Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Vande Mataram: the music spoke for itself

By Amita Malik - Daily Pioneer - New Delhi,India
Saturday, September 9, 2006

(...)
The controversy about Vande Mataram has been so ugly that I turned with relief and, indeed, with joy to a truly outstanding programme on the national song on CNN IBN. The programme derived its strength from the fact that it did as little talking as possible, for once, confined to three simple questions put to musicians. After that the music spoke for itself, because it is a beautiful and stirring song in itself and does not need any verbal certificates or angry defenses.

A woman sufi singer from Delhi, popular singer Abhijit from Mumbai, a two-man rock band from Kolkata and a woman who rendered the song's raag Kalyan in Carmatic style gave the song a status, a dignity and an emotional appeal by treating it as a beautiful piece of music in its own right. Both the sufi and the carnatic singer and surprisingly the rock band "Guru" of the young guitar player who gave only the accompaniment a modern twist, rendered the song, in their individual ways but in its original mode - no AR Rahman or Lata Mangeshkar to fiddle about with it. And that is what Vande Mataram is and should remain, and not a political football.

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Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Vande Mataram: the music spoke for itself
By Amita Malik - Daily Pioneer - New Delhi,India
Saturday, September 9, 2006

(...)
The controversy about Vande Mataram has been so ugly that I turned with relief and, indeed, with joy to a truly outstanding programme on the national song on CNN IBN. The programme derived its strength from the fact that it did as little talking as possible, for once, confined to three simple questions put to musicians. After that the music spoke for itself, because it is a beautiful and stirring song in itself and does not need any verbal certificates or angry defenses.

A woman sufi singer from Delhi, popular singer Abhijit from Mumbai, a two-man rock band from Kolkata and a woman who rendered the song's raag Kalyan in Carmatic style gave the song a status, a dignity and an emotional appeal by treating it as a beautiful piece of music in its own right. Both the sufi and the carnatic singer and surprisingly the rock band "Guru" of the young guitar player who gave only the accompaniment a modern twist, rendered the song, in their individual ways but in its original mode - no AR Rahman or Lata Mangeshkar to fiddle about with it. And that is what Vande Mataram is and should remain, and not a political football.

No comments: