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MP3 Madooo - This Day Is Forever
14 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Classic Rock, BLUES: Rockin'' Blues
Details:
In the 70s, everybody wanted to be a rock star. Madooo (Madhukar Dhas) did reach stardom in his native India, singing and putting on Western rock music shows. In fact, the moniker "Superstar" was practically attached to his name by the Indian press. Yet he left that fame to come to the United States. He has recently changed his stage name to Madooo, having been formerly known by his full name, Madhukar Chandra Dhas.
Madooo has always been one of those people for whom creative expression can take different forms. Music and art have always been intertwined in his life.
His love for American music brought him to these shores, where he now works as a graphic designer at Deutsch Advertising.
Madooo was born in the Madras province of India. His father wanted him to become a doctor. At Madras State College, however, Madooo decided art was more his calling. In fact, he was disappointed when, through his father''s influence, a seat opened up for him in the medical school. Fortunately, it was lost at the last minute,"...otherwise I might have killed a few hundred people by now." he says in humor.
Eventually Madooo moved to Bombay, where India''s advertising industry was, taking a job on a trial basis with the Interpub agency. A billboard cartoon campaign he had created, as well as work for Air India and a local soft-drink manufacturer, landed him a job with Lintas:India. He eventually became a visualizer (art director).
While at Lintas, he met Alyque Padamsee, the managing director, who was putting on an Indian production of "Jesus Christ Superstar." Madhu says,"I wanted to play the part of Judas. I was worried about the controversy surrounding the play at that time".
Instead of playing Judas, chosen from a field of 500 aspiring actors and singers, Madooo played the lead. He needn''t have worried. In fact, he was surprised at the reception of the audience, many of whom were Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims. "Many people cried at each performance", he recalls wistfully.
The show was a smashing success, running for a year and a half, even giving a command performance for then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Madooo says it was one of the best years of his life: "I would work in the agency all day, then go straight to the theater, do the show, then head for the club where I would play with my band until one or two in the morning."
Madooo toured India, and the Asian English-speaking hotel circuit, with solo shows. In one show, he was among the first to incorporate graphics, slides of cartoons (his work) projected behind him on stage. The projectionist was his new bride, Sophia, a model and dancer, who also performed in the show. In another, called "The Evolution of Mr. Rock," Madooo both satirized and celebrated the Western pop-music scene, parodying various singers.
Eventually, he decided to go to America. "The music scene in India is very provincial; there is a limited Western pop-music audience. I was booked on to the circuit, playing five-star hotels, but there was nowhere else to go." He adds,"...the American quality in recording was so much better."
Madooo next hooked up with a Vietnamese band (playing American rock & roll) that had booked an American tour, playing throughout the Midwest. Finally, after a stint with an Elvis-impersonating band, he and his wife found themselves at the Hershey Hotel in Pennsylvania in 1981. Deciding that they had had enough of road life, they went to New York to seek steady jobs. Madooo took a job at a local type house where he studied the art of typography extensively,
Working with art directors from all over New York, doing work for Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt. He joined Bozell in 1988. And in 1998 he moved to Deutsch Inc., which has been nominated "Agency of the year" by both Adweek and Advertising Age for 4 consecutive years. There, too, he has managed to bring in his music, winning their annual Talent contests doing Elvis Presley & Jim Morrison impersonations, both of which got mentions in Adweek.
Madooo''s music may not be on the front burner, but it''s still simmering. In 1981, he went to an audition by former singer/songwriter Harry Chapin. He did so well that Harry gave Madooo his address, requested a tape and told him he''d like to be his manager. Madooo sent him a tape, but when he made a followup call, he was told that Harry was out on the road. Two weeks later, Chapin died. Earlier in India, Led Zeppelin visited a club where Madooo sang and Robert Plant gave him a thumbs-up after listening to him. These encouraging images have been etched in his mind, and keep his musical dreams and hopes alive.
His popularity in India still persists in certain circles. On a recent return trip, he was asked by Louis Banks, India''s top music producer, to sing on more than 20 jingles for national commercials; an earlier jingle of his for Close-Up toothpaste had set records, staying on the air and playing daily at every movie house in the country for almost 10 years.
Madooo finds a great deal of creative satisfaction in his work for Deutsch, but his urge to sing has him performing again. He sang with the Marble Collegiate Gospel choir, which in the last 4 years has appeared at Carnegie Hall, The Beacon, Lincoln Center, and, in 2000, at Madison Square Garden backing up Marc Anthony at WKTU''s "Miracle on 34th Street". His first love is still rock & roll but with an East-Indian flavor in which he hears a voicing of mainstream rock & roll with Indian percussion instruments and musical instruments such as the tabla & sitar.
This September, he has come out with a CD, the title track of which he wrote for the 9/11 Memorial and has made it available FREE for all the world to download from his website https://www.tradebit.com, as a song for healing. He is now working on a tribute to the Beatles from India using his unique arranging talents. 3 of these songs are featured in his current album, "This Day Is Forever". The album, the website and related elements were all designed by him, as always utilizing one of his talents to promote the other.
Read some of what the Indian Press has had to say:
THE EXAMINER: "The way Madhukar sang "Gethsamane" really got me in the guts and personally gave me an insight into Jesus Christ''s agony that years of
Good Friday services never have".
THE TIMES OF INDIA: "Madhukar, the sensational singer of Jesus Christ Superstar, was far and away the star of "Mr. Rock". His throw of voice is superb - he sings soulfully with pathos and feeling".
FREE PRESS JOURNAL: "Madhukar is the nearest there is to a singing star of Western popular music in India. His singing is second to none and as a stage artist
he is incomparable."
DELHI DATELINE: "It is difficult to remain unmoved when Madhukar sings".
ECONOMIC TIMES: "Madhukar is a strong and inspired musico-histrionic portrait, wide in vocal and emotional range".
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