An Exercise in Focus

I promised to upload more recordings of the New Year Diwaan at the Bangkok Gurudwara.
Here is one more recording of the Waheguru Jap Simran / Naam Simran - led by Bhai Gurmit Singh Shaant.
Right Click and choose Save As to download.


Listen to it LOUD.

There are 2 levels of listening that you can access in this recording.

The one you want to try getting a hold of is the sheer majesty of almost 1000 voices singing the Lord's praise in unison.

See how it goes for you.

as for me, well .. I still haven't been able to stop laughing at the guy on my right.
(updated 29/2/2008: In case you didn't catch it - I'm not being serious)

Raag Maajh

Jamming with Satnam Singh in Singapore

Raag Maajh Alaap



then Changed Seating Arrangements .

Raag Maajh Shabad

Baa Baa Black Sheep

I know this is a little off topic,
- and it's not exactly new - but I just watched these videos again and realized that there may be a few who haven't seen them yet - so I must share.

First One: Gurmukh Singh - Malaysia Wale. Gurmukh Veerji is blessed with true passion for Kirtan Seva. He can really connect with the Sangat and command their attention when he's on stage. He's **great** at difficult and old classical compositions.
Here he is having some fun with one of his classes at Sammelan in Indonesia.



Next time he comes to Bangkok for Sammelan, I'll be sure to get some good recordings made. Including a Baa Baa Black Sheep with full vaja/tabla. heheh



Here's another cool version - embedding is disabled .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efbb7FLCqpU

Maiya Singh - Instrumental Audio Recording

Free MP3 of Maiya Singh playing Raag Jhinjoti - Roopak 7 Beat Cycle. Right click the link and choose "Save Target As"
Phone Rang towards the end again... seems to happen a lot eh?


I'm on Tabla . Testing out a new Banares-Made set I was thinking about buying off someone .. but I dont think I am going to: the Duggi/Dagga is way too tight and it doesn't suit my playing style.

I'm thinking of getting a Set: high C# Tabla and Atta Wala Dhama - both with nut/bolt attachments. There's nobody in Thailand who's willing to change the poora on old tablas. It's hot and humid about 80% of the year and so Tablas wear out quite quickly
- might as well get nut/bolt attachments and accept the slight decrease in sound quality in exchange for the security of being able to change the skins quickly and easily.
Any suggestions ?

Jamming with Satnam Singh in Singapore

TRYING to accompany Veerji Satnam Singh's alaap in Raag Kaliyaan / Yaman .

Using Angad Singh's Esraj.

Taken at Silat Road Gurudwara, Singapore.

Gurmeet Singh Shaant - Night Diwaan 31 Dec / 1 Jan

Happy New Year :)
May you be blessed with a constant and greatly heightened awareness of the Joy present in your life. And may you be blessed with the power to make choices in your life that keep you connected to that Joy.


Audio recordings taken from Bangkok Gurudwara - 2008 New Year Diwaan.

Aise Gur Ko Bal Bal Jaiye - Kanhra Partaal : Dhamar , Iktaal , TinTaal

Vadh Sukh Rainariye - Bihagra Chanchal


I have question:
How would you ask an enthusiastic member of the congregation that CANT SING FOR NUTS to keep shut while you record one of the Greatest Ragis alive today ?
The guy sitting on my right was croaking away, enjoying himself thoroughly at my expense.

And about 1 meter in front of me, towards my right, there was a kid about 11 years old, busy talking to his dad and fiddling with a plastic bag - I gave him a really mean stare to try get him to shut up and leave the bag alone, it finally worked.
Ok I can shut an annoying kid up, but how can you tell someone who's singing along to the Shabads to keep quiet? He was not doing anything WRONG. In Guru Darbar - we are all encouraged to sing the Guru's praises. I was stumped, so I let him be.

Check out the recordings --- the whole Sangat sang along, it was awesome. - except for the totally off-key fellow on my right, and the annoying kid with his plastic bag.

Not that I have any problem with people who are not able to sing but enjoy doing it anyway - I just wish they were aware of it and were considerate enough to keep quiet while other people are trying to record.
I was sitting RIGHT in front , 2 meters from the stage. The Darbar hall was PACKED .. I couldn't have moved anywhere to escape his voice.
He didn't do anything wrong .. It just bugged the heck out of me that I didn't get FIRST CLASS recordings.


I have 3 more recordings: One of the Simran we do from 11:55 - 00:05 , another Shabad, and Anand Sahib. But the guy who cant sing sings so bloody loudy that I can't stop laughing when I hear it - so I'll wait until I calm down a bit before uploading those.

Anyways:
I'm very happy that Bhai Gurmeet Singh Shaant, one of the most learned Ragis active today, is in town for another 2 weeks.

And I'm REALLY happy with my recording equipment. When I listen to the mp3 files - it feels like I'm back there in the Sangat experiencing the aural atmosphere all over again.

Cheers.

Free MP3 Downloads - TarShehnai Instrumental - Sound Check

Was fiddling with the settings on my new equipment today and got this result for TarShehnai.

I'm pretty happy with it - it sounds true to life / you can hear the instrument's natural reverb as well.

The file is totally unaltered.

0007 : TarShehnai - Raag Megh

Free MP3 Downloads - Esraj Instrumental

After saving money for a while, I invested in some fancy new recording equipment today so I could make MP3 Files with decent sound quality.

Here are 3 recordings I made within 30 mins of setting the whole system up:

0001 : And then The Phone Rang

0002 : Bilaval / Asa Based Alaap and Tune

0003 : Controversial Raag based Alaap and Shabad Tune

they're not rehearsed and nowhere near perfect -- only for sound check purposes.

let me know your opinion on sound quality and how I can adjust it.

Raag Shankara Bandish

Tune that Maiya Singh Ji taught me about 3 years ago for the Shabad: "Khoob Teri Pagri Meethe Tere Bol"

Mixed Tunes

I suddenly Remembered the Chorus for the song YE HOSLA from the movie Dor.

Lovely tune.

I've heard it only 3-4 times before. I never really TRIED to memorize it. It just sort of popped back into my head.


I also tried to fit a Bandish in Raag Tilak Kamod / Desh (not sure which) Set to TeenTaal into Roopak - for fun.

There's one part in Raag Khamaj or Pahari (? I always get confused) which is supposed to be set to a Fast Kaherva - converted to Roopak.
That part ends with a hint of Bilawal.. It just sort of came out.

Raag Random

Raag Random - Relaxing Music
heheh
Just played what I felt like.

Controversial Raag

Some people say this is the "Old School Basant" (Since the time Our Gurus about 400-500+ years ago)

Some call it Raag Kaushik / Raag Kaushiki

Others call it Raag Bin Shadja / Bin Kharaj

I dont like to argue. I like to enjoy the music.

Technically: The Mood of my Alaap doesn't feel quite right, I think I didn't put enough emphasis on the notes I'm supposed to.- I'm quite happy with the Jor though.


Here's an Awesome Awesome Awesome Recording of this Raag: