Chal musafir!
Yesterday was an awesome one! My friend Anando came over; he's the one I compose songs with. He brought with him a sheet of paper with the lyrics (carefully torn off a spiral-bound diary so that 15 years from now, this "original manuscript" sells for millions :-P).
He had the tune in his mind as well. The song's called Chal Musafir (Move on), and it's a motivational song about a traveler being advised to keep moving.
Now the funny thing is that he writes the lyrics and composes the tune, but he has no idea about chords and harmony. That is supposed to be a virtue, because then we come up with songs that are not tied to mathematical formula-like structures. But the hard part has started now!! I have to figure the chords based on the melody, then think up some nice arrangement and record that. After the music is done, we get down to recording the vocals. This is our peculiar approach to composing songs, and it works well.
Our recording days are great! It's almost a custom for Anando to not be in a mood to sing during the first session (we record in my home). He then invariably asks for some 'scintillating' stuff (if you know what that means) and we usually wind up with nothing recorded. ;-) The next day is when the magic happens - we record, edit, cut, paste (he needs at least 100 takes to get a song right) and mix the song. This usually takes up a whole day.
But the end results are nice... at least for us. :-)
So off I go to figure out the chords...
He had the tune in his mind as well. The song's called Chal Musafir (Move on), and it's a motivational song about a traveler being advised to keep moving.
Now the funny thing is that he writes the lyrics and composes the tune, but he has no idea about chords and harmony. That is supposed to be a virtue, because then we come up with songs that are not tied to mathematical formula-like structures. But the hard part has started now!! I have to figure the chords based on the melody, then think up some nice arrangement and record that. After the music is done, we get down to recording the vocals. This is our peculiar approach to composing songs, and it works well.
Our recording days are great! It's almost a custom for Anando to not be in a mood to sing during the first session (we record in my home). He then invariably asks for some 'scintillating' stuff (if you know what that means) and we usually wind up with nothing recorded. ;-) The next day is when the magic happens - we record, edit, cut, paste (he needs at least 100 takes to get a song right) and mix the song. This usually takes up a whole day.
But the end results are nice... at least for us. :-)
So off I go to figure out the chords...
