My extended family (maternal side) members are great music lovers thanks to my ammuma (grandma) and appupa (grandpa) for instilling great interest in music. My grandparents listened to lot of Hindi, Malayalam, carnatic and tamil songs in their gramophone. They loved a Ustad Alla Rakha and Mukeshji.
My grandparents had 6 girls and two boys. My mother’s eldest sisters were well known professional carnatic singers. And each and everyone one in the family learnt traditional carnatic music vocal/instrument. My grandpa dreamt of having a carnatic music troupe, each one of his children specializing in carnatic instrument/vocal. His dream never came true and only two of his daughters became professional carnatic singers. But others in the family has good knowledge of carnatic music.
My mother took violin lesson during her elementary school days. My mother had a good taste for music but she was too lazy or not interested to follow traditional music lesson which reduced her idling/play time. When she came home after her music class, she would start playing her favorite film songs on violin. Her family knew at that time that she would not advance in her music career :). And it came true, when she broke her violin and that brought an end to her violin lessons.
During our family gatherings, there will be a group singing or my periyammas will sing our favorite carnatic numbers accompanied by periyappa on mridangam (my eldest periyamma’s husband is a professional Mridangam artist ). They used Tambura instead of the music box. They taught me to play Tambura . I used to get a rare opportunity to play Tambura when they practiced at home or duing marghali masam(Marghali month) recitals at home.
The sound of Tambura is so magical and divine. Tambura's natham (sound) made me to choose “Veenai. I took Veenai lessons for couple of years at college. I fondly remember those times. I had to relocate to Chennai for higher studies and I stopped learning Veenai.
I stayed in my eldest periyamma’s house in Chennai during my Anna university days and took up vocal lesson from my periyamma who took music classes for children and adults. Somehow I never had opportunity to continue my Veenai practice after school due to my career. My Veenai still lies in the same spot in my bed room at my parent’s house. During my upcoming India trip, I need to repair it and donate the Veenai to some deserving student.
I used to( before NR's arrival) listen to songs from the time I wake up till I go to sleep. Listening to carnatic/tamil songs in my car made my daily drive to work a breeze. CB likes good music but listens only to english songs. He listens to few tamil movie songs which are evergreen melodies like “Nilavey vaa” , “kadalin deepam onru (old rajni hit). I wonder how he got influenced by western music than his native language songs .I think his school, his Anglo Indian friends and his RC Christian background and the church choir might have influenced him more than the language he spoke fluently at home.
When I was pregnant with NR I listened to carnatic/devotional songs, tamil/malayalam film song non stop . When he was in my womb, NR played soccer (my guess : ) ) with his non stop pointed kicks. Listening to Harivarasanam calmed him. After birth he goes to sleep when he listens to Harivarasanam , Omana thingal kidavoo . During bed time CB plays Baby Love – quiet time lullaby CD for NR.
Even as a 3 weeks old baby NR needed constant entertainment. So I sang a lot of nursery songs to him. That became our daily routine and he listens to songs for an hour in the morning after his breakfast. NR has his own preference in listening to songs. If he doesn’t like the songs he will let you know by raising his voice or crying. All I have to do was to play his fave no, he will immediately give big wide smile and start kicking his legs out of joy. My new job is being a personal DJ for my six month old. He prefers female singers with the exception of KJ Yesudoss and Bala murali Krishna.
As a six months old baby, NR can track the moving objects . He has started showing interest in watching the videos of his favorite nursery songs from you tube. When my niece visited us from India, she introduced him to couple of song which has become his favourite like BalGanesh - Naache Dhin Dhin Dhintak, Varam Varam poochandi (tamil folk song), Nakka mukka (tamil movie song).
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