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Thaaram Onam 2026

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  Great participation across the board     It was gratifying to see even participation across the entire group. Heard some new voices at the karoake ad-hoc session. Visiting parents mingled with each other and with other members of the community. New folks introduced themselves and got themselves inducted. Lot of good banter.  Democratization of singing At a recent amateur singing event, I had sung directly from smule on the iPad. Typically, I need to download and provide the track file. I found this exciting for how easy it would be for anyone to come in ad-hoc and participate. A teenager suddenly feels like singing a modern english song - come over to the stage, search the song, and sing! A visiting parent has a desire to sing a nostalgic old song - come over, search and sing. Anyone can come in and sing their favorites! That was the vision.  Had a discussion with Girish on this, and we came up with the plan to bring in an iPad, an iPad stand, a cable that wou...
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Art and Life

Art surpasses Life.  Art just got expressed through a person. The life of the person who participarted in the art really has no bearing on the life of the art itself.  The life of the art is determined by the art, not by the artist.  I heard Simbu reference a statement from ARR that he would no longer create anything "negative". In that conviction, there is a realization that he sees that the art is going to be "out there".  Bach's music feels omnipresent. He is referenced in many Bergman movies. I wonder if the new generations would have any appreciation for his movies.  ARR music should also live on far past his lifetime. I recently caught up on "Dil gira kahin per dafatan" which he released a solid seventeen years back.  Bach died in 1685, 340 years back! His music lives on strong.
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Masala Coffee Concert

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  Packed two hour performance. Two lead vocalists, the drummer, the group lead were very impressive.  Drums were kept inside a transparent acrylic wall. The purpose is to prevent the drums' sound from leaking into the vocal mikes and overpowering the show. Sound quality is the goal. Sound isolation.  Drums was very impressive. From the perspective that there are enough singers in my friends' circles, drums stood out as something not easy to replicate.  Vocalists are the heart of the show. Instrumentalists do not come anywhere near the vocalists from the perspective of the impact they are producing on stage. So, if singing is your passion, then there is no reason to dissipate your focus.  A good percentage of the audience are here to support the group. People are not here because they are fans. They are here because they want to support a group of passionate musicians who have chosen this path of music for their livelihood, and that alignment in love for music is...
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Cape Verde vs Argentina

Second goal from Cape Verde was brilliant. Loved the way Cape Verde played.  Nice confidence. Level headed play.  I found myself vouching for them even when I am a Messi fan. These games basically reveal who you are.
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Bergman and Lynch

 I had just finished the series "Twin Peaks - Return". Stylish. David Lynch writes up his fantasies, and films it exactly as he sees it. Beautiful models, surreal situations, state of the art technology.  Switched to Bergman. The idea was to watch movies which do not have the backing of the crazy technical support that current movies have.  Just finished "Crisis" - black and white movie, made in the 50s. Excellent dialogues and narrations. Very very impressive.  The depth of the characters, and how they talk. Pure poetry in the conversations.  Dissections into psyches. Those movies have to impress with way less access to "gimmick"s.  Even while I am a big fan of Lynch, Bergman has already surpassed him even while the viewings were in the morning,  partially distracted.
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Math Genius

Thoroughly enjoyed the acoustics at IPAC event yesterday. Girish had introduced me to audiophile hobby. He had played a sample piece and asked me to observe where the violinist is, where the piano man is. That precision was there in the acoustics experience. Usually, the portion between vocals sits in my head as "background music". Instead, the instrument discernment was immediate. I could see the dark brown spectacles of the clean shaven senior violinist. The play of the beats dancing on both sides. It is no longer "background music". Jamms had sung "Thookki" from Vaazha 2. The raw confidence of the sisters! Sisters sang as two overlapping lines, and then suddenly one sound starts waving while the first one continues.  Expertise. Saw the same video on whatsapp. The magic at the hall is not there in the video.  At the mixer, I saw all kinds of graphs, and a plethora of controls, and terminologies. As the song was playing, he is continually clicking around,...
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Mike time

  Singing is an introspective activity. You lose yourself in the lyrics, in the emotions, in the notes, in the nuances, in the orchestration, in the story. Select songs that resonate with you and immerse.   However, I need an event like the IPAC singing event yesterday for me to zero in on a song, and put in concerted effort into the song.  The event is the catalyst. It gave me the permission to do the song exploration that I wanted to do anyway. I also needed to perform. As the time was ticking, I got worried about whether I will get chance to sing the second song. But if the idea was to do the exploration and immerse yourself into the song, then why does it matter whether I actually sung or not? It is not just the exploration. I wanted to have been able to sing the song including the learnings on the song that I earned through the exploration.  And I would have been disappointed if I missed the chance at the mike.  People have been kind with their gesture...
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