Monday, December 30, 2013

ದುರ್ಗಾ ಆಪದುದ್ಧಾರಾಷ್ಟಕಂ

This presentation is the result of a request from a friend. The Kannada script is presented by transliterating from a Devanagari script.

Any help you, the reader, can give to make the words correctly presented will be greatly appreciated.



Sunday, December 01, 2013

हम बेवफा हरगिज़ न थे

Recently, I heard this song again, and noted that the first couple of lines were intriguing:
"I was never unfaithful,
Yet, I could not be faithful ...".
And, of course, the fact that this is in Kishore Kumar's voice is a perennial attraction.



Saturday, October 19, 2013

ಓ ರವಿಯೆ, ನಮ್ಮ ಕುಲಪತಿಯೆ, ...

When you witness a musical production such as Jaya Jaya Vijayee Raghurama, presented under the auspices of One School at a Time (OSAAT), with a string of songs each of which is composed in a raga to suit the mood portrayed by the song, you will find yourself humming, or recalling, that one song over and over again. The following song is one such in today's presentation in Los Altos Hills, California:

Saturday, September 14, 2013

बड़े अच्छे लगते हैं

Simple lyrics, describing what seems to be a certain separation. (I haven't seen the movie).

The lyrics are so simple that it looks like they can be adapted,  to several different situations — husband-wife, brother-sister, father-daughter, grandfather-granddaughter, etc. — in real life.

Any takers?



Saturday, August 03, 2013

आजा रे परदेसी

This is a second song I have encountered recently that uses the phrase पंथ निहार to describe the act of waiting for someone by looking at the road on which the expectant person would come. The first one is मेरे जनम मरण के साथी.



Sunday, June 09, 2013

ನಾ ನಿನ್ನ ಧ್ಯಾನದೊಳು ಇರಲು ಸದಾ

A devotional composition by ಪುರಂದರದಾಸ.

The lyrics on the web are somewhat conflicting and I have, therefore, not provided any links to transliterations and have provided my own transliteration from listening to Bhimsen Joshi's rendering.

Another ♫दरबारी कानडा feast.



Monday, May 06, 2013

देवन के पति इन्द्रा

A lovely composition by Swathi Thirunal that is designed for Raag ♫दरबारी कानडा, as you will note from the line

राग पति कानडा,

and enumerates all the 'head's of various important life's larger-than-life ingredients.



Saturday, April 20, 2013

मनो बुद्धि अहंकार ...


It is an ecstatic treat to listen to Pt. Jasraj render the निर्वाण षटकम्, written by Adi Shankaracharya. I had occasion to attend The Music that Swami Vivekananda Loved today, on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, where Pt. Jasraj introduced this song as one that Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to sing, and the one that Swami Vivekananda liked.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

मैं शायर तो नहीं

An interesting description how romantic love can trigger other actions. In this case, the poet describes the male lover as having become a poet (शायर), a lover (आशिक), a friend (दोस्त), a respecting (बंदगी) person, etc.

There is a subtle double entendre in this song; for a cursory observer, it might appear that the dancer is the object of the male lover; not so, and he is referring to another girl; this fact becomes evident if you know the story.

Bollywood excels in weaving hummable music into stories somewhat unique to the times.



Monday, April 08, 2013

ಕೃಷ್ಣಾ ನೀ ಬೇಗನೆ ಬಾರೋ

This song is a very popular song in Karnataka, and other parts of India. It captures the cry of a God-seeking person. God is personified as Lord Krishna in this composition.

You will find slight variations in lyrics on the web, but I have provided here my interpretations of Yesudas' rendering.



Saturday, April 06, 2013

इन आँखों की मस्ती के


You sometimes hear a song that fleetingly gets your attention, but you really don't pay serious attention to it until you become aware some characteristic the song has. I learnt recently that this song is, for the most part, in raag ♫भूपाली.

I am a student of this raag and, naturally, had to explore its lyrics: Bollywood's lyrics are sometimes amazing.



Saturday, March 30, 2013

ಕಲಿಯುಗದಲಿ ಹರಿನಾಮವ ನೆನೆದರೆ


Simple lyrics to remind us — any of us with whatever failings — to recall, reflect and realize God. Purandara Dasa is no match to anyone, when it comes to crafting lyrics that even a layperson can relate to.

[Note: In the MS rendition linked to this post, the second stanza is not presented].



Saturday, March 23, 2013

ओ सजना, बरखा बहार आयी

The female lover declares her love through singing in the rain. You can, however, sense a certain pure innocence in her singing.

(This drab translation doesn't do justice to what is behind the song. If you click on below, you will visit a blog post that gets into greater details).



Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Fevicol से

Funny song, with good rhyme crafted by mixing English and Hindi. Fevicol is an adhesive brand available in India; sort of like Krazy Glue in America. The girl suggests that her photo be kept near the chest [of any desirer] safely, by using the Fevicol adhesive (so as to ensure that it will stay put).

Kareena Kapoor is definitely a treat to watch.

'Missed-call' is a concept unique to those parts of the world where mobile operators only charge for outgoing calls; if some one calls you, you don't get charged; and, if the callee misses the call by not answering the call, neither is the caller is charged. This fact, the missed call, can be used as a signal to trigger some action, with prior mutual understanding.



Sunday, March 03, 2013

अंडे का funda

Funny song, with good rhyme crafted by mixing English and Hindi. Supposedly, to teach the funda[mentals] of the [chicken and the] egg. Funda is a diminutive of the word 'fundamental' that is more frequently seen in usage in Indian college campuses.

पटना (Patna) and बठिंडा (Bathinda) are two cities in India.



Thursday, February 14, 2013

ಮನಸೇ ಒಂದು ಸಾರಿ ಕೇಳು

Although there is not yet a full music video of this song on the web, you can understand that the lovers are trying to express their love for each other. The girl is so confident of the boy's love that she even declares, translated:

... In every birth, I'd pray to God that you be my lover ...

Happy Valentine's Day.



Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

ये रातें, ये मौसम, नदी का किनारा, ये चँचल हवा

Kishore Kumar's rendering of
ये बाहों में बाहें, ये बहकी निगाहें
लो आने लगा ज़िंदगी का मज़ा
is a treat to listen to. Bollywood seems to excel when producing rhythmic music capturing romance.




Saturday, January 05, 2013

ಸತ್ಯವಂತರಿಗೆ ಇದು ಕಾಲವಲ್ಲ

This song is a somewhat cynical view of life, as seen through the eyes of ಪುರಂದರದಾಸ, the 16th century poet & philosopher. The title of the song can be translated literally as:

This is not the time for truthful people ...

The song elaborates on how unrighteous people end up enjoying comfortable life, and the righteous end up suffering in their life. Perhaps this situation was more seen frequently during his lifetime, and produced the cynical outlook captured in this song.

The song's special significance for me is that I used to hear it, quite regularly, from my late paternal grandmother.

(It appears that this song can be rendered in different ragas; the video by D K Pattammal is in ♫भैरवी).