OMKAR - The Life cycle of Man
FUSION MUSIC ALBUM RELEASED IN 1992 BY HMV/RPG
Omkar-The Life Cycle of Man depictis through music the five main stages of a human being: Jananam (birth), Balyam (Childhood), Yauvanam (Youth), Grihastashram (Married life) and Moksham (Salvation). AUM was the foundation for this concept, where A is for the first human sound, U for the journey of life from birth to salvation, U for the last breath. Nalini and artists of Omkar spent several months in researching into the Katho Upanishad and Vedic Chants. They decided that music should not only appeal to the rasikas but also support a deserving cause. Soon by late 1990, extremely talented artists came together and added amazing dimensions to the music.
1. Sitar: Nalini Vinayak
2. Violin: Ramkumar Karthikeyan
3. Lead Guitar: Jaideep Vivekanand
4. Rhythm Guitar: Ian Gunnion
5. Bass Guitar: Stephen Alberts
6. Keyboards: Rajkumar Ramamurthi
7. Drums: Divakar Subramaniam
8. Ghatam: Ghatam Kartik
9. Tabla: Ganesh Rao
10. Vocals: Preeti Vinayak and Arathi Vinayak
11. Konnakol: Ghatam Kartik and Preeti Vinayak
The Making of Omkar-The Life Cycle of Man
Nalini was one of the foremost pioneers of fusion music. Being deeply rooted in Carnatic and Hindustani styles of music, it is no wonder that Nalini’s fusion music is based on ragas.
Nalini brought in the concept of sacred mantras and konnakol (verbal incantation) into fusion music. This amazing group composed and rehearsed for several months. The music of Omkar had all the elements ranging from Indian classical to jazz. The artists of Omkar visited the Spastics Society of India (now known as Vidya Sagar), in Chennai and decided that this is the organization they wanted to perform for.
Live concert of Omkar-The Life Cycle of Man, 1991
The grand premier of this musical extravaganza was performed on October 31, 1991 at the prestigious Sathguru Gyananada Hall (Narada Gana Sabha), Chennai. Beautiful artwork for Omkar-The Life Cycle of Man depicting a mother and child by a well-known artist Ignatius Raphael. Several organizations readily sponsored the project. Massive bill boards at the prime locations and colorful fliers, adorned the City. Movie producer GV and famous movie Star Ms. Revathy and Poonam Natarajan, Director of Vidya Sagar (SSOI) were the chief guests at the concert. Well attended press conferences, thunderous response from the audience, great reviews by the harshest of critics, Omkar-The Life Cycle of Man went on to become a phenomenon in the field of fusion music!
Recording with HMV/RPG of Omkar-The Life Cycle of Man, 1992 :
The success of the live concert caught the attention of HMV/RPG recoding company who signed the group. The group signed their entire royalty to Vidya Sagar (SSOI). Once more, there were well attended press conferences , bill boards,, invitation cards and fliers for the release of the album by HMV at Kasturi Srinivasa Hall, Music Academy on 5/16/1992 The Honorable Sheriff of Chennai, Mr. Suresh Krishna, Nalini’s Guru Pandit Janardan Mitta, Mr. K.S. Mahadevan ( from Indian Express) and a well-wisher of Nalini Released the cassette. Ms. Poonam Natarajan, Director of SSOI received the first copy. This cassette with the original artwork designed by Ignatius Raphael was released for the public by HMV on 5/31/1992.
Omkar-(The Life Cycle of Man)Inst.Fusion was rereleased as a CD by RPG in 1997 with a new art cover. See discography for the art cover.
Omkar The Life Cycle of Man, Instrumental Fusion has been rereleased again in 2019, by Saregama (old HMV/RPG) with yet another new artwork. Link at: See discography for the art cover.
Nalini has very cherished memories of this musical journey which would not have been possible without the amazingly talented artists of Omkar. The artists of Omkar are exceptional musicians!
