Phagun Haway Haway

'Phagun Haway Haway' is a Bengali poem by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Shirin Soraiya has rendered a light musical version of it, which is delightful to listen to and joyful to view. Born in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, to parents who were not musicians, Shirin took her basic training in Hindustani classical, which she learnt for nearly six years. Her first Rabindra Sangeet tutor was a well-known exponent, Maitreyi Majumdar, a disciple of the legendary Suchitra Mitra. She always wanted to carve out a career in performing arts and culture, but obliging her parents, she prioritised education, passing an M.A. in English and also a B.Ed. In 2012, she married and found a schoolteacher’s job. Two years later, their daughter was born.

During the Covid lockdowns of 2020, she and her family withdrew from Kolkata to their country home in their native place. She said in an interview with Different Truths in 2022, “In 2020 on Pochis e Boishakh (Tagore’s birth anniversary), I launched my first song, which was much appreciated and warmly received. Now, having made up my mind to learn the technical aspects, I seriously delved into technical books to master the techniques of sound effects, sound engineering, recording, editing, etc.; I even fixed up a home studio for the purpose.”

“I personally feel, as of now, Rabindra Sangeet is heavily chained and shackled by draconian rules and regulations, which the budding artists often find oppressive and intimidating. There is an erroneous idea doing the rounds that Tagore’s music is meant only for esoteric groups. But that is not so. Tagore wanted his music to permeate the lives of even the lowly and meek”. She added, “I nurture a dream: it shall be my endeavour to liberate Tagore’s lyrics from pseudo bondages and put it within the grasp of the common man.”

Shirin Soraiya attributed her success to Facebook (now 443K followers) and YouTube (now 43K subscribers). (Source: 'Shirin: Liberate Tagore’s Lyrics for the Commoners', Different Truths, March 12, 2022). 

'Phagun Haway Haway' produced by Pradyut Chaterjea, premiered on Shirin Soraiya’s YouTube channel on 29th December 2024. I am grateful to her for kindly agreeing, when her permission was requested, to post the song, with an English translation from the website Geetabitan, on ‘Timeless Music and Talks’.

Minor changes have been made to the English translation of Anjan Ganguly's that was posted on the Geetabitan. Gratitude to the translator and the website for making it available free for all. Thanks to Sumita Chakraborty (West Bengal), who helped identify a tree named in the poem. It was well worth the effort, as it turned out to be not 'fir' as in the translation but saltcedar (Jhau, red tamarisk, or tamaris).

For non-monetary, non-profit, cultural and educational purposes. 

Watch the music video at: youtu.be/SbPvF7rx4NQ

Watching the sea swaying its manes

"Watching the sea swaying its manes" is the first line of Bhaavam (Attitude, music video, 2023) by singer & composer Job Kurian. Bhaavam is perhaps one of those "untranslatable" Indian words as eminent Indian intellectual Rajiv Malhotra would call it. "Attitude" gives the sense of a mental poise but Bhaavam gives not only the mental but includes the vital and the physical poise of a human being.   

Kurian has sung 37 film songs and composed and sung in 18 music albums since his first song in the film "Goal" in 2007. His Bhaavam is about losing the ego, opening to self-knowledge, and seeking the Truth. The protagonist's experiences are not a result of joining a traditional ashram or monastery but while living in the present world. Notably, his vision is not an ascetic withdrawal from life's riches nor an embracing of poverty, reflective of the Upanishadic teachings that the Divine can be experienced both amid wealth and poverty. ("For it is not the wealth and the poverty which matter or are real, but only the feeling of the presence of the Lord in all things". - Sri Aurobindo, Isha Upanishad, CWSA, Vol 7, Pg 184) 

The video has received 4.2 million views on Kurian's YouTube channel who regards as his gurus Surendran Master, Kavalam Narayana Panicker (1928–2016, poet, playwright, theatre director, lyricist—Padmabhushan, 2007), and Nedumudi Venu (1948–2021, veteran movie actor, won three National Film Awards).

The lyrics of Bhaavam were written by Engandiyoor Chandrasekharan and Job Kurian. They have been translated from Malayalam into English and added as subtitles on the video. 

Click this link to watch (5 min : 24 sec): https://youtu.be/yaiyONTH1Rk

Jazz: What a Wonderful World by Angie Fisher

  A standard symphony orchestra typically consists of about 80 to 100 musicians, but jazz bands comprise a much smaller number of about 3 to 25 musicians. In its potential for making excellent music, jazz is no less than orchestral music. Esperanza Emily Spalding, an American jazz musician, singer, songwriter, and composer who has won four Grammy Awards, said while performing a jazz concert song some years ago, “Europe gave us classical music, and jazz is America’s classical music”.

'What a Wonderful World', is considered a jazz standard, and was written by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele. It was first recorded live by the legendary singer Louis Armstrong in 1959 and then, in 1967, recorded in a studio and released. Louis passed away in 1971, and the recording received wider attention when it was used in an American war comedy film, ‘Good Morning, Vietnam’ in 1988. The song was then re-released.

It's a lovely song on the simple joys of life and has been covered by many singers over the past decades. I find Angie Fisher's the best for many reasons, not least of which are its simple presentation and heartfelt expressions. Besides, a female singer rendering the blooming of a rose, a rainbow, and children growing seems more apt, and the fact that she is a Black singer reminds us that jazz originated from the urban culture of American Black musicians but has transcended race and become a part of the American culture.

Ref: Wikipedia

Click this link to watch (3 min : 05 sec):  'What a Wonderful World' by Angie Fisher

The world is not an unfortunate accident, it is a marvel which moves towards its expression. - The Mother

(Excerpt: 27 November 1971, Words of the Mother - I, CWM Vol 13, Pg 15)

Idealism and aspiration in film music

 

Music maestro Ilayaraaja conducting a concert in Singapore, 2021

The first movie of the world, 1893, USA

In 1893, Eadweard Muybridge projected hand-painted animated images at his Zoopraxigraphical Hall at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, USA. In June 1894, in Portland, Oregon, Charles Francis Jenkins used his Phantoscope to project his film before an audience of family, friends, and reporters. The Phantoscope was later sold to Thomas Alva Edison (the great inventor), who changed the name of the projector to Edison's Vitascope. The first "storefront theater" in the US dedicated exclusively to showing motion pictures was Vitascope Hall, Louisiana, 1896.

In London, Lumière and Robert Paul presented moving pictures in 1896, and the same year the Lumière firm presented the technology of the Cinématographe in June 1896 at Bombay by screening six films over a month's duration: Entry of Cinematographe, The Sea Bath, Arrival of a Train, A Demolition, Ladies and Soldiers on Wheels, and Leaving the Factory. Their next presentation was made in Australia. The first screening of silent films in Madras was by Mr. Edwards at the Victoria Public Hall in 1897. 

The first Indian film maker Bhatavdekar, 1899

Having witnessed the birth of silent cinema from the Lumière firm's shows in Bombay, a 28-year-old still photographer, Sakharam Bhatavdekar, invested 21 guineas and imported the first motion picture camera from the Riley Brothers of England. With the imported equipment, he shot a wrestling match between two well-known wrestlers and got the reel processed in England. The silent documentary 'The Wrestlers' of 1899 turned Bhatavdekar into the first filmmaker in India. 

The first feature film of India, also a silent movie, Raja Harishchandra, was made by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913 in Bombay.  Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu put up Gaiety, the first cinema house in Madras in 1914 to be built by an Indian. The first Tamil film with sound, Keechaka Vadham, was directed by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1918. 

The first Indian talkie film, Alam Ara (Light of the Universe), 1931

India's first talkie film was Alam Ara (Light of the Universe), produced by Ardeshir Irani in 1931. Less than 7 months later, the first Tamil talkie film, Kalidas (bilingual—Telugu and Tamil), was released by the same producer. Since then, the Tamil film industry has produced and released over 10,000 films. Unlike films in the rest of the world, which usually don’t have a song in them, it is the opposite with Indian films: every film on an average has 4 or 5 songs. Films without songs are so rare their numbers may be considered negligible. Light music instead of classical music became the norm in the films. The legendary film music director M.S. Viswanathan (MSV), who made hundreds of evergreen song compositions over the decades, was popularly admired as Mellisai Mannar, the King of Light Music. Ilaya Raja and A.R. Rahman, who gained ascendance after MSV, were also prolific creators of light music songs. Film music has been a significant influence in the culture and society in the state of Tamil Nadu since the second half of the twentieth century.

'Tamil Music in Films', Unity Pavilion, 23rd February 

Smt. Subhashree Thanikachalam, organiser of QFR, a popular music group hosted by the YouTube channel Ragamalika TV, said while introducing their rendition of a song a few years ago, "Tamil film music was first inspired by Carnatic music, next Hindustani, and then Western, Jazz, etc". The QFR group, since 2020, has made renditions of over 700 evergreen Tamil film songs by talented artists using advanced technology of the present times.

A presentation of ‘Tamil Music in Films’ by Tmt. A. Chitra and Tmt. A. Mangayarkarasi from Chennai was organised as a part of the Auroville Festival on 23rd February 2025 at Unity Pavilion. As the theme was Carnatic ragas in Tamil film songs, they spoke about the ragas and sang the first couple of lines of a number of songs—devotional, love, sad, etc.—in about an hour's time. Singing in Tamil, they spoke alternately in Tamil and English and towards the end, sang the first lines of 10 songs with recorded background music. The hall might have been half full, but the audience of different cultural origins was appreciative. 

Most film songs aim to be entertaining and exciting, but there are many songs with highly inspired music and lyrics. They are devotional, romantic, tragic, etc., and beyond, idealistic and aspiring. A couple of examples:

1. Lines from 'Manithan Enbavan' composed by M.S. Viswanathan

If one’s mind is set, even a bird's nest can accommodate the deer.

If there is a way, one can realise a mountain with a mustard.

2. Lines from 'Idhu Oru Ponmalai' composed by Ilayaraaja

The sky is my Bodhi Tree

And it brings me a message every day.

There have been many programs on films in Auroville, but this is the first one, as far as I know, exclusively on film music. Appreciations to the organisers for the pioneering initiative.

A program by a professional light music orchestra to perform at least a dozen film songs of high inspiration, each of them completely, would be good to have, maybe once a year, for an enriching experience of Indian film music.

Ref:

1. The Untold Story of India's First Filmmakers

2. Wikipedia

It's a Golden Evening Time

'Nizhalgal' (Shadows, Tamil film, 1980) received critical acclaim and was screened at the "Indian Panorama" section of the International Film Festival of India, 1981. The movie also won the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Best Music Director for Ilaiyaraaja and Best Male Playback Singer for S. P. Balasubrahmanyam (SPB).

'Idhu Oru Ponmalai' (It's a Golden Evening Time) from the movie was a debut song of lyricist Vairamuthu, who became highly popular in the years and decades that followed. An article in The Times of India titled "The evening is yet to be: Vairamuthu’s ode to Tamil", on March 20, 2020 reveals the admiration other renowned lyricists had for his work: poet-lyricist Gulzar admitted at a public function, “We both are lyric writers. Vairamuthu writes better than me. With his enchanting words, he mesmerises the film world." Javed Akthar, asked to write the Hindi version of his songs in a Tamil movie (Jeans, 1998) that was being remade in Hindi, told the film's director, Shankar, “It is almost impossible to translate Vairamuthu’s thoughts into Hindi. His thoughts are at such a height.”

S.P.B.'s vocal artistry, imbued with rapturous yet measured emotions, and Ilayaraaja's contemporaneous music composition, different from the music evocative of rural life that made him popular early in his career, have together created an uplifting and memorable song. The movie was directed by Bharathiraja.

It is the feeling of discerning viewers at times that a particular film song deserved better visuals, and so, that has resulted in many alternate videos being made and published on YouTube. Joining this movement, 'Idhu Oru Ponmalai' is provided here with a compilation of beautiful footage, mostly from nature, by 'Timeless Music and Talks'. Thanks to Grace, Kolam Yoga, Auroville, for kindly allowing me to use in this video a beautiful kolam image from her Facebook (appears at 1 min 55 sec on the video).

The lyrics have been translated from Tamil into English and displayed as subtitles on the video. As the aim of the translation is to try to bring out the poetry of the Tamil lyrics into English, liberties have been taken from the literal meanings wherever necessary.

For non-profit cultural and educational purposes.

Click this link to watch (3 min : 50 sec): Idhu Oru Ponmalai with English lyrics

Honey and Calamus

The title 'Thenum Vayambum' (Honey and Calamus) has a cultural significance for Malayalis (Keralites). It's a paste made by mixing a tiny amount of gold powder, obtained by grinding gold (from an ornament such as a gold ring), calamus (a herbal plant) and honey. The paste is applied on the tongue of infants some months after the birth with the belief it would prevent colic in children, and when they grow up, make them speak sweetly. The song 'Thenum Vayambum' was composed by Raveendran and sung by S. Janaki for the film of the same name (Malayalam, 1981). 

The song is a call to the Skylark of honeyed and healing voice requesting a sacred song. The poet invites the bird to the apple-banana orchard in the heavens to drink the nectar of the blossoms, throughout the day. He sees the sky flowers blossoming on the Blue Mountains, little Magpie Robins singing in the mist, remembers that it is the wedding day of the wagtail bird, and asks the Skylark if it would like to join. 

Raveendran launches the lyrical communion with nature with the softest beats of the tabla and an uplifting note from the flute. S. Janaki's voice is imbued with the love for nature throughout the song. The voice artistry and flawless diction make a soothing and delightful rendition. For nearly a minute in the middle of the song is Raveendran's Sonata while the camera just sweeps over the greenery of the location. Sumalatha expresses being one with nature - kissing a flower, and walking relaxed touching the trees on the way. Simplicity and realism, the characteristic features of the best of Malayalam films, are evident here. 

S. Janaki (b. 1938, Andhra Pradesh) is one of the best-known Indian playback singers and has recorded over 48,000 songs in films, albums, TV, and radio, which include solos, duets, choruses, and title tracks in 20 languages, including Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Sanskrit, Odia, Tulu, Urdu, Punjabi, Badaga, Bengali, and Konkani, and also in English, Japanese, German, and Sinhala. S. Janaki received her first Kerala state film award for best singer in 1970 and went on to win the same almost every year for the next 15 years. It was her command over the language and perfect diction that took her to great heights in Malayalam films. 

The Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyricist went to Bichu Thirumala for his lyrics in the movie directed by Ashok Kumar. Sumalatha has acted in more than 220 films in Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Hindi, till 2023. 

(The above text includes excerpts from Wikipedia.) 

The lyrics have been translated from Malayalam into English and displayed in subtitles on the video for the benefit of those who do not know Malayalam but know English. The translation aims to present more the poetic thoughts in the lyrics than their literal meanings.

For non-profit cultural and educational purposes.

Click on the link below to view:

Thenum Vayambum with English lyrics, film Thenum Vayambum  (4 min : 10 sec)

Sumalatha in a frame from the song

'You Raise Me Up' by Emma Kok

'Secret Garden' is an Irish-Norwegian band specialised in new instrumental music, led by the duo consisting of Irish violinist and singer Fionnuala Sherry and Norwegian composer, arranger, and pianist Rolf Løvland. Over 25 years, they have sold millions of albums worldwide, many of which went platinum in numerous countries.

Secret Garden's most famous song, "You Raise Me Up", originally performed by Johnny Logan and Brian Kennedy, has been recorded by more than a hundred other artists, most notably American singer Josh Groban in 2003 and Irish group Westlife in 2005. 'You Raise Me Up' appeals to most people as a "message of hope, strength, and overcoming". For those who believe in the Divine, it is an adoration and gratitude for Him.

This is a rendering of 'You Raise Me Up' by Emma Kok, a sixteen-year-old Dutch singer, performing with the Royal Military Band at the Battle of the Grebbeberg concert in the Netherlands in May 2024. Her soaring voice stirs the souls of the listeners.

[The above text includes excerpts from Wikipedia]

'You Raise Me Up' by Emma Kok, subtitled (3 min:53 sec)

The ‘Chitchor’ song

The song 'Gori tera gaon bada pyara' (Your village is so lovely, O fair one!) is from the film Chitchor (Thief of Heart, Hindi, 1976). It was the debut Hindi film for Malayalam playback singer K J Yesudas and he won the national best male playback singer award for the song. Ravindra Jain, who was born blind and yet became a professional musician, wrote lyrics of rich imagery and also composed the music for the song. The cinematography in widescreen—which was still new to Indian cinema those years and perhaps the first for a romantic musical film—by K.K. Mahajan presented better the natural surroundings and expressions of the actors. The film was directed by Basu Chatterjee. Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab, who were in the early phase of their careers, played the lead roles in the film outstandingly. Amol is an engineer visiting Zarina's village in connection with the construction of a new bridge and is enchanted by its beauty. Master Raju won the National Award for the Best Child Artist for his role. The movie Chitchor, produced by Rajshri Productions, opens with The Mother's picture and a dedication to her. I have translated the Hindi lyrics into English, incorporating knowledgeable corrections and suggestions to my draft kindly provided by Ashesh Joshi (Auroville), and displayed them as subtitles to enable the wider audience to understand and appreciate the song better. 

For non-profit cultural and educaitonal purposes

Click to view the video: https://youtu.be/JOmB1E7NNpw

A classic Jazz standard: On the sunny side of the street

 Where the winter is quite cold people seek fireside and sunlight to warm themselves. On the streets many would naturally prefer to saunter in the sun but some may still walk in the shade. 

'On the sunny side of the street' is one of the widely known and performed song from the genre Jazz Standard. Written by American lyricist Dorothy Fields and composed by Jimmy McHugh in 1930 (some authors say that Fats Waller was the composer, but he sold the rights to the song), it was introduced in the Broadway musical 'Lew Leslie's International Revue' the same year.

Unlike Western classical music written for and played by symphony orchestras, Jazz bands comprise a much smaller number of musicians and singers but in the potential for making really good music Jazz is no less than orchestral music. Esperanza Emily Spalding, an American jazz musician, singer, songwriter, and composer and who won four Grammy Awards said at a performance of the song some years ago, “Europe gave us classical music and Jazz is America’s classical music”.

 Interestingly, it is a music video by an European musical band Lag Jazz (Milano, Italy, 2017) that looks the best among the many renditions of 'On the sunny side of the street' available on YouTube. Released in black & white with the performers in vintage costumes using a classic microphone on a worn out stage floor, the video is evocative of the mid-twentieth century jazz bands. (There were reportedly numerous all-female jazz bands during the 1940s replacing men who left for World War II.) The singers’ sweet demeanour and graceful moves in harmony with the sunny theme of the song have been well filmed. 

(Compilation includes information from Wikipedia) 

Lyrics have been added as subtitles. Click on the link below to watch (3 min: 44 sec):

https://youtu.be/lCzQEWzH80s

On the moonlit waters of the Indus River

The song ‘Sindhu nathiyin misai nilavinile’ (On the Moonlit Waters of the Indus River) comprises five stanzas from the poem ‘Bharata Desam’ by Subramania Bharati (1882–1921), who is regarded as one of the greatest Tamil literary figures of modern times.

Bharati worked as a journalist for many newspapers and took part in India’s freedom movement. In 1908, the British Government issued an arrest warrant which forced him to live in exile in Pondicherry, which was under French rule. When Sri Aurobindo, whose nationalist politics Bharati had been supporting and against whom also a British arrest warrant seemed imminent, arrived in Pondicherry in 1910, Bharati used to visit him at his residence and discuss a wide range of topics in the evenings. 

‘Bharata Desam’ was one of the most popular poems written by Bharati in 1919, possibly in Madras a year after he left Pondicherry, ending his exile. The Tamil poem contained stanzas in Telugu also, a language described by the poet as beautiful in the same poem. Three out of the 13 Tamil stanzas and 2 Telugu stanzas of the ‘Bharata Desam’ formed a song in ‘Kai Kodutha Deivam’ (The God Who Saved, Tamil film, 1964). Earlier, three other Tamil stanzas from the same poem formed a song in the biopic of freedom fighter V.O. Chidambaram titled Kappalottiya Tamilan (The Tamilian Who Launched a Ship, Tamil film, 1961). 'Kai Kodutha Deivam' was a successful movie and also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil – the President's silver medal. [Its story is about the friendship between two men and the sacrifices one makes for the other. Actors Sivaji Ganesan (who became a legend of Tamil cinema in the decades that followed) and S.S. Rajendran played the roles of friends.] The music for the song was composed by Viswanathan-Ramamurthy, and the singers were T.M. Soundararajan, L.R. Eswari, and J.V. Rahavulu.

Subramania Bharati. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Bharat Desam is the poet's dream of India and stands relevant today more than ever. Admiration and respect for other languages, aspiration for the progress of the entire country, love and appreciation of the best in the people of other provinces, love of natural beauty therein, desire to re-establish historic but lost links with the rest of the subcontinent, acceptance of dharmic love between man and woman beyond provincial differences, etc. are expressive of Bharati’s vision of the diversity in unity of Bharat.

The poem, which is a relatively simpler Tamil poetry – a paradigm shift of which Bharati was a pioneer in the early 20th century – has been translated into English. Translation of the Telugu stanzas into English, at my request, was kindly done by Smt Chitra Srinivasmurty. I have made small changes in the latter with the intention of making it sound better. 

Names in the poem that maybe unfamiliar:

The Sindhu River - The Indus River

Betels - leaves of an evergreen Indian creeping shrub, whose fresh/dried leaves are chewed with betel nut.

Setu - the now submerged land bridge linking India and Sri Lanka. 

Isle of Sinhalese - Sri Lanka 

Click the link below to watch the video (B&W, 6 min : 3 sec)

Sindhu Nathiyin with English translation, film Kai Kodutha Deivam