One Song at a Time - 59. Irish Devamohari & Modern Kedar
(The Corrs)
The first song is by an Irish group called 'Corrs'. Mostly made up of talented females. I watched 'Corrs' first on a MTV Unplugged show. I was very fascinated, especially by the drumming. I had forgotten all about them until a Tamil movie called 'Sakkarakatti' arrived. It had a song called "Elay" and there was a discussion on a bulletin board about the violin section in that song being taken from 'Corrs'. That made me revisit the 'Corrs' and I keep hearing this song often.
This is an Irish folk song and I see from youtube that lot more folks have covered it. The initial part, to me, sounds like Devamanohari. After the initial part, the song takes its own route. The percussion instrument which looks like an oversized kanjira and I love the way she plays it . The violin player is terrific as well.
That was an unplugged performance. Here is a standard electric performance of the same number by Corrs. That kanjira is replaced by normal drums and the piece sounds bit more 'rockish'.
Today I got a link from my twitter friend Praveen, checking with me if a certain piece was based on Kedar raga. (Kedar is North Indian counterpart of Hameer Kalyani.) It was indeed based on Hamir Kalyani. Unlike many of the fusion pieces I have heard recently, this one did not do fusion just for the sake of it. The orchestration supports the main melody very well and doesn't intrude. Very enjoyable piece which resembles 'humko man ki shakthi dena' in some places. The lady has a very strong voice. (I have no idea about this group. Any info will be highly appreciated. )
And if you have heard these two songs, kindly give this song a listen as well. A modern day Qawali from the same group as above which gave the Hamir Kalyani piece.
Comments
"Suresh
These days I am unable to post anonymous comments. Google forces me to create a Google+ or blog account and I do not want to do either of them ! I listened to the songs. Jaag Musafir has been one of my favorite songs for years now. It is sung by Fareed Ayaz, son of Munshi Raziuddin. They are part of something called Delhi Qawwal Bachchon Ka Gharana. Brilliant lineage. You should listen to Raziuddin on Youtube sometime. Fareed Ayaz's bother Abu Muhammad sings too. They sing together in fact.
Rohail Hyatt is a genius. His orchestration when it come to east - west light classical fusion is simply superb.
The other song in Hamir Kalyani, I think that is sung by Tina Sani. Another great singer along with Sanam Marvi. Both these singers have gotten major opportunities after Coke Studio (Pakistan). I am a big fan of Coke Studio Pakistan.
The Irish Music is very traditional Celtic Dance Music. They do that for St. Patrick's day too."
As a band, I love their sense of melody, their choice of instruments and the nice blend of irish folk, rock music and world music elements. And as individual musicians, i like the work of each of them because every member's contribution seems to be important and proportionately good in all songs. The band consists of 3 sisters and a brother. The violinist, caroline corr, plays awesomely and adds good harmonies when the lead singer, Andrea, sings. I am a fan of Andrea's vocals and Sharon's drumming as well. As for Jim Corr, he adds some good layers of guitars and piano stuff.
Though some tunes might sound repetitive, because of the irish folk elements, they are musical pleasures for me. They give a good blend of acoustic instruments as well as synth. and tunes too, are a good mix of irish folk and pop. I suggest you procure their whole discography (or I can give a DVD of corrs discography to you).
There are too many songs that I can recommend but a good start is "Talk on The Corners". Actually, all albums are good. Unfortunately, they have not been doing many studio albums offlate and most of their offerings have been live concerts or compilation albums only.
and last, but not the least, I have to confess that I had a huge mega crush on Andrea Corr :-)..(had planned to put up her poster in my room, in 1996, but couldnt get a decent poster back then). Probably that explains why I collected their videos as well :-)
Anyway, they are definitely a very talented band. Didn't know they were all siblings. Talented family, you have to say.
Some how Kedar or Hameer Kalyan appears to be reserved for Lord Krishna. The one you referred from the Hindi Film Guddi (music by Vasant Desai) has a kind of western touch, pardon if I say it sounds like a Christian song. Christ or Krishna - are of course, the standing examples as Preachers for one and all.