Kannada Songs bringing out memories...

The latest post by MM brought out memories of some awesome songs ... some Hindi .. some Kannada.

Capturing the Kannada ones here:

1. Mellusire savi gaana : Link : Here

The romantic mood of the song brings out some cheerful memories of my newly married days. BP and I were generally having fun where one would hum / whistle a certain song and the other would guess the song and sing along. Out of no where BP started singing Sa Sa sa sa sa ... sa sa sa ... and I burst of laughing. It was supposed to be the above song. (BP is not classically trained ... while I am and it was funny to hear him sing sa sa sa for the entire mukhda of the song)
Everytime I hear this song, it brings out a smile on my face.

2. DoNi saagali munde Hogali : Link : here

Its a classic song. The movie was considered bold when released .... infact I was not allowed to watch it when it was telecast on TV except for this song. This song was immortalized by my aunt and uncle. (chikkamma / chikkappa). They were newly weds. And we were visiting them during summer holidays ... and chikkappa who was and still is a ardent Vividh bharthi listener, brought out the tape recorder at 6:30am in the morning and played out a casette. It was the recorded version of the above song sung by aunt and uncle. We laughed our hearts out at the totally tuneless rendition of chikkappa and my aunt trying her best to catch the tune. Its been close to 25 years and its still the same ... we still tease them about this casette. (of course both remain the same... aunt still sings in perfect tune ... and chikkappa ... well :D)

3. EE dehadinda Doora Naade: Link : here

This is actually my dad's favourite song... technically not my favourite. Yet has so many memories attached. Daddy has this habit of singing certain songs from the Black and white era and everytime he starts to sing one of his favourite songs, he always sings the rest and in a certain pattern. So the above songs almost always is succeeded by Deena Naa bandiruve ... and then Namo Venkatesha etc. And everytime I hear any of the the songs featured in my dad's list, it brings out a tear in my eye. I am reminded of the distance separating us now .... it tears me apart. BP initially did not understand the reasons of my immediate mood shifts earlier ... now he clearly does and never fails to switch songs if any of dad's list song are being played. In that sense, he is tuned to those songs as well now.

I have also sung this song in several competition during my middle school years and won several prizes.

4. Maduve ya ee banda: Link : here

This one is one of mom's favourites ... and mine too. There has not been a single antakshari when this song has not been featured. There used to be a time when the groom side relatives assembled in the groom's house and started for the wedding together from there in a BTS bus. (specially arranged by the bride's side for the groom and his relatives). Along the drive ... we would invariably stop over, mostly by the riverside and have lunch. (puliyogare and mosaranna). Much masti was had in the bus ... and then some teasing of the groom. Antakshari was the top pick for entertainment and this song was very apt.

Certainly brings out very happy memories for me from not so distant past :)

5. Kannada NaadiNa Veera RamaNiya : Link:

WHAT a song !! Rendered supremely by P.B.Srinivas.... always ... always brings a tear when the song ends with Obavva perishing. I have sung this song in many competitions as well ... in fact one of my teachers in my high school was so fond of me singing this song that she got a personal recorded and recorded my version of it. In one of the competitions, when I sang this song, one of the judges came up to me and said she had tears in her eyes (so did I when I sang). Inspite of that compliment, I did not win a prize in that particular event and my teacher from school who had accompanied me, was shocked and irritated. She went straight upto the judges (there were 3 of them) and questioned why I was not given the prize to which they said it was a male version in the original ... so they would have preferred me picking a song by a female singer.

Only recently Cantaloupe participated in a talent show and she was dressed as "Obavva" and she made me PROUD !!! Another reason to love this song :)

I wanted to end it here .. though it has been very difficult to cut down at 5 ... but I cannot help but list another one.

Jo Jo Laali ... this song has been Junior's favourite for the past 6-7 months. She started singing this song when she was 18 months ... I am told, my parents sang this as lullaby to me when I was a baby and I loved it :)

OK ... Now I stop ... pls share your special songs ... would love hear the songs and the memories behind them

Yaadoin ke geet

I love music ... I can listen to any kind of Indian music ... be it Carnatic Classical, Folk Music, Movie songs, light music, Devotional .... any type. For the most part of my stay in India, I always thought Western music meant loud drums, noisy guitars and songs with no concept of pitch. It was sheer ignorance on my part ... I really cannot understand why this idea got into me ... but it did ... and for quite sometime. When I moved to a different city from my hometown, I lived with my uncle and family. My cousins there always listened to Western or bollywood. Initially I felt being robbed of all my serene moments with Carnatic classical ... but soon I began to appreciate other types of music too. Anyways ... Music is an essential part of me. I am likely to be singing / humming something many times a day.
I also love to associate music with people. There are a lot of songs which remind me of a person and I relive moments spent with them during the course of the songs. Sometimes, they are pure magical moments ... other moments are not so pleasant. So, I'd like to list down the songs I associate people with ... mind you, they may not be the best songs, but they had an impact on me.
1. Minchu Hula, Minchadiru - My landing day in the US spent with my dear husband BP as a new bride
2. Deena Na Bandiruve - My dad ... even when I am typing this, I recollect moments spent with my dad ... I just long to run back to Mysore and spend time with him.
3. Kajra re - Cantaloupe - I remember this incident when I was listening to Jaane Kahaan Gaye woh din. The sad song that this is, Cantaloupe who was 2 then was crying profusely (for no other reason other than listening to the song which she obviously did not understand). Seeing her cry, I switched the song to Kajra re and instantly she started jumping with joy and danced almost perfectly to the beats :)
4. Doni Saagali Munde Hogali - My aunt and uncle. We were visiting them one summer and my uncle enthusiastically played the recorded duet he and my aunt had sung. My aunt had sung the song so perfectly in contrast to the below average singing of my uncle. None the less, the romance was definitely there in their singing :)
5. John Jonny Janardhan: The song my mama sang in his honeymoon. (did get to hear it ... but he repeated it for us once he came back from honeymoon)
6. Ek Pal ka Jeena: My cousin Y dancing to this song. He must have been 10 and was very shy. His mother, who was trying to build his confidence and encourage him asked him to dance to this song. (My cousin has a good resemblance to Hritik, minus those muscles) His dance was awful, but we couldn't laugh since that would insult him. So we waited for him to leave to his house and burst out :)
7. Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya: Those were the days my best friend and I were spending hours together on the office terrace, We'd talk to our heart's content with our respective guys and then order Pizza and endlessly talk. We sang this song almost everyday. (I hope my friend remembers)
8. Tera Milna pal do Pal ka (sonu nigam): I gifted this album to my sister with my 3rd month salary. She loved it and would keep playing it ... so this song reminds of the time, I used to religiously visit my hometown every week and just relax and catch up with amma, daddy and sister.
9. Laali Laali Sukumaara: My cousin R. She used to sing this song so beautifully when she was 3/4. It also reminds me of her mom, who passed away very very early. (when my cousin was 3/4)
10.Oduva Nadi Saagarava: My MOM: A lovely romantic song, which my mom never fails to sings with such enthusiasm.

I could go on and on with the list .... but let me stop here.
Do specific songs bring back your old memories as well ... I'd love to hear them.

A little music in life

Music has been such an integral part of me. I love music ... thanks to my parents who introduced music into my life quite early ... when I barely could talk. OK... that was in the form of lullaby... but based on what my family have to say, I started talking (meaningful sounds / words) when I was about 8 months. By 12 months, I could sing decently for my age. I sang on stage when I was 3.5 yrs for a singing competition. The competition was for the age group 6 - 10 yrs ... but I was enthusiastic and my parents did not want to discourage me and requested the organisers to allow me to sing ... and so I did! Though I did not win any prizes, the judges were impressed with my enthusiam and I was awarded a special prize.

I started training in classical music not to regularly from mom. Soon she realised that formal training was best suited for me coz there would be better commitment from me. At age 10 I started Carnatic classical music. I attempted learning veena and flute for a couple of months ... but soon gave up and just continued vocal. I found a great teacher, who was as much dedicated in teaching as much I was in learning. She was young and friendly ... had been married for 2 years and had a year old son at the time. I was almost part of their family .... the more I discussed / learnt music from her, the more I started appreciating the depth of music. She often encouraged me to go to concert to expand my music knowledge. I continued to learn music for until graduation.

Why all of a sudden am I talking about all this... coz, I talked to my mom last night and she mentioned that she had a special present for Cantaloupe for her birthday this year. Guess what it is ... she has bought a "Shruthi Pettige" (the Tanpura box) for Cantaloupe ... I was so touched, I almost cried. It brought back all the wonderful memories I had with my music teacher and my tanpura. I only hope my daughter shows interest and enthusiam in classical music. She sure enjoys music ... lets see her interest in classical music.