Wednesday, August 13, 2008

SaCrEd ChAnTs by Stephen Devassy...


Stephen Devassy, the 24 year old keyboard player from Palakkad was unknown to me, till I head his version of Mahishasuramardini Stotram (link has a sample) at the Melody Corner Music Store in Trichur last month. He was the music director of the album which mixed traditional devotional songs with non-traditional music along and vocals from Saindhavi, Uma Mohan and Ghayatri Devi. A student of Chetana Music Academy, he has played along with Hariharan and L. Subramaniyam as well as composed music for a bad Mohanlal movie called Hariharan Pilla Happy Aanu.
His music which has elements of gospel music is not intrusive, but gives importance to the vocals. While the music is soothing and uplifting, the vocals too are clear and perfect with their pronunciation. The store had only the above two CDs, but like others I too would buy any of
his Sacred/Holy Chants series in a heartbeat.
See Also:
Video Interview with Stephen (Malayalam/English), stage performance, The right keys to success, Village boy from Palakkad climbs the music ladder

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Stephen, what amazing pianist u r.i had'nt seen any1 like u before. superb stephen.i'm not able explain in words