Celebrating ShankarabharaNam - 3- Brochevarevarura and Dialogues preceding the song

Song : Brochevarevarura and Dialogues preceding the song
Composer / Lyricist : Mysore Vasudevacharya
Originally sung by : Vani Jeyaram, S. P. Balasubramaniyam
Originally Arranged By : K. V. Mahadevan
Movie : shankaraBharaNam

Dramatization and Dialogue Delivery: Narayanan Raju (Dasu) and Vamsikrishna Nadella (Shastri)

Singers: Srividya Kasturi, Murali Venkatraman
Mixing : Meera Manohar


Celebrating ShankarabharaNam - 3- Brochevarevarura - With Srividya Kasturi | Upload Music

(The song starts at 3:43)

Remix - these days has become synonymous with making a cacophony of older compositions of high musical standing. The disturbing trend has started eroding the minds of newer listeners who may, if ignorant about the classics, start hating them baselessly simply because the only version of the classic they heard was a bad inharmonious effort from a wastrel of an arranger.

Lyrics form another domain where the value seems to be getting lost especially in tamil and telugu. Meaningless words with some stupid rhyme like:

"kaNNum kaNNum nOkia
cappuccino cofee ya
sofia "

are flooding the music scene. Songs like "arigori bonsaai samba nellaalE" which feature gibberish are better only than the vulgar songs like "aakalesthe" (nee rent kodutha tent pOdalaam)". In the movie Shankarabharanam there is a scene where 'Dasu' tries to 'teach' the kid a new variant of Brochevarevarura. His insistence on remixing the song in a speedy trendy (we are talking about late 70s here) way, incurs the attention and wrath of Shankara Shastri (Somayajulu). Shastri explains how each and every syllable of the great classical compostions brims with life. He explains how every aksharam has a distinct swaram and naadam and how one must not ruin the original in the name of remixing it.

I was of the opinion that this movie stressed only on the "holier-than-thou attitude" about Indian classical music until I saw this clip:

The director K. Vishwanath through the character of Shankara Shastri explains how one should approach and perform music with dedication be it western or Indian. That, I thought was a great piece of advice. What do we do with the musical giant that is S.P.B ? See how he effortlessly sings the 'pop' portions ? I don't know anything about western singing, but I can certainly recognize a voice which can effortlessly transition through octaves with ease and utmost clarity. It may be that he won the National award for Shankara Naada Shareera Para. But I think the movie has many bits like these which never got popular but featured some excellent singing (Remember - punjai uNdu nanjai uNdu humming of SPB in unnaal mudiyum thambi?).

As a tribute to the situation in the movie which featured the comical Dasu and serious Shastri, my friends and I here present you with both the dialogue and the song. For this, I requested Narayanan and Vamsi - two good singers in their own right - to recreate the situation. And that they did beautifully with Vidya who also joined me in rendering the song. And I need to acknowledge their guidance in pronunciation. The original had a few minor mistakes done by the lead singers and Vidya and I have tried to sing the song with the right words (with help from vamsi).

With Meera's help we seem to sound better than we actually do. And for the rest of the series too Meera has graciously accepted to mix. Thank you Meera.

Over to you all for all the bouquets and brickbats !

Lyrics:

ब्रॊचॆवारेवरुरा
निनु विना रघुवरा
नी चरणाम्बुजमुलनॆ
विडज़ाल करुणालवाल

ऒ चतुरा ननादि वन्दित
नीकु पराकॆलनैय्या
नी चरितमु पोगडलॆनि ना
चिन्त तीर्च्चि वरमुलीच्चि वॆगमॆ

सीतापतॆ नापै नीकभिमानमु लॆदा ?
वातात्मजार्चित पादा ना मोरलनु विनरादा ?
भासुरमुग करिराज़ुनु ब्रोचिन वासुदॆवुडवु नीवुकदा ?
ना पतकमेल्ल पॊगोट्टि गट्टिग ना चेय्यि पट्टि विडुवक

Sa;;Sanida pada niSanini dada pama ||

pa;dama;; ga;; ma;pa; da;ni ||

Sa,ni,dapama ni,da,pama gamapada ma ||

garisa; sama;gama padama; padani ||

SaSaRi ni; niniSa da; dadani pa;da ||

mapadani Sanidapa magama nidani pada||

ma; padaniSa Ma;GaRiSa Ri;Sa;ni ||

dapa Sa;ni;dapama ga;ma;padani ||

Celebrating Shankarabharanam - 2 - Maanasa Sancharare

(pic courtesy : Sulekha.com)

Song : Maanasa Sancharare
Composer / Lyricist : Sadashiva Brahmendra
Originally sung by : Vani Jeyaram, S. P. Balasubramaniyam
Orignally Arranged By : K. V. Mahadevan
Movie : shankaraBharaNam

Singers: Meera Manohar, Murali Venkatraman
Karaoke/ Arrangement : Murali Venkatraman
Mixing : Meera Manohar


Celebrating Shankarabharanam - 2 - Maanasa Sancharare with Meera Manohar | Upload Music

"Have you read all these books ?!"

My mother exclaimed innocently looking at the many cartons of books I have ranging from highly technical ones which ran for thousand pages or more to ones which were pocket-sized that captured popular science in an interesting way. I was stunned for a moment since I did not know how to answer. I took a look at my big collection and responded:

"No amma. I hope I will read them some day"

She got busy with kitchen work and had forgotten the conversation. For her it was just a curiosity as to how much her son could study.

But the question reverberated in my mind. Why do I have so many books some of which I may never be reading ? For example, I have books on mathematical logic,topology etc but given my time constraints, I wonder if I will ever get to read them. It led me to an important decision - "No more books until absolutely necessary". My mother's simple innocence-laden question pushed me to rethink about my attitude towards buying books.

While talking about the life of the poet-philosopher-composer Sadashiva Brahmendra one cannot but admire how a simple instruction from his mother-in-law transformed his life from one of a possible ordinary family man into someone who moved freely like a gypsy and composed beautiful songs with deep philosophical thought. It may be a folklore, that his mother-in-law's words "Don't come inside the house" on the night of his marriage consummation, made him rethink about his real pursuits in life. However, consider another related question : "What is the purpose of life if there is one at all ?". This seemingly simple question has been addressed for centuries and people are still trying to find an answer. With brahmendra, the simple instruction/question did have a deep impact on the man who finally came to the public domain and we were blessed with an exceptional poet. Thus seemingly simple innocent questions/instructions may bring about some dramatic irreversible transformations.

Read more about Sadasiva Brahmendra here :

1. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fr/2003/05/02/stories/2003050201370400.htm
2. http://ssubbanna.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/08/sadashiva-brahmendra-the-avadhuta.htm

To quote my mentor Dr. Bosco Emmanuel:

"Pioneers of science always asked and addressed simple questions. How did D. J. Thouless arrive at the branching in the theory of percolation ? He just asked a simple question. What will be the conductivity of carbon if I randomly punched a few holes in it ? He took a carbon sheet and punched a few random holes in it, measured the conductivity and plotted a graph of the conductivity versus available area. He finally ended up being an exponent in percolation theory "

In this beautiful song which is set in the ragam shyama, which is a cousin of shuddha saaveri and aarabhi, Sadashiva expounds beautiful descriptions of a divine being (krishna) when he himself is in a state of trance. He instructs the mind to roam in the field of universal consciousness (the Brahman) aided sweetly by the music.

In the movie, this comes as a lullaby that the sishya sings for the guru. The director K. Vishwanath had tastefully used a break in the song in the guise of sishya forgetting the lyrics. This invariably invites the voice of guru (SPB) and an uninfringing melody which gently rocks the listener is born. In our version, I have expanded the song a little more to allow more room for the male singer to savor.

And this I believe is one of Meera's best renditions in which her gamakam laden voice has captured the soul of the song.

Lyrics:
====

maanasa sanchararE
brahmaNi maanasa sanchararE

madasikhi pinchaalankruta chikurE
mahaneeya kapOlajita mukurE

shri ramaNeekucha durga vihaari
sEvakajana mandira mandaarE
paramahamsamukha chandra chakOrE
pari poorita muraLeeravadhaarE

(courtesy : http://www.telugulyrics.net/Sankarabharanam-Movie-Lyrics/Manasa-Sancharare-Song-Lyrics/)

Meaning:
======

Oh, Mind ! Undertake your pilgrimage in the Brahmam !

The locks of Brahman, is adorned with the plumes of an exhilarated peacock (mada sikhi)! The cheeks of the Supreme One outwit the brightness of a mirror !

He sports around in the fort of the breast-hillocks of Mahalakshmi (Sri). For his devotees, He is a Kalpavriksha in the court yard (mandira Mandaare) Supreme ascetics (paramahamsa) delight in that face-moon (mukha chandraa) as a partridge bird (chakore - with obvious reference to the chakora bird that thirsts for moonlight) Oh, Mind! May your pilgrimage be complete in this Brahman that fills everything with the flow of the music from His flute(murali) ! !
(courtesy : http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/homepages/shivkuma/music/manasasancharare.htm )

Quietitude Weighs Heavy

..And parents have gone back. So has my dear sis aparna.

I have always preferred a balance between calm and chatty times. I have sought quiet contemplation when home bubbles with activity and now ..the emptiness stares at me reminding the clatter and clamor that was life for the past 6 months..

well.. I realize that the clatter and clamor IS life..and quietitude should only be a vacation.. The affectionate awakening with steaming coffee by mom, the long puja by dad accompanied with a barrage of strong verbal push for aparna to get up against her characteristic sleepy defiance to savor the early morning slumber...

Appu is much younger to me and I have never seen her as my sister. The bond between her and me has been more like dad-daughter. Right from she was born, I was have babysat her for hours. The three of us - dad, mom and me - could easily go into our own worlds like cooking, reading and office work respectively and we may not even feel our mutual presence until either hunger beckons or mom sounds the food-bell. But with appu around, the home is always filled with vibrancy which is an admixture of arguments, jokes, laughter, her follies and what not.

That my dear appu - I miss. I never thought I would miss 'clamor'. But I realize that is a part of life.

When you folks were around, I felt a bit suffocated at times with a tight work schedule, weekend plans and the impossibility of finding time for things that otherwise enthuse me - like music. But with you folks gone, I have time but no interest.

Love you all.