Mazha Njaan Arinjirunnilla (cover)

It has been more than two months since I have sung or recorded anything. Thanks to my wifey and kiddo who were kind enough to leave me alone on a Saturday evening, I recorded a cover version of this beautiful song without any backing track. Do hear and let me know how it sounds. :-)

Movie: Doctor Patient (2009)
Lyrics: Rafeeq Ahammed
Music: Bennet-Veetrag
Original singer: Hariharan
Covered by: Joseph Thomas (Jo)

Mazha njaan arinjirunnilla (cover) by jocalling

Baliyaay Thirumunpil (Christian Devotional)

Many years ago, a Christian devotional album had completely changed the way people heard the Christian devotional songs. It brought in writers like Chittoor Gopi, poet ONV Kuruppu etc and singers like Yesuda, Chitra, M G Sreekumar, Unnimenon, Minmini and Sujatha. The album, though initially was not well received by tradionalists who said 'it sounds like film songs', was a big hit. It's first song "Rakshakaa" sung by Yesudas shot to fame and was sung in stages regardless of religions. To put an example, that song was the equivalent of "paLLikettu shabarimalakku" if you talk about popularity. The composer of the album is Tomin J Thachankary, who is the Inspector General of Police in Kerala now (by the way, Thachankary is now infamous for his alleged terrorist links).

Another album followed, which was titled "Thiruvachanam". More filmi singers and more poets followed in this one too and it became yet another hit. The song I am posting today is from this album. It's a beautiful song and has beautiful lyrics. On this weekend that Christians celebrate as the Holy Weekend, I would like to post this song and wish all my readers and listeners a happy and peaceful Easter. Remember the magical message that Easter gives - hope.

Song: Baliyaay thirumunpil
Album: Thirivachanam
Lyricist: P.K.Gopi
Music: Tomin J Thachangari IPS
Original singer: Yesudas
Covered by: Joseph Thomas (Jo)

Download "Baliyaay Thirumunpil" cover MP3 here (5.1 MB)

Pavizham Pol (cover)

My colleague and friend Sitara had asked me to do a cover of this song long back. Didn’t have the karaoke track back then but I got it recently and wanted to record something over the weekend so badly, so I recorded this song at midnight (yes, exactly past midnight) on Saturday. This song has beautiful lyrics from the Jananpeeth winner and Kerala’s most famous poet ONV Kuruppu and the magical music of Johnson master. What you would note about Johnson master is that he gives a lot of space for the vocalist with a minimal orchestration. And these two talented people joined the film director late Padmarajan in a wonderful movie project called “Namukku Paarkkan Munthirithoppukal”. Here is my version of the song.

Song: Pavizham pol
Movie: Namakku Paarkan Munthiri Thoppukal
Singer: Yesudas
Lyrics : O.N.V
music : Johnson

Download the MP3 of my cover of "Pavizham Pol"

Nilaa Nilaa Mizhiye

It's been a long long time since I have sung or recorded anything. The little one is taking most of my time, not that I am complaining. With him, life is so much different but in a very positive way that I forget the sleep interruptions, waking up early, spending time with him and all that. I just love being with him. :-) He is the most precious thing ever in my life. But last weekend, I took sometime off baby sitting with wifey's permission and recorded this song. The thing is, I have not been singing much these days and music blogging is an excuse to get back to singing. To sing properly after a few months was really tiring but I enjoyed every moment of it.

Here is yet another gem from Deepak Dev. Let me know what you think and thanks for listening. :-)

Ariyaatheyennaal

Poet Sivakumar Ambalappuzha had posted a few lines of poetry in his Facebook page and asked if anyone would compose a tune for it. I was just about to get to bed after recording my Onam song when I saw this message. His lines were so beautiful and the music had to flow. That's how this short piece was born. I had a quickie 10 minutes long composing and recording session. The song is incomplete, it's only a couple of lines and if Sivakumar wills, we will probably make this a complete song soon. Here it is anyways, for you to listen.

Song: Ariyaatheyennaal
Composer & singer: Joseph Thomas (Jo)
Lyrics: Sivakumar Ambalappuzha

Download the draft MP3 of Ariyaatheyennaal (987 KB)

Happy Onam! And an Onam song

So here comes another Onam! A time for all Malayalees to come home and celebrate the togetherness with family and friends, the colorful Pookkalams and yummy Sadyas. Here I wish all my Malayalee friends a happy and prosperous Onam. Let us not forget the inspiring myth behind this festival - of everyone in the place being happy and prosperous, of everyone being just and fair to each other.

ഓണാശംസകള്‍!

I chose this song because of the Onam spirit that this song has, right from the beginning of the song with "aaRppO... EeRRO!", poo viLi and the rhythm of a boat song. I should thank my friend Sujay who first brought this song to my notice when we had to choose a song for the Onam competition in our office and then to Vishnu for providing me the track. The track is made of some loops and gets faster at places and I had to make do with it.

Album: Poothaalam
Composer: Kannan
Lyricist: Chitoor Gopi
Singer: M G Sreekumar



Happy Onam! And an Onam song | Musicians Available

Mizhi Thammil Punarunna (cover)

It has been a long break from singing. Not from music, because my Zune keeps singing loudly for me almost everyday. But singing has suffered ever since the series of sickness started at home 3 months ago. Now that an eventful year has passed and an even more exciting year lying ahead, I thought I would post a song before my big day. :-)

This song is one of my favorites from the Malayalam movie “Minnaaminni koottam”, a beautiful composition by Bijibal, a promising music director in the Malayalam music industry.

Song: Mizhi Thammil
Movie: Minnaaminni koottam
Music: Bijibal
Original singers: Ranjith, Swetha
Lyrics: Anil Panachooran
Cover version by: Joseph Thomas (Jo)

Download the mp3 of Mizhi Thammil Punarunna (Size: 7.15 MB, Bitrate: 256 kbps)

128 KBPS Streaming:



256 KBPS Streaming: