Gospel of Love..

‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’ said that great soul. What was great was that He said this when people were ‘nailing’ him literally on the Cross. How many of us can even dream of saying this at any point of time?

The greatness of Jesus Christ lay in his spreading the Gospel of Love. Love which is unconditional and without any expectations.

He strongly believed that Love alone can get rid of negativities, Love alone can stop calamities, Love alone can bring joy, Love alone can bring peace. Not only did he preach this but also practised it.

That is why, He was able to even love his enemy. In fact, inspired by this Bharati sang ‘PagaivanukkaruLvai nannenje pagaivanukkaruLvai’.

On this Easter Sunday, the day when Christ rose from the death, let us all take a vow to love not just our neighbours but also our enemies.

Like Love, Music is powerful too. Today’s Rare Gem is a song from the film ‘Avar Enakke Sontham’(1977). Many are familiar with ‘Devan Thiruchchabhai MalargaLe’ sung by PooraNi and Indira. But not many are aware of the Yesudass version which is not there in the album.

There is also a small story regarding the guitar piece which appears now and then and can be called as the leitmotif in the song. It clearly reminds one of the ‘Sholay’ theme music and Raaja was accused of plagiarism those days. Though he never clarified publicly, he revealed a fact-until then unknown- to a fan in reply to his letter.He mentioned in the letter that he composed that piece for a Kannada song as early as 1972 while working as an assistant for G.K.Venkatesh. Whether RDB copied from him or if it was a case of two geniuses thinking alike, one does not know. And one need not bother about this too.

The Yesudass version is more dynamic in terms of the rendering and in terms of the orchestration.Though the Pallavi and CharaNams in both the songs follow the same pattern, the arrangement and orchestration are totally different.

  The prelude is longer in this version with an extended guitar piece that takes us to an ethereal world.

‘Devan Thiruchchabhai malar idhu’ sings the majestically sweet voice.The Brass flue in between the lines is tender.

The Saxophone in the first interlude goes deep into our hearts while the guitar pulls the strings of our hearts.

The Sitar in the CharaNams and in the second interlude is scintillatingly brilliant while the whistle and the brass flute that romance each other are exhilarating.

A very different Harikambhoji in western classical style..

Music that makes us love everything.

Happy Easter!