God! how i wish i lived in the 70's

What is this music which people call "latest" especially tamil film songs. Are we really creating something real good as time goes ?? I really doubt that, coz whatever we are doing right now is just an inspiration of all those greats who were before our times.

I have always been fascinated by the pop era of the 70's especially music from the US and the bloody brilliant british :P
ITS ALL BEEN DONE BEFORE. All the notes, all sorts of patterns, all sorts of melodies. all kinds of articulation.

The other day I was listening to earth wind and fire and Bob james.. what MUSIC!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcDoFUBAJYo&feature=related

you can list out 10 different songs which have been inspired from nautilus by bob.
So if everything else which has come recently has been an inspiration from yesteryear's music so where are we actually heading ..
where can we actually excel, with sound and production?? quite an interesting future we have for us musicians.

haricharan in Unplugged

what is it that artists should follow and tend to when they develops skills

well, the very reason artists sprout out into the open is because they get inspired by something. Take a budding singer for an example.. the person wouldn have had the drive in them in their childhood days to really develop a skill. it is mostly the parents who initiate it in them.

The parents would take you to a teacher and you are forcefully compelled to attend these music classes. well this is just the start and that cannot be fulfilled if not for the compulsion coz we as kids always like to fool around and we can never realise how addictive music is.

And then after a particular point it hits you, you really start to like classes and learning stuff abt this art (be it music or dance etc). that is when an artist is born. now you are courageous enough to choose this as your career or take it seriously otherwise and you now answer questions put to you by your parents with confidence coz you believe in this art.

So what is it that these artists should follow and tend to when they develop a skill ???

well according to me the first step is to explore options .
1. see whats around you, get the vibe.
2. introspection
3. plungeeeeeee.

Jazz at its best in the US

If you want to learn classical western trinity school in london is your destination, but jazz is at its best in the US obviously because it has its roots there. Usually its a form of music which is very close to your heart and the words themselves reflect your feelings. Also, the music is not according to any particular format or as practiced before, it is supposed to be spontaneous with a lot of off-hand solo s.

Some of the best jazz colleges in the US are O'course the berklee college of music, bennington college, California Institute of the arts and many more. Naturally, the entry into these colleges would require a fair amount of jazz knowledge and definitely the courage to get into it because jazz is an ever changing genre of music and it is up to us to keep track of the new age jazz is getting into.


some notes on Berklee:
Founded in 1945, Berklee College of Music is the world's largest independent music college and the premier institution for the study of contemporary music. The college's 3,800 students and 460 faculty members interact in an environment designed to provide the most complete learning experience possible, including all of the opportunities and challenges presented by a career in the contemporary music industry.

In addition to that

i was explorin my hard drive hunting for music when i landed up with a folder which said smooth jazz. I remember a friend gave that to me when he was copying some of his stuff into mine ..well these songs were out of the ordinary . pretty similar to R&B but had a lot of jazz influence. Particularly a song by paul jackson jr drove me crazy .. it had a slow sleezy rhythm and a warm bassloop following the whole song. paul's casual guitar did everything else to make it "Inner city blues" which is the name of the song. blues fans !!! count me in .. am one of yours now.



Paul Jackson, Jr. is a fusion composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He was born and raised in los angeles . Jackson knew by the age of fifteen that he wanted to become a professional musician. Growing up in a musical family, his parents were supportive and as such, he attended the Univeristy of southern california, majoring in music.

If you had noticed, most of the successful people would have started working early on things which made them what they are today. This is something which is lacking in the mainstream of indian education. What we need to do is, start specializing very early and we would be masters of the game before we start making a living.

music inside me - JAZZ

well, i have always felt jazz was a pretty complex genre of music. Since i have been listening to some artistes like chick corea, miles davis and other greats lately, i have kind of gained interest in it. And naturally like anybody i was very curious to know about the origin of this JAZZ and how it has evolved since then. well this is what i found.

When West African tribes were brought to the New World in chains, they carried their music and traditions with them.
The powerful rhythms of African percussion influenced American music.
Slave work songs were created in the African tradition of call-and-response.
To tell a story, a song leader would call out a line and the workers would respond to the call. Many slaveholders did not allow the slaves to speak to each other, so the only way they could communicate was through song. Slaves also sang soulful songs called "spirituals" to express their religious beliefs, feelings and desire for freedom.
Spirituals and work songs are part of the foundation of the American art form, known as jazz. Also, in the early 1890s the blues emerged from these traditions.
In performing the blues, singers used the power of their voices to express their feelings.
Jazz has been there since then and is still influencing people world over. It has evolved into different forms like latin jazz, fusion, soul jazz now, with the coming of electronic instruments and newer technology.