Special Thanks!

Just a quick shoutout to the many people who've always helped and inspired me:

• My parents - for their constant encouragement, love and support. Without them, I would not be singing today!
• My gurus - Sri DK Nagarajan and Smt Parvathy Nagarajan
• Michael Fernando - for giving me my first break singing Tamil music on stage
• Ramesh Ramanathan, aka Periappa :) - for always encouraging me and teaching me how to bring out the best in myself
• Shrikant Awalegaonkar, aka Ouch - for always encouraging me to try new things musically, and especially for giving me my first opportunity singing classic rock!
• Aparna Ramaswamy - for giving me my first opportunity to sing for an arangetram
• Special thanks to - all my fellow singers in Anokha, and all my friends and family for putting up with my singing and for always being there to listen!

- Swathi

A little bit about me

Hey all! So this is my first blog post. Just some info about myself:

Singing has always been a passion of mine. I've been singing since I was a little kid, and I guess things just sort of spiraled out of control ever since then. I've been learning Carnatic (Indian classical) music for over 15 years now, and have given recitals in the US and in Chennai, India. I also love Indian film music, and have performed in concerts in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Washington DC, and Virginia. I'm not just a fan of Indian music though. I've also sung classic rock, and sang for a fusion album called H1Bees in 2005. To top it all off, I'm in an a cappella group, ANOKHA, which is the University of Maryland's one and only (therefore best!) South Asian a cappella group. I've been in Anokha since my freshman year at UMD, and am going to be music director for the 2009-2010 school year.

Some of my favorite musicians are: A.R. Rahman, Shreya Ghosal, KK, Javed Ali, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Ne-Yo, and Beyonce. And of course, who can forget those Bollywood (and Kollywood) hits?

I've posted a couple youtube links to some of my demo tracks below... once I figure out how to post tracks I'll do that. Please give them a listen! I would love to hear all your comments and suggestions!

Neela Kaigirathu

Sung by: Swathi Raman; guitar: Shrikant Awalegaonkar

Movie: Indira

Originally sung by: Harini

Music by: A.R. Rahman

Ishq Ada

Sung by: Swathi Raman; guitar: Shrikant Awalegaonkar

Soundtrack: Ada - A way of life

Originally sung by: Parul Mishra

Music by: A.R. Rahman

Happy Listening!

- Swathi