The Bee Gees.............STAYIN ALIVE with us forever!!!!!

Most of us born in the '70's & '80's have grown up listening to songs like 'Tragedy'...'Stayin alive'... 'How deep is your love'....They were sung by the Bee Gees, a musical group that was so very distinct, that even on trying hard, none of us could imitate the way they sung!!!!

The group comprised of 3 brothers, Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb who together sang three part harmonies which covered the entire range of pitches & were instantly recognisable. Robin's clear vibrato was what stood out in the initial years & Barry's R&B falsetto became a signature sound during the disco years.
It was really rare to see the kind of camaraderie shared by the Beegees anywhere else but it must also have been this very fact that helped them co-write & sing some of the major hits in their 40 year career.

Born to English parents, the brothers began their singing career very young when they moved to Australia. On their subsequent return to the UK, they began their career in earnest & did well right from the start. They began by singing pop, later moving into love ballads, soul & disco. Being a contemporary of the Beatles, there was always competition but then they gradually managed to carve a niche of their own. Throughout all this, disco remained their forte. They performed in a lot of live shows, musical concerts & even composed for movies, selling almost 200 million records & becoming one of the best selling musical artists of all time.

This rock group were one of the few to stand apart in that they were almost never involved in controversies of any kind, unlike other bands of that era, be it drugs, women etc. Possibly this might be the reason for them never achieving the cult status of a band like the The Rolling stones or for that matter even the Beatles!!

Nevertheless the band's songs & music continue to live on, either for the youthfulness & vivacity they convey or for reasons entirely different as seen here ........ "Staying alive '77, with its beat of 103/min was found to be an ideal song to tune to while doing CPR....... a fact that emphasizes the impact of their music!!!!!

The Sitar....a soulful musical instrument that needs no introduction!!!!

An instrument that was predominantly Indian, but gained huge popularity in the West due to the Beatles & Pandit Ravi Shankar, is the Sitar....George Harrison infact used it for the first time in pop music in the song, "Norwegian Wood (This Bird has flown) " on the LP Rubber Soul in 1965.

Used mostly in Indian classical music, its versatility has been known to encompass any & every musical genre. The origins of the sitar are very vague with some saying that it was developed in the 13th Century by Amir Khusro from the Tritantri Veena, a member of the Veena family. Others say that it might even have been developed during the time of the Moghuls & based on the persian lutes.

It is basically a stringed instrument which derives its sound from sympathetic strings, a long hollow neck & a resonating chamber resembling a gourd. The sitar's curved frets are movable, allowing fine tuning & raised so that the strings (tarb) can run underneath them. A sitar can have 17 to 22 strings, among which 6/7 played strings run over the frets. The Gandhaar-pancham sitar (used by Ustad vilayat Khan) has 6 playable strings & the Kharaj-pancham sitar (used by Pandit R Shankar) has 7 playable strings. 3 of these playable strings (called the chikaari) just provide the drone & the rest are used to play the melody.

The gourd part of the instrument has 2 bridges & the timbre of the music results from the way the strings interact with the wide sloping bridge creating a distinct tone. The maintenance of this specific tone by shaping the bridge is called jawari. A metallic plectrum, called mizraab is used to produce music & the instrument is played by balancing it between the player's left foot & right knee & never carried around, unlike other musical instruments. Materials like teakwood are used to make the neck & the tabli whereas the instrument's bridges are made from deer horn, ebony or camel bone.

The sitar has been used for a variety of songs & music & became very popular in the '70's even finding its way into films & albums. This was because of the newness of the sound & its ability to merge into any style, as a lead in a song or a part of the background score. Its soulfulness gave it a versatility that was widely accepted & although the craze for the instrument has mostly died down,  it continues to enrich the the legacy & traditions of classical music in India!!!!

Freddie Mercury......the man that just ccould not be stopped!!!!

As children, we often heard songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" & "We Are the Champions" sung by the band Queen. Infact, I also knew a bit about the lead singer, Freddie Mercury. Later though, my interest in him was piqued when I came to know that he was an Indian, a Gujarati Parsi whose original name was 'Farrokh Balsara'.  This was definitely something to be proud of, considering the fact that the great UK music sensation was from our very own country, a fact that was unknown to me & many other people till quite some time into the artist's illustrious career!!!!

Freddie Mercury (09/'46 - 09/'91), considered as one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music & one of the most influential Asian artists of our times, was a man with very humble beginnings. He was born in Tanzania & brought up in India, completing his education in Mumbai. Due to the revolution in Tanzania, his family shifted to the UK where he studied art. He played in quite a few local bands, later forming the band , 'Queen' which he named himself despite having gay connotations especially in those conservative days.

As a child, Mercury was influenced by Indian music, especially Lata Mangeshkar but he also followed & incorporated other styles of music into his work, primarily 'The rolling stones', Jimi Hendrix & 'The Beatles'. He wrote most of the group's songs without even being able to read music, but by making use of a variety of different key signatures. His songs were so intricate that they comprised of dozens of chords & merged totally different music genres.

His live performances were often on a large scale, very theatrical & most often delivered to packed audiences, being able to whip them up into a frenzy. He had a solo career as well although not as sucessful as the band. He frequently collaborated with other artists, even doing a couple of songs with Michael Jackson which were never released.

His premature death from AIDS, put an end to the illustrious career of a man who though depicting a larger than life persona on stage, was a very shy & introverted person off it. It was a pity that his personal life over-shadowed his musical genius, but as happens with most legends, the worth of his work can only be felt & realised now, when he is no more.

Bob Marley...the king of reggae!!!!!

Who has'nt heard of the song 'Buffalo soldier' by Bob Marley??? I was just listening to this song yesterday & thought of maybe looking him up & finding out more about his work.What actually caught my attention was the life of a man who lived for a short while but achieved a lot in his lifetime.

Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer, songwriter & musician who became the face of reggae music & is credited with spreading both Jamaican music & the Rastafari movement worldwide.

He was a product of mixed racial parentage but always identified himself through his music & his beliefs as a black African. He was a part of the band 'Wailers' which produced some huge hits in the '60's such as "Get Up, Stand Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff". Eric Clapton made a hit cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" in 1974, raising Marley's international profile. His first hit outside Jamaica was the song "No Woman, No Cry", from the Natty Dread album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.

Throughout his life & career, Marley took an active effort in trying to bring about peace & harmony in his native country, Jamaica through his music.He was against aparthied & tried to ease political tensions & strife at the cost of his life. Even his family was not spared, they were attacked & threatened, to such an extent that he had to leave Jamaica & live in self-imposed exile in England!! This did not deter him though & through his performances which drove people into a frenzy, he was able to connect with them & send them the message he believed in.

His convictons were reflected in everything that he did, including his songs & the most profound of his words were that uttered to his son Ziggy, "Money can't buy life.". This short little sentence exemplifies his life & work & although he was not without his shortcomings, Bob Marley, despite his untimely & unlikely death will be someone who has shown that despite adversity, it is possible to succeed!!!!