Uyire (Bombay) - Solo Version

During last season, I have sung the song 'Uyire Uyire' from the film Bombay in numerous stages. Sometimes used to sing as a duet and sometimes even as a solo version. Even myself and Thushar(Finalist of ISS 2007) sung this as a male duet in couple of stages. Both of us love improvising and we used to do a lot as there is pleanty of scope for improvisation in this song. Just thought of recording this as a solo version and sharing with all of you. Please let me know how you all like this.

Song 48

Song :Uyie Uyire
Movie Name: Bombay
Singer: Hariharan & Chithra
Music Director: A R Rehman
Lyrics: Vairamithu
Cover: Murali Ramanathan

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Sadho Sadho - Meera Bhajan

Meera Bhai (1498 - 1547) was a Rajput princess who lived in the north Indian state of Rajasthan. She was a devout follower of Lord Krishna. Meera Bhai was one of the foremost exponents of the Prema Bhakti (Divine Love) and an inspired poetess. She sang in vraja-bhasha, sometimes mixed with rajasthani, in praise of Giridhara Gopala (Shri Krishna), her lord for whom she developed in her heart the most intense love and devotion.

Am presenting a Meera Bhajan 'Sadho Sadho' in the raaga 'Aahir Bhairav' which is same as 'Chakaravakam'. Chakaravakam is 16th melakartha raaga. The samay for this raaga is Second Prahar of the morning, around 6 - 9 AM. I heard this bhajan long back sung by P Unnikrishnan in his melifluous voice. Instally it went into my heart because of the beauty of the composition and heart melting rendition. Let me know how you all like this.

Song 47

Song :Sadho Sadho (Meera Bhajan )
Raaga : Aahir Bhairav
Sung by: Murali Ramanathan

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Kurukku Siruthavale from Mudhalvan

Hariharan,born 3 April 1955 in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), grew up in Mumbai in a Tamil Iyer family, and has bachelor degrees in science and law. The son of renowned Carnatic vocalists, Shrimati Alamelu and the late H.A.S. Mani (Anantha Subramani Iyer), Hariharan inherited his parents' musical talents. Alamelu was Hariharan's first guru (mentor). From here he picked up Carnatic music skills. He was also exposed to Hindustani music from a young age. In his teens, inspired by the songs of Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh, Hariharan developed a passion for ghazals and started training in Hindustani music from Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. He used to put in nine hours of singing practice everyday. The committed Hariharan also put heart and soul into learning Urdu when he decided to become a ghazal singer. He has perfected his Urdu diction to such standards that even his audiences in Lucknow, the heartland of the language, have been wowed over. From the time I listened to Uyire Uyire from Mumbai, I have been a huge fan of this great singer. I have a huge collection of Gazhals sung by Hariharan.

I along with Sindhuja present the song 'Kurukku Siruthavale' from the film Mudhalvan. This song is composed by none other than A R Rehman, sung by Hariharan and Mahalakshmi Iyer. Please let us know how you all like it.

Song 46

Song :Kurukku Siruthavale
Movie Name: Mudhalvan
Singer: Hariharn, Mahalakshmi Iyer
Music Director: A R Rehman
Lyrics: Vairamuthu
Cover: Murali Ramanathan, Sindhuja Bhaktavalsalam

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Anuraagini - Another Johnson Master Vintage

Its always a pleasure to listen to any song composed by Johnson master who is known by the name 'King of Melody' in Malayalam music. Johnson master has been using the raaga Yeman extensively in his compostions. Devanganangal, Ini onnu padoo are a few to name.

Am presenting another song 'Anuraagini' composed by Johnson master on the lyrics of Poovachal Khader sung originally by the Ganagandhrvan K J Yesudas. This song is from the film Oru kudakkezhil.

On the occasion of my wedding anniversary falling on next week, I am dedicatng this song to my wife Divya :-).

Song 45

Song :Anuragini Ithayen
Movie Name: Oru Kuda Keezhil
Singer: Yesudas KJ
Music Director: Johnson
Lyrics: Poovachal Kader
Cover: Murali Ramanathan

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Ponveene - Superhit from Thalavattom

Its been quite sometime since I posted a duet here. When I was searching for good ones, suddenly the song Ponveene from the film Thalavattam came to my mind. Thalavattam is a movie written and directed by Priyadarshan starring Mohanlal. The film is loosely based on the Jack Nicholson hit One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Am presenting the song Ponveene along with Rashmi Nair, another talent I met through the blogsphere. I was amazed at the speed at which she has completed the song and that made sing this immediately. I did really enjoy singing this song. . Please let us know how you all like this.

Song 44

Song : Ponveene
Movie: Thalavattom (Malayalam-1986)
Singer: MG Sreekumar, KS Chithra
Music Director: Raghukumar, Rajamani
Lyrics: Poovachal Khader
Cover: Murali Ramanathan & Rashmi Nair

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Minchagi Neenu - A Super Hit Kannada Song

Its been more than a year since I moved to Bangalore. I need to travel an hour to reach my office and I use my company transportation for the same most of the time. So I do have a lot of oppurtunity to listen to Kannada songs which are being broadcasted in FM stations. Although I dont understand the language much , I used to enjoy the tunes and sometimes ask my friends about the meaning of these songs and understand them. When I hear some of them, I used to feel like trying out them.

The song which I present here today is a super hit song 'Minchagi Neenu Beralu' from the film 'Gaalipata' sung wonderfully by none other than Sonu Nigam who has become an integral part of the Sandalwood film industry. This song is penned by Jayant Kaykini and beautifully composed by B Harikrishna who is a leading music director in Kannada film industry. Please let me know how you all like this.

Song 43

Song : Minchagi Neenu Beralu
Movie : Gaalipata
Lyrics : Jayant Kaykini
Music : B Harikrishna
Originally Sung By : Sonu Nigam
Sung By : Murali Ramanathan
Recorded and Mixed by : Murali Ramanathan

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Labels : Gaalipata Kannada Sonu Nigam Harikrishna Jayant Kaykini

Raaga Bhaavam - Sindhubhairavi

I have always been captured by stupefaction looking at the limitless possibilities of expressing myself, through my music. Our traditional Carnatic Music has really amazing capabilities of bringing in as many varieties or as many ‘shaili’s as there are number of musicians!! So to say, each and every artiste has her/his own different style which emerges out of their inner soul that merges seamlessly with their recital.

Manodharmam is such a beautiful and distinguished unique aspect of classical music. I cannot express my state of mind, as an unheard new ‘sangathi’ flows out of my heart to my throat as I am improvising the manodharmam in a concert! As though, the omnipresent one has chiselled it from a portion of my heart, prompting me to present it to the world. That is where we fail to recognise the boundary where music blends into the power, the power which moves the world; where does it start, where does it end? Can anyone separate the two and tell the world what is what? I thank with all my heart, my God, who has blessed me with Himself, with music...I thank from the bottom of my heart, my Guru, late Mr. Shri Vaikom Gopalakrishnan who made me realise the vastness of Carnatic Music.

With blessings from each one of my Gurus and all who have always supported me, I would like to start an endeavour to bring out each raga the way each one of them have touched me and left their mark on me...I would rather call this as “Raaga Bhaavam”..This time it is Sindhubharavi in the form of aalaap initially which flows in to the famous Shloka “Shivam Shivakaram Shaantham Shivaathmaanam Shivothamam Shivamaarga Pranethaaram Pranathosmi Sadaashivam”. It is totally unplanned. It just happened....I have also sung the krithi “Gangaadheeshwaram...” towards the end.

Your feedbacks are very important for me. That is how I have improved along my way..

Song 42

Raga : Sindhubhairavi
Label : Raaga Bhaavam
Sung By : Murali Ramanathan
Recorded and Mixed by : Murali Ramanathan

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Back to Blogging - Oru Venalpuzhayil from Pranayakalam

Back to blogging again.After moving to Bangalore I din't have a way to record songs. Recently I bought a Creative E-MU USB Sound card and a condenser microphone thinking that I could restart blogging and also this can help me in recording scratch versions of songs for other projects as well. And today I am presenting the first song which I have recorded and mixed at my home. Its been very interesting to play around with the software to try out various things.

The song which I present here today is 'Oru Venal Puzhayil' from the film Pranayakalam composed beautifully by Ouseppachan on the lyrics of Rafeeque Ahmad. This is a superhit song originally sung beautifully by Ranjith. Please let me know how you all like this one. I would like to hear about the recording and mixing aspects too since I am pretty new to this.

Song 41

Song : Oru Venalpuzhayil

Movie : Pranayakalam

Lyrics : Rafeeque Ahmad

Music : Ouseppachan

Originally Sung By : Ranjith

Sung By : Murali Ramanathan

Recorded and Mixed by : Murali Ramanathan

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Devotional song - Aayiram Ithalulla

I was born and bought up in Vaikom a place which is 30 kms from Cochin. My home is very near to the famous Vaikom Mahadevar temple. I have endless sweet memories about this temple. My first performance was on this temple when I was 10 years old. From then onwards I used to perform every year in this temple as part of the famous Vaikkathashtami festival. Me and a number of close friends like Girish Varma, Krishnakuamar, Satheesan etc used to gather there everyday evening and discuss a lot about music. I am quite attached to Vaikom temple and Vaikkathappan and I believe all the good things that happened in my life is because of his blessings.

Today am posting a devotional song on Lord Siva released in 2007 February, originally sung by myself. Earlier when this album was released, I posted the teasers of this album. This album features playback singers M.G Sreekumar,Kallara Gopan,Jose sagar etc. This song has been composed in Charukesi raaga.I had the oppurtunity to sing one more song in this album which I will post later.Please let me know how you like it.

Song 40

Song : Aayiram Ithalulla

Lyrics: Sreela Aryanad

Music : Somasundaram Trivandrum

Sung By : Murali Ramanathan

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Malayalam Ghazal Album On Its Way...

I am happy to announce that a Malayalam Ghazal album is going to be released soon. Since I am doing an album of my own for the first time, I was very much particular about the fact that it should be composed by none other that my own Guru and the musical genius Perumbavoor G Ravindranath. I have been talking about this album with my Guru for a long time, even before I appeared on Idea Star Singer 2007. Due to busy schedules and other factors we kept it postponing. And since this is a Ghazal album, my Guru told me that the lyrics has to be there before composing. The lyrics for this album comes from 'Thankan Thiruvattar' who has been the lyricist for the film 'Saphalam' and quite a number of albums as well. When Perumbavoor G Sir called me one day and told that the songs are ready, I went to Trivandrum and heard them. Since then I am hearing and practicing them as he told me that I need to try and improvise a lot . The kind of melody and variety that Perumbavoor G Ravindranath produces in his compositions are amazing. One could understand why his compositions in 'Thoovanathumpikal','Innale',Sneham' etc are evergreen. The compositions for this album are very promising and I am very much excited to render them.

We are planning to start recording by mid of December. Also I am excited to say that a female playback singer too would be singing in this album. Till now we have not decided on the release date of this venture. I will update the blog about the happenings very frequently.