Re:[arr]PICTURE OF BLAAZE - SINGER

Sat, 29 Apr 2006 17:51:02 -0700

hi Yusuf !! u asked picture of blaaze. but i cud get only the picture of Rajesh Raman of Chennai and an interview recently. Ok. thanks     Pankaj
 
`RAP is rhythm and poetry'

 
As Blaaze waits for singer Tanvi who is stuck at a recording with Yuvan Shankar Raja, the rapper settles down to tell us all — from the origin of the legendary "B-to-the-A to the B-to-the-A" rap that caught the Superstar's fancy to his latest album, "Zambezifunk", with Sagar Desai. He also tells Tanvi over phone that we from MetroPlus had left because she was late. Tanvi walks in all nervous and apologises profusely. SUDHISH KAMATH begins the recording.
 
Tanvi: Blaaze, what's your real name?
 
Blaaze: Lakshmi narasimha vijayarajagopala seshadri sharma rajesh raman.
 
Tanvi: Dude, I thought your name was Rajesh.
 
Blaaze: Yeah, see that's the thing. A lot of people think that just because you wear a bandanna, you rap and you talk differently, you must be from another planet. But no, I was born in Chennai and my grandfather gave me this complete list of names and now I'm proud of it. Blaaze is like my rap name. Blaaze also means `do your own thing'. What's your full name?
 
Tanvi: Tanvi Shah... no actually, it's Tanvi Yogesh Amritlal Devraj Something Shah... (laughs) but I use only Tanvi.
 
Blaaze: Fair enough. I use Blaaze.
 
Tanvi: Me, I'm gonna change it to Vitamin T... anyway...
 
Blaaze: Blaaze featuring Vitamin T... Actually, we should collaborate. I saw you guys performing with your band...
 
Tanvi: Zahrra...
 
Blaaze: It's deep and it's real. The way you guys performed, it showed that everybody had something to offer. It wasn't about a record deal. It wasn't about being on TV. It was just about doing real music. I think that's amazing.
 
Tanvi: We've worked really hard at bringing out world music, Latin music, Afro-Cuban, Salsa, Rumba... I'm not saying Indi-pop or that kind of music is bad but there are other genres...
 
Blaaze: It's not to disrespect Indi-pop or anything but some of that is really bad stuff. Because it's all manufactured, and it's all like somebody writes the stuff, somebody does the music and somebody's father has a lot of money and they put out a video... and you see a new face everyday on TV. But that's not real music. Real music is playing live and having people who want to offer something different to the world.
 
Tanvi: Thank you. Do you write your own lyrics?
 
Blaaze: Absolutely. I think it's important to always write your own lyrics. Especially, for a rap. Because it's what you have in your head, what you want to say. I think it's more than just trying to say something that people want to hear as opposed to something that you want to say. It's poetry. Rap is rhythm and poetry... RAP.
 
Tanvi: You prefer rapping in English?
 
Blaaze: I think in English, so it's more natural for me to rap in English. But A. R. Rahman definitely brought out the Tamil angle. I've always understood and spoken Tamil but never thought I could rap in it. So I'm blessed to have him take it out from me. But, your stuff is not even in English.
 
Tanvi: No, not in English. It is difficult for me because I have to learn the right accent. I don't want to make a fool of myself. Like, if there's a Spanish guy sitting in the audience, he shouldn't say she has a bad accent. But I've had people come up to me and say: `Your accent is pretty good. It's almost there.' So we have to practise a lot and it's not only Spanish, it's like African, Swahili, Lebanese and Turkish. Singing Cheb Mami and Samira Syed is not easy and Arabic language is all like Uff ff ff!
 
Blaaze: Tamil is not an easy language as well but definitely one of the most phonetically hip-hop equivalent languages... Many a time, a lot people do criticise my accent when I talk in Tamil but at least I'm trying.
 
Tanvi: It's the same thing for me. Being a Gujarati, it is difficult though I have been here all my life.
 
Blaaze: Rest of the interview Tamille peslaam.
 
Tanvi: No, no, no. Pesa mudiyaathu.
 
Blaaze: For the first time, I want MetroPlus readers who think and speak in English to read in Tamil. That's where we are. We are here in Chennai... Adutha paatu enna padathukku?
 
Tanvi (sings): "Loosu Penne... " (a song from "Vallavan" for which they both had recorded)
 
Blaaze: Onna pathiyaa? (laughs)
 
Tanvi: (sarcastically) Thank you... Thank you, so much. "Pray for me, brother". What about that song?
 
Blaaze: "Pray for me, brother" is a song I wrote for Rahman, he being ambassador for the UN. It should come out soon. He has sung it, I've done a little rap. It's about prayer. I heard you are going off to Spain to learn some stuff...
 
Tanvi: I'm going to attend these workshops in Madrid where I get to learn percussion, flamenco singing and belly dancing.
 
Blaaze: Wow, that's a package.
 
Tanvi: I've been learning from percussionist Shiva of Radio Mirchi. He's awesome...
 
Blaaze: He's phenomenal.
 
Tanvi: So, he's been teaching me the darboukah. I'm happy that I found an authentic darboukah. So I just want to make use of it. Might as well learn different techniques and come back. I heard you had a little baby boy.
 
Blaaze: Yeah, he's three weeks old. His name is Mrishal Neelakantan Raman. My daughter is two and her name is Mrishti Vaishnavi Raman. I think everybody should have kids because you'll learn to respect your parents. It's only after you have kids, you'll know how much they have done for you when you didn't even know. Mrishti, you better read this one day and you'll know what I'm talking about. And all you boys out there trying to hit on my daughter, you better watch out, gangster rapper Blaaze will be after you.
 
Tanvi: Where do you see yourself five or ten years from now?
 
Blaaze: I don't see beyond the moment. But what I'm going to seriously try and do with my rap is see that young people in the country actually care about things and do stuff that makes a difference... to talk about issues. We have to get everybody angry about things that are not okay. And you?
 
Tanvi: Hopefully, I'll have a huge Zahrra school of music.
 
PHOTO: R. SHIVAJI RAO


Yusuf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Can any one can send me Blaaze picture
 

Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1¢/min.

Explore, Experience, Enjoy A.R.Rahman - The Man, The Music, The Magic.
Only at arrahmanfans.com - The definitive A.R.Rahman e-community.

Homepage: http://www.arrahmanfans.com
Admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]



SPONSORED LINKS
New music artists Christian music artists New country music artists
Country music artists Unsigned music artist

YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS



Reply via email to