{music} Agam - Classical & Rock meet

Oct 5th was the date

Karamaj arangam was the venue

What was happening? AGAM was coming to perform for a charity cause!

We were excited

I was going to be attending a concert after ages, the last one being Bryan Adams in Blore!! 

Agam is a Bangalore-based band who are into Contemporary Carnatic with a dash of rock blended into their performances. Formed in the year 2003, the band is made up of 

• Harish Sivaramakrishnan (MAIN vocals & violin), 
• Ganesh Ram Nagarajan (drums & vocals), 
• Swamy Seetharaman (keyboards, also the lyricist), 
• Praveen Kumar (lead guitar),
• Vignesh Lakshminarayanan (bass guitar & vocals), 
• Sivakumar Nagarajan (ethnic percussions), 
• Jagadish Natarajan (rhythm guitar). The only change in the band has been that Jagadish’s replaced Suraj Satheesh as the rhythm guitarist last year.

The very 1st time I heard these guys was on Coke studio and then came Madras Market performance. Subsequently I did listen to quite a few of their pieces thanks to YouTube and then went ahead and purchased their album - The Inner Self awakens.. From thereon, there has been no turning back! Infact, I also fell in love with their version of Aromale and Dil se re as well.. 

[image courtesy: google]

Ok, now that you know who Agam is, let us get back to the concert.. On Saturday, friends came over picked me up around 6pm and we reached the venue at 6.10 pm. The place looked pretty deserted, we had a small doubt if the concert was indeed happening that particular evening. There were no banners, no posters, nothing. It was complete silence. I was back in Kamaraj Arangam after nearly 15yrs!! 

Walked into the hall, collected our tickets and waited around for the hall to open. In the background, we could hear the band doing sound checks and last minute practice. We were happy listening to them from the distance. And then, around 6.30, the doors opened and we found seats, making sure the cameras were not in our path. 

[Image courtesy: youtube]

Soon people started filing in, but it wasn't as much as we expected. We were quite upset and sad to see the hall sparsely full, but then we decided to focus on the band and enjoy the music. The show started around 7.45 and it was absolutely mind blowing.

The instruments came to life and then Harish started singing, and that was it...What a voice he had and then for another song he also played the violin... Let us not forget the amazing guys on guitar and drums and the piano. We were lost to the world. We enjoyed every piece, every second of the evening. We were happily singing away, clapping and grooving to the beats..  

[Image Courtesy: www.thehindu.com ]

The band took a break from their songs and belted out Aromale which got the crowd going, and then came Dil Se which was again a big hit with the crowd. They also sang a new composition and few that is found on their soundcloud stream. 

As they say, all good things come to an end.. The show went on till about 9.30 when they closed with Rudra... We dint want the night to end.. Sigh!  Wait, we were not done! After the performances were done and most of the crowd left, we made a beeline for the stage, spoke to all the band members and heard about their upcoming shows, their work life and much more................... 

If you love these guys, and want to watch them live, make sure to mark Oct 18th in your calendar and be there at Havana, Raintree... And follow them on facebook to know more!! 

You can learn more about them from

Wikipedia

Website

Facebook 

Youtube

Event page for 18th Oct

From the Anklets of a Homemaker by Subhashini

"The painter had no colors left to paint the night. He embellished it with dreams...."[via twitter]

"Rhyme in the recipe. Meter in the measured spices. One of those days when one has to cook poetry in the kitchen. Not with paper and pen...."[via twitter]

Such simple words, but they pack a punch, don't you think so? Well, here is the lady behind these wonderful verses- Subhashini. I've known her as @neelavanam and follow her on Twitter. How did I connect with her? One day, a few words strung together singing a song caught my eye and I was hooked.  

"A pencil carries more potential. It is sharp and focussed. A cursor is a distracted being, throbbing to peep into other windows...." [via twitter]

And everyday I along with her many other followers would eagerly look forward to the verse she shared on twitter. I dabble in a bit of poetry and so it was a lovely feeling connecting with another person who liked it as much, if not more. One day last month? or was it few weeks ago? She announced her book was out, it was a collection of her micropoetry.. I knew I had to get my hands on it, and before I knew it I was holding it in my palm. 

"From the Anklets of a Homemaker"
is the name of the book
Subhashini, the one who weaves magic through words

There are poems on rain
There are verses on life
They all come together 
so fine, so beautiful

I wondered about the title
I wondered what she meant
But by the last page, 
I dint really care :D 

Each poem is a story
a tale
an experience
a leaf out of a day

The words
hold within a few hidden secrets
or maybe a yearning 

Every page
I enjoyed
Ever word
I savored

Honestly, the book was such a breeze to read perfect with a cup of filter kaapi or maybe a mojito. Sit by the window, let the breeze tease your senses and you will enjoy this book immensely. The poems within the book are divided into three sections - Reflections of a Summer Rain, Rivers of endless desire, Meditations. Even though I felt some poems could be interchanged, am sure the author had her reasons for placing them where she did. 

Some of my favorites were,

"The eyes can spot a butterfly ~
but not he huge stumbling blocks
The nose can trace cooking food~
not the fears of a weary heart"

"Desire is the 
pulse of life"

"In a steaming cup of morning coffee~
reflections of moving clouds ~delicious"

"That which you get ~
without asking for ~
are blessings"

No, not gonna share any more... ;o) 

You need to read and pick the ones you enjoyed! Since I write the occasional poem, I know that some sound poetic and some very prose. There are sentences that you could rap, and some that read like a story. That is the beauty of poetry- no set rules, just speak your mind and watch the words take their twists & turns. I don't look for rhyme, nor do I look for a pattern, maybe that is why I liked this book a lot!

Curious? Why don't you grab a copy? You can buy this book from Flipkart or Amazon