Work from home has proved to be an opportunity for fans of Agam to listen to Harish Sivaramakrishnan’s impromptu song sessions on Facebook.
On Wednesday (March 18) for nearly an hour Harish, the lead singer of progressive classical rock band Agam, regaled his fans from all over the world with bits and pieces of their favourite songs as he hosted a watch party. Listeners joined in from Sweden, US, Kuwait, Spain, UK and so on to listen to him crooning notes from ghazals of Mehdi Hassan, Gulam Ali, Hariharan and more and also some evergreen hits of Malayalam and Tamil film music.
In between singing for his fans, he reminded every one to wash their hands, stay safe and to keep an eye on the elderly in their vicinity. Harish told them that he had been staying at home for seven days without stepping out even once and requested every one to maintain social distancing to break the chain of the Coronavirus spread.
On the previous day (Tuesday), he came up with a Carnatic music version of the ‘Go Corona, go Corona’ chant recited by a Minister along with his fans at a gathering. The melodious version of ‘Go Corona’ was also posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
The recording was preceded by his message that said: “Stay safe Guys. Always remember to wash your hands with soap and water (not gaumutra) regularly, use hand sanitiser ( alcohol based) when you can’t wash your hands. Practice [practise] social distancing. We will overcome”
‘Go corona’ - Ragamalika (Carnatic style) inspired by a similar video that was posted by one of my friends earlier. Please note - singing this or any other ‘cover’ version of the same won’t help stop the spread of covid 19”
Harish laughs when he talks about the ragamalika he had sung. “Since we are all working from home, I recorded the ‘Go Corona’ ragamalika with a selfie recorder during a five-minute break. I was inspired by a post put up by my friend Vignesh Iyer who had turned the ‘Go Corona’ chant into a melodious virutham-like piece (a devotional piece that is sung in Carnatic music concerts). The original idea belongs to Vignesh,” he explains.
Home entertainment
With many tech firms closing down to enforce social distancing and going in for home from work, many have been turning to music, reading, watching films and so on to entertain themselves after work, all at home of course. Harish, a techie himself, has been posting some lovely versions of Malayalam golden oldies of MS Baburaj’s. First came a Mehdi Hasan classic number ‘Pyaar bhari do sharmeele nayan’, on March 12.
Then came ‘Thaamasamenthe varuvaan’ from the Malayalam feature film Bhargavi Nilayam , a cult favourite composed by Baburaj and sung by K J Yesudas. It was followed by another golden number, ‘Suruma ezhuthiya mizhikale’, again composed by Baburaj and sung by Yesudas.
“Bangalore is shut down for a week. Stay safe everyone and I am sure we will overcome . Have decided to take solace in music as we try to ride past this difficult time,” he writes on his Facebook page.
