Tag: music

Lata Ji’s spiritual magic for music lovers

Post author By Newsdesk
Post date 13 April 2021
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Singer Lata Mangeshkar. (File Photo: IANS)

“There is such richness in the poetry of the great saint and to have Lata Didi bring them to life through her voice is indeed a marvellous way to reach out to a wider audience,” he added…reports Asian Lite News.

India’s all time playback legend singer Lata Ji entered into an other exciting project. Lata Mangeshkar has launched her Marathi album “Bhavartha Mauli” on the occasion of Gudi Padwa.

The album is a collection of 10 devotional Marathi songs, introduced and sung by the veteran singer and composed by her brother Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar. The songs are based on the works of Marathi saint and 13th century poet Sant Dnyaneshwar.

“It is an absolute honour and a privilege that I am able to present the poetic works of the great saint and poet Sant Dnayeshwar to this generation. Through this album called Bhavaarth Mauli, my brother Hridaynath and I have made a humble attempt to introduce each of these poems by a commentary explaining and unravelling the spirituality and essence of the poetry,” Lata Mangeshkar said.

“I hope the audience has the same beautiful spiritual experience listening to these beautiful compositions just as we have had in bringing them to you,” she added.

Lata Mangeshkar (ANI)

Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar said : “Working on the album Bhavaarth Mauli, which is a compilation of the immortal compositions of Sant Dnyaneshwar recorded by Lata Didi and me more than 50 years ago, and now being present ed anew, embellished with a commentary by Lata Didi herself, has been a humb ling experience for me.”

“There is such richness in the poetry of the great saint and to have Lata Didi bring them to life through her voice is indeed a marvellous way to reach out to a wider audience,” he added.

“Bhavaarth Mauli” released on the Saregama Marathi YouTube channel and on music streaming platforms.

Also Read-Legendary Singer Mangeshkar Still Feel Young

Tags album, Lata Mangeshkar, music

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‘Stage performance teaches you humility’

Post author By Newsdesk
Post date 8 April 2021
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It’s been a huge learning curve for me, I have learned how to set up a small studio at my residence with the help of my recording engineer at the studio…Usha Uthup speaks with Siddhi Jain.

“Stage performance teaches you humility, dignity and honesty and makes you realise that the only reason you are up on stage is because of the audience and their love for you, art and entertainment,” says legendary playback singer Usha Uthup. The 1947-born artist tells that performing live for an audience is an “exhilarating experience”.

Uthup, in a recent collaboration with Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts (SaPa) India which was founded in 2007 by violinist L. Subramaniam and Bollywood playback singer Kavita Krishnamurti Subramaniam, took a masterclass on the tips and intricacies of stagecraft. The popular artiste and singer broke down the elements of entertaining on stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnJqHGButuA

In an interview with us about life in lockdown and performing on both the real and virtual stages. Edited excerpts:

What has been your most prominent learning during the lockdown?

Throughout the past year, I think I have worked the most through the lockdown. It’s been a huge learning curve for me, I have learned how to set up a small studio at my residence with the help of my recording engineer at the studio. My team has helped me with the nuances of Zoom and other online communication platforms. I have been connected to people through phones and video calls.

Another thing that I have learned and what the pandemic has taught us is to be global citizens. It has increased our horizon to think and care for people outside our social circle. To be careful and mindful of our deeds and how we impact people around us. I have also realised having a routine and being disciplined helps and is what has kept me going. I start my day by chanting mantras and taking a walk in my home. Post that I continue with my singing work.

The concept of the ‘stage’ took on another form during the pandemic, with the computer and mobile screen turning into stage for artistes across genres. Your thoughts on this digital stage?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnJqHGButuA

During the lockdown, I was able to adapt to the digital stage seamlessly through the help of my team Gautam Basu, Somresh and Rinta. Through the lockdown, even though the stage shows couldn’t happen, I was able to connect with my audience through the 6-7 songs which I recorded in my home studio and released them on the social media platforms. The response has been humongous and shows the kind of love the audience has for you as a singer. It has also helped me to be a Global artist through my work. Plus the digital stage has not only boomed for performances, but also for online learning. Through SaPa India, I am able to conduct this masterclass on Stagecraft where people can learn about posture, stage manners and other nuances which can be used not only for live shows but for virtual shows as well.

You had mentioned during the lockdown months that getting on a stage to perform would not be possible for some time. Are you happy that the entertainment and cultural spaces are opening up?

USHA UTHUP (Wikipedia)

For 51 years of my career, I have performed on stage for numerous shows. It’s an exhilarating experience of performing for the audience who are right in front of you and the musicians right beside encouraging you with each verse of the song. The stage performance teaches you humility, dignity and honesty and makes you realize that the only reason why you are up on the stage is because of the audience and their love for you, art and entertainment. So yes, it’s great we can go back to such ways of entertainment, of course keeping the Covid-19 precautions in mind. I’m looking forward to doing shows again.

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Please tell us about your association with SaPa India

Kavita has been a dear friend of mine for years and I have such high admiration and respect for both L. Subramaniam and Kavita Subramaniam. And it’s great that they have a brainchild like SaPa, an academy, which is training children as young as 3-years-old. And I am so grateful to them for including Stagecraft as a subject. It’s one of the most important aspects of being an artist apart from technical knowledge, regular practice, among others. And I’m very thankful to them for giving me this opportunity to take the masterclass. It provides an awakening to people that no matter how good a singer or an artist you are, what would you do if you didn’t have the right kind of stagecraft to perform. Because entertainment is a serious business indeed.

Apart from this masterclass, I am also designing and launching a self-paced course with SaPa India to be released shortly.

About your upcoming plans..

I have released about 6-7 songs with videos. The only difference between me and the other artists is that I don’t actively promote them through digital platforms like Instagram and YouTube because I’m not very well versed with such mediums. And my work is not just in Hindi films, but I have done songs across Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil as well. My latest project is now with SaPa India.

‘Saina’ is a special project’

Post author By Newsdesk
Post date 19 March 2021
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Today, as the biopic of ace shuttler Saina Nehwal is ready for release, Amaal is “nervous and excited at the same time”…writes Samarth Goyal.

Lockdown was surely a period of creativity for most of the artists .Composer-singer Amaal Mallik is thankful for lockdown in a way. It gave him time to create the score of “Saina”, particularly the anthem song “Parinda”.

“Honestly, it was a bit frustrating at times, but it did give me that time to experiment with the music. I wanted to, for example, do something different for ‘Parinda’, since it is the anthem for the film. It was only possible during lockdown, because the film had gotten delayed that I got the time to work on it and that’s when I decided to work with Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra for the film. Overall, the four years didn’t really mean that I had to change the sound a lot,” he says.

The music took four years to be completed. Mallik admits that was “frustrating”, but at the same time was totally worth it “because I got the chance to work with Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra”.

Today, as the biopic of ace shuttler Saina Nehwal is ready for release, Amaal is “nervous and excited at the same time”.

“I am really nervous and excited at the same,” he laughs as he talks over the phone. “It is a special project and everything was really done with a lot of passion. I am really looking forward to seeing how people react to the music in the film,” adds Mallik, who has not only composed the songs in the film, but also created the background score.

This is the first time that the 30-year-old was asked to create a background score for a film. The process, Mallik says, helped him create his songs even better.

“It was a really big deal for me that I got to work on both — the songs and the background score. How it helped me in creating songs was that I knew what kind of music would accompany before and after a particular song. So I knew the exact emotion, the exact soundscape, and that really helped me a lot when it came to the songs,” he says adding that creating background score is not as easy.

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“It (background score) is a challenge for sure. I remember learning a lot of things about background music from Salim Merchant sir (of Salim-Suleiman composer duo), and he told me the importance of silences. Sometimes, silence conveys more about a particular situation than music, and understanding that part of background scoring is very important,” he says.

“In a movie like Saina, which is a biopic on one of the biggest athletes in India, there are many highs and lows. The approach, to create music cannot be linear. You have to make music that is not only inspiring and passionate, but also real,” he adds.