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Chrods & Notes

SRI VENKATESA SUPRABHATAM BY SHANKAR MAHADEVAN

Music Today, Rs.225

To wake up each morning to the melodious strains of Venkatesa Suprabatham used to be - and remains even today in many a household - an essential daily chore. It is believed that Lord bestows prosperity in abundance to devotees who recite the Suprabhatam each morning. In lots of temple around the country the day begins with the recitation of the Venkatesa Suprabhatam. At the revered Balaji temple at Tirumala each morning the Suprabhatam is recited to `wake' up the Lord. For most of us who have grown up hearing the Suprabhatam rendered by the legendary MS, it is difficult to believe that someone else too - like Shankar Mahadevan - can sing the sacred verses so beautifully, in a voice oozing piety. Shankar has done a superb job, his pronunciation is flawless, delivery impeccable and the overall effect he leaves is simply electric. And for a man who left us all breathless in his widely acclaimed `breathless' song, his pace is unhurried, supremely serene. While MS sings at a much faster tempo, and mostly without any background score, this man sings at just the right pace where each and every word is delivered with such a rare grace. When he sings "Panchannabja Bhavashanmuka... " you realise his diction is flawless. It is difficult to believe it is the same Shankar Mahadevan who, along with other filmi colleagues, was at so much ease with himself belting out such songs like the runaway hit `Kajrare Kajrare..' `Koi Kahe, Kahta Rahe' numbers. What a contrast?

The man is simply cut out for such meaningful renderings, his outstanding voice is a testimony to this. The CD is very well produced and the accompanying music by Narayan Mani is soothing. The text of the Suprabhatam and the Venkatesa Stotram is also given along with the CD which is very useful. This offering from Music Today is an excellent buy, indeed a collector's item, and a must for those who like to begin the day the auspicious way.

HABIBI FROM DUBAI

Kuber Music, Rs.99

A relatively new music company and fairly unknown singers... Still the name of the album raised expectations of some good Arabian music but it was not to be. Though the album opens well with "Sanwali Hasina". Sung by Santosh Mishra, the song has got the trademark beats of the region backed by some decent lyrics by Santosh himself.

However, the rest follow the beaten track of albums that come and go every other week. Towards the end there is a "Habibi" song as well. It turns out to be a poor copy of the Habibi songs that Bollywood has offered down the ages.

Dinah Washington: Ballads

EMI/Virgin Records, Rs. 295

In her brief life (1924-63) cut short by an accidental overdose of sleeping pills combined with alcohol, Dinah Washington bid fair to grow into one of the legends of jazz and blues vocals, if not at the same level of popularity as Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, then at least just below it.

Washington was blessed with a superb, mordant voice, full of the kind of bite that her contemporaries Carmen McRae and Betty Carter infused their singing with, and had many great sessions with jazz accompanists in the 1950s. But towards the end of her life she decided to switch to Roulette Records, owned by Frank Sinatra, and thus indicated a shift to more pop material with large orchestras backing her.

Thus, the liner notes of this album, taken from that period, with refreshing candour rather than the kind of promotion that is the usual function of liner notes, tell us that these tracks have "cushy," "string-drenched" accompaniments (of the kind, one may add, that makes one doubt whether the music on the album can justifiably be called jazz). Washington's voice is of course, superb; it always was, and never underwent the kind of degeneration that Holiday's did through alcohol and drug abuse. Also, she largely steers clear of the sentimental material that was the stock-in-trade of many pop singers of the time as well as of Holiday.

But this deficiency in sentimentality is largely made up for by the violins and violas. An occasional soft piano, guitar or trumpet standing out isn't enough to throw some jazz into the pot of this pop-boiler, since they don't take solo improvisations.

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