 15 movies.

Though I rate this compilation average, I think this is a great start. Ilayaraja has composed music for at least 900 movies and even if each movie had 30 minutes of album-worthy scores, we have got more than 450 hours of music – which have practically not been appreciated yet. From the perspective of the composer, in the context of Indian movies, re-recording is the most thankless job. Good score will translate into better ratings for the movie and usually never is attributed to the composer.

By the same token, even if each movie had 2 notable songs, he has given us enough great songs to play non-stop for six days. Dont know where to start :-)

Posted in Album Review, Music, Musician Tributes | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Autobiography

Posted on January 17, 2012 by RK

Is autobiography only for the accomplished?

I am big on perspectives – I’d like to reflect on life’s learnings, sharing the experiences of life, acknowledging people who helped me become what I am. I always wanted to write a letter like Rudyard Kipling did to his son. May be not just to my children but something like an open book, which anyone can read, appreciate and hopefully learn a thing or two. Though I am not old by any definition, I have spent enough days in this world to start writing a chapter or two.

But the immediate stumbling block becomes – am I worthy of an autobiography?

And then it dawned on me – the real question is should one be worthy of autobiography in order to write one?

Of course, if you are someone that is part of public life, especially as a revered person – it helps because you have hopefully inspired enough people to take to reading your scribbles. But men with private lives have experiences too, learnings too. Those learnings have the potential to be passed on to family, friends and relatives too!

What are your thoughts?

Posted in Inspirational Thoughts, Introspection, Personal | Tagged | 6 Comments

Are you late?

Posted on January 17, 2012 by RK

You are in a conference call. 8 other people have logged in – different geographies, time-zones and not the least, cultures. One participant joins late and goes on and on about why she is late. Sounds familiar?

Some of us have work days that include this ceremony called conference calls – sometimes many of them in a day. We come from different cultures and cultures have different levels of sensitivity for time. Some are rigid and some are elastic. Likewise, cultures have different levels of tolerance for listening to a story/ means/ pursuit (context) as opposed to the content. There is no such thing as right or wrong – it is just the way it is.

But the last thing people want on a call is to listen to one person talk about why she was late to the call, why she slipped the date, why her phone did not remind her, how her computer crashed after working 2 hours on an unsaved document, who caused her being late (usually someone more senior than anyone in the call), what she was busy doing that made her unpunctual. Not because we are insensitive to that information, only because we don’t need them. Not that her being late was a bad thing, just that her stories are taking more minutes away from the purpose of the call. And let’s face it, nobody is going to go, “Oh that poor lady! She is usually punctual, that sad <whatever reason she quoted> made her late”

So the next time you are late to a meeting or a call, just say – “Sorry I’m late” and go on with your business.

Posted in Introspection | Leave a comment

Humming Now #15

Posted on December 29, 2011 by RK

I have long argued that music, including its more formal forms (such as Carnatic or Western Classical), is exoteric – not esoteric. Esoterism may exist in understanding of the internals and underlying theory, but the experience is always accessible to anyone, including those who never intended listening.

Usually when I say I am humming now, it means I have been enjoying songs of that scale for a long spell (such as few days or even weeks) and I would like to share that experience on the blog. But sometimes, the raga chases you. Even when you don’t intend listening to a particular raga, it presents itself in different medium – so you never get a chance to forget it.

My most recent such experience is Subhapantuvarali. This raga is associated with pathos, especially as related to a person who is losing all hopes and cries to god for empathy and help. It is a very beautiful raga for meditation, prayer and such.

Over the last few days, this raga has presented itself in various forms including a classical rendition Sri Satyanarayanam by Aruna Sairam, a Jugalbandi by Bhimsen Joshi and Rashid Khan (in the Hindustani equivalent, Todi or Miyan Ki Todi) and few other classical versions.

But equally so, this raga has been reminding me of two songs. One is the song Guruve Charanam from Sri Raghavendra by Ilayaraja and another is a Ayyappan devotional song (Poi Indri Meyyodu Nei Kondu Ponaal, thanks to Roshni for confirming this) I used to hear in my neighbor’s house during my childhood days. There are plenty of Subhapantuvaralis outside the context of devotion and god as well, but nothing is soul-stirring as a prayer.

I hope you enjoy the latest in my humming now series, an addition after a long gap.

Posted in Humming Now, Music | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Perspective

Posted on December 28, 2011 by RK

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