Jan 14, 2015 Music, Original Poetry
The Greek Myth that Influenced Two of my Songs (YouTube links)
By Vijaya Sundaram
Among all the Greek myths, the myth of Icarus and the story of Daedalus always captured me in a way I cannot fully explain.
The image of a young boy spinning up into the sky, exulting in his freedom from gravity, disobeying the voice of reason and caution (his father’s), and paying the price for it, always stayed with me. And I imagined that Icarus, foolish though he was, made it to the sun, whom he seemed to worship more than the moon (after whom he was named by his Cretan mother). Not only that, I imagined that he met the sun-beings who beckoned him to join them inside and beyond the sun. Thus, he, the moon-being, now ascends to a state of grace, despite his disobedience. From these ruminations, a song was born. I wrote this song, and composed the music for it back in 1994, and recorded it with the Indian version of the group Antigravity (Antigravity is the name of the band begun by my musician-composer-bassist-singer husband, Warren Senders. The American version was formed in the late 1970s, and the Indian one in 1985). Here is that song, which I titled Moon Being:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-oaNk3Tp6M
A long time ago (approximately over two decades), I read The Maze Maker by Michael Ayrton, and was haunted by his deeply moving story of Daedalus, told in the first person. I pictured the distraught father escaping from his Cretan captors, and flying with his son towards freedom over the blue Aegean, and imagining him as a bird over the water, staying the course, risking nothing more than the fact that he was flying. He didn’t fly too high, for fear of melting the wax that held his contraption together, nor did he fly too low, for fear of the sea weighing his feathered wings with moisture and dragging him into the depths. I titled the song that was born from this image Bird Over The Water (I wrote this one in 1990, and recorded it in 1994 with the Indian Antigravity.) Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1KIAGcufVE&spfreload=10
Hope you enjoy my music, songs and singing!
Love,
Dreamer of Dreams
Tags: #Daedalus, Bird Over The Water, Compositions by Vijaya Sundaram, Greek Mythology references, Icarus, Moon-Being, Original songs by Vijaya Sundaram, Singing by Vijaya Sundaram
Jul 6, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries, Music, Parenting/ Home-schooling / Family Music and other Notes
Walked with Hol in the morning. She was sedate and heeled well — a nice change from the crazy persona she projected yesterday.
Read aloud two beautifully illustrated and entrancingly written graphic novels (one based on Athena and the other on Poseidon) to S after lunch. She was instantly captivated, and re-read them by herself again and again. She’s been deep into Greek Mythology since I bought her a few wonderfully engaging books on it a couple of years ago. She remembers things I don’t. It’s amazing. Her favorite goddess are Athena, Artemis, Demeter, Hestia and Metis. And I think she fell in love with the Theseus shown in the Poseidon book. She rather likes, and feels sorry for, Poseidon’s Cyclops son, Polyphemus. She LOVED the three Fates show in the Athena book. Good taste!
Lots of planting in the evening. Very nice. Found a bunny in the garden, which appeared suddenly out of tall grasses, and sprang away into the hostas on the side. S helped with weeding.
Hol’s busy chewing on a water bottle. Got to rescue it.
Went up for a bit and listened to S practising guitar, improvising on a D minor scale, while Warren played the chords. Lovely! Holly listened to her, and then to us, when we sang a Beatles song together. She likes music, just as we all do.
Tags: #Dog, #Gardening, #Journal Entry, Family time with daughter, husband, Lazy Sunday
May 22, 2014 Music
Someone shared this on a friend’s FB page, and I was instantly transported to the early 80s, when I was young, and listened to Led Zeppelin a lot (or at least the album on which this song appears).
I know I sound like an old fogey, but seriously, where ARE the real songs in popular music today? It’s all either trash-talk, or mushy.
Give me Pink Floyd, King Crimson, even Deep Purple, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, always Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Queen, Eric Clapton, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Simon and Garfunkel.
And always, The Beatles.
Give me Suzanne Vega, always.
Joan Baez (even though her shrill trills set my teeth on edge)
Joni Mitchell (lovely songs, too high a voice for my taste, but beautiful, still).
Carole King
Don McLean
Even Nirvana, whose sound is inimitable.
I know I sound like an old fogey, but seriously, where ARE the real songs in popular music today? It’s all either trash-talk, or mushy.
Give me Pink Floyd, King Crimson, even Deep Purple, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, always Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Queen, Eric Clapton, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Simon and Garfunkel.
And always, The Beatles.
Give me Suzanne Vega, always.
Joan Baez (even though her shrill trills set my teeth on edge)
Joni Mitchell (lovely songs, too high a voice for my taste, but beautiful, still).
Carole King
Don McLean
Even Nirvana, whose sound is inimitable.
Always, Bob Dylan!
And from before, and since, Pete Seeger.
And from before, and since, Pete Seeger.
Yes, there are others, of course. They’ll come to mind.
Form, sound, soul, structure, musicality, good taste (most of them, and some of them not all the time, but much of the time) — they’re all there.
And I’m not even at jazz music yet, or the old songs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, or soul.
Fortunately, there are good singer-songwriters out there, but they’re not making much either in terms of fame or money. That’s a shame.
Here are some songs about California (just because …):
Tags: #Suzanne Vega, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Carole King, Crosby, Deep Purple, Don McLean, Emerson, Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, King Crimson, Lake and Palmer, Led Zeppelin, nirvana, Pete Seeger, Pink Floyd, Queen, Rock, Simon and Garfunkel, Singer-Songwriters, Still and Nash, The Doors, The Mamas & The Papas
Jan 19, 2014 Essays: On Books, Art, Literary Appreciation and so on, Music
- … And I had no idea that I was going to write a song. These words below flowed easily, as I put some chords together, and the melody came with the words.
- You may not know this, Gentle Reader, but the last time I wrote a song was in the late 1990s.
- Perhaps this will stay, perhaps it might not, but I liked it today. I plan to record a rudimentary version of it tonight on my MacBookPro’sPhotoBooth, so as to keep a record of it. Whether I will post the recording or not, only time will tell. Meanwhile, here it is, raw. And no, nothing at all prompted this. It’s just a story.
- _________________________________________________________
School-Girl with Smart-Phone
(OR: Perhaps it Doesn’t Really Matter)
©By Vijaya Sundaram
January 19th, 2014
The crystal face she peers into clouds right up.
Not a glimpse of clear sky,
Not a glimpse of hope.
She looks within, no messages pop right up.
No one to miss her,
No way to cope.
Should I stay or should I go?
Should I do my best to know?
Would it be the way for me,
To spread my wings, and to be truly free?
They don’t see her standing here alone so long.
They don’t see all her scars.
They cannot see her.
In the halls, as she walks by invisible,
People seem to stand so far,
They do not stir.
Should I stay or should I go?
Should I do my best to know?
Would it be the way for me,
To cut my wings, and then be so truly free?
Every empty canyon calls,
Every stretch of waterfall,
Every mountaintop so tall,
To each of these she starts to crawl.
Perhaps it doesn’t really matter.
Perhaps it doesn’t really matter.
A new sun will rise again
With me here or without.
Morning birds will fly again
With me here or without.
Trees will make their coat of green,
I will try to not be seen.
I will grow these roots and leaves,
And I will plant myself in earth.
I will find a face that’s undeceived,
And find it all to be of worth.
Perhaps it doesn’t really matter.
Perhaps it doesn’t really matter.
She turns to her phone
She turn to her phone
Call me.
___________________________ The End ________________________
Tags: #Loneliness, #Original Poetry, Girl with SmartPhone, original song, school
May 9, 2013 Music
Some Music for You Today – May 9th, 2013
“Yesterdays” by Jerome Kern (with lyrics by Otto Harbach) This version performed by Vijaya Sundaram and Warren Senders in 1989.
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Yulduz Usmanova (Usmonova) is a well-known Uzbeki singer. I thought you’d enjoy listening to her beautiful singing.
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Eddie Jefferson sings “Sister Sadie.”
I love Mr. Jefferson’s warm, fuzzy vocals. There’s humor and great musicality in all his singing. He generally makes me smile. (Although, I must say this song isn’t funny).
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Billie Holiday: I Cover The Waterfront
She always makes me want to cry.
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The above piece is a composition by Warren Senders, who put Baul songs to music. The lead singer in this live concert recording from 1993 song is me (yes, I used to be a part of a group of women singers known as “Goddess Gospel” — founded and led by Louise Cloutier, formerly of Cambridge, now in Chicago). Hope you enjoy Three Baul Songs!
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One of my favorite pieces of guitar playing: Bach Cello Suite #1 in G, played by Andres Segovia.
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Otis Redding — “These Arms of Mine”
I love Otis Redding!
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Ray Charles — “Georgia On My Mind”
There’s nobody like Ray!
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Bob Dylan — It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
Then, there’s Bob!
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“Julia” by The Beatles (John Lennon)
This, too, makes me want to cry.
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And of course, there’s Hindustani (North Indian) Classical Vocal Music. Hope you enjoy Ashwini Bhide Deshpande singing Raga Bhimpalasi.
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Song from the movie “Alaipayuthey” — music by A.R. Rahman
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Another song from the movie “Alaipayuthey” — music by A.R. Rahman. This one is one of my absolute favorite A.R. Rahman songs.
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“Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” is one of my favorite pieces by Charles Mingus. I used to sing a version of it (lovely lyrics!).
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That’s it for today, folks. I’m still feeling a little shy about putting up my very own songs and compositions, but will do so anon. Hope you enjoyed the music!
Tags: #Vijaya Sundaram, #Warren Senders, Alaipayuthey songs, Andres Segovia, Antigravity, Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, Bob Dylan, Charles Mingus, Jerome Kern, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Yulduz Usmanova, Yulduz Usmonova