Posoidan’s Weblog

It will be a rare Diwali gift for Lata Mangeshkar fans. An unreleased song of the nightingale – Chanda ki Chandni – that she had sung for the 1997 hit Dil To Pagal Hai, is being repackaged by Yashraj Films for release during the festive season.

For Lata, the news of the song’s release has come as cheerful news, what with arthritis of the knees continuously troubling her.

She happily recalls the song. “It was supposed to be part of Yashji’s Dil To Pagal Hai. But the song didn’t fit into the story. So they took it out. I never thought they’d use it later,” said Lata, who turned 80 recently.

It was Yash Chopra’s idea to release the song.

“When Yash-ji came to know about the unreleased song in their archives, he immediately wanted it released as a Diwali gift for Lata-ji’s fans. So you could say this song Chanda ki Chandni is Yash-ji’s gift to Lata-ji for Diwali,” a source said.

“Yash Chopra calls Lata as his Saraswati Mata and shares an extremely emotional bond with her. The two share the same star sign and their birthday is separated by only a day. They get along like a house on fire. Yash-ji keeps Lata-ji entertained with his jokes. Lata-ji reciprocates with her songs.

“Yashji in fact insists that as long as she is around no one else will sing in his films. That of course has changed now, what with the new guard led by Aditya Chopra opting for other voices,” the source said.

Lata hardly sings film songs nowadays, her last film song was A.R. Rahman’s lullaby Luppa Chuppi for Rang De Basanti (2006).

For Lata, it’s a quiet Diwali at home with the family. No special plans were set after the celebrations earlier this week when her brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar turned 72 Sunday.

“Every year there’s a kind gentleman in Pune who organises a musical event for my brother’s birthday. This year was no different. We’ve all been involved with that until Sunday. So Diwali would be slightly low-key. Of course the children would have their fun with the usual Diwali celebrations,” says Lata.

After Diwali she intends to get her knees operated for arthritis. The operation would be undertaken at the Mangeshkars’ hospital in Pune.

Although her knees give her more trouble these days than she had ever bargained for, the nightingale’s throat continues to be in tremendous shape.

Lata has recorded Sai Baba bhajans with sister Usha Mangeshkar.

Tina  makes a stage come back.The legendary singer Tina tuner stormed stage once again after eight years for a world tour.Her last performance came in the year 2000 at that time she was 60.

Tina in her stage show performed  21 songs in two-a-half hours in front of an 18,000 crowd which was held in Chicago. She was flanked by sexy dancers and she sang all her big hits like River deep mountain high and what’s love got to do with it and also an acoustic version of the Beatles song Help.

When she was asked before the show, she told, “I wouldn’t want to diminish my credibility by going back on the road.”

Turner seems all set to establish her legendary status. She will perform in Britain in March and April next year.

Legendary singer Neil Diamond surprised fans when he gave their money back after a sore throat left him barely audible on stage.

Diamond could not sing because of the sore throat so he cancelled the concert. Some fans had to shell out 60 pounds, but they got their money back.

The 67-year-old singer even issued an apology statement, saying “forgive me.” Fans were pleasantly surprised by the deal.

The irony of Guitar Hero; Aerosmith review? If you’re interested enough in the game to read it probably is of little value to you. That’s because Aerosmith isn’t so much a new game as an old cake with different icing,its value as a purchase entierly dependent on how are.Obiviously, the chief selling point of Aerosmith (sold separately or bundled with a band branded guitar peipheral) is Aerosmith. The band appears as charaters in the game, and the career mode though structured the same as before now takes you through venues and time periods crucial to their carrer. Perhaps most importantly, Aerosmith includes 25 master tracks of selected songs from the Aerosmith catalogue, along with 16 tracks from Joe Perry and artists chosen by the band for one reason or aniother (New York Dolls, The Cult, Joan Jett and Stone Temple pilot,among others).

That ratio along with the relatively small size of the set list Guitar Hero III, by contrast, included 73 songs for the same price), is what likely will rattle gamers the most. The inclusion of other artists makes sense, because Activision would prefer to sell Aerosmith” to more than just Aerosmith fans, but it also runs counter to the game’s chidf selling point. Casual Aerosmith fans may feel the track list suits them just fine, but a full priced game that owes its entire reason for being to an Aerosmith themed fasceliftshouldn’t be for casual fans. Inevitably, the hardcore will wonder why an Aerosmith branded game made room for a bunch of peripheral songs instead of, say, Janie’s Got a Gun, Eat the Rich or any number of the band’s hit ballads.

Aerosmith’s inability to stay true to tis mission trickles down to the career mode. Playing as the band and working up to the stadium and Super Bowl half time show (sans ‘N Sync, thankfully) will be a trat for a fans, but some of the authenticity is lost when songs from different erasare mixed with no respect to chronology.