Posted:
I had already mentioned earlier that irrespective of any Red or Green LEDs on a Chromatic meter indicative of a performer's adherence to "Sur", the fact remains that music is mainly about how it makes you feel. It is the spirit of it that counts. He/She who is well trained, does immense sadhna, and feels the spirit of his/her music, is better able to communicate that spirit in many ways than one who is untrained. Different styles of music evoke different emotions in people. In general it has been found that the music that sounds the sweetest is that which the singer enjoys singing and listening to even more than the audience does! It's an introspective appreciation. And it is at the intersection of these two players – the performer and the listener that Good Music resides. Whenever Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (Sarod Maestro) gave a concert with his two sons Aman and Ayan Ali Bangash, I remember them saying that despite what the people said to them, they knew themselves what they had played, where they had gone wrong, and how much they needed to improve. If you don't believe me, feel free to download an MP3 of their interview that I had done with them at the BBC World Service (in Hindi) where they said this: http://www.sloanpartners.com/anuragharsh/personal/mus ic/bbc/ bbc.html and then click on the Interview with Aman and Ayaan)
Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Ud. Bismillah Khan have said time and time again that there knowledge is but merely a cup of water in the ocean of music. It is that "sadhna" and dedication that gets them to a point where Lord Krishna himself descends to listen to Hari ji's Bansuri – or better still goes and resides inside the bamboo flute. That is when music hits you like nothing else does. And in many ways that is how some of the good singers' music affects us (playback or classical).
As regards the current singers on SRGMP, my opinion (this is only personal) is that they are rather mediocre from a musicality perspective. Everything is relative of course, so I speak when comparing them with some other singers (we have all met some next door neighbor who is sings phenomenal but was never discovered). They are good performers though and much of that has to do with the world class support system that's backing them in terms of orchestra, digital technology (this can do wonders to your voice), top class sound recording, costumes etc.
Here Goes (the individual reviewe are not ranked - My rankings are at the bottom of the post).
On its own merit, Hemachandra has by far the best voice quality and musical capability of the participants in SRGMP 2006, and often than not he did sing in Sur (although I must admit that towards the end he had started to falter as well). His control on voice was much better than all the others. I think he was trained well by his mother and I can feel the training in his voice. However, I also think that trying to balance the dance and singing and showmanship in one take, proved slightly overwhelming for him, and in the process his singing took a bit of a hit towards the last couple programs before his eviction. Very sad, since he could have just as well sang by standing at one place or with slightly less body movements, and been able to concentrate on the actual sound of his singing.
Vineet has the Rafi-esqe voice and imitates that Rafi style of melodic singing. His voice is still very young so it would need to mature – something that might happen with the years, and with arduous practice. But my opinion is that by and large he sings almost entire songs slightly off-shruti which for trained listeners like me can get quite traumatic since a little adjustment to his shrutis could make his songs go much further. Then there is the separate issue of the ease and accuracy with which "Murkis" and "Meends" i.e. the twists and falls in the song are done. These can only come with training and practice and in some songs that are difficult, Vineet tends to falter a lot, albeit unnoticeable to the common listener, but certainly noticeable to a musician or educated audience. People think this does not make a difference. It does make a difference. If he corrects these things, his songs would sound much better. But it is easier said than done. Correction of these things will probably do a number on most singers. It is hard work and a lot of effort goes into it.
Debojit used to sing very well initially and he is not bad even now. He sings the slower deeper songs well since he has the Rabindra Sangeet melodic undertones in him with a base-plus-nasal tone that can add metal to the songs. However, the problem I see with him is that whenever he starts doing anything slightly complicated or faster tempo, his control goes out of the window and his Sur falters a lot. I know he can get it right because I can see it in him. But its just that he doesn't do it because either he doesn't notice it himself or else he is not told to specifically control his voice when he goes fast or do anything complicated. He would also need to work on his pronunciation. I grew up in Jamshedpur (200 Kms from Kolkata) among Bengalis, so know what I am talking about ?. He's got to do away with the undertones of Rabindra Sangeet (I love Rabindra Sangeet and Nazrul Geeti but to fuse that style into popular music, that's another thing).
Himani was perhaps the slightly better of the two girls (Nihira and Himani). At times each of them sang certain songs better than the other, but on the whole Himani had a more natural and Surila rendition. Her voice also had a little more "pain" in it. She too was overwhelmed by all the dance-drama that she had to do on stage – I don't think these contestants realize that all that "action" on stage has a significant affect on their songs! It takes a lot of training to do both and most leading singers who hop around a lot on stage will at some point go Besura – and its that one point that kills the song (sort of like "Ek Balti Doodh Mein Ek Makkhi (housefly) ka Gir Jana".
Nihira was also good, but again she had issues with Sur basically. Anything more complicated and the Sur went in and out on multiple occasions. This can be corrected with practice and training, however we are assuming that the top spot in SRGMP was for he/she who faltered the least. I did like her singing and voice though.
Paresh from UK, and Rajeev from Chamba were really bad musically, so I will refrain from commenting on them.
On the whole, I would have ranked them as follows:
1. Hemachandra
2. Himani
3. Nihira
4. Vineet
5. Debojit
-Anurag Harsh
Listen to Music on www.AnuragHarsh.com
Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Ud. Bismillah Khan have said time and time again that there knowledge is but merely a cup of water in the ocean of music. It is that "sadhna" and dedication that gets them to a point where Lord Krishna himself descends to listen to Hari ji's Bansuri – or better still goes and resides inside the bamboo flute. That is when music hits you like nothing else does. And in many ways that is how some of the good singers' music affects us (playback or classical).
As regards the current singers on SRGMP, my opinion (this is only personal) is that they are rather mediocre from a musicality perspective. Everything is relative of course, so I speak when comparing them with some other singers (we have all met some next door neighbor who is sings phenomenal but was never discovered). They are good performers though and much of that has to do with the world class support system that's backing them in terms of orchestra, digital technology (this can do wonders to your voice), top class sound recording, costumes etc.
Here Goes (the individual reviewe are not ranked - My rankings are at the bottom of the post).
On its own merit, Hemachandra has by far the best voice quality and musical capability of the participants in SRGMP 2006, and often than not he did sing in Sur (although I must admit that towards the end he had started to falter as well). His control on voice was much better than all the others. I think he was trained well by his mother and I can feel the training in his voice. However, I also think that trying to balance the dance and singing and showmanship in one take, proved slightly overwhelming for him, and in the process his singing took a bit of a hit towards the last couple programs before his eviction. Very sad, since he could have just as well sang by standing at one place or with slightly less body movements, and been able to concentrate on the actual sound of his singing.
Vineet has the Rafi-esqe voice and imitates that Rafi style of melodic singing. His voice is still very young so it would need to mature – something that might happen with the years, and with arduous practice. But my opinion is that by and large he sings almost entire songs slightly off-shruti which for trained listeners like me can get quite traumatic since a little adjustment to his shrutis could make his songs go much further. Then there is the separate issue of the ease and accuracy with which "Murkis" and "Meends" i.e. the twists and falls in the song are done. These can only come with training and practice and in some songs that are difficult, Vineet tends to falter a lot, albeit unnoticeable to the common listener, but certainly noticeable to a musician or educated audience. People think this does not make a difference. It does make a difference. If he corrects these things, his songs would sound much better. But it is easier said than done. Correction of these things will probably do a number on most singers. It is hard work and a lot of effort goes into it.
Debojit used to sing very well initially and he is not bad even now. He sings the slower deeper songs well since he has the Rabindra Sangeet melodic undertones in him with a base-plus-nasal tone that can add metal to the songs. However, the problem I see with him is that whenever he starts doing anything slightly complicated or faster tempo, his control goes out of the window and his Sur falters a lot. I know he can get it right because I can see it in him. But its just that he doesn't do it because either he doesn't notice it himself or else he is not told to specifically control his voice when he goes fast or do anything complicated. He would also need to work on his pronunciation. I grew up in Jamshedpur (200 Kms from Kolkata) among Bengalis, so know what I am talking about ?. He's got to do away with the undertones of Rabindra Sangeet (I love Rabindra Sangeet and Nazrul Geeti but to fuse that style into popular music, that's another thing).
Himani was perhaps the slightly better of the two girls (Nihira and Himani). At times each of them sang certain songs better than the other, but on the whole Himani had a more natural and Surila rendition. Her voice also had a little more "pain" in it. She too was overwhelmed by all the dance-drama that she had to do on stage – I don't think these contestants realize that all that "action" on stage has a significant affect on their songs! It takes a lot of training to do both and most leading singers who hop around a lot on stage will at some point go Besura – and its that one point that kills the song (sort of like "Ek Balti Doodh Mein Ek Makkhi (housefly) ka Gir Jana".
Nihira was also good, but again she had issues with Sur basically. Anything more complicated and the Sur went in and out on multiple occasions. This can be corrected with practice and training, however we are assuming that the top spot in SRGMP was for he/she who faltered the least. I did like her singing and voice though.
Paresh from UK, and Rajeev from Chamba were really bad musically, so I will refrain from commenting on them.
On the whole, I would have ranked them as follows:
1. Hemachandra
2. Himani
3. Nihira
4. Vineet
5. Debojit
-Anurag Harsh
Listen to Music on www.AnuragHarsh.com
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
