~ Top Songs | 2017 ~

Here are the top songs that I have listened to on Spotify -



Alternatively, you can find the playlist here

~ Music & Religion | Part I ~

All religions have embraced music in some form or another for the devotion of God. What one classifies/perceives as God could manifest into another post, so let's not go that way. Not really sure if Islam forbids people from listening or performing music. Sufism, the branch of Islam, has different thought on music. Many of the Sufi musicians perform in way to surrender themselves to God. 

William Dalrymple's "Sufi Soul" takes you into the mystical & musical side of Islam across Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, Morocco & India. 

For hundreds of millions of Sufi followers worldwide, music is at the heart of their tradition and a way of getting closer to God. From the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey to the qawwali music of Pakistan, Sufism has produced some of the world's most spectacular music celebrated by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Dalrymple's film traces the shared roots of Christianity and Islam in the Middle East and discovers Sufism to be a peaceful, tolerant and pluralistic bastion against fundamentalism.

“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” ― Albert Einstein

~ I ~

An amazing collaboration of 4 artists from diverse backgrounds music, dance, graffiti & mask - to present the song called I. 

~ 50 years of Rock Excess ~

The documentary takes you from the birth of Rock in the 60's till the Nu Age metal of the 21st Century. Covers some of the iconic Rockstars who have reached the epitome of life where nothing was impossible to do & get away.

They truly led an excessive life & some paid with their life. The documentary not only covers the transformation of various rock forms, but also offers glimpse into the lifestyles of these rock bands. 

Hard to believe that none of the current Rock bands come close to producing music of the 60's or 70's. As David Wild puts it, "The way Rock music was toned down in the 90's for it to be more acceptable & marketable to the mainstream; It was Good for the World but Bad for Music".

Nir

Most of the British Iconic Rock bands were covered in the first episode but not all were covered. Also, the Big Four of thrash metal never got a mention. Don't know if there are future episodes that will cover the evolution of Rock into Sub Genres.

Be warned that the Rocumentary has 

~ Sugar man ~

In the afternoon I saw this movie titled 'Searching for Sugarman' & I was blown by it. A beautiful movie about an Artist who was not only forgotten by everyone but he chose to move with his life. Until two people Stephen 'Sugar' Segerman & Craig Bartholomew Strydom decided to find out more about Rodriguez.

The movie seems like a fairytale than anything else. We all have so much to learn from Rodriguez. I don't think any Artist in the current era who stature is compared to being Elvis of South Africa, can lead such an humble lifestyle.

If you love music then watch this movie. No other movie on a band or musician comes close to this one. After watching this one, if you feel there is something better than this then do let me know.

I wanted to dedicate my 400th post of this blog to Arsenal, the EPL club. But life, as always, throws surprises at you & you are left wondering what to do with it. That's how Sugar Man replaced the Gunner dedication post.

Update:

Not only did he skip the Oscar ceremony – he was asleep when he won. Searching for Sugar Man director Malik Bendjelloul begged Rodriguez to attend the Oscars, but he refused, feeling it would take the attention away from the filmmakers. "We also just came back from South Africa and I was tired," Rodriguez says. "I was asleep when it won, but my daughter Sandra called to tell me. I don't have TV service anyway." 

...giving away most of it. 

Rodriguez has lived in the same modest Detroit house for over 40 years. He has no car, computer or even a television. His daughter Regan forced him to get a cellphone a few years ago because she grew weary of driving around the neighborhood trying to track him down. "He lives a very Spartan life," says Regan. "I almost want to call it Amish. He once told me there's three basic needs – food, clothing and shelter. Once you get down to that level, everything else is icing." 

 He plans on giving much of his money to his three daughters and some old friends. "That's his philosophy," says Regan. "He takes great pleasure in giving it away, especially to people that supported him when he wasn't a big commercial success. I do really wish he'd spend some of the money on himself, though."

 Read more: Rollingstone 

~ Raag Kirwani ~

While I was strolling tonight & listening to 100.1 FM. Came across this incredible sitar performance by Dr Renuka Gambhir. It was so soothing & melodic. I feel that these ancient & timeless compositions are much superior to any guitar riffs of the progressive metal bands of the current era. Listened to her perform the following:

1. Raag Yaman
2. Raag Rajeshwari
3. Raag Kirwani

I managed to find only the 3rd { Raag Kirwani } one on youtube. Downloaded the 3 videos and made them into a single MP3 for listening pleasure. Hope you enjoy it.

Do let me know if you come across the remaining two of them.

~ Indian Metal Fest & Gojira ~

A big thanks to NH7 for organising weekender festival, that overlapped the Indian Metal Festival (IMF). NH7 helped filter all the non-metal heads from this festival, which is good.

According to the IMF organizers this was supposed to be THE metal festival which had lineup of 6 International & 2 Indian bands, playing for about 540 mins || 9 hrs. 

At about 10:30 am, the organizers leave a message on their FB wall stating:

Well, in reality the gates opened ONLY @ 17:30 hrs & considering the strict rules in Bangalore, everything needs to wrap up by 22:30 hrs. That gives only 5 hours of air time, which speaks volumes of the organizers - ORKA & Sweet Leaves.

A changed lineup among the bands, 


Indian Acts

• Gutslit (Mumbai) 
• Eccentric Pendulum (Bangalore)
• Agnostic (Guwahati) 

International Acts

• Flayed Disciple (U.K)
• Bloodshot Dawn (U.K)
• Xerath (U.K.)
• Gojira (france) - HEADLINER
• Inner Guilt (Lebanon) 
• Cerebral Bore (Scotland) - Co-Headliner

Eccentric Pendulum were pretty decent. Didn't know they were from Bangalore who play progressive metal.  They have also played at WACKEN Open Air festival in Germany.

Didn't like Gutslit performance. Then followed the bands from the UK- Flayed Disciple, Bloodshot Dawn & Xerath - in the order mentioned.

Amongst the three UK bands, liked Bloodshot Dawn. 

At 20:30 Gojira took to the stage & performed to the crowd. Joe kept the crowd engaged throughout the performance, unlike the Axl Rose who never uttered a word. They started from their latest album L'Enfant Sauvage & played songs Love, Child, The Art of Drying,  Mario's Drum Solo, Esoteric Surgery, Backbone, The Link, Flying Whales, Wisdom Comes & few more. They even dedicated the song Wisdom Comes to the late Pandit Ravishankar.

The only saving grace of IMF was Gojira. Am happy that they chose to perform in Bangalore. Unlike the other Metal bands who tour (or visit) India during their fag end of carriers. Gojira is currently at their peak & one of the best Progressive Metal bands in the world. Raghu mentioned that Gojira's drummer - Mario, is one of the best drummer of modern metal.

The cops numbering BCP 467 & BCP 3467

Bangalore: Beautiful evening sky

 Flayed Disciple

 Crowd acknowledging the band

The Organizers should "Awaken" :P

 Bloodshot Dawn

The sound engineering console

More controls

 Xerath wrapping up

 The crew of Gojira setting up the instruments

 Gojira

 Wisdom comes

 Joe Duplantier kept uttering Shukriya (Thank you in Urdu or Hindi) after most songs

Gojira were very happy to perform in Bangalore & so was the Crowd :)

I don't think me or Raghu missed Testament performing in NH7 today ;)

~ Axl N Roses ~

You read it right, Axl N Roses (A'N'R) formerly called Guns N Roses (G'N'R). One of the iconic band which I grew up listening to in the 90s. On 7th Dec 2012 got to witness the performance of Axl Rose & his band pay tribute to G'N'R.

After a long harrowing journey to Bharatiya City of 45 mins from Nagwara Junction we managed to get past the gates @ 19:30. By then the band had already taken the stage & had probably performed one / two songs. It was bit strange, as most of the headlining acts in Bangalore happen only post 20:45. Looks like the organisers Mooz forgot to get supporting acts for A'N'R.

The first song which I gotta listen after clearing the security was 'It's so easy', followed by 'Mr Brownstone' & then followed some cover songs in between.

Was getting bored & bugged by the sad show of the band, so far. {SideNote for Mooz: The sound setup was pathetic. Hope you guys get your act right next time}  The tempo picked up after this song 'You could be mine'. I did message Navneet to check what he had to say about the show so fat; only to know that he was still stuck in traffic. It was already 21:00 hrs when they played the classic 'Sweet Child O' Mine', followed by another cover - Another Brick in the Wall (Pink Flyod).

THE song, November Rain, which we - me & Malhar - had been waiting for nearly hour and half. Sure the song wouldn't measure the performance from the original band members, especially that of Slash. Still, this was one of the songs which I wanted to listen to from A'N'R show & we got the moneys' worth.

Finally when they closed the show by performing another popular number - 'Paradise City'. When glanced at the clock, realised that this was the longest Rock act in Bangalore by an International Artist - 3+ hours. The duration of the concert definitely doesn't mean Axl N his Roses performed well. The spirit of  G'N'R will never return to A'N'R. Always sad to see a music band breakup.

Found the setlist for today's show -

1. Chinese Democracy 
2. Welcome to the Jungle 
3. It's So Easy 
4. Mr. Brownstone 
5. Estranged 
6. Rocket Queen 
7. Richard Fortus Guitar Solo 
   (Blacklight Jesus of Transylvania)
8. Live and Let Die 
   (Wings cover)
9. This I Love 
10. Better 
11. Motivation 
    (Tommy Stinson song) (Tommy Stinson on lead vocals, with band introductions)
12. Dizzy Reed Piano Solo 
    (No Quarter by Led Zeppelin)
13. Catcher in the Rye 
14. Street of Dreams 
15. There Was a Time 
16. You Could Be Mine 
17. DJ Ashba Guitar Solo 
    (Ballad of Death)
18. Sweet Child O' Mine 
19. Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 
    (Pink Floyd cover) (with Axl on piano)
20. November Rain 
21. Objectify 
    (Bumblefoot cover) (Bumblefoot on lead vocals)
22. Don't Cry 
23. The Seeker 
    (The Who cover)
24. Civil War 
25. Knockin' on Heaven's Door 
    (Bob Dylan cover)
26. Jam 
27. Nightrain 
28. Encore:
28. Don't Let It Bring You Down 
    (Neil Young cover)
29. Jam 
30. Patience 
31. Jam 
32. Paradise City 

~ Season of music festivals ~

The Great Indian OctoberFest 2012, Bangalore 12-14 Oct. 8th Edition seems to have a good line-up of artist. View the artists line: PDF | HTML | Atom | RSS

The Artists am looking forward to - Taalavattam, Shaair & Func, Advaita, Soulmate, Indian Ocean, Agam, Papon & East India Company,Benny Dayal with 'GROOVE #3',Children of Bodom,Shankar Tucker (T),Raghu Dixit Project

Well the color codes represents the artists performing on 12, 13 & 14 respectively. Take a look @ the HTML or PDF.

Slayer in Bangalore on 20 Oct 2012 | Rock in India

Santana performing in the city on 26 Oct 2012 | Vladivar Rock in India

Gojira & host of other artists performing 15 Dec 2012 | Indian Metal Fest

If you are an EDM fan then Above & Beyond are in town on the 10th Nov

~ Guitar ~

Not really sure of what attracts me to this instrument. I have been fascinated with this instrument from a very young age. My maternal uncle used to play it & was used to see it at my grandparents home every time I visited them.

Been lucky to witness some great performances in Bangalore over the years. Now here is a 3 part documentary title Story of the Guitar from BBC. Enjoyed watching Part 1. Now, waiting to watch the remaining 2 parts.

Via Open Culture.
Image Credit: PRLog

~ Brahma sings Bomb the B@$t@rD$ ~

These guys are good, check them out. Rags thanx 4 the share.





Official website.

~ Rock in India ~

The day has finally arrived where I get to witness the first performance of an international thrash metal band in Bangalore, India. Didn't fancy any of the international bands performing in India or Bangalore in particular, couple of years ago. The stage seems to have changed after Iron Maiden's initial gig in Bangalore last year and as paved way to the entry of Megadeth - 'Big Four of Thrash'. Billed as the first rock festival of its kind in India, 'Rock in India' has a line up of 9 bands featuring Megadeth, Machine Head and more local bands.

I am not sure of how much of a festival atmosphere I can find over there. But I hope Megadeth's performance would be a good, despite Chris Broderick replacing Glen Drover on the guitars two months ago.

We owe a lot to DNA Networks for bringing these bands and holding the performances in namma Bengaluru.

My reviews shall follow.....lets meet @ the fest!

Image: Screen grab from DNA Networks.

~ Iron Maiden: Somewhere Back In Time World Tour ~

Iron Maiden kick start their World Tour 'Somewhere Back In Time' on 01 Feb 2008 from Mumbai, India. Bangalore doesn't seem to be lucky for a second gig. Fair enough, Iron Maiden gave their first performance in India, in Bangalore, early this year.

As of now, I plan to attend the concert. Hope I get my leave sanctioned & the tickets. Anyone interested in joining, let me know.

Image copyright: Iron Maiden.

~ Never miss a performance ~

Came across this interesting & informative website called 'Bandsintown' via Rands in Repose. The name of the website says it all; once you sign up on this site with your current location, it just lists you all the bands who are gonna perform. Amazing service isn't it, especially for someone who loves music & has moved into a new city. You can follow the music scene in the locality without having friends/connexions.

Wish I had come across this website when I had moved to UK back in Feb. If you haven't noticed, I have update the blog with a widget ;)

~ Nadaka ~

One of the best Indian Classical I have come across in the recent past. Nadaka, is not the name of a music group/band, rather the person himself.

"In Sanskrit, Nada is the origin of sound and Ka is the one who carries it within. Nadaka was born in Quebec, and learned to play the guitar at an early age." For more, read here or click on 'About Nadaka' over here.

You can enjoy few of his performances which are available on youtube. and let me know if you liked it.

Thanks Sudharshan, for introducing me to Nadaka.

~ Swarathma ~

~ Swarathma: Performing @ Opus, Bangalore ~

One of the Indian fusion bands from Bangalore who play some good music. I happened to listen to their Kannada song called Ee Bhoomi & instantly loved the song. It has been ages since I actually listened to any song from my mother tongue. Didn't know that Swarathma had Hindi compositions as well, till I visited their re-vitalized website.

You can listen to their few of their songs here. The credit for introducing this band goes to Naveen, my college buddy, who occasionally strums his guitar & a wannabe musician.

Photo Courtesy: Suresh BJ

Uncoiling with Lacuna Coil

It has been quite a while since I tried some new music. Last weekend, while syncing my iPod with my new babe (a.k.a MBP) noticed that there were few MP3s copied from Rags sometime last year, which had gone unnoticed by me. There were songs from 3 artistes - Amorphis, Lacuna Coil & The Agony Scene - I decided to start with Lacuna Coil.

Did a digg on my favorite music site, Last.fm on Lacuna Coil to know more about the artist, here is wee info about Lacuna Coil....

"Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band formed in Milan, Italy, in 1996. The name means an "empty spiral". They were formerly known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal, counting various musical influences as doom metal and progressive metal."

As always, began experimenting with their music. After listening to most of the tracks from their albums - Karma Code, Comalies, In a Reverie, Unleashed Memories - happened to like the following:

• Purify
• To live is to hide
• Our truth
• Enjoy the silence (personal fav)
  
• Closer
• Within me
• Fragile
• To myself i turned
• Heaven's a lie
• Unspoken

If you haven't hit their home page yet, Lacuna Coil like few other metal bands [Arch Enemy, Evanescence] has a female lead vocalist, Cristina Scabbia. It's a pleasure listening to her voice & her looks would be enviable to any women. If you wanna try them, then you should be heading here to watch some high quality videos.

As for Amorphis and The Agony Scene, I haven't given them a try yet. Would give my 2cents once I listen to them. So, till then uncoil yourself to some good music from Lacuna Coil.

Image courtesy: Last.fm

The Legends of Rock set to rock Bangalore

During one of our (self & Rags) discussions on the music bands performing in India or Bangalore in particular; we were listing out some of the rock & metal bands and wishing they perform in India. Iron Maiden too figured in that list and rags said,"I am damn sure none of these bands would ever perform in India". Dude, you were wrong, tommorrow they are gonna perform in the city for the first & hopefully not the last time. I know you & malhar would be going to the concert....Enjoy maadi!!!


Am sure all the Maiden fans in India wld be there in Bangalore. No doubt that they are gonna rock the audience 2mrw.

I am gonna miss this once in a lifetime oppurtunity to witness them perform in my city, will never get another chance.

Feeling very low now.

Iron Maiden all set to ROCK India this year

Naveen was talking about the Campus Rock Idols 2007 & mentioned that the Iron Maiden is coming down to India this year. I couldn't believe it, so checked the Official Home of Iron Maiden for the tour 2007 dates, couldn't find dates for India tour anywhere.

09/03/2007	Dubai Desert Rock Festival
11/03/2007	GREECE - Athens, Faliro Pavilion Indoor Arena
14/03/2007	SERBIA - Belgrade, Fair Indoor Arena

After googling, it turns out that the Gods of Rock are indeed set to Rock India (Bangalore may be the venue, as per the information available on the web).

So, lets hope Iron Maiden performs in Bangalore!!!

Updates:
1) In other MAIDEN-related news, DNAIndia.com reports that Bruce Dickinson and company will play at least one show (Bangalore) in India later this year. A "battle of the bands" has been launched to give one local act an opportunity to open the concert, which is being organized by Venkat Vardhan of DNA Networks [via]
2) Roger Waters performing in Mumbai on 18thFeb07 [via]

Updates II [5th Feb' 07]
Iron Maiden @ Palace Grounds, Bangalore on 17th Mar 07 [via]

via Gigpad --> MaidenNorway --> DNAIndia.