You asked for it. Maybe you didn’t – but you are getting it anyway. This mad scientist, spurred by some positive feedback received for his Mad Lion, went back into his Garage, worked with his band (i.e. himself), got “loop”y, and came up with another experiment.
He has called it by the weird, and contrived name – Ethereal Gypsy on Route Fifty Eight although he has his reasons.
For you Carnatic folks, perhaps you can still out make out the raga/scale on which this tune (i.e. the solo) is adapted from? The carnaticity of the raga obviously has been mangled out of shape – but the tune does still stick to its scale (hopefully 
).
The chord progression here is not really a chord progression ! I started out with exactly two chords (Bm and Bm6), and I sort of got sucked into the mood generated by those two (which gave me some ideas for the background music). And I could never escape out of that. There are a few other chords which would have fit this scale, but those two chords had grabbed me a hold of me like two tentacles, and I guess I was enjoying their grasp too much to see anything else. The solo also is more of the western style, or at least well disconnected from the Carnatic side of things. I just went with the flow of what I thought fit rather than trying to consciously bring the Carnatic flavor of the raga out (although that was my original intention).
BTW, there are three reasons for the choice of that contrived title. Can you guess all three ? You may need some music knowledge (carnatic and other) and google to figure it out. First one who gets all three – gets to brag about it in the comment section 
September 23, 2008 at 10:27 am
lol I don’t know even one reason, but I will just be lazy and visit again
You seem to be a pro at garageband now! cool stuff Arun.
Arun: Thanks
September 23, 2008 at 11:30 am
I know one, but I am not a big carnatic guy. BTW, your niece is also going your route with da piano. Endless hours of practice every day.
Arun: Good for her. I drove the others at home insane as I was fiddling out with this tune (This one gave me fits trying to tie the loose ends in the tune). Once, when I sat in front of the computer, the little one asked “Appa are you going to do that tune” and she “hummed” it as da-da-da – to the tee
I like this piece actually. Great work. Can you point me to all the collections and send me an email. So I can download and play for the parents?
(yet – 
). This is just the second one. And the first one is really a short < 1 minute sample.
Arun: Thanks. There is no collection
September 23, 2008 at 2:57 pm
umm… hemavathi, is it? and thats as far as I can get..
and of course “pinreL pongo!”.. fantastic piece.. orre the floyd effect pola irukku?
and title – clean bowled.. so i’ll just wait it out until someone or you post the explanation.
September 23, 2008 at 3:40 pm
zep,
Thanks! Yes – hemavathi indeed.
Hint #1: Now, with a bit of googling, you should be able to reason out one aspect of the title from this. Truth be told, the reasons are admittedly tough to guess, with this one being the easiest
Hint #2: The gypsy connection is also related to hemavathi albeit more vague. Definitely may need google and a bit of application for that.
Hint #3: Once you get these two, the third one may be easier because you have fewer words that remain. But that one is the “weakest” link in my reasoning for the title
September 23, 2008 at 6:31 pm
OMG dude !!! i just got the route 58… or well, the 58 atleast….sudden epiphany! now I guess I will have to resort to googling… in fact i was hoping hemavathi to be 58..
and no googling yet… promise.. got 58 on my own..
(silly,i know)
September 24, 2008 at 3:07 pm
1. 58 is quite easy to a carnatic musician aware of melas.
2. I am guessing that yout put gypsy because hemavati figures prominently in Roma music (roma = gypsy). I have heard traces of hemavati in arabic music also.
For eg. this song: http://aris.ss.uci.edu/rgarfias/roma/cigan%20muzigi.mp3 (hemavati is apprent after 1 min into the song).
3. As far as ethereal is concerned, I will meekly guess that you used it to connote a ‘lightened’ version of hemavati.
As far as the music is concerned:
(a) I liked the start — gives it a kind of a “trance feel”. Also liked the ‘base’
(b) I feel the sound of the guitar does
quite gell with the rest of the music. Maybe you can tinker with the sound — maybe more delay or reverb.
Arun: You mean does NOT gell? Possibly. I did have to tinker with it. One earlier version had more delay but less “oomph” – I thought it was too diluted
(c) Finally I think (from the two songs you created), there is a tendency to put in a lot of notes per unit time. What this does is make the song become more like a ‘kalpana swara’…without a refrain that stands out.
Arun: Yep. I felt the same. Although here I initially tried to not “fill it up that much”. But then I liked a bit here, a bit there among the snippets that came to me, felt compelled to use them and end result was overcrowding in places. Thanks!
September 24, 2008 at 3:11 pm
1. 58 is reasonably obvious for a person aware of melakartha ragas.
2. I am guessing that you used ‘Gypsy’ since Hemavati figures prominently in Roma music (roma = gypsy). I have heard traces of Hemavati in arabic music also.
). On the right track though. The scale of hemavati is also present elsewhere and there one could make a gypsy connection
Arun: Close – but not quite (if by roma, you mean italian related
For eg. this song: http://aris.ss.uci.edu/rgarfias/roma/cigan%20muzigi.mp3 (hemavati is apparent after 1 min into the song).
Arun: Indeed it becomes apparent! Thanks!
3. As far as ethereal is concerned, I will meekly guess that you used it to connote a ‘lightened’ version of Hemavati.
– but again on the right track. It is more related with your (a) section in your previous comment (for some reason both got into spam – I had to recover them)
Arun: not quite again
September 24, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Very nice. I was reminded of Prasanna’s youtube video where he improvises Hemavati. You’re making Garageband sound so enticing, I am considering moving to a Mac from Linux. Given the limited software for linux for music, I don’t blame me. Also, I picked up a new guitar here today, and posted a little 1 minute Hindolam on the new guitar. Hope to do more, when I find the time.
Meanwhile, its nice to hear your atmospheric experiments with harmony and melody nicely mixed up. Looking forward to more creative juices on display here!
September 25, 2008 at 9:29 am
after a couple of hours of googling and rumination, per day, since my last comment, i landed up on the same inferences as Vijay as far as the gypsy connection. roma, and some forms of arabic music have hemavathi in them.. and other such similar stuff…
so far blank…
September 25, 2008 at 10:58 am
@phil – thanks! Oh btw, I did have to shell out an extra $99 to get the GarageBand Rhythm Pack – which had a lot of interesting bass and guitar choices. But if you are going to play the real guitar, the default support gets you a lo…ng way.
ok, maybe it was my narcissistic tendencies that led to ask others to guess the 3 reasons
– I guess it was also a cheap way to solicit comments. But here it goes.
Ethereal Gyspy on Route 58
Route 58: Refers to the raga hemavathi whose scale the piece is based on or more precisely the hemavathi mela which implies a certain diatonic scale. Hemavathi is mela #58 (out of 72) in the carnatic melakartha system One could think of melas as “highways/roads” on which the mela-raga and its janyas travel on.
Gypsy – I learned fairly recently that the hemevathi scale is also the Romanian Minor scale. Romania gives the gypsy connection. Some links on the Romanian Minor Scale: http://home.swipnet.se/freakguitar/romanian.html, and http://lickoftheday.blogspot.com/2008/01/romanian-minor-scale-guitar-lick.html). As you can see from the second link, the use of use of it there is completely different from the carnatic use as well as mine. Mine is relatively much closer to carnatic style in terms of order of notes in the melody.
Ethereal: Well I was thinking that the tandem of the two chords gives a “space” (as in astronomy) feel – which led to a lot of the components of the background music, especially the initial part. Judging from some of the feedback here and elsewhere, I think this was achieved. I wanted to include a word in the title meaning that. Thought “Spaced-out” (didn’t like it although the double-meaning was tempting), then “Astral” (Astral Gypsy combo is already well known and so dropped). Settled on ethereal – meaning celestial, heavenly, blah-blah-blah
Arun
September 25, 2008 at 12:08 pm
phew..finally! I don’t think I could’ve ever cracked this puzzle….western music fundae complete zero. carnatic music ara gora..
September 27, 2008 at 9:40 am
Arun,
This has come out quite nicely and I liked it upto 2.05. After 2.05 stylistically, I feel it ended up somewhere else a rather obvious 80s Tamil filmy plane that I just could not relate to. Until that point it seemed to flow well melodically and aesthetically.What was it at the end that changed the aural experience? I do’nt know.
Arun: Thanks. regarding 2:05, I am not sure. I had more trouble in the part between 2:35-2:40 (and following) – had to mull over hard trying to figure out how to properly close-off the “momentum built-up” that starts from 2:18. I think the “phrase” immediately before that (i.e. before 2:18) may be a bit filmy.
The melakarta no clue is easy a little obfuscation such as Ethereal Gypsy on Route 10 with a chakra no might have been a little more difficult to guess.
September 29, 2008 at 1:51 pm
incredibly made! Damn, I think I should go for Mac too…I tried a trial version of Magix and spent a helluva lot of time on that – not even getting half as close to what you have created here – ever heard of it or tried it? wonder how different it is to Garageband
Arun: Thanks! I do not know about magix, but Garageband is not necessarily that unique. So feature-wise, you can find stuff similar or even better to run on PC. The nice thing with GarageBand is that it is part iLife which is installed on every new mac you buy. So it is already part of the basic supporting software for a mac. Although I cannot vouch for this, I would generally think that the sound quality on the mac beats the pants out of most PCs – particularly if you have a macbook pro (i dont but wish
). I am a software guy who has used (and still use) Unix boxes, PCs and macs all regularly – I mean I am not “anti-this” or “pro-that”. But for “fun stuff” like this, for me, there is no comparison. The mac just kicks a$$ and blows the PC away. Does not mean you wont find things to complain about it, but in its strong suit (like multimedia etc.) it simply rules.
October 1, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Ok, I;ll remember that! In fact I will remember that every moment I spend on my Vista machinery! Btw, I didnt mention Adobe Audition. That is what I am now exploring…
October 4, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Very good experiment. I jumped the gun as sivaranjani due to the Bm and Bm6th , until the Arpeggio started from where the scale became clearer..
Yes.. The co-incidence to Roma scale is amazing.. In fact whats equally amazing is the fact that even ‘pukka’ carnatic scales such as Charukesi and Maya maalava gowlai are captured in Western classical (as Melodic Major and Double Harmonic Major for instance).. proof that however uninfluenced, parallely evolved, perceived differently etc etc, scales like this are proof that music is ultimately universal.
Agree with Vijay’s comment on application of swaras per unit time.. especially in the context of your first venture;
@Vidya: I guess you landing on a Tamil Movie plane could be do with songs like “Utharavindri Ulle va..” [at least thats where the gravity pulled me...]
With Love
Vicky
PS: on a related note, Also please listen to “Manam Pola Mangalyam” from Pudhupattu Ponnuthaayi here.. [http://www.thiraipaadal.com/albums/ALBIRR00535.html] One of very useful Hemavathy that (not surprisingly) went unnoticed… rare occasions where Naagaswaram is prudently used in film music..
Arun: Thanks Vicky. Hey – now I see the uttaravindri ulle vaa connection
! The other song is nice although maybe it was due to the fact to match the nagaswaram, it looks like Chitra was having a tough time with the raga. I also thought the talam/rhythm between the non-nagaswaram and nagaswaram part was not smooth – not sure if it was me – just seemed a bit tight/jerky
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