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Music in a different bandwidth
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Young and fresh, the Minnalai band has a very humane side to their music, as PREMA MANMADHAN finds out. Charity is in C major
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NEW RHYTHM Pushpadas, Sugandhi Ajit, Sam Shiva, Ajit Ravi Pegasus, Nazeer A.A., Gopikrishnan and Dency of Minnalai
"Gille...ee gilli..." goes Sam Shiva, flowing mane doing a tandav as he stomps around the stage, fists pounding the air, belting out the Tamil hit in true native flavour. Minutes later, he does an about turn and you hear the soft, romantic lines of Lionel Richie's `Is it me you're looking for?'
Sam is a member of the music band Minnalai, as also Nazeer A.A., who specialises in Malayalam songs, both adipoli and melodies. Gopikrishna, Pushpadas, Dency Xavier and Sugandhi Ajit are the others in the band. They sing English, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada songs. Reggae, blues, melodies, pop, and rap are all in their kitty. Sam sings his own lyrics, set to music by him too.
"He is our remix rajah ," Nazeer rags him. "Jokes apart, I have a site where I post my remixes and I found that Dubai FM radio plays it. I was indeed honoured," gushes Sam. Riyaz, the
coordinator of Minnalai, is also a dance choreographer, who always comes in handy for the shows, for how one sways or jigs is as important as how one sings. Body language has often been the bane of many a good singer on stage.
Maverick Ajit Ravi Pegasus brought these talented youths under the umbrella of Minnalai. With Biju on the keyboard, Linu on the rhythm pad, Jerson on the guitar, Jino on drums, and Denson on the bass guitar, they have been around for the last one and a half years, highly visible on stages all over Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu, and also on the small screen. After a stint on Surya TV, they are on Jeevan TV now, prime time, 7 pm on Sundays. `Minnalai for You' allows viewers to select their choice from a list of songs. Besides, the lyrics are displayed on screen, so you can sing along.
Minnalai is different in that the band comes under a charitable society. We have already contributed Rs 2.5 lakhs to the Janaseva Sisubhavan, states Ajit, who is an aviation fireman and a very active labour union activist. He did a course in journalism and marketing too.
Why Janaseva Sisubhavan? "You will find that those children there are happy and do not have the sad countenance that you find in some other similar institutions. We will be looking out for other places to offer help too," says Ajit, who has earlier produced a show on dance for the small screen. A personal tragedy is behind this act of charity. His sister and brother-in-law died in an accident, leaving their two children under his care.
Minnalai also did a road show to collect money for a poor heart patient last year. They sang at all the important junctions of the city and managed to collect the amount needed for a heart surgery. An album has been cut by Minnalai too and is getting ready for sale.
"Both melodies and adipolis are in demand. When we go for a stage show, we assess the audience quickly and cater to their tastes. So the range of our repertoire must be really wide," the singers say.
Sam was a graphics designer, who decided to chuck his job to do what he loves. I can sing close to 2,000 songs, including Spanish and Latin. Both my parents sing and I was exposed to music right from infancy, Sam says.
Nazeer did not go beyond Plus Two as he was by then, already too busy with his music programmes to continue his studies. He has already been initiated into the playback-singing world. The song, `Fatima... ' is Nazeer's masterpiece. He sings Rafi hits too.
Sam wants to write and sing his own lines. Gopikrishnan of Pandalam is a busy area manager of a plywood company, who keeps all his spare time for Minnalai. With a strong foundation in classical music, he loves to sing fast numbers with a semi classical bent, like `Velmuruga...' and melodies like `Hrudayasarassile... ' and `Kaithappuzha... '.
Dency who is doing her degree course, started singing four years ago and has done one song for a movie called `Changathikkoottam', yet to be released. Her favourite in the ganamela circuit is `Dhoom..'. This song is also Sugandhi's favourite. She is from Thalassery and was till recently singing in a troupe in Coimbatore and Mangalore. She won prizes in mono act and mimicry while in school.
Freedom to freelance
The singers are not chained to the group by any contract either. They are all freelance musicians who can do programmes on their own, if they wish. There is no bar on that, Ajit points out. So attrition rate is low. But three members of the group doing their own thing is a big `no no'. Jamming sessions are regularly held, with the five-piece orchestra, trying out new songs and dances. An album of Mappilappattu is on the cards.
For Minnalai's TV shows, any singer who is really good will be given a chance to sing, says Ajit. Many have already been introduced. Ajit is preparing for a TV awards Night on April 30. Viewers will get a chance to choose some of the best artistes and directors of TV programmes. "For the news and other such programmes, we will have a panel of judges," Ajit says.
Minnalai the `white band' (white attire is inspired by Bryam Adams, not Jesudas, they say) lives and let lives.
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