Tu Jo Aa Jaaye - Masterful ghazal

Finally succumbed to the long drawn temptation and bought "The Master & His Magic" CD. The collection at Reliance Timeout wasn't great, but I was happy to see this collector's item. I don't think all the songs in this are that great (and I hate to say this as I have always thought all songs in a JS album are above par), but one song in there will make your day or life - "Tu jo aa jaye".

Its a beautiful rendition, sung amazingly by the Master and is in Raag Durga. The first time I heard this ghazal was in October 2010 when Jagjitji had performed for the Bengali Association's Durgo Pujo at Palace Grounds. It was Dashami and he started with this song in Raag Durga. The crowd was mesmerized. Somehow I like Raag Durga. It is a late night raag and has a very dreamy, tranquilizing effect. According to wikipedia, this raag stems from the bilawal thaat. I dug more and found that another one of my all time favorites Raag Hamsadhvani also originates from the same bilawal thaat, so I think it all sums up and connects nicely.

Finally at peace, now that this song is available. Though he sang a version of this at the concert, it is superb. There seem to be two different versions available with each one having one extra/different couplet in there.

You could give it a shot: Tu Jo Aa Jaye - The Master & His Magic

1941-2011

One of my sketches from 1996. Found it a few days back. Quite ironically too.

Tell It Like It is

He is simply the best, my favorite. Especially this beautiful tune. Many have sung this song, but Aaron's rendition is quite simply phenomenal. Hats off to him! You will remain among my fav singers of all time Aaron Neville.



And Everybody Plays the Fool:

If You Don't know me by Now

There will never be another like him. The amazing song by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. Simply awesome.

Givin you the Best that I've got

One of my all-time faves : Anita Baker's Giving you the Best That I've got.

Time After Time

I lead an uneventful life alright. With nothing to write about and faced with the grim decision of either forcefully landing a post or deleting my blog, I think I will start posting all those special songs that I have liked over time. I do have a technical blog though, but I am sure no one else will ever want to read it so I never send the link out. I will probably delete this blog soon.

Here is one that I thought was fantastic. The jazz elements are super, the voice is haunting ; though the one on youtube is probably not the best version/rendition by Cassandra Wilson. So Time After Time I listen to her...

Graceland

I was once stranded at Memphis airport. Took the blow in my stride and decided to do something about it. Moved my alternate flight to the next day and whoa! - there I was all alone and ready to say Hi to Memphis. I have always loved Jazz and had not been that into Blues, so rented a car and drove around Graceland and downtown to see what the place known as the Birthplace of the Blues stood for. I was exhausted since I hadn't had a wink of sleep all night and was starving. So checked into a Blues Bar to get a bite, the first I could find open early in the AM.

As I sat dazed, peering into the glass of water, the plump Black waitress waded in. "What you lookin at the water for?" she demanded. I replied that the song that was playing sucked.

Gloria promptly changed it and said "Sonny, now listen to this. Now this is what we call Blues around 'ere...you listen to dis or you listen to nothin else".

For the next 5 minutes I forgot the water, I forgot that I was sleep deprived, I forgot I was in the middle of nowehere and that my destination was Toronto. I didn't notice that Gloria had placed a pint of beer in front of me. I was mesmerized by Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine. I had only listened to some other renditions of this song and never the original. The original in Bill Withers' voice was captivating. The song felt different, especially when I listened to it at the Birthplace of the Blues. It was brilliant. Totally unforgettable. Been getting hooked to the Blues ever since.

Here is the song:



Cheers.