Maalavika Manoj

Maalavika, in a photograph dated July 2012
In this Indian name, the name Manoj is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Maalavika.

Maalavika Manoj, (b. 16 September 1993) also known as Mali, is an Indian independent musician and songwriter based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She was a member of the underground band Bass-in-Bridge, and became a solo artist after the band dissolved in 2011.

Personal life

Maalavika was born on 16 September 1993[1] in Chennai to Malayali parents from North Malabar.[2] Maalavika had been listening to music a lot since childhood. Though her parents were not musicians, they would play a lot of 1970s and 1980s style music to her, even though she was only fairly young. Her father listened to a lot of electronic music from the early 1990s and she grew up listening to a lot of the same as well. When Maalavika was five years old, her parents decided to enroll her in various classes ranging from swimming and Bharata Natyam to piano and drawing classes. A few years later, she quit all of her classes other than piano, which she learned till she was 17 years old. Around that time, she also decided to try her hand at the guitar as well, because at that point she felt it was really "cool".[3] Maalavika said she never had to seriously tell her parents that she wanted to be a musician, because "they're happy if I'm doing something I want and can sustain myself and be comfortable with a career in music."[4] Her first singing performance was at a party when she was 12 years old. At the party, she sang Ella Fitzgerald's version of "Fever", with some of the lyrics changed to "suit the occasion".[5] She did her schooling at Sacred Heart Matriculation School[6] and studied for a BBA at Loyola College, Chennai.[7] In mid 2013, she left for France to complete her BBA degree, but returned to Chennai a year later after graduating.[8][9] She graduated from Loyola in the same year.[8]

On her religious views, Maalavika states that she is not ritualistic, and although she takes part in poojas with her family when they conduct them, she is not particularly motivated to do them on her own. Maalavika states that she like exploring and understanding religions and their respective spiritual practices, but does not follow anything in general, and only prays when she feels like.[10]

Career

Bass-in-Bridge

In 2010, Maalavika performed at Maithri (the cultural events of Chettinad Vidyashram), and was named the "Best Vocalist". RJ Arjun Thomas heard her there and suggested that she form a band to join the radio station Chennai Live's band hunt that was taking place at the time.[6] The band was eventually formed under the name "Bass-in-Bridge" in September 2010,[11] with Arjun as the guitarist,[6] Sajith Satya as the bassist, Leon James as the keyboardist, Maalavika as the vocalist and Shashank Vijay as the drummer.[12] The name is a pun on "Basin bridge".[13] Bass-in-Bridge was one of five underground bands (the other four being Wolf's Lair, Nailed, Blues Conscience, Blacklisted and Off the Record) that qualified for the event's finals which took place in November 2010, but Wolf's Lair emerged the winning band, with Blues Conscience and Off the Record as runner-ups.[14] Maalavika called being a finalist at the band hunt her "Claim to fame".[6] Bass-in-Bridge have also performed live at Chennai's Pasta Bar Veneto, Pondicherry's "Sec Saturday concert" and Yamaha Music Square's "Up On The Roof".[6] In June 2011, Bass-in-Bridge performed at a music festival called "Fete de la Musique" at the Goethe Institute, Chennai.[15] The band dissolved in the same year, with Leon, Maalavika and Sajith becoming solo artists.[2][16][17]

Solo career

Maalavika was featured in the "Sachin Anthem" composed by Dhanush,[18][19] which was released in February 2012.[20] In June 2012, she performed at the World Music Day celebrations organised by Goethe Institute and Alliance Française de Chennai in association with Unwind Center.[21] In December 2012, she performed a few songs at a "Christmas Extravaganza" organised by Dr. John Joseph Foundation at YMCA, Vepery.[22]

Maalavika's debut album Deceptive was to be released on 16 June 2013 at Chipstead, Taj Coromandel,[23] but was released on iTunes a day in advance. She performed under the pseudonym Mali.[24] It was mixed by the US-based Grammy award winning composer/mixer/producer Anton Pukshansky. The album also features other artists like Ujjayinee Roy, Karthick Iyer, "Ghatam" Karthik and Ed DeGenaro, all of whom helped Maalavika with the instrumentals. According to Maalavika, the album has "a mix of styles such as jazz, electronic, blues and so on" and she compares it to "a box of assorted chocolates – something for everyone".[25] The song "No Place Like Home", which Maalavika considers "the tune dearest to her on the album" was composed over a period of three years; she wrote it when she was 16 years old.[23] It took her 15 months to finish the whole album.[7] The album has six songs, which include "This One's for You", "Deceptive", "It's Not the Same", "No Place Like Home", "Wannabe" and "Undefined".[24] Guitarist Keba Jeremiah claims to have worked on this album.[26] In July 2013, Maalavika performed at "Thank You for the Music", a tribute concert to ABBA held at Chennai's Museum Theatre.[27][28]

In April 2015, Maalavika performed with Sapta, an independent electro-acoustic world music act, at the event "Daddy’s Toxic Thursdays" in Tap Resto Bar, Mumbai.[29][30][31] In the same month she performed at Mercedes Luxe Royale, a show sponsored by Mercedes Benz and organised by designer Vivek Karunakaran in association with the Madras Midtown Round Table-42 at The Park in Nungambakkam, Chennai,[32][33][34] and also at the launch event of Anams Man's Spring-Summer Collection held at ITC Grand Chola.[35] Maalavika performed the song "Walk Away" during the third season of the Kappa TV show Music Mojo.[36] As of October 2015, Maalavika plans to put together her next album, an EP titled Rush, having "written and composed a lot since Deceptive."[37][5] In November, she performed the song "Deen", in collaboration with rapper Sofia Ashraf and Sapta.[38][39][40] By January 2016, Maalavika had joined "The Diva Collective", a collaboration between several Chennai-based female vocalists.[41]

Musical style

Maalavika's songs are usually inspired by melancholy. She describes "over-thinking" as "[o]ne of [her] weaknesses or strengths". On her songwriting style, she told The Telegraph, "When I start over-thinking, my best form of closure is writing it down. Once I write it all down, I feel I have expressed myself… literally crying to your friend when you are sad."[7] In an interview with The Hindu, she described Skrillex, Hillsong, A. R. Rahman and Alanis Morissette as some of her "whole lot of random influences" in music, but noted that her "real inspiration to write music comes from situations or feelings that really strike a chord deep inside me and more or less compel me to write a song."[3] According to Suraksha P of The New Indian Express, Maalavika also takes inspiration from artists like Stevie Nicks, Joss Stone, Norah Jones, Katie Melua and Ella Fitzgerald.[8] In an interview with The Times of India, the latter described Stone, Melua, Andrea Corr, Fitzgerald and Sara Bareilles as her favourite artists.[42] In an interview with Deccan Chronicle, Maalavika described The Corrs, Morrissette, Savage Garden, Backstreet Boys and ABBA as her early inspirations.[43] According to Garvita Sharma of The Times of India, Maalavika's compositions are inspired by the changes in her life, which include "moving to a different place" or "going through a break-up".[5]

Other works

Although primarily an independent musician, Maalavika has sung for a few feature films in Tamil.[37] Her first film song was "Come on Girls", composed by Anirudh Ravichander for 3 (2012), although she considers her role in the song to be small.[7][44][lower-alpha 1] Her other film songs include "Yeda Kuda..." from Kaliyugam,[47] "Vaazhkaiye" composed by Vijay Antony for Haridas (2013),[48][lower-alpha 2] "Yaen Endral" from Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara,[51] and "Hi My Name Is Malini" by Aravind-Shankar Malini 22 Palayamkottai (2014).[52][lower-alpha 3] After a brief hiatus, she returned to singing for films with two Harris Jayaraj compositions: "Irumugan Settai" for Iru Mugan (2016),[55] and "He's My Hero" for S3 in the same year.[56] In November 2012, Maalavika was a speaker at the TEDxYouth@Chennai conference.[18] The following month, she participated in a cake mixing ceremony at Hotel Ambica Empire.[57] In March 2013, she was a speaker at Ventura 2013, an international business plan competition organised by the Entrepreneurship Cell of National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli.[58]

Select discography

Year Song Album Composer
2011 "Come on Girls" 3 Anirudh Ravichander
2012 "Vaazhkaiye" Haridas Vijay Antony
2013 "This One's for You" Deceptive Maalavika Manoj
"Deceptive"
"It's Not the Same"
"No Place Like Home"
"Wannabe"
"Undefined"
"Yaen Endral" Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara Siddharth Vipin
"Hi My Name is Malini" Malini 22 Palayamkottai Aravind-Shankar
2016 "Irumugan Settai" Iru MuganHarris Jayaraj
"He's My Hero" S3

Further reading

Notes

  1. ↑ Although 3 was released in March 2012,[45] its album was released in December 2011.[46]
  2. ↑ Although Haridas was released in February 2013,[49] its album was released in November 2012.[50]
  3. ↑ Although Malini 22 Palayamkottai was released in January 2014,[53] its album was released in November 2013.[54]

References

  1. ↑ "Mali (Maalavika) - About". Facebook. 16 September 1993. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  2. 1 2 "The joy of sharing". Deccan Chronicle. 16 June 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Musician with a message". The Hindu. 26 December 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "They're the four who rock". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Maalavika Manoj: I didn't know I had it in me to be a singer". The Times of India. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Three's Company". The Hindu. 13 January 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Deceptive Maalavika". Telegraphindia.com. 26 July 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 Suraksha, P. "Band-baaja, Bunking & Bloopers". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  9. ↑ Suraksha, P. "The Need for Recognition". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  10. ↑ Shenoy, Sonali (12 December 2012). "'I pray only when I really feel like'". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  11. ↑ "Introducing BASS — IN BRIDGE". Thamarai.co.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  12. ↑ "Bass-in Bridge Bio". ReverbNation. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  13. ↑ "Meet the band Baas-in Bridge [sic]". The Times of India. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  14. ↑ Raghunandan, Siddharth. "Strumming for the top slot". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  15. ↑ Bozuwa, Johanna; Shaddick, Edwina. "When music hit the streets!". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  16. ↑ Fathima, Hafsa. "Taking the next step". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  17. ↑ "Leon to Compose Music for Ko-2". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  18. 1 2 "TEDxYouth@Chennai". TED.com. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  19. ↑ "A life versed in song". The Hindu. 15 February 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  20. ↑ Mehta, Ankita. "'Kolaveri Di' Dhanush Releases Sachin Anthem [VIDEOS]". International Business Times. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  21. ↑ "Music in the air". The Hindu. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  22. ↑ "A season for sharing gifts - PWKM". The Hindu. 6 January 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  23. 1 2 Shenoy, Sonali (12 June 2013). "Behind the music". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  24. 1 2 "Deceptive - EP by Mali". iTunes. 15 June 2013. Archived from the original on 25 July 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  25. ↑ "A medley of genres". The Hindu. 27 June 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  26. ↑ Sangeetha, P. (15 July 2013). "Kadal was the toughest album". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  27. ↑ "Music and memories - Chennai". The Hindu. 20 July 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  28. ↑ "Thank you for the music". The Hindu. 23 July 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  29. ↑ "The Mint Planner, 17 April 2015". Livemint. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  30. ↑ "Sapta presents a mix of music". The Times of India. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  31. ↑ "Gig Review: Sapta Live at Tap Resto Bar, Mumbai". Rolling Stone India. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  32. ↑ "In a Military Mood". The New Indian Express. Indulge. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  33. ↑ "A fashionable helping hand". The Hindu. 20 April 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  34. ↑ "It's Hot Inside Out". The New Indian Express. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  35. ↑ "Bringing spring to life". The Hindu. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  36. ↑ Walk Away - Mali - Music Mojo Season 3. YouTube. KappaTV. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  37. 1 2 Tagat, Anurag. "The tale of two Bruce Lees". The Hindu. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  38. ↑ "Religion is not for everybody". The Asian Age. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  39. ↑ "Exclusive Stream: Sapta's New Electro/Folk/Rap Song 'Deen' ft. Sofia Ashraf". Rolling Stone India. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  40. ↑ Fathima, Hafsa. "Sapta and Sofia Ashraf create a tuneful conversation". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  41. ↑ "Born to be divas!". Deccan Chronicle. 30 October 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  42. ↑ "When the Rocks turn Pink in Chennai". The Times of India. 19 November 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  43. ↑ Ravi, Nandita (7 May 2013). "Four the love of music". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  44. ↑ "3 Music Review". Behindwoods. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  45. ↑ "Tweet Review: Tamil film '3', 1st day, 1st show". CNN-IBN. 30 March 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  46. ↑ "3 (Original Soundtrack) by Anirudh Ravichander". iTunes. 23 December 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  47. ↑ "Kaliyugam Music Review". Behindwoods. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  48. ↑ "Haridass Songs | Haridass Mp3 Songs Lyricist | Haridass Tamil Movie Songs". Filmibeat. 22 February 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  49. ↑ "Haridas (2013) (Tamil)". Nowrunning.com. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  50. ↑ "Haridas Music Review". Behindwoods. 26 November 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  51. ↑ "Idharkuthaane Aasaipattai Balakumara (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". iTunes. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  52. ↑ "Audio Beat: Malini 22 Palayamkottai - Catalyst for change". The Hindu. 23 November 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  53. ↑ "Malini 22 Palayamkottai (aka) Malini 22 Palayamkottai review". Behindwoods. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  54. ↑ "Malini 22 Palayamkottai (aka) Malini 22 Palayamkottai songs review". Behindwoods. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  55. ↑ "Vikram's 'Iru Mugan' audio, trailer launched [VIDEO+PHOTOS]". International Business Times. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  56. ↑ http://www.ibtimes.co.in/s3-aka-singam-3-track-list-out-audio-be-released-november-27-705364
  57. ↑ "Cake mixing for X-Mas". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  58. ↑ "Business plan competition of NIT-T attracts 400 entries". The Hindu. 11 March 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
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