A lot of people asked me this question.
The truth is that this was not in my choice of names. I wanted to name the album after a song about the first rain in the summer. So the names were Venal, Venal mazha etc The second choice was Kunnimanikal. Would have been perfect. However my mother(in-law) is a staunch believer in numerology. So is my brother in law (who I care for very much). I don't believe in numerology but I do believe them.
So I made a list of possible names. The last choice was Kanmani.
The numerologist did his math and the rest is history. Anyway, what is in a name? Come to think of it, this name might have a better appeal to the youth. I love it now.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Kunnimanikal. Finding the singer
The voice I wanted for this song was Mr M G Sreekumar's. I managed to get his cell number and called him. I was really really nervous. I talked to him for a little bit. I found out that at the time when I was going to be in India to record the songs, he was going to be in USA. I was hoping that, since he was going to be in US still when I came back, I would be able to record him here somehow. But his cell phone went unattended after that. I could not contact him anymore.
My brother suggested that Unni Menon might be a good choice. He has a great voice and is very versatile. Sure enough, Divya's cousin knew someone who knew him. He also happened to be my paternal uncle's good friend. To my luck Unni Menon was going to be in Kerala the next week. I booked a tentative time with him.
Unniyettan (I am fortunate to be able to address him that way) asked me to drop the song and lyrics at his studio the previous day. Maybe he wanted to make sure I was not some crazy guy who was going to make him sing something strange and ruin his career.
I met him in his own studio Aalap. I did not recognize him immediately. He was missing that signature beard. But what a quality guy he is. After that initial discomfort of meeting some one new, especially some one of his caliber, I liked him instantly. He had already copied the lyrics and tried to practice the song!
This was very different from my previous experience. He commented that this song was different and the lyrics were simple and touching. I felt good. He could have said the song sucked and I still would have been fine. I wa just happy to be working with him.
Uniiyettan is a hard worker. Very sincere and he does not compromise. Most artists work through the song line by line. But Unniyettan would sing a whole charanam in one stretch. If he did not like it, he will redo it all over again. Very little "punching in". The level of confidence and support that he gave me was tremendous. Here is someone who is super successful in the music Industry and he gave me the feeling that I had known him for a long time. I hope I will have the honor of working with him again.
He also offered his help to be part of the video for the title. Man.. if only I had the time and resources. I was in US already and there was not much I could do there. I still feel that a music video is best presented by featuring the singer.. than any actor.
Music videos.. Thats a whole different ball game. I'll explain the beginnings of that in the next blog.
My brother suggested that Unni Menon might be a good choice. He has a great voice and is very versatile. Sure enough, Divya's cousin knew someone who knew him. He also happened to be my paternal uncle's good friend. To my luck Unni Menon was going to be in Kerala the next week. I booked a tentative time with him.
Unniyettan (I am fortunate to be able to address him that way) asked me to drop the song and lyrics at his studio the previous day. Maybe he wanted to make sure I was not some crazy guy who was going to make him sing something strange and ruin his career.
I met him in his own studio Aalap. I did not recognize him immediately. He was missing that signature beard. But what a quality guy he is. After that initial discomfort of meeting some one new, especially some one of his caliber, I liked him instantly. He had already copied the lyrics and tried to practice the song!
This was very different from my previous experience. He commented that this song was different and the lyrics were simple and touching. I felt good. He could have said the song sucked and I still would have been fine. I wa just happy to be working with him.
Uniiyettan is a hard worker. Very sincere and he does not compromise. Most artists work through the song line by line. But Unniyettan would sing a whole charanam in one stretch. If he did not like it, he will redo it all over again. Very little "punching in". The level of confidence and support that he gave me was tremendous. Here is someone who is super successful in the music Industry and he gave me the feeling that I had known him for a long time. I hope I will have the honor of working with him again.
He also offered his help to be part of the video for the title. Man.. if only I had the time and resources. I was in US already and there was not much I could do there. I still feel that a music video is best presented by featuring the singer.. than any actor.
Music videos.. Thats a whole different ball game. I'll explain the beginnings of that in the next blog.
Wrting the songs
I won a prize for poetry in school. I was 14 years old.
They selected me to compete at the district level. However, I did not get to go because they chose to pick another kid to compete for mono act or something else. (That kid turns out to be the great malayalam/tamil actor Vineet). In a way I was relieved that I was not selected because writing never came naturally to me. It is hard work.
If I have to pin down the hardest work that I did for this album, it's writing the lyrics. Everything turned out fine eventually but I had no faith when I started. I looked around quite a bit to find someone. No luck. And I started the agonizing venture of writing.
I wrote 6 songs. All by myself. It is really a miracle because I still have no idea how they turned out to be the way they are. From the feedback I have received so far, they are not half as bad as I thought they would be.
Anyway, the biggest miracle is the 7th song. I did not write it. I tried my best to get it written. I remember working with my Aunt (Ms Sreelatha Damodaran. A poet herself) 2 days before the recording. She managed to get a decent pallavi for me but that was only 25% of the song.
So here I am.. On a Sunday morning at 4:00 am. Awake. Sitting down with a paper and pen just wondering how I was going to get this song done without lyrics. The singer is Madhu Balakrishnan. I had booked him for 2 songs. Okay. Worst case, he sings only one song.
At around 11 am Divya (my wife)'s father brings a couple of people home. He says, "Rajesh, meet Philip, he is a writer and meet Sajan. He is a singer, composer and a music teacher.". I couldn't believe it. This is too good to be true. I asked him if we could try a song out. We went upstairs and got on it.
To summarize, by 6pm, the song was written, the track was done by Sajan and I was on my way to Kochi to start my recording spree.
I have to mention specially about Sajan here. He did bring out the best in that song. I had no clue what ragam it was and all. He said it was "Hamsanaadam". I was happy that there is something worthwhile in it. Even though Madhu rendered the song finally, there is still a lot of Sajan in that song. I owe to him.
They selected me to compete at the district level. However, I did not get to go because they chose to pick another kid to compete for mono act or something else. (That kid turns out to be the great malayalam/tamil actor Vineet). In a way I was relieved that I was not selected because writing never came naturally to me. It is hard work.
If I have to pin down the hardest work that I did for this album, it's writing the lyrics. Everything turned out fine eventually but I had no faith when I started. I looked around quite a bit to find someone. No luck. And I started the agonizing venture of writing.
I wrote 6 songs. All by myself. It is really a miracle because I still have no idea how they turned out to be the way they are. From the feedback I have received so far, they are not half as bad as I thought they would be.
Anyway, the biggest miracle is the 7th song. I did not write it. I tried my best to get it written. I remember working with my Aunt (Ms Sreelatha Damodaran. A poet herself) 2 days before the recording. She managed to get a decent pallavi for me but that was only 25% of the song.
So here I am.. On a Sunday morning at 4:00 am. Awake. Sitting down with a paper and pen just wondering how I was going to get this song done without lyrics. The singer is Madhu Balakrishnan. I had booked him for 2 songs. Okay. Worst case, he sings only one song.
At around 11 am Divya (my wife)'s father brings a couple of people home. He says, "Rajesh, meet Philip, he is a writer and meet Sajan. He is a singer, composer and a music teacher.". I couldn't believe it. This is too good to be true. I asked him if we could try a song out. We went upstairs and got on it.
To summarize, by 6pm, the song was written, the track was done by Sajan and I was on my way to Kochi to start my recording spree.
I have to mention specially about Sajan here. He did bring out the best in that song. I had no clue what ragam it was and all. He said it was "Hamsanaadam". I was happy that there is something worthwhile in it. Even though Madhu rendered the song finally, there is still a lot of Sajan in that song. I owe to him.
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