Ekalavyan

Most of us know the story of Ekalavyan in Mahabharatham. For those who don't, here is the summary. Ekalavyan wanted to learn archery from Dronacharyan but he was unwilling to accept him as his disciple. So, Ekalavyan made an idol of Dronacharyan and practiced his craft every day. Years later he became so proficient at it that he was able to defeat all of Pandavas while they were taking a trip in the forest. Dronacharyan was pleased. However, he asked for his right thumb as gurudakshina. Ekalavyan happily gave it. I disagree with Dronacharyan but thats not a topic for today.

Why am I telling you this story? Because I learned music that way. I am not formally educated in music. You play a raga and unless it is as obvious as Hamsadwani or Mayamalava Gowlam, I wont be able to tell you. Ask me to play thodi and I wouldn't know. Because I am not a trained musician. Other than organizing and playing guitar in the college band, I do not perform in the public. Put all the people in the industry in a line based on knowledge. I'll be the last guy standing and scratching his head.

But what am I good at? Let me see.. I am good at coming up with tunes.. melodies. It just flows. I have a knack for putting layers of music together. I dont think twice about it. It just flows. And in the flow, others find Ragams among other things. I believe I have a good ear for music and when I create crap I have the common sense to recognize it and abandon it.

But does this mean I have no gurus? Of course not. Thats why I told you the story of Ekalavyan in the beginning. I had some Gurus. I still have them.

When I was growing up, there were two music directors that really inspired me. Jerry Amaldev and our own Raveendran. I still remember trying to imitate them by making similar tunes. Jerry's melodies (the hits) were based on the Western scale mostly. And Raveendran on the other hand successfully integrated Classical music int the light and film songs.

Then I watched the movie "Muthal Maryadai" and I was awestruck.

My dad had a cassette collection. I took one and got the songs from muthal maryathai recorded on it. (Later some of my friends that were Western music fans scolded me for doing it because I recorded over a Dire Straits album). And then on came hits after hits from the maestro. I was sold to Illaiyaraja's music. Velli nakshathram, Punnagai mannan, Nayagan, Atharvam, Michael madana kama rajan.. The list is huge.

I adored his style and tunes. He was innovative. His melodies were superb.

During my Engineering college life, that was my idol. Of course Raveendran was there very consistently churning out classics through movies like His Highness, Bharatham etc etc..

After engineering, I started working in Bangalore and during one vacation my brother Roopa played songs from this new movie. Electrifying and Hypnotic are understatement. I had found another Dronacharya. That was A R Rahman. The movie was Roja.

I studied Rahman's music. I tried to find out what his thought pattern was. He inspired me. This man was willing to take risks. He ventured into new horizons. By that time I came to USA but I took every chance I could to listen to his songs.

Lets get back to the topic.

Now all this while, I had no hope or aspiration of becoming a music director. I'd happily try to play other people's tunes on my guitar or the small Yamaha PSR keyboard. I'll explain in another blog about that turning point.

So thats the story. I have all these people in my music. Being in the USA helped quite a bit. There are a lot of tools available here to help you create music. Especially in terms of sequencing software, computers and synths.

My journey in music composition is a year older than my daughter. ie. 9 years. I had created some songs while in college but that was still child's play. Over the years I have created music for devotional albums, documentaries, jingles, short and feature films. Everything has been a learning experience.

The good thing here is that for me the ekalavyan parable stops after I am done learning things from the people gone before me. There wont be a gurudakshina that stops me from moving forward. Because this is what I love. This is my passion. My gurudakshina to them are my songs.

Guruve Namaha: