Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Raghu Dixit soars with Santha Shishunala Sharief...

A friend of mine gave me news of a surprising and pleasant nature while chatting last week...she directed my attention towards an album by a singer named Raghu Dixit... I had seen this album in my favourite music store in Hyderabad, Sangeet Sagar, but for some reason did not pick it up...what with young singers releasing albums at the drop of a hat, I didn't have the patience to even check out the names of the tracks... while directing my attention towards the album she said that Raghu Dixit has sung two Kannada tracks in the album...she obviously knew what to say so that I'd move expectantly towards the album...'Kannada tracks' caught my attention...I had to listen to this album...but I did not have the time to go Sangeet Sagar, but she had also helpfully given me the url of a site which had limited time downloads of tracks, so there I went and first checked the names of the tracks...and to my great surprise and delight, the two Kannada tracks were songs written by Santha Shushunala Sharief...a sufi saint, highly respected and popular for his mystical and metaphysical songs... Santha Shushunala Sharief's songs were made popular in Kannada by Dr N S Lakshminarayana Bhatta, who unearthed and researched most of Santha Shushunala Sharief's songs and Sri C Ashwath, who sang them with emotion and great verve, so much so that C Ashwath's voice became synonymous with Santha Shushunala Sharief... so, with all this at the back of my mind, I waited to listen to 'Sorutihudu maneya maaligi,' an extremely popular song...the opening of the song is superb...with thunder and rain and rain drops falling...in tune with the opening line 'Sorutihudu maneya maaligi...agnandadinda....sorutihudu maneya maaligi' which means 'the roof of the house is leaking...with ignorance'...then Raghu Dixit comes on with his soaring vocals... I was hooked... the music is superb... and the other Kannada track 'Gudugudiya sedi nodu' was equally superb... the songs doesnt take away anything from the initial popular renditions by Ashwath...in fact, Raghu Dixit's interpretations enhance the songs and take them to a different level...

I am sorry Raghu Dixit, I didnt pick up this album when I saw it... I will pick it up soon...thank you for bringing Santha Shishunala Sharief that much more closer to the contemporary Kannada youth...

Jayasrinivasa Rao

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