Where is the talented guy V.S. Narasimhan ?

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Bug 99% album of IR )) nop. They hold only rights upto beginning 80's to early 90s. that's all

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Chandy,
Yes I bought it online from Oriental. The CD is in "what's new " section. Unfortunately they haven't given any product info.
I emailed them (webmaster@orientalrecords.com) and got the info on the CD.strangely i got the reply from this ID drbalaji96@hotmail.com
anyway the information was good enough to buy the CD immediately.

<u>Bug</u>

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Hi M,
I mentioned 99% hits of IR (not 99% of IR&#39;s albums).Maybe you can take off some more percentage from this. 99 % might be overly expressed (out of my enthu).

i think people would agree with me that Echo has the most golden collections of IR.

<u>Bug</u>

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Bug, thanks for the info.

I found the CD list at indiaplaza.com too. But the price at indiaplaza is 1$ more than that in oriental records.

chandy

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here we go Bug, creating another wave Just kidding. no, echo did not own a lot of albums prior to early 80s. Most of them (prior to 82) are owned by Inreco, bharath, Sea records etc. Many people even don&#39;t know the existence of those companies

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Guys

Thanks to small sample.That peice was great. By the way have any one of you heard of L Shankar or have listened to his music. He is one of top 5 most respected violinist in the world today.
I am sure most of you must have listened to his music. If not listen to his album Raga Abheri ,played on Double violin and one of his best peice ,accompanied by Zakir Hussain and Ghatam Vinayakaram and this album was nominated for the Grammys under the best international music and there are also another wonderful albums like Soul Searcher and Pancha Nadai Pallavi,if you have more inputs on this most welcome.. I personally recommend this album to you guys. The album Raga Abheri is sure worth buying,I think you can get it at Yahoo music or amazon..
Ganesh

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M,
i am getting into controversies lately.
Yes you are right there are many movies (early 70&#39;s etc) was released in HMV, Inreco etc.
what i tried to say was that the very best like mouna ragam , punnagai mannan etc is under Echo.
By the way, Bharath recording company also belongs to Echo.


<u>Bug</u>

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I heard the sample in the Site that Neels had given... The sample piece sounds really good. Thanks Neels.

NaNbaN

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You are welcome.
I will try and post a detailed review very soon. I am too hooked to it to do any write-up at the moment.
Neels

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Here&#39;s my review of RESONANCE:
Disclaimer: I am not a critique of carnatic music. I am just expressing my view on the album. Experts pardon me!

1. Nava Raga Malika Varnam
This, as most Carnatic music enthusiasts know is a famous composition by Patnam Subramaniam Iyer (1845-1902). Almost all learners would have been taught this number. It is set to 9 different Ragas: Kedaram, Shankarabharanam, Kalyani, Begada, Yadukula Kambodi, Kambodi, Mohanam, Bilahari and Sri.
It is a plain rendition, without any improvisations and it kind of sets the mood for the album.

2. Palukavademira
Raga: Devamanohari
Tala: Aadi
Mysore Vasudevachar (1865-1961)
The Quartet starts this short composition right away, without any Alaapana. While the lead violin continues with the composition, the Cello, Viola and the other Violin provide the rhythm and harmony. A nice piece.

3. Easane
Raga: Chakravagam
Tala: Rupakam
Papanasam Sivan (1890-1973)
This is one of the best numbers (I have uploaded this). There’s a brief outlining of the raga before the composition begins. The rhythmic backing is excellent. Before they venture into the Anupallavi and later the Charanam, there’s a whole lot of improvisation by the Quartet and I enjoyed these bits the most. They weave a multitude of layers and complex patterns.

4. Raghu Vamsa Sudha
Raga: Kathana Kutoohalam
Tala: Aadi
Patnam Subramaniam Iyer
This popular Kathanakuthookalam number gets a fresh treatment in this album. The raga being closest in resembling Western Classical Music, they make the most of it. There is a prelude to the main composition that sounds great. The Chittaswaram (swara pattern written by the composer himself) have been treated well.

5. Amba Kamakshi
Raga: Bhairavi
Tala: Misra Chapu
Syama Shastri (1772-1827)
A simple, ‘azhuthamana’ rendition without any frills. You can almost feel the lyrics. Soothing.

6. Mokshamu Galadha
Raga: Saramathi
Tala: Aadi
Thyagaraja
Again, a simple, soulful rendition.

7. Sara Sara Samaray
Raga: Kuntalavarali
Tala: Adi
Thyagaraja
A peppy number (one of the few faster tracks), given a very Western treatment. Amazing!

8. Mohana Lahari
Raga: Bilahari
Tala: Aadi
V. S. Narasimhan
VSN’s own composition and one of my favorites in the album. It starts off with a brief Alapana of the ragam, which reaches a crescendo, from where an interesting melody (Taanam?) takes over. I couldn’t help but recollect the Koondalile Megham Vandu number by IR in Balanagamma, which incidentally has an interesting violin interlude (probably performed by VSN himself)
The main melody is kept simple, but the improvisations are mind-blowing and the Quartet doesn’t fail to surprise you with little twists and turns every now and then. Noteworthy is the excellent Cello played by V. R. Sekar.
(Sekar is the son of Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan)

9. Krishna Nee Begane
Raga: Misra Yaman (Same as Carnatic’s Yaman Kalyani?)
Tala: Misra Chapu
Kanaka Dasa (1508-1606)
This extremely popular song gets a new look here. The instrumentalists retain its original flavor, bring out its Hindustani shade well and present the song in a new light.
The introduction to the pallavi is very good and it evokes a myriad of emotions, a heady mix of happiness and pathos.

To summarize, I can’t pick one track as the best, as the overall collection is excellent. And I wasn’t disappointed by the absence of any ‘fast numbers’. Here’s awaiting their next album, with some more old krithis and original compositions. If a quartet can do such wonders, I can’t imagine how a full western orchestra will sound! Perhaps the experience will be entirely different. The success of this album hopefully prompts them to scale new heights.

Neels