We Salutes ThE KiNg oF PoP...

26th June 2009 will be remaining as a dark day in the history of world music... It is the day on which MICHAEL JAKSON known as the "KiNg oF PoP" passed away....it was the end of a musical era....

but i am sure that that person who created a history in the world music does not have a death...yes he will be living through his millions of fans......

MICHAEL JAKSON.... YOU LIVE IN OUR HEARTS...

Ghananjani '09

Shakti foundation's annual fund raising concert, Ghananjani '09 was a spectacular show with 5 legends, Ustad Zakir Hussain, U. Shrinivas, Sivamani, Dominique Di Piazza and Stephen Devassy!! It was a great experience to be there in the crowd and watch these 5 maestros perform! and well, what do i say about Stephen Devassy? The youngest and probably the least experienced of the lot...... but wasn't any less than the others in the way he performed. His music just captivated the audience and his solo..... i have no words to express it! but to simply put it as short as i can, it was mind blowing!! His fingers move across the keys with ease and he's probably faster than Adnan Sami (may be, may be not! its my personal opinion!!). But i'm sure he got a real loud round of applause at the end of it..... And i must mention this... He's way too modest and humble. Blessed as he is, he knows to use it well and even for a moment, doesn't forget to thank his god! Hope he'd get a Grammy sometime in the near future for all his hard work and commitment! Anyway, to sum it up... it was a great show with amazing performances :) I enjoyed every bit of it. Lucky me :D !!

AmAzInG fAcTs AbOuT STEPHEN....

THE BELOW ARE SOME QUESTIONS ASKED TO STEPHEN AND HIS ANSWERS FOR IT DURING AN INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY A FM STATION (Radio Mango 91.9) IN KERALA ON 15/02/0

•  If Stephen is going to give a Oscar for A.R Rahman which song will    you prefer?             
  

           VANDE MATARAM...

• Why you are not coming to te field of music direction...?
  

          Actually i really will do it in future and i have got high confidence for doing it...

• Someone that you are inspired of...?
  

          Adnan Sami

 

• Number of keyboards at Stephen's home?
  

          12

• Maximum number of keyboards used in a single show?
  

          6

• You love someone?
  

          ya...

• Nickname?
  

          (Actually i know the answer for that but i am not publishing it in this                             post...hi..hi..)

• Something which you want always on your dining table?
  

          Pickle....

• Mohanlal or Mamooty
  

          Sorry i cant answer that one..

• One favourite movie which you like to watch?
  

          Patana Pravesham...

• Your looks resembles M.S Dhoni...?
  

        Actually a lot of people commented the same... even Dhoni said the same to                me once when             we met for a function in Chennai,that we both look                         alike...

• Are you conscious about your body..?
  

          Yes,but usually i dont get time for all those...

• Will you get angry?
  

          Ofcourse i will get angry,but will control it seeing the environment....

• What about your cooking skills..?
  

          Well,I cook omlete,noodles,tea....

• What qualities you want in your life partner...?
  

           She should have a lot of Patience....

 

StEpHeNs ShOw in CHENNAI

The Shakti Foundation presents the 18th annual fundraiser ‘Ghananjani’, a fusion music concert.

Artistes Zakir Hussain (tabla); U. Shrinivas (mandolin); Sivamani (percussion); Dominique Di Piazza (bass guitar); and Stephen Devassy (keyboard) will take part. The event will be held at 6.15 p.m. on February 21 at the Music Academy. Parking is available at St. Ebbas too. The proceeds will be used to purchase two ventilators and a dialysis machine for the rural underprivileged.

Donor passes are available at The Shakti Foundation, 9, Manikeswari Road, Kilpauk. For details and bookings, call 26611213 / 99529-88499.

The ReX BAnD

Taking their name from the King of kings, Jesus, the band fuses together a host of music styles including elements of Indian classical and folk music as well as other popular sounds of the younger generation to evolve its own style of contemporary Christian music

The Band
Over 25 professionals active in various fields with a distinctive talent in music dare to call themselves The Rex Band in honor of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. Experiencing the joy of liberating Christian Music themselves, the band came together with a commitment to take this gift of quality Contemporary Christian Music and it's message to the new generation.

The Music
With musicians from such varied backgrounds like Indian classical or western classical to rock, pop and rap, the band has evolved a unique style over the past ten years. A rich mix of various streams of music and its trademark fusion tracks. Not surprisingly, The Rex Band has opened up new and ethnic elements in Contemporary Christian Music in India.

The Roots
Evolving out if a life-changing encounter with Jesus through the Jesus Youth movement, the band members are comfortable in using styles of the younger generation to reach out to today's urbanized youth through music albums, stage shows and encounter programs. The band members get together regularly for practice and to deepen themselves in the Word of God.

The Ministry
Beside the mega 3 hour shows, the band also considers its Retreats for musicians, Music skill development programs for budding talents and life encounter programs as vital elements of its call. The band strongly believes that the music becomes relevant only when its quality and message brings about a genuine change of heart.

The Shows
The typical 3-hour Rex Band show is a mega extravaganza with psychedelic lights and powerful sound including music, presentations, choreography and theater performances by Living Vision, a premier Christian theater initiative. It works in tandem with the band to present the message of Jesus in a powerful and attractive way. Right across India, The Rex Band has performed over 500 shows opening up the hearts of young people to a new life in Christ.
Realizing that quality contemporary Christian music is scarce in the Indian music scenario, the band has endeavored to reach out music lovers through it's 11 albums in various languages. Roses in Winter, the latest album showcases the trademark sounds of the band from popular music to experimental fusion music.

CHETANA MUSICAL ACADEMY,THRISSUR-KERALA

Its from this place that stephen learned his basic lessons of piano from Fr. Thomas Chakkalamattath CMI

from here he met FRANCO a well known singer in south. They combined and created a band called BAND SEVEN which is the first Indipop band from India.... and from there STEPHEN kept on advancing....

Composer A.R. Rahman on the Sounds of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and Being M.I.A.’s Idol

In India, fans love A.R. Rahman almost as we love David Archuleta — and he's reportedly sold a few more albums: 100 million records and 200 million cassettes. A huge pop star in South Asia, he's famous for scoring Indian classics like Roja and Lagaan (among the dozens of other films) — and he's recently begun to cross over into Hollywood with Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Bombay Dreams. We spoke with him about his Slumdog Millionaire score — which Fox Searchlight is pushing for an Oscar — and his collaboration with M.I.A.
How’d you hook up with Danny Boyle?

I literally had to leave another film to do this. When Danny met me, he said, “I’ve heard a lot of your stuff’ and he talked about it. That’s about the first time I’ve heard a compliment from a Western director, apart from Andrew Webber. He’s a good human being.
Was it different working with him than a Bollywood director?

Usually, it’s very different. Danny used my stuff in a very different way. I really loved the film, so I would compose pieces to fit the images, so I would do a lot of templates. With this, there’s not many cues in the film. Usually a big film has 130 cues. This had just seventeen or eighteen: the end credits, beginning credits, that stuff.
What were you going for?

A lot of things. I had to do stuff from modern India, eighties Hindi film soundtracks, mixing modern India and the old India.
What did Boyle suggest?

He wanted something very pulse-y. He said he hated sentiment, hated cello. No cellos! He said, “Never put a cello in my film” — he was funny. I worked fast, like him. It took two months of planning, two weeks of completing. Usually it takes six months with the musical films I’m doing in India.
The soundtrack really drives the film. That seems like something Boyle has in common with Bollywood. Do you think so?

What’s good about [Boyle] is that he likes how Indian films mix music. You push it and it comes out. We wanted it edgy, upfront. He said every piece of music was going to be a piece by itself. Normally some directors suppress music — they always want the effects to be loud and the music to be softer. Danny wanted it loud.
And you worked with M.I.A. on a new track.

We met before but never worked before. M.I.A., she’s a real powerhouse. Somebody played me her CD and I thought, Who’s this girl? She came here and knew all my work, had followed my work for ages. I said "Cut the crap," this "my idol" crap. You have to teach me. We started working in India, then we e-mailed the track back and forth. She did the vocals in England. I did the rest in India.
How does the film’s Mumbai compare to the real thing?

For me, it’s not about India at all. It’s about human emotion, how we suppress so much and it all comes out. It’s a human film, not about India at all. The soundtrack isn’t about India or Indian culture. The story could happen anywhere: China, Brazil, anywhere. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is on in every damn country.

Article on itwofs.com regarding the copy of forgiven

"The second update that cannot wait for the next week is about Vidyasagar and one of his programming assistants, Stephen Devassy. I've got to be honest here - I wouldn't have discovered Stephen's awesome album, 'Romanz A' if not for this lift - or whichever way we choose to call it. This was first pointed out by ItwoFS regular, Vimal Vijayan - the song from Vidyasagar's recent, 'Raaman Thediya Seethai', Ippave ippave, has a lovely piano prelude that seems to be used as-is from the track, Forgiven, in Romanz A. Devassy's album has been in the market for over an year and there are murmurs that Devassy was not involved in the making of this particular song, even though he collaborates with Vidyasagar quite often and is even credited in the CDs. So, this one is in Vidyasagar's court - even though the tune is his own (with Ilayaraja's shades, but quite beautiful). Thankfully, this gives me an opportunity to introduce Devassy's album to ItwoFS readers who may not have known about it at all."

Source : http://www.itwofs.com/ (chk out this site to listen to both the songs.)
Not just the prelude..........Even the 2nd interlude has been simply lifted n used there

Band SeVeN...First Indi Pop band from South India..

SOMETIME IN early February, regular viewers of Channel V and MTV were treated to a new music video called "Yeh Zindagani". The tune was catchy, the lyrics were peppy and the video, a visual treat. A band called Seven was born. The first album, also called Seven, from this Kerala-based threesome has just been released.
Why a name like Seven? The band members tell us that `seven' is invested with a lot of significance ? the seven notes of music, the seven colours, the seven wonders of the world and the like, and they feel that their lucky number is seven too.
The band was born on October 7, 1998, which also happens to be Franco, the lead vocalist's birthday. Sangeeth is the guitarist and Stephen plays the key-board. Franco, the most energetic of the three, is a music graduate from Chennai and has lent his voice to some 35 soundtracks with major musicians in the Malayalam film industry. Sangeeth would probably be the most-experienced since he took to music when he was 16 and went on to win an award in classic guitar from Trinity College, London. Stephen too was trained at Trinity.
he threesome band happened when Stephen came down to Thrissur to learn classic piano from a music academy and bumped into Franco and Sangeeth. Next, they were making music together ? rock music with Indian sounds.
Seven's debut album features a handful of songs - each conveying a meaningful message. The first number, "Zindagaani", is called "a celebration of life" as it tells you to enjoy what you do in life, and do it fast as life is short. "Yaari" salutes true friendship. This track has a pumped-up techno version on the flip side which makes for excellent hearing. "Anth", which is called the "post-war song", creates a musical image of a silent graveyard where people have lost everything and all that remains is a river of blood and tears. "Gaon" has a very rustic touch to it. It tells the story of a guy returning to his native village after a long time and his sister waiting for him with a `rakhi'. We also get to hear the famous Kerala fisherman's chant which epitomises joy.
Two tracks which stand out in the album are "Vande Maataram" and "Khilte Gul''. The first one impresses with its simple lyrics and an upbeat mood, while the second one is a message against child labour: "Hai Khilti hum kaliyan/ Chhodo, hum ko na todo/ Nahin sapne aankhon mein/ Apna nahin hai koi aanchal/ Khilte Gul hum kal ke/ Hume yun na todo...''

StEpHeNZ Talent been copied.......

Vidyasagar has composed a song with adding parts from Stephens albu Romanz'a.................
Check out the song "Ippavae Ippavae" from the movie Raman thediya Seethai. He has used the music from this album namedRomanz'a, by Stephen Devassy. Stephen arranges music for most of the industry people. He isn't some relatively unknown person.There wouldn't be a soul in Kerala who doesn't know him. n still this is what happens to all his hardwork. Someone just takes it n adds it to their song, even though it doesn't even merge with the actual song. Its such a beautiful piece. I can't even imagine Cheran n Navya Nair or whosoever runnin around trees or walkin in the rain n ruin the beauty of the song. Pathetic, aint they?????
This from someone who has studied in Trinity College of Music, London and can play about 11 instruments. DISAPPOINTING.For those of u, who dunno who Vidyasagar is, chk out this link.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidyasagar-Tamil_Music_DirectorN for those of u who dunno who Stephen devassy is, then chk this out.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_DevassyThis is the link to the songs from the movie “Raman Thediya Seethai” ….. Listen to that track “ippavae ippavae”http://www.imeem.com/mathanmp1981/music/kw1hxUU9/ippavae_ippavae/N then listen to the track forgiven from the link given below…..http://www.hummaa.com/artist/artistdashboard.php?aid=17312

This post has not been created to hurt anyone but its just to let the world know how disappointed we are.....