Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
Ode to a poet
|
Aswathy Tirunal Rama Varma was the only Indian at an event in Amsterdam that celebrated the music and life of poet Jacques Brel
|
Photo: K. Murali Kumar
Waxing lyrical Aswathy Thirunal Rama Varma sang three of Jacques Brel’s songs
Who is Jacques Brel? Brel was recently voted the greatest Belgian of all times. Yes, even ahead of that other Belgian, Tintin. One of the greatest songsters of all times, Brel’s music was a sensation in Fracophone countries in the fifities an
d sixties. Even today, the evocative lines of the lyricist, poet, singer and musician have many admirers all over the world.
‘Jacques Brel through the eyes of Foreigners,’ organised by the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, the city Brel immortalised in the song ‘The Port of Amsterdam,’ celebrated the man and his music on February 20.
The Kerala connection to the festivities was provided by Carnatic musician Aswathy Thirunal Rama Varma, an ardent admirer of Brel, who also sang the sombre ‘Les Vieux’. Explaining the reason for his admiration for Brel Rama Varma says: “In Carnatic music, there are set compositions and importance is given to improvisation.
Sadly, the lyrics are invariably neglected. Although I used to listen to a lot of world music, I never used to pay attention to the lyrics. The accent was always on music.
“It was Brel’s use of words and his lyrical lines that made me aware of the importance of lyrics. Verses of Vageyakaras like Annamacharya and Purandaradasa are unbelievably beautiful and rich in philosophic content. Although they lived hundreds of years ago, the beauty of the lines lies in the fact that they are still relevant.”
“Today, I pay a lot of attention to sahitya and also give lecture-demonstrations on why it is important to understand the meaning of what one is singing. ,” says Rama Varma who also gave a series of veena concerts in the Netherlands and Belgium.
S.N.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
|
