Light A Candle at www.blaaze.in

thanks to srini, mohan and the team at knack... vithur and the brothers for spreading the word.. and all of you for the strength... the track is being taken up by MTV to work on for a video, and is currently on my official site, blaaze.in , wherein you can 'light' a candle for the victims too whilst hearing the song... also officially on radio nri too...thank u bryan, james, david and the team... to mukul, blogeswari, kirthi and arun ..thanks... peace... Jai Hind !

The sound of my soul

For the first time in an indian studio, there was a gentleman who came up and spoke to me about RAP... real rap music history.. to the legends... to the way it worked.. and that he loved the Baba Rap! To me, he was the ultimate man of musical knowledge unlike anybody i have ever known.

Mr. H Shridar.

Wisdom personified.

Ever since my first meeting with him at Panchathan studios, to every single song i have ever done with A R Rahman, he has been the man behind the sound. He taught me, ' how to hold a mic - correctly.' yes - he taught me how to monitor myself. He taught me how not to get caught up in this hustle of an industry, and he has patiently made sure that everytime my voice is on a song, it would sound 'just right' because he made sure it did.

When we toured the US, he was so amazing ! He was a man who would do so much work, and still be smiling. His smile was infectious, and i long to see that smile again. A longing which is not allowing me to think or write in clear ways. ..

During one of the tours in the US, we were at a huge basketball stadium, and he was engineering the sound for our concert from the centre on his console... on the walls around were jerseys of famous basketball stars, and as i shot that on my vdo cam, he mentioned that i should give him a copy... it still is with me... i need to give it to his sons, though my guilt is killing me for my laziness to act then.

In Atlanta, during our last tour, he came with me to the music store and he told me to buy my current 'in-ear monitors.' He was very busy, but took the time out to get me that set and taught me how to use it too. I joked that one day, i would use it a concert where only he would do my sound...

recently when the credit lists for yuvvraaj were out and my name was missing, i had been told that he wrote the credits and yet they printed wrongly... due to all the mess, it finaly came through that he had Indeed written it correctly, yet they* messed up.. he was truthful, sincere and a gem of a human being. I miss him a lot.

About 2 weeks earlier, on the last few days of slumdog millionaire mixing, i spent some nice nights with him in studio. He was smiling, working and puffing along... he reminded me not to smoke! He spoke about so many things that nobody else knew about rap. who will i talk to now?

He then mentioned how he had made my voice sound so smooth on the Dating song, for its hindi release and he had enjoyed it. He was there to make sure we sounded good, always.

He spoke to me about the thirukural song, 'Respect,' which i dedicate to him, as he loved the way he had mixed the voices so precisely... When you guys out there hear the song, you will know what i mean. Respect to you, Sir.. Respect for your life's dedication to music... Respect to your loved ones... Respect to Sound... ... for your sound lingers in my heart always and forever... in all i do... and all i hear... With Love... and prayers... ... ... though i may never have told you straight up - I love you man ...

Inquilab

we all need strength... to go thru the terror ordeal and the following weeks' actions are crucial to our resilience... (a word getting more familiar as we pretend all is ok time and again)... it is not.. and as a citizen of this world we all need to do something in our own ways to help create change!

we have a song called Inquilab, Stand Up - Unite, to give to the world... the hindi lyrics are by Raqueeb Alam and music is by Prince Ali. Have started by mailing it to all on my list.. trying to get it on radio and sincerely would appreciate ideas on getting it out there more... 

Do let me know how... am trying through the networks, but to no avail, as yet... maybe you should hear the song first... tell me how..?

May God Be Kind... 

Peace

BlaaZe

MTV YOUTH ICON NOMINATIONS

two weeks back, i got a call from Vaibhav Vishal at MTV Networks... 

this was to inform me that my name had come up in the final 30 candidates out of 8000, to be a nominee for this year's PEPSI MTV YOUTH ICON AWARDS 2008 ! Thought it was a 'bakra' at first, but then realised the blessing was truly heaven sent. Have never received an award nor nomination before, and honestly, the work is done because it has to be done... however it is a nice feeling to know the work is making a difference somewhere - sometime. So i'm honoured that the songs on issues and problems in our society, that we try to address through rhythm and poetry, and which have been a struggle in every step of the way, (as there is no record label support for 'real issues'), is being acknowledged. 

They have put together a few of my messages etc and it will be on air from tomorrow on MTV, and is already online at the site. The next blessing was that Mr. A R Rahman has also been interviewed and mentions his good wishes... wow.. i am so thankful, that i have not only mentioned it to him immediately, but have seen the clip about a million times already !

Would be great if you could check out the video, and enjoy the contest too...

It's all good... 

And oh yes, as president-elect Obama said, 'your vote counts...yes we can !' 

If you got a moment, do vote.. 

'SMS Icon  BL to 56882 to vote'

Radio NRI - Bollywood & Beyond

Radio NRI - Bollywood & Beyond

Did an interview up here for diwali... sounds interesting.. check it out... have a great diwali guys !!

Roxygen Rox !

Been a while... thank u for all the comments earlier and your patience...

Guitarist Christy Samuel (of moksha and roxygen) was in town since his earlier move to australia, and it was good to catch up. Incidentally, he was the one who introduced me to Sagar desai, together with whom my band is formed, ZambeZi funK, and we await the debut album release, soon, godwilling. 

They had a jam session, organised by Mr. Pramod, featuring the band Mother Jane and others. It had always been a fascination for me to perform live, and with a tight band like the one Roxygen put up, it was a blessing. So we had timmy doing his magic on vocals, keith on bass, jim on keys, ... ... and christy. Sound star Sean Bout made sure the decibel level was loud enough!! They were kind enough to invite me up to jam on, ' come together,' and it was truly kickin' !! 

As a band, their vocalist, Leon, had passed on - young by age and extremely talented - and though i had not met him before, there is a feeling of restlessness within me when i think of his dreams and his unfinished work, which i always feel when i am around these amazing musicians of moksha... the band which i believe, gives chennai a true sense of rock fame. As the rock genre seems to be on an upswing again here, it would be great for moksha to release the unreleased material they have and to grace the big stage again... with the spirit of Leon to guide... 

Praying for forgiveness

Well its been a busy June... hoping things materialise in July. Jaane Tu released and is doing well. Happy for the entire team ! Our track, Pappu can't dance is bangin' in the clubs which is great...had worked with Genelia during the shooting of Boys and she has surely grown into a 'Star' with perseverance...god bless - "when ah me ah see you at the dance in di hall and ah when ah me ah see you at the dance - say!"

Tomorrow, Sakkarakatti releases... the trailer for the first song is ready, and the launch should be a grand affair. Had great fun working on the track, Taxi-Taxi, and i guess having done the 'autorickshaw' theme song from Oram Po, to having the title song from 'New' being used for the 'motorbike' ads, and now to 'taxi', my transportation is steadily progressing !

However, i wanna take it back to the bicycle!! Been on my mind for a long time, not just since the fuel price hike, but in general, even for staying fit. So i had made up my mind to keep the 'chevy' in the garage, and go find a BSA or HERCULES or whatever is gonna suit my cycling dreams...

Asked a few friends, no clue. So got online and googled for shops selling cycles in chennai. Got a whole list. My GPS on the HTC phone isn't too helpful at these times and resorted to trying to discover the place myself. Bad idea. Found the shop after 45 mins, cause of the construction work going on etc. Finally got there, and was pleasantly surprised to see cycles with 21-speed and 6-speed gears, all shining like my bling ! Wow, i thought !

The only thing i didn't realise was that i hadn't sat on a cycle in maybe 18 years !!

And as i started to circle the pavement around the shop, i slowly started to realise the fact that not only was it a bit uncomfortable, but also the weather was blazing hot! And with my skin condition, which is an added extra i received with my asthma, the heat was burning through and starting to penetrate. The baggy pants i wore had to be tied with a band as the they were flying everywhere, including getting stuck between the pedals/shoes/seat.... it was a funny sight indeed!

With that, i waved bye-bye to the shop, stepped into my car, started the ignition, turned on the a/c, added my share of carbon to the ozone to help speed its depletion, and .... ... ... prayed for forgiveness...