In LoVe with SinGinG.. all over again

Posted by admin on July 30th, 2009 filed in General

Recently I and one of my friends Shri, have started singing one song every week since music is our passion and lies deep within our hearts. We have planned to meet every Friday and sing songs together – motivating each other. Long time since I eagerly wanted a companion. It has also been long since I have been singing. I would rather say it was a long pause since singing has been very close to my heart since childhood. My mother is a very good singer and I am one of those lucky ones who has inherited this treasure (From grand-mother, mother and so on..). Music is one love that I have a very close relation with since childhood.

Ours was an average middle class Indian family and my mother was usually occupied with loads of work. The only hobby she could pursue without any significant investment was singing. Occasionally in our spare time we used to hum songs. I learnt numerous songs from her. She used to cook and simultaneously teach me new songs and correct me even if I went wrong while just humming the song. I could clearly make out her love for singing by this gesture.. During my continuous singing sessions, I bet our neighbors would have put cotton ear plugs. Once I start singing, I just forget about everything around. At times it is difficult to raise the pitch of my voice to the pitch of original song, it might sound terrible.

I have been learning Indian classical singing since I was in school. My friend Tejaswini, Priyanka and I used to go for music classes together. Our moms generally came to drop us and then pick us back. Our singing teacher Mrs. Pandit had a lovely 2 floored bungalow with a nice garden around. I recollect of a big swing as well in their garden. We used to sit on the first floor which had an attached terrace. Many a times we used to sit in the open terrace during our learning sessions. Sitting and singing on the terrace was so very relaxing and tranquil. We used to have a small function for ‘Guru-pournima’ every year. It was the responsibility of senior members in our class to organize this function. We participated actively in this event every year. At that time we were among the youngest students in the class and our teacher took great delight in hearing us. I fondly recollect she being very proud of us, her beloved students perform. We managed to take 4 Indian classical music exams and win a couple of prizes at various functions held in the city. We were unfortunate that our dear teacher fell sick. She was suffering from throat cancer but still managed to conduct classes. She used to play the harmonium while we synchronized with the music and continued singing. Finally she left us one day and thus we lost all our enthusiasm. Here is a tribute to her from the bottom of my heart for all the initial lessons and love for music she sowed in us.

I feel very lucky to be associated with such a devoted teacher. I almost lost touch with singing since then and was mostly occupied with lots of submissions, assignments, exams and later work. I badly missed those wonderful days.

Coming back from the sweet memories, now that we have decided to get back to singing; I am continuously in search of new songs.. Since long I had an eye on one of this classics ‘Jay Sharade Wageshwari’ from the album ‘Rutu Hirwa’. This song keeps lingering in my mind. I believe it is one of the best and most difficult songs sung by Ashaji. Just thinking of this grand personality brings shivers to me.  Hence I merely kept appreciating the melody of this song without bravely deciding to sing. This song, I think, is a wonderful piece of heart, soul and voice put together… by the composer, the singer ‘Legendary Asha Bhosale’ and the music director Hridaynath Mangeshkar. The song describes Goddess ‘Saraswati’, the Goddess of knowledge, music and art.. The song makes one form an idol of the divine Goddess in one’s mind. Keeping all this in mind, I have chosen to sing this song in the coming week!

I already have this song loaded on our ipod-mini which I carry to work every day. I thought of listening to the song on my way to work today and get myself a wonderful day. I sat in the bus and alas found the ipod power dead.. Never mind I thought.. Reaching office, I eagerly searched the song on you-tube. To my disappointment, I did not find the original piece and lyrics in Marathi anywhere!! There were all other songs from the same album but not this one. Ultimately I could not listen to the song today and decided to post the lyrics on my blog.

The song.. जय शारदे वागेश्वरी

जय शारदे वागेश्वरी
विधि कन्यके विद्याधरी
जय शारदे वागेश्वरी

ज्योत्सने परी कांती तुझी
मुख रम्य शारद चंद्रमा
उजळे तुझ्या हास्यातुनी
चारी युगांची पौर्णिमा
तुझिया कृपेचे चांदणे
नित वर्षुदे अमुच्या शिरी
जय शारदे वागेश्वरी

विणे वरी फिरता तुझी
चतुरा कलावय अंगुली
संगीत जन्मा ये नवे
जड़ता मतिची भंगली
उन्मेष कल्प तरु वरी
बहरून आल्या मंजिरी
जय शारदे वागेश्वरी