Vijayadasami -Chinmayi & her Mom

At Chennailivenews.com Function

There was a lot of food for thought at the Deepavali recipe contest prize distribution ceremony of chennailivenews.com that took place at the elegant Accord Metropolitan hotel in T Nagar, Chennai, on November 18, 2010.

Since it was a prize distribution ceremony of a recipe contest, it was decided to invite celebrity musician Chinmayi, a self-confessed ‘discerning’ foodie, and her mother T Padmhasini, who has done major research on Indian herbs.

Mother and daughter complemented each other very well by talking on diverse aspects of food: Padmhasini, who was requested to speak on Indian ingredients being herbs, delved deep into the strengths of Indian cooking and Indian ingredients like dry ginger (sukku), pepper (melagu) and castor oil; Chinmayi, whom we had wanted to speak on being a foodie and the foods she likes, gave a humorous account of life with a mother who used to feed her with all kinds of kashayams and her own budding interest in baking – mind you, eggless!

Padmhasini, an Indologist and a musicologist gave useful and magical health tips. She stressed the need to have chukku kashayam in the morning on an empty stomach as it cleanses the stomach. She felt the joint family system, which is no longer in vogue, was ideally suited for families. Padmhasini also elaborated on vegetarianism and declared that she and her daughter were votaries of vegetarianism.

Chinmayi, who enthralls the world with her ‘Kilimanjaro’ song in the blockbuster ‘Endhiran’, but sporting a girl-next-door look, stressed the need to be a vegetarian and how she used to take adathoda kashayam as her mother was particular that she drank it without hesitation. She hilariously narrated how her mother give her juice of leaves that even ‘aadu’ – goats - will never touch.

In her usual style, peppered with humour, Chinmayi said her mother has given her all sorts of concoctions to improve immunity and help her voice be what it is today. Her voice has become so conditioned that she could bite an ice cube, eat ice cream and immediately sing without any problem.

Chinmayi recalled her Italian sojourn with maestro Ilayaraja – another strict vegetarian - and how she had to sustain only on yoghurt and apples for a gruelling 10 days.

Regarding the prize winners, though there were several entries for the Deepavali recipe contest, the judges picked three winners and a consolation prize winner.

We had also simultaneously held a contest for a memorable Deepavali and the prize for that went to an 84-year-old woman who celebrated her Thalai Deepavali before Independence. She had come in person to collect the prize which was heartening.

The prizes, sponsored by Sri Andal Stores, Madurantakam, and A Ganapathy of Balasubramaniam Enterprises, Nanganallur, were given away by Chinmayi and Padmhasini to Sripriya Venkatraman (surakkai halwa), Lalitha Mahadevan (rosagulla) Chandra Vasudevan (porivilangai urundai) and Prathima Giri (chakkali).

Sangita Sridhar’s prayer song drew an appreciative nod from Padmhasini who imparts voice training which has benefited many students of Hindustani music, not to mention Chinmayi herself.

Nanganallur B Sridhar gave a brief acceptance speech on behalf of the prize winners.
Usha Raja, chairperson of Newsreel Media Services Pvt Ltd, welcomed the gathering.

November Fest 2010 in Hyderabad

The line-up for Hyderabad's festival: (clockwise, left to right) Shweta, Aruna Sairam, Yodhaka, Srinivas, Chinmayi, Haricharan and Tina Sani.

The Friday Review November Fest 2010 opens with a four-day feast in Hyderabad between 10 and 14 November. A look at what the festival has to offer.

November 10: Aruna Sairam -in praise of vitthala - abhangs
When Aruna Sairam sings, myriad emotions reverberate through the concert hall. There’s bhakti, there’s gyaana, and, most of all, an exuberance and abandon that strikes a chord with every listener.

The singer, known for her rich, deep timbre, makes it a point to sing an abhang or two at every concert. The fondness for this form of devotional poetry, sung in praise of Vitthala, has roots in her growing-up years in Bombay. At the Friday Review November Fest in 2006, she came up with a theme concert woven entirely around abhangs. She delves deep into that genre yet again, to come up with creations that promise to lift the soul.

Aruna has collaborated with acclaimed international artistes such as Dominique Vellard, the French master of Gregorian chant, and Christian Bollmann of Germany. In India, she has collaborated with Shankar Mahadevan, U Shrinivas and several North Indian musicians, among others.

She has performed throughout the world, including at Carnegie Hall in New York, Le Theatre de la Ville in Paris, and the Festival of World Sacred Music in Morocco.
Among the many national and international honours that have come her way are the Padma Shri, the Kalaimamani and the prestigious U.S. Congress Proclamation of Excellence.

ARUNA SAIRAM

Raghavendra Rao - Violin
J. Vaidyanathan - Mridangam
S. Karthick - Ghatam
Niranjan Lele - Harmonium
Sai Bankar - Tabla
Prakash Shejwal - Pakhavaj
Pratap Rath -Additional Percussion

November 11: Yodhakaa - sholka cool-contemporary Indian

Yodhakaa is an experimental music set-up that evolved from the idea of finding a bridge between the traditional and the contemporary. Sanskrit shlokas and emotions come together to create a unique sound that traverses far and wide, searching for that inner meaning which defines the atma

Yodhakaa strives to do exactly that — by breaking free and finding support and inspiration in this grand old language that is so rooted in our heritage. And, it layers the slokas with musical influences, not just from India, but from all around the world — from jazz and blues to traditional Carnatic music, Nigerian street drumming to the Algerian rai, Cuban son to the Bahian samba-cancsao, South-American Merengue to Senegal’s wolof, and more.

The team consists of five radical young musicians from different cultural and musical backgrounds — ‘Darbuka’ Siva, Pradeep, Subhiksha, Donan Murray and Divyan Ahimaz — who’ve come together to create a distinctively textured sound.

‘Darbuka’ Siva - drums and percussions

Pradeep - Vocals and Slideguitar
Subhiksha - Vocals and percussion
Donan Murray - Guitar
Divyan Ahimaz - Bass

November 13: Tina Sani -Hope and healing, Sufi

Tina Sani sang before she started speaking. And, destiny took care of the rest — she made her debut, which became a runaway hit, on Pakistan Television in 1980. She learnt classical music from Ustad Nizamuddin Khan Sahib, son of Ustad Ramzan Khan of the Delhi Gharana, but music was never really a career plan.

She moved on and dabbled in many things, including teaching art, but the magical pull of music was too great to ignore. She started off with popular music before she got to give shape to her love for ghazals. Little surprise, for she lives in a land of ghazal singers such as Mehdi Hasan, Ghulam Ali and Farida Khanum. And then, she got to sing a Nazm (free verse) of Faiz Ahmad Faiz for composer Arshad Mehmud. The year was 1985, and Tina had found her niche.

She now sings verses of hope. Verses that lead her to speak up and to rise against injustice. Poetry with a cause.

Tina Sani

Abid Hussain - Tabla
Akhtar Hussain - Sarangi
Aslam - percussionist, dholak
Iqbal Hussain and Wazir Sultan - Harmonium

November 14: Hindi Retro -Travel back in time to an era when melody ruled in Hindi cinema.

Srinivas, Chinmayi, Haricharan and Shweta Mohan come together for some retro magic in this show, featuring hits down the ages till the 1980s.

The show will start off with Srinivas’ favourite K.L. Saigal, before moving on to ditties from the 1950s and 1960s. What will dominate will be the energy and vivacity of the swinging Seventies, featuring songs

by Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi. And, of course, hits from the Kishore Kumar-RD Burman combination.

Get prepared to immerse yourself in the compositions of R.D. Burman, S.D. Burman, Madan Mohan, Naushad and Salil Chowdury. A 15-member orchestra hand-picked from Chennai and Kerala, will

accompany the singers.

Among the retro gems, which will include a lot of duets, you’ll get to listen to ‘Main Kya Jaanoon’, ‘Tere Mere Sapne’, ‘Oh Sajna’, ‘Madhuban Mein Radhika’, ‘Yeh Kya Hua’, ‘Musafir Hoon Yaaron’, ‘Hawa Ke Saath Saath’, ‘Deewana Tha Badal’ and ‘Tere Mere Milan’.

Srinivas
Chinmayi
Haricharan
Shweta Mohan

Chinmayi -Translation

Looks like Kilimanjaro singer Chinmayi's fan base is expanding by the day.


Chinmayi, who also runs a translation services firm, was pleasantly surprised when a translator from Brazil wrote to her, expressing how much she enjoyed listening to Mayya mayya... from Guru.

An excited Chinmayi says, "I was looking for a linguist who could translate content into Portuguese when a lady from Brazil mailed me. She'd written, 'I can't believe it! You are the one who sang Mayya Mayya... in Guru, which I had translated from English to Portuguese! I loved the film and the song.

And I'm delighted writing to you.' I was totally excited. She sounded absolutely thrilled. That's the reach Mani Ratnam sir's films have. Now, I want to watch Guru in Portuguese; especially Mayya Mayya."

TEDx-CHENNAI EVENT