Here I come again!

I really did not post a blog in a long, long time.
I mean my last blog came online on December 31, 2011!
2012 came and went, the end of the world did not come, nor did another blog post from me.
2013 would go in vain too, if not for this final sudden recovery mode that I have gotten into.

One of the things that had to do with the slumber was the switching of my active Google account.

So,I finally decided to take the big step and transfer the blog account to the new ID.

Must also mention that blog revival of friends, especially this guy, helped me rediscover the mojo.
And now that it is done, I hope to resume posting stuff.

By the way, we will also be resuming musical activities of Gorky and Rusho soon!

So, to 2013 and beyond!!

The year in music...

So, another year goes by. Looking back, 2011 was a year of many firsts.
In musical terms, it was quite a satisfactory year for Gorky and Rusho, with some good music and great response.

The year started with the refreshing 'Biplab...(noy)', a sarcastic take on our times...or just a chill-out number...it's your take...with totally awesome lyrics penned by Dibyendu Hazra, of 'Nisshobdo Kolotan' fame. True to our 'Alternative/Indie' genre classification, a whole new array of musical elements and improvisations were incorporated in this number, including slogan on vocals in the prelude and interlude, a complex instrumental solo, vocals from both Rusho (lead) and Gorky (backing and harmony), and various new sound techniques.

It was followed by our first-ever 'duet' song, 'Hariye jak aamar sobi', with Sayanti on the female lead. It was very special, being the very first duet and also for having Sayanti as the singer. Also, with our arrangements improving with each song, sounds, especially of the lead guitar, came to a more mature level.

Finally, there was 'Oh I Lied', the first-ever English song by us. The track had been there for quite sometime, finally Rusho penned down the lyrics and brought the song to life. It is meant to have a hard rock/glam metal-ish sound with a distinct '80s flavor, with all the guitars and synths, and I feel we did quite a good job!

We also launched our brand new YouTube channel, featuring  the 'Oh I Lied with lyrics Video'.

Also, this year, our Facebook page was updated and saw increased following, with 200+ 'Like's till date. Feel free to 'Like', if you haven't already. :)

So, here's hoping the good times keep rolling in the new year...and wishing a happy new year to all... :) :) :)

Oh I Lied, our first English song is released

The first ever English song by GorkyandRusho. 

It took a while to come through. The track had been lying there for over two years, for the want of good lyrics. Finally, it was decided it should be made into an English number, and then Rusho penned down the lyrics and recorded the vocals. So, here it is... 

http://soundcloud.com/gorkyandrusho/oh-i-lied

As always, please feel free to listen, download, comment and critique... :)

Lyrics and Vocals: Rusho Shaw
Music: Gorky Shaw and Rusho Shaw

With valuable inputs from Deepungsu Pandit and Sayanti Samaddar. :)

The lyrics can be found in the image below.

Also, our Facebook page is fully active now. And all our compositions can now be found in one place on Soundcloud. Here is the link:

http://soundcloud.com/gorkyandrusho/sets/all-compositions/

Oh I Lied - Lyrics

 

Losing our sovereignty...and lovin' it!

disclaimer: I don't pretend to be some sort of messiah or something. I am just another self-indulgent youth who could not care less about his own well-being, and who, till date, has done absolutely nothing that would benefit a less fortunate fellow countryman, at the expense of leaving the personal comfort zone...  

The govt. is finally about to open our retail market to the MNCs.  Here is something in support of the move, The Minister of Commerce, Mr.Anand Sharma's letter to political parties on FDI in retail.

 

So, what does this mean for us?

Our honorable PM has defended the decision, he says it is so good for the economy...

The arguments are..."It will get us modern technology, not let crops get damaged, get farmers good prices and bridge gaps."...so, do we really need FDI for all that? Why can't we do that ourselves. And "it will create thousands of jobs", but at what cost? Why are we hell-bent on destroying the indigenous business class and being servants to MNCs instead?

And, while in the meantime, the pied piper to the urban youth, respected Mr. Anna Hazare continues to to threaten the govt. and warns of fresh protest over Lokpal, why does he or his team have absolutely nothing to say on this?

In fact, why are we all so totally cool about it? May be because apparently it does not affect 'us' adversely? May be in fact, it is awesome for us! And why not? It can only mean good: more buying options, cool deals, awesome brands.We already love our Reebok's and KFC's and McDonald's and Diet Coke's. So why not Walmart and Macy's. So, what if we let them siphon off some more of our money, we have already been at it for quite sometime now. So, what if some more. What if we compromise our sovereignty in the process? Why care, as long as they give us jobs and we have the bucks to grab their deals and buy their stuff?

I am Lovin' it!

p.s.: A little something to refresh our memories, got it from Facebook...

looking back...

Sometime back I had said that 2009 was the best year in my life...well, that was until 2010 happened! I can now safely say that the year going by was indeed the very best time of my life. :)

Now, the year is closing in to an end, and in retrospect,  without spending words, I would say that it has given much...a lot...lot more that I would have happily accepted...that was 2010.

May be I will sit down sometime and write up some lines explaining why it was the best, but that's for later...

Hoping that it gets better...looking forward and wishing a very Happy New Year to all and to myself!

:)

Our new song: Sei Meyeta

After yet another looooong hiatus (yes a whole summer and another full semester gone by since "nisshobdo kolotan", pardon the workload once again :P) our new song  is out on SoundClick! check it out...

It is called Sei Meyeta (that girl). It is a soft rock ballad, a romantic number. I have tried to keep things very simple.

The full version can be found here: "Sei Meyeta".
There is also an acoustic unplugged version.
Direct mp3 download link info can be found on these pages too.

As always, totally home-made, on our comps...

metadata:

lyrics, music and singer: Gorky Shaw

mixing, editing and arrangement: Gorky and Rusho Shaw

For lyrics (in Bengali font), click on the image below:

njoy!

Sei Meyeta by Gorky and Rusho Shaw is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at gorkyshaw.blogspot.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://gorkyshaw.blogspot.com.

Bangla in Windows XP - The Final Complete Solution

After much R&D on the topic and aided by valuable inputs from my friends, here I present the final complete solution for seamless reading and writing in Bangla font on PCs running Windows XP.

1. Writing in Bangla font (also applicable for Windows Vista/7):
Use Avro keyboard. It's free and it's totally awesome. Download link: http://www.omicronlab.com/download/setup_avrokeyboard_4.5.1.exe

2. Reading Bangla font:  There are two ways to configure XP for Bangla.
(a) Using XP CD: http://www.omicronlab.com/docs/configuring-windows-xp-for-bangla.html 
(b) Without XP CD (recommended): Using iComplex . Download link: http://omicronlab.com/download/tools/iComplex_2.0.0.exe

3. Solution for small Bangla font problem:  Download Modified Vrinda font from http://null.dev.tripod.com/misc_files/Vrinda.ttf (right click, save link as)
Replace ur original Vrinda font which already exists in C:/WINDOWS/fonts/.Details at: http://bn.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%A6%89%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%85%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A7%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8:Bangla_script_display_and_input_help#Solution_for_the_small_fonts_problem  (acknowledgments: Abhishek Bhowmick, Soumyajit Sarkar and myself among others... :) )