Mukta Mukta

I find this title song of T N Seetharam’s teleserial Mukta Mukta quite catchy, in spite of not being very upbeat.

The song is written by H S Venkatesha Murthy, and is quite powerful. I like the last stanza which tells about the never-ending battle between the good and the evil.

ಮಣ್ಣ ತಿಂದು ಸಿಹಿ ಹಣ್ಣ ಕೊಡುವ ಮರ ನೀಡಿ ನೀಡಿ ಮುಕ್ತ
ಬೇವ ಅಗಿವ ಸವಿಗಾನದ ಹಕ್ಕಿ ಹಾಡಿ ಮುಕ್ತ ಮುಕ್ತ

ಹಸಿರ ತೋಳಿನಲಿ ಬೆಂಕಿಯ ಕೂಸ ಪೊರೆವುದು ತಾಯಿಯ ಹೃದಯ
ಮರೆಯುವುದುಂಟೆ ಮರೆಯಲಿ ನಿಂತೇ ಕಾಣುವ ಕರುಣಾಮಯಿಯ

ತನ್ನಾವರಣವೇ ಸೆರೆಮನೆಯಾದರೆ ಜೀವಕೆ ಎಲ್ಲಿಯ ಮುಕ್ತಿ
ಬೆಳಕಿನ ಬಟ್ಟೆಯ ಬಿಚ್ಚುವ ಜ್ಯೋತಿಗೆ ಬಯಲೇ ಜೀವನ್ ಮುಕ್ತಿ

ಇರುಳ ವಿರುಧ್ಧ ಬೆಳಕಿನ ಯುಧ್ಧ ಕೊನೆಯಿಲ್ಲದ ಕಾದಾಟ
ತಡೆಯೇ ಇಲ್ಲದೇ ನಡೆಯಲೇ ಬೇಕು ಸೋಲಿಲ್ಲದ ಹೋರಾಟ

The tune is quite similar to the title song for Mukta, earlier teleserial from T N Seetharam. But to me, this song has shades of Shree; Shree of Hindustani kind, that is – particularly in the abrupt transitions from Panchama to Rishabha :). It also reminds me of another well known Kannada bhaavageethe, deepavu ninnade, gaaLiyu ninnade by Ke Es Na.

The singers are M D Pallavi, and Vijay Prakash – Yes, the same Bollywood singer who comes from Mysore, and is known for ‘Jai Ho’; I definitely prefer this voice to C Ashwath’s (who sang the title song for the first Mukta series).

-neelanjana

Most Popular Kannada Bhaava Geete?

Karnataka is fortunate to have a number of excellent sugama sangeeta artists starting from the time of Kalinga Rao. Based on my personal experience in two neighbouring states, the following for sugama sangeeta is not very uniform throughout India.  In my observation, there is a large following for both classical music and filmi music in Tamil Nadu, but not so much to semi-classical form of music. In Maharashtra, on the other hand, Marathi film music is almost non-existent, but cultural centers like Pune reverberate with classical music, and sugama sangeeta is quite popular.

It is a totally different story in Karnataka. Filmi music is popular. (Where it isn’t?)  Although fan following for classical music is below the levels of what I think it should be at, tahnkfully sugama sangeeta artists have been quite popular from decades.  And rightly so.

If you are a music fanatic, it is hard to pick one song that is your most favorite.  It is a tantalizing task. Just like asking an avid reader to pick just one book. I don’t think I can answer either of these question witout a ‘but’ or an ‘if’ or a ‘so’ 🙂

However, the song ದೀಪವು ನಿನ್ನದೆ, ಗಾಳಿಯು ನಿನ್ನದೆ -‘deepavu ninnade, gaaLiyu ninnade’  by K S Narasimha Swami seems to be a very popular among the visitors to my blog. Every day since I wrote a post about this song about five months ago, I have had one or two search engine hits that are looking for something like ‘deepavu ninnade lyrics’ or ‘deepavu ninnadu ke es na’ or ‘deepavu ninnade gaaliyu ninnade’ ‘deepavu ninnade words’ etc. You get the idea. In fact, this has been the most visited post in my blog, contributing about one tenth the total number of visitors who have ever come to this blog.

Given that many of my posts are about music, and a number of songs are actually are mentioned in these posts, I have to come to a conclusion that ದೀಪವು ನಿನ್ನದೆ is one of the most popular kannada bhaavageetes – if not the most popular.

I like this song too. The background music is very apt, and sets the mood for the lyrics very well. However, if I am asked to pick just one bhaavageete – would I choose this one? I think not.  When I have a limited choice, I think I would go for something much brighter in treatment; din ki pooria or bhOgavasanta does not just cut it. 

Then what would my choice be?  May be ಉಡುಗಣವೇಷ್ಟಿತ ಚಂದ್ರ ಸುಶೋಭಿತ (uDugaNavEShTita) or ಎದೆ ತುಂಬಿ ಹಾಡಿದೆನು  (ede tumbi hADidenu) – incidentally both poems are written by G.S.Shivarudrappa. And no, I just don’t like the music composed by Ashwath for ‘ede tumbi hADidenu’ – Or was it Mysore Anantha Swamy’s? Either way, that is not the best tune for this song in my opinion.  Instead I like the other tune for this song that I have known for a long long long time -which I knew much before I even knew C Ashwath’s, or Anannthaswamy’s name.  Coincidentally, the tune I am talking about  is based on the raaga Kalyani (or Yaman, if you are from north of river Tungabhadra), just like the song uDugaNavEShTita is.

I don’t know the composer of that tune for ‘ede tumbi haaDidenu’ but suspect it could be Padmacharan. His fancy for Kalyani/Yaman is well known. I desperately searched the internet for any audio links for uDugaNavEShTita and ede tumbi haaDidenu ( the version I am talking about) – but no avail. Either my search skills are very bad, or the songs are not that great. I would it rather be the former than the latter!

So for those who have never heard these songs, I have to leave it to their imagination. And for those who have actually listened to these, no doubt they would agree with me that these indeed are two great songs 😉 !

-neelanjana

Snake it was, Oh damsel!

Couple of days ago I wrote about hAvu tuLidene: a pada of ShishunALa Sharrief, sung beautifully by Sulochana – Music by C. Aswath.

ಹಾವು ತುಳಿದೇನೆ ಮಾನಿನಿ
ಹಾವು ತುಳಿದೇನೆ

ಹಾವು ತುಳಿದು ಹಾರಿ ನಿಂತೆ
ಜೀವ ಕಳವಳಿಸಿತೇ ಗೆಳತಿ!
ದೇಹ ತ್ರಯದ ಸ್ಮೃತಿಯು ತಪ್ಪಿ
ದೇವಾ ನೀನೆ ಗತಿಯು ಎನ್ನುತ

ಹರಿಗೆ ಹಾಸಿಗೆಯಾದ ಹಾವು
ಹರನ ತೋಳಿನೊಳಿರುವ ಹಾವು
ಧರೆಯ ಹೊತ್ತು ಮೆರೆವ ಹಾವಿನ
ಶಿರವ ಮೆಟ್ಟಿದೆ ಶಿವನ ದಯದಿ

ಬೋದಾನಂದವಾಗಿ ಬರಲು
ಹಾದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮಲಗಿ ಇರಲು
ಪಾದದಿಂದ ಪೊಡವಿಗೊತ್ತಿ
ನಾದಗೊಳಿಸಿತು ನಿಜದಿ ನೋಡೆ

ಸತ್ಯ ಶಿಶುವಿನಾಳಧೀಶನ
ನಿತ್ಯಸೇವಿಸುವಂಥ ಮಾನಿಗೆ
ಕತ್ತಲಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದು ಕಾಲಿಗೆ
ಸುತ್ತಿಕೊಂಡಿತು ಸಣ್ಣ ನಾಗರ || ಹಾವು ತುಳಿದೇನೆ ||

I refrained from translating it because  of two reasons : one – many of Sharrief’s poems are not very  easy to interepret, and two – (and more important) – you can measure my poetic skills in English in the same range as the  45 – 65 nanometer chips I work on.

As luck would have it, I found the book of Shishunala Sharief’s songs compiled by N S Lakshminarayana Bhatta in my collection. When I looked for this song, there was one more stanza, which is missing in sulOchana’s rendition.

Here is the missing stanza:

ಕಾರಡಗಿ ಊರ ಹೊರಗೆ
ದಾರಿಗಟ್ಟಿ ತರುಬಿದಂಥ
ಘೋರ ತರದ ಉರಗ ಅದರ
ಕ್ವಾರಿ ಹಲ್ಲು ಮುರಿವ ತೆರದಿ

There was also a note about this song in the preface. It said that the song was composed, and describes the dilemma  Sharief went through when he met a woman who desired him on a dark evening, outside Karadagi village (where he was a school teacher) as he was walking to ShishunaLa.. But Sharief being what he was, crushed the desire as he describes in the song as “stamping the snake”.

Even though I had understood the symbolism here before, this additional reference definitely improved my understanding.

So here it goes – My attempt at a translation with my 45 nm poetic skills!

Snake it was, Oh damsel!
I did step on a snake!

I stepped on the serpent
Jumping in turmoil
I forgot the three worlds
Calling out my saviour || Snake, it was ||

Snake on which Hari sleeps
Snake adorning Hara’s arms
Snake that lifts mother Earth
By grace of Shiva,I crushed it! || Snake, it was ||

While I walked blissfully,
There it lay on my path
With my foot, I did subdue
sonorously, baring the truth ||Snake, it was||

Desire, trying to befall
The servant of ShishnALa’s* Lord
In the dark, thus aspiring
To wrap around my leg  || snake it was||

*shishunALA = shishuvina hALa -> The village where Sharrief lived

-neelanjana