Popular stand-up comedian Alexander Babu explores the nuances of iconic songs in his new project ‘Veetu Videos’
Sikandar Babu’s love affair with music began four decades ago in a small village in Ramanathapuram district, where he grew up listening to songs on All India Radio and Ceylon Radio. “Though my father didn’t understand the nuances of the songs, he used to say, ‘Look how Sergazi Govindarajan’s voice shakes the soul’,” says Sikandar Babu, also remembering the size of the radio box at his home.
every time there was a festival Classical and film songs used to fly in the air in the village. A young Alexander will happily absorb it.
It is the musical atmosphere in which the popular stand-up comedian has always drawn inspiration, including his latest initiative, ‘Vitu Video’, which seeks to re-introduce audiences to classics from the 70s and 80s. Alex explained in the first episode of this YouTube series ilayarajaSong from 1979, ‘Maayil Maile’ (Kadvul Amatha Medai) in his typical comic style. The song was followed by a video titled ‘Mamas, Myle Aur Malargale’.
His twin passions in the series, a mix of music and comedy, were also evident in his superhit, ‘Alex in Wonderland’ stand-up performance (now available on Amazon Prime).
“My idea of stand-up comedy is to do something funny that is close to my heart; This is something I want my kids to see. The applause I get when I’m on stage is that the presentation has been polished on the show. This kind of interaction with the audience is not possible in ‘Vitu Videos’. Not addressing a large audience prevents a lot of punches,” he says.
But he’s still managed to land some. Each ‘Vitu Video’ takes approximately three weeks of thought, execution and shooting for a 30-minute presentation. “I pick a song, talk about it and the people who make it. The popularity of the song doesn’t matter; what is important is that it should be close to my heart,” says Alex.
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In the accompanying video of the Ilaiyaraaja song, ‘Maaiyil’, he talks about the composition of the song, its visuals and the contribution of the singers (SPB and JC); ‘Mamas…’ discovered Hamsadhwani, the raga on which the song is based.
Alex honed his musical sensibilities when he was studying at Guindy Engineering College, where he made friends with a lot of musicians and started jamming with them. In the process, he realized that he still had a long way to go. “Back in the village, I used to win music competitions but things were different in Chennai. MS Subbulakshmi’s ‘Kurai Ondrum Ilai’ was one of the earliest songs that I heard and could not repeat. I couldn’t understand why.”
Another musician-friend played a classical-based song from the film Mahanadhi: And Alex couldn’t even sing that. Then he realized how he had missed out on discovering the world of classical music. “I used to play the tabla then, but still couldn’t play the interlude in ‘Poo Sempuv’. That’s when I decided to learn classical music.”
When he went to America to do his masters, he took his tabla with him. “When you are abroad, you start longing for your roots. In America, I went to a Hindustani music festival without knowing anything about the genre. Seeing a tabla player in action rekindled the musical fire in him, and Alex enrolled in tabla player Swapan Choudhary’s class. “It was a 70km one way drive, but I really wanted to learn.”
Around the same time he met young Carnatic singer Raghavan Maniyan and was impressed by his rendition of ‘Athisaya Ragam’.apoorva ragangal) “I thought that if the rhythm has so much depth, there must be more to its melody,” recalls Alex, who later trained for five years under noted Carnatic singer and guru Suguna Purushothaman.
He also learned Hindustani music from Monali Sanyal Balasubramaniam during the lockdown last year. This helped him put together an episode centered on Ustad Zakir Hussain.
Alex is of the view that everyone should undergo some sort of musical training, whether they take it professionally or not. art figure. The process of learning music will keep your mind active,” says the 45-year-old, who is also a yoga instructor.
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