Music Was Always Part Of My Life

           I created my channel "Maruthi Pavan Pvr" on YouTube on Feb 15th 2014. I had no idea that I would start singing and I will take it seriously.  Before that a brief on how God blessed me with music right from the start.

            My GrandPa was a great Carnatic musician of his times. My Dad is a nice singer and he picked up a lot from my GrandPa. Me and my sister both learnt some basics from my dad as kids. School days I won a few prizes in singing, but didn't pursue it further in high school, so I was just a participant and not a winner in the high school competitions. During college days I used to sing a lot in the bus and with friends. Ilayaraja, AR Rehman, Kishore Da, SP Balu, Lata - All were favorites. In the Final year of B.E I won the 3rd Prize among 3 colleges. That too didn't motivate me to pursue singing. I used to just enjoy singing and friends used to enjoy it. Rangeela was a fav album. Its music inspired me to be a university topper. During Masters IISc, Bangalore had a music room with an old gramaphone. I used to go and listen to hindi film music there on evenings. My favorite song was - "Humne Dekhi Hai" from Khamoshi pictured on Waheeda Rehman ji. I used to play it daily. Interestingly none used to visit that room. Only me. So I could play songs of my choice. 

       I Got My First Job too through singing. It was TCS interview. I walked in and they asked me to sing a song (yes you heard it right). I sang a Kishore Kumar Song loud - "Musaafir Hoon Yaaron". All the interviewers and interviewees from adjacent cubicles got up and started looking at me. I didnt stop. My interviewer himself was in shock and then was happy with my confidence. He said I am selected. It stays a joke till date that I was not asked technical questions, but got selected through singing. But that was a blessing and gift by God in the form of music. I didnt join TCS. Later I did get selected technically in Infosys which was a craze at that time. So yes it was a technically deserving selection in the end :)

     While working in Infosys, Bangalore I started learning Carnatic Music from Smt Lalgudi Rajya Laxmi, sister of famous violinist Lalgudi Jayaraman. She was fond of me and used to give me food and took care of me when I wasnt well. But after six months I wanted a lot of progress. My uncle who was a great carnatic musician listened to my singing and said that your voice does not have the gamaks (modulations) yet. Didn't your teacher teach them yet? I was dis-heartened with his words. I thought that she is not teaching me well. In six months I was expecting results when music is a life time learning. I left the class. Then again joined it. She had a pained look on her face when I re-joined. But I again left the class citing busy office schedules. She came in my dream asking me why I left the class. This didn't move me. So that was the end of what could have been a beginning in Carnatic music. This was 1999.  

     Later when I started singing on Youtube and in my Society Kojagiri program (2015 september). It took 16 years to get back to serious learning and practice. One of my co singers said that I sing well and I should learn music. I told him that I don't know of a good teacher. I wanted to learn Carnatic music but in Pune there were many Hindustani teachers. He suggested that I learn Hindustani music under Sri Ravindra Ghangurde Sir who is a legend and a disciple of Sri Vasant Rao Deshpande, Sri Deenaanaath Mangeshkar and Sri Kumar Gandharv. He introduced me and my Hindustani training started in November 2015. It keeps me engaged and by God's grace I would like to continue till my last breath. God is Great and He will oblige this request.

Story of 200 Songs - How it started

My Channel was an accidental creation. Then in June 2014, I had been to a one day outing with my Development and QA teams to Mantra resort near Bhor, Pune. During the night after dinner we had a get together where friends asked me to sing a song. I sang a couple of songs one from "Tere Naam" and one from "Anurodh". These videos were shot on mobile phone. I uploaded these songs on my channel. Then while browsing You Tube, I got to hear the concept of Karaoke. I stumbled upon the Karaoke track of a newly released film - Ek Villian (Teri Galliyaan). I practiced and sang that song along with the Karaoke track. Back then I used to put a camera before me over a height and sing before it with the Karaoke track playing on my computer. This came out Okay. I uploaded it but friends applauded me a lot when I shared it. Perhaps they didnt know I sing. I call my God as my Friend, my Music, my Dost Ji. It felt like I got an appreciation from my Dost Ji too. Inspired I was and I decided I will make more songs. "Yaad aa rahaa hai" from Disco Dancer, "Rooth Ke Humse Kahi" from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Both came out great. I recorded them through the meragana set that I bought. Then followed one of my all time favourite songs - "Abhi Mujh Mein Kahi" from Agneepath. I was very happy the way it came out. This tough song gave me confidence that I can go some distance. And it continued. In 2014 and 2015, I used to come back from office and record songs almost every day. In a week I used to publish 3 songs atleast. I sang 110 songs in 1 year. Some came good, some Okay and some tough ones like "Lagan Lagan" from Tere Naam didnt sound great. I needed more practice. I didn't realize it then. After 2015 Kojagiri program, I started learning Hindustani classical music as mentioned previously. Some songs like "Naa Jaane Koi Kaisi Hai Yeh Zindagaani" from Gangster and "Judaa Hoke Bhi" from Kalyug - I practiced for 8 hours continuously and recorded them. Due to this my voice took a beating. Then when I was in my 90s, I picked a very tough song "Sajdaa" from "My Name Is Khan". I had my first big vocal injury singing it and could not reach to my 100th song for atleast 3 months. Forget singing, I could not talk and my doctor advised me to not try singing. These are the ill effects of untrained singing. And that too singing after such a long break. I did get over it and continued learning music and singing film songs on You Tube,  because I could not live without music now. It was taking me out of every challenge that I faced in life and giving me strength.

The Journey to 200

   This journey from 100 to 200 took 3 years. But it was a lot of learning and enjoyment. Classical training improved my voice quality continuously. Songs were becoming more palatable. My pronunciation of Hindi and Punjabi which an issue earlier started improving considerably. I started understanding and giving attention to each bit of the song and practicing each bit and its variations before I presented it. This was not the case earlier. But there was still a problem.

     I didn't have good quality recording equipment. I googled a lot and contacted music recording studios. None of them were willing to help either because they were busy or since it was their business secret. I had to travel from Chinchwad to Old Pune regularly in search of recording studios. One studio guy then sold a pre-amplifier to me for 60K. It was something that he didnt perhaps want. I started using it with a dynamic microphone at home. It was giving a little better quality then the cheap headsets that I used to sing with. But not a quality close to professional recording quality. So though I did good in my practice of the 100 to 150 songs, many of them didn't come out as great recordings. My Live singing quality was far better than what was getting recorded. I started researching more and more. Then in 2016 November I attended a musical workshop where I met Mr. Suresh Kalkundrikar Ji of Belgaum, Karnataka. He had a recording studio in Belgaum and his family was in Pune. He used to travel up and down regularly. I asked him if he could help. He helped me buy good recording equipment and helped me setup them. Now I had a mini recording studio at home. The first song that I sang with that equipment was from the film "Raees". It came out to a great quality, close to professional. And I was myself impressed that now there is some justice to what I am singing.

     Classical music was advancing and now I had to give focus on classical training too. This meant that the hobby of film songs had to take a little back seat. Then I tried some tough classical/semi-classical songs from Hindi, Telugu and Marathi films some of which came out good and some told me that there are challenges further ahead. But I was ready for each challenge.
 
    I continued with Music when I was happy, sad. Some songs that I planned to sing, I could not due to the influences of life on certain occasions. But I didn't forget those songs and did sing them later. Some songs that I wanted to do justice to, I sang them again with my new recording equipment. In these 4 years I added Yoga to my exercise. Yoga started helping me immensely in my breath control and stamina. In these 4 years I was blessed to progress on Music, Yoga in parallel, relish and cherish in their company. These two friends will stay with me for this life, thanks to the Almighty.

  I didn't feel like participating in competitions. But a whats app message from my music school prompted me to participate in the Voice Of Pune competition. I won the 2nd Runner up in my first competition in August 2018 and that was a big confidence booster. I was going through a lean time and was not feeling good that time. But this win came as a blessing. Many competitions have age limit till 35 years. So being a 42 years guy, I cannot participate in all. But there are still good competitions that I can look forward to. And my aim was not to compete. It was to learn and enjoy music anyways. Any by product of this is purely a blessing from my God. On festive occasions, He did bless me to sing nice songs dedicated to Him.

   From 150 to 200 songs it was a satisfying journey with my new recording equipment. From Melodies to classical renderings to tough contemporary songs, I could try all and I got good appreciation. But real classical singing and gaining expertise in it is a life long penance is what I realized in this process. There are many further goals that I need to reach. Thanks to my Guru Ji's guidance I am enjoying this journey and that is what is important. And so my 200th was "Yuhi Chala Chal Rahi" From Swades. Numbers are just numbers. But they give us a count and a confidence associated with that, a satisfaction and a path to look forward to. The path further is a blessing by God. I pray to Him to keep me engaged with these Friends - Music and Yoga. And help me enjoy this journey and make this a memorable one.

                                                  Jai Sriman Narayana
                                                  Asmad Gurubhyo Namaha
                                                  Srimate Ramanujaya Namaha