Karige ee kaalam... Niluvadu nee kosam..

కరిగే ఈ కాలం ... నిలవదు నీ కోసం....
కరగని నీ కలతో ... నువ్వే పరుగెత్తాలి...
కదిలే ఈ లోకం ... వినదే నీ శోకం ....
చెరగని నీ నవ్వే ... నీకు బలమవ్వాలి ....

రాతిరి మాటున సూరీడు ...నిలబడిపోడు ఏనాడూ...
రేయిని చీల్చుకు ప్రతిరోజు ఉదయిస్తాడు

నిప్పై మండే కల తోడు... నింగిని తాకేయ్ ఈనాడు...
అలలా ఎగసి అనునిత్యం నువ్ పోరాడు ...

|| కరిగే ఈ కాలం ||

నేలన నాటిన విత్తైనా .... చుట్టూ ఉన్నది మట్టైనా ...
మొక్కగా మారి చెట్టుగ ఎదిగే మార్గం తపనేగా ....

కష్టం అయితే ఇష్టం లా .... నష్టం అన్నది ఉంటుందా....
చెట్టుగ మారి నీడను పంచేయ్ .. వర్షం జత రాగా ...

ఉలి పోట్లెన్నో పడుతున్నా .. సమ్మెట భారం నెడుతున్నా...
ఓర్పుగా నేర్పుగా ఓరిమి చూపే  శిల్పం కధనే వినరావా ...

|| కరిగే ఈ కాలం ||
- Kosanam Naga Chaitanya

Action- condition interaction!!!

One's actions are heavily influenced by the conditions they are subjected to by environment or the conditions they create themselves. And the actions yield results which again create a new set/subset of conditions. Actions seem to be only controllable component in superset of conditions in universe. This makes naren's statement that everyone is sculptor of their own destiny, very relevant to this context

New Energyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

I find a new surge of energy within me. Mobilizing all the creative forces. Best days are yet to come. All set to express the infinite possibilities. May the divine blessings are with me, in the pursuit of excellence.

Missing Rekha and constant sweet chatter a lot. But still enjoying her closeness in this distance.

Too much excitement to contain in one body ;) :).

Learnt music staff notation this week and working on an exciting IT-Finance application.

New findings on chord-melody use for composition.

Gut feeling....!!

Not sure why, but I have a strong gut feeling that I will definitely achieve a state of excellence which would be a beauty to watch, for others. Hoping your love and affection, as I roll up sleeves and focus efforts, to take myself to next level of performance and creative force. 

Musical Beginning!!

The earliest instance in my life which made me appreciate the beauty of music happened in my childhood... may be in 1994 when my aunt (mother's sister) visited our home. She was carrying so called sony walkman at that time and was listening to a cassette of the film "Padmavyuham" songs of which are composed by A R Rahman in his career debut stage. I loved one particular song "Ninna Eee Kalavarintha" so much that it stayed and got etched on my mind forever. Over next five six years, i had limited access to listen songs except for radio and an old Philips tape recorder which generally is used to play devotional songs.

When I was studying 5th or 6th class, my dad enrolled me with Sri Kodi Ramamoorthi garu who was an excellent Veena player and classical music teacher. Though I practiced Sa re ga ma notes, Jatis and few keerthanas, veena instrument attracted me a lot. I always wanted to experiment with it. I vividly remember asking him if I can borrow his instrument(which he treasured more than his life and wife) and he agreed. Over the weekend, I tweaked and twisted so much that by Monday morning that I broke three strings. The magnitude of scathing I received for that is well left for your imagination. This has put an end to six month training.

But, whenever I listened to any song, the individual components of song thrilled me. Earlier in childhood, I thought(like any other kid) that in a video song, the instrument players must be sitting somewhere near hero heroine couple and played instruments while hero heroine sang melodiously. It is only much later that I understood about audio recording and sound mixing techniques.

Thanks to my dad, who is a versatile genius and possessed gifted voice, I got multiple chances to visit and perform in radio and television, where I learned how instrument players sit in recording studio and compose music.

I remember requesting my dad to buy me audio cassette of 'Nuvve Kavali', a telugu film. He bought it for me with a condition that I should learn and sing at least one song for him which I did. I must have listened to that cassette a zillion times.

But whenever I heard A R Rahman's song it was quite different in tone and tenor when compared to  any classical keertana. This evoked in me tremendous desire to understand how it is different. But as you would know, like any other indian student of my age then, was so busy with academics that I had limited time to reach out to people to clarify my doubts. Meanwhile internet helped me with lot of information.

In my third year of engineering, in JNTU Hyderabad hostel, there was a hostel day celebration going on which I attended. One senior Surinada Bhaskar introduced me to a software called Fruity Loops which turned out to be my first introduction to digital music. It had so many instruments which I often listen in any modern song may it be of A R Rahman or any other leading composer then. I remember foregoing sleep for days following that incident, tweaking with that software piece.

Thanks to fluent telugu taught by dad (who himself is a master's degree holder in telugu literature and diehard literature aficionado) and exposure to lot of telugu literature at home, I picked up tough words and complex usage very easily. During engineering days,  I used to pen song lyrics whenever inspiration strikes me. I remember sitting in K S Bakers in KPHB,where we would gather for birthday parties, and instantly writing a pallavi on a tissue paper. My friend Sunil liked it and encouraged me to complete charanam which I did the very evening. This was my first full song. The joy of creating a song and composing your own song is the beauty I discovered then.

On a separate note, my longtime friend and now my wife Rekha was a big fan of my amateur poetry and singing. She has been a great supporter always. Needless to mention, poetry and song rendition were some of the tools I employed to impress Rekha  as well ;).

With a bit of effort, I managed to record a song on my computer, for my own lyrics, tune and yes first time usage of cymbals and drums.

On seeing my interest, dad introduced me to one of his close friend, Sri Theresh babu garu (pydrisree) who is an exponent of telugu poetry and brilliant gazal writer with excellent music sense. He is an awesome singer and poet himself. He visited my home to listen to my song and he was extremely happy with it. That is when he introduced me to the concept of Shruti- Laya/ Rhythm-Melody. The words he taught me that day still echo in my head. Thenceforth, analysis of songs became so easy and has become my second nature. I realized how bass is effectively used and how beautiful lyrics marry with rhtyhm and melody to become an ocean of awesomeness.

The first thing I bought with my first salary from HAL is to buy a 15k casio CTK 5000 61 key electronic keyboard. Overtime I realized the huge potential and sound making abilities of modern day electronic synthesizers and midi controllers. The mere note of a piano, strum of a guitar or high pitched overture of a string started inspiring me. There were days I dreamt of buying Yamaha Motif or Korg worth 3lakh inr and then realized how a cheap midi controller and a powerful DAW in studio can beat Yamaha and Korg hands down. For sometime, I entertained the idea of quitting job and signing up for Trinity College, London. I approached School of Audio Engineering in Bangalore for a course on music production. You might know that GV Prakash Kumar was SAE student. But 1.5 lakh fee deterred me.

I started realizing how nature has inherent rhythms and melodies. I understood how the timbre and tone of human voice adds richness to composition and started evaluating singers on their unique gift - voice. Started following Rasool pookutty and was thrilled when he won academy award. Learnt how Rahman effectively uses technology to bring freshness to his songs.

I studied chords and try to marry it with the knowledge of melakartha ragas. Started understanding chord progressions accompanied by bass movements and subtle usage of chorus.

Thanks to support of Rekha, owned a Novation sl mkII zero controller and Yamaha audiogram 6. And recently M-Audio Axiom(Thanks again Rekha for taking pain of going to Chennai all the way and getting it back to Hyderabad for me).

Hitting studio for composing a theme for IIM B alumni association meet was an awesome experience. Got the chance to actualize my music ideas into an mp3 with help of my friend singer Bhole. The tremendous satisfaction you get when you hold a CD that has song you composed it is unparalleled. It doubled my confidence in me.(https://soundcloud.com/chaitanya-naga-1/tejate-the-theme-music-of)

And then, I had this dream of composing an album, just to explore what I can do here. I don't have a brilliant training in any instrument. But I feel that my intuition and understanding would help me. Now, I'm starting off with it this day. I visualize it to have four songs with a particular theme. Hope it turns out well.

Hold on to your dream...!!

(#story collected from facebook)

This is one of the SADDEST stories ever told in Hollywood. His name is Sylvestar Stallone. One of the BIGGEST and Most famous American Movie superstars. Back in the day,Stallone was a
struggling actor in every definition. At some point,he got so broke that he stole his wife's jewellery and sold it. Things got so bad that he even ended up homeless. Yes,he slept at the New York bus station for 3 days. Unable to pay rent or afford food. His lowest point came when he tried to sell his dog at the liquor store to any
stranger. He didnt have money to feed the dog anymore. He sold it at $25 only. He says he walked away crying.

Two weeks later,he saw a boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner and that match gave him the inspiration to write the script for the famous movie,ROCKY. He wrote the
script for 20 hours! He tried to sell it and got an offer for $125,000 for the script. But he had just ONE REQUEST. He wanted to STAR in
the movie. He wanted to be the MAIN ACTOR. Rocky himself. But the studio said NO. They wanted a REAL STAR.

They said he "Looked funny and talked funny". He left with his script. Afew weeks later,the studio offered him $250,000 for the script. He refused. They even offered $350,000. He still refused. They wanted his movie. But NOT him. He said NO. He had to be
IN THAT MOVIE.

After a while,the studio agreed,gave him $35,000 for the script and let him star in it! The rest is history! The movie won Best Picture,Best Directing and Best Film Editing at the prestigious
Oscar Awards. He was even nominated for BEST ACTOR! The Movie ROCKY was even inducted into the American National Film Registry as one of the greatest movies ever!

And do You know the first thing he bought with the $35,000? THE DOG HE SOLD. Yes,Stallone LOVED HIS DOG SO MUCH that he stood at the liquor store for 3 days waiting for the man he sold
his dog to. And on the 3rd day,he saw the man coming with the dog. Stallone explained why he sold the dog and begged for the dog back. The man refused. Stallone offered him $100. The
man refused. He offered him $500. And the guy refused. Yes,he refused even $1000. And,Believe it or Not,Stallone had to pay $15,000 for the same,same dog he sold at $25 only! And he
finally got his dog back!

And today,the same Stallone who slept in the streets and sold his dog JUST BECAUSE he couldnt even feed it anymore,is one of the GREATEST Movie Stars who ever walked the Earth!

Being broke is BAD. Really BAD. Have You ever had a dream? A wonderful dream? But You are too broke to implement it? Too tiny to do it? Too small to accomplish it? Damn! I've been there too many times!

Life is tough. Opportunities will pass you by,just because you are a
NOBODY. People will want your products but NOT YOU. Its a tough
world. If you aint already famous,or rich or "connected",You will find it rough.
Doors will be shut on You. People will steal your glory and crash your hopes.You will push and push. And yet NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.

And then your hopes will be crashed.You will be broke. Damn broke. You will do odd jobs for survival. You will be unable to feed yourself. And Yes,you may end up sleeping in the streets.
It happens. Yes,it does.

BUT NEVER LET THEM CRUSH THAT DREAM. Whatever happens to
You,Keep Dreaming. Even when they crush your hopes,Keep Dreaming. Even when they turn you away,Keep Dreaming.
Even when they shut you down,Keep Dreaming.

NO ONE KNOWS WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF EXCEPT YOURSELF! People will judge You by HOW you look. And by WHAT You have.
But please,Fight on! Fight for Your place in history. Fight for your glory. NEVER EVER GIVE UP!

Even if it means selling all your clothes and sleeping with the dogs,ITS OKAY! But AS LONG AS YOU ARE STILL ALIVE,Your STORY IS NOT OVER. TRUST ME.

Keep Up the Fight. Keep your dreams and hope alive. Go gerrit.

Like and share if inspired. Lovely day people!

One of my compositions to hit studio...!!

https://soundcloud.com/chaitanya-naga-1/tejate-the-theme-music-of