my music album - part 1

Finally! After tons of sleepless nights and lazy days spent
over writing, arranging and recording, the songs are mixed. Phew! The last
stage was getting them mixed. Until I went for the mixing sessions, I
myself had little idea that the process is so taxing. But all the effort
was completely worth it! I would always wonder how Rahman comes up with
such a different feel to his music and the finish of that music is very
different from what other contemporary directors do. Also, I was puzzled
about how the songs transform from the time they are simply
recorded to the time they are mixed. The energy that Chirag and Parth
spent on finer details of the songs was phenomenal! The entire
process took us seven days altogether and it was done in Mumbai. Guess who
did this miracle for us? Ashish Manchanda. For those who are not aware, he
is the same wizard who mixed music for films like Krrish, Khosla ka Ghosla,
Oye lucky, luck oye and Dev D! You will hear two new voices in the album:
Prachi Shah, winner of the TataIndicom talent hunt in Mirchi Music awards
and Sonic Suthar, a young bubbling voice. Prachi has sung a duet and Sonic
has sung in a chorus number.

Moving on, I am not going to spoil the fun by revealing it
all here! Out of the beautiful assemblage of seven contemporay Gujarati
songs, I will tell you about three. The first is "Pari" which is very
special to me because I was initially skeptical if I could even sing it.
The song required a different tone, not the one that I talk on radio with.
I feel that challenge helped me explore my vocal abilities.

The second song is "Full-too masti" which is like an old
faded photo album, carefully preserving and reminding us of simple but
cheerful moments that we used to enjoy. It has a hint of nostalgia and
takes you back to the days when people found joys in small
things.

The last song I will tell you about for now is "Amdavad".
Yes! It is an exclusive rendition dedicated to the new-age Amdavad. It is
an evolved narration of the city and its new occupants, traffic, malls etc.
This song is a refreshing take which celebrates the identity of "aapnu
sheher-amdavad"

For now, this is it. I will keep all of you posted on what
happens. I am still looking for a nice title for my album. I have been
considering "Kaan-fusion" and "Full-too masti" but I woud love to have your
Mirchidaar suggestions!

Ice cream!

I can never forget it! I used to love going to Down Town Restaurant at LawGarden to enjoy the delicious Vadilal Choco cream candy! Me and my dad usedto have a competition on Sundays - Who would eat maximum Choco creams?

I remember having the Rs. 5 softies at YUMS! He used to take me to Natraj Cinema for the Dairy Den Softies. I loved litchi and chocolate softiesthere. It was only twice or thrice a year that we could have Dairy Den Softies as they were quite costly for us!

And now? All we amdavadis enjoy the luxury of Gelato's - Italian icecreamtoo. In Casa was the first ones to launch Gelato`s in Ahmedabad with outlets in Fun Republic, R World and now in Swati Restaurant, Law Garden. You can enjoy Gelato's at Amezo, Gulmahor Mall, Agashiye, E-scoops too I guess. Correct me if am wrong.

Agashiye has this amazing homemade ice cream menu. Rajwadu and Vishala too serve homemade ice cream I guess. I am told once there was a famous 'Derani Jethani no ice cream' at Navrangpura. They had a fight and they separated. Now there is a partition wall. On one side you get Derani no ice cream and on the other Jethani no! I have heard its in Chaitanya Society, near Lakhudi Talavadi, Navrangpura.

Amdavadis love kothi no ice cream and matla kulfi as much as they love the frozen desserts.Amdavad's total ice cream market is 70 crores!

Havmor, Amul, Vadilal, Baskin Robins face a tough competition from the local players like Shradhdhanand, Patel, Jaising, Asharfi, Janta coldcoco!!

I loved Ben N Jerry's ice cream and Cold Stone ice cream in the US. You know what? There is a gold ice cream too!! New York City's Serendipity 3 restaurant is known for its desserts,especially its $1000 Serendipity Golden Opulence Sundae. To dig into this costly treat, you must make a reservation 48 hours in advance. Its madewith Tahitian and Madagaskar Vanilla flavor and a 23- carat Gold edibleleaf!In Japan, you find Noodle's Ice cream too! Our Amdavad is no less!

I scream, you scream, we'd all scream if we had to eat any of the super-strange ice cream concoctions that we have nowadays in Amdavad. Ginger ice cream, Neem icecream, Variyali, Kotha, Gulkand ice cream, friedice cream, ice cream bhajjiya! We can have all the weird flavors in Amdavad now.

What are the weird ice creams that you have had so far? Where have you hadthe weirdest ice creams in Amdavad? Forget weird, as a foodie what wouldyou recommend to a fellow foodie as far as best ice cream is concerned?

Your comments will help a lot of ppl to explore the new taste andbeat the heat this summer.

I have an idea. Why cant we have 'Paani puri flavor ice cream'? If we canhave 'paobhaji khakra' or 'cholafali khakhra', why not have paobhaji flavoricecream? Phew!!!

My Music Album

It has been the most joyful process in the recent times for me.

I alwayswanted to create a different sound for Gujarati Music...somethingcontemporary...out of the box.

Chirag writes amazing poetry. We have been working together since five anda half years now with Radio Mirchi. It was the World Gujarati ConferenceTheme Song, which we did in August 2008, gave both of us the confidencethat we must write and compose together.

I was looking for a music composer who would add a new, fresh, radicallydifferent sound to mine and Chirag's sense for music. I discoverd the musiccomposer for my album in Parth Thakker. He is just 19 and studies music inAhmedabad. He is just too good with his craft.I would call his work a musical meditation.

Our trio clicked!

We happened to create five songs. Recorded them. We thought five was tooless a number for a complete music album. We tried two more songs. We justfinished the last recording yesterday.

I realised it one more time in life....Happiness is not in the merepossession of money or power; it lies in the joy of creativity, in the thrill of creative effort.

There are a lot many processes that we will have to go through before therelease of the album. I am aiming at the 1st of May - Gujarat Day for therelease. Fingers crossed....