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Sony under a spell
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Ashwini Bhide sings the mantra of success.
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SONY MUSIC has brought out a series of nine albums, Navagraha Puja, with the catchline: "Har shubh kaarya mein safalta... ". Surely an easy route to success!
The music market is inundated with devotional music tapes, but in terms of production, Navagraha Puja is a mammoth one, next only to the Bhaktimala Series, brought out by Music Today, almost a decade ago. Navagraha Puja is beneficial, declare the sleeve notes. Worship of the Navagrahas counters the negative energies of the planets in our life and also encourages the positive energies of these planets.
These albums guide you through a step-by-step puja of each graha — right from the mantras to be recited at the installation of the grahas to their abhisheka and aarti. The albums have been scripted and researched by Prerana Thakore, with Ravindra Sathe and Raghunandan Panshikar on the singing team. Music has been arranged by Kamlesh Bhadkamkar.
The singer and composer for these albums is the leading vocalist of Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, Ashwini Bhide. After receiving initial training in Hindustani classical music under Pandit Narayanrao Datar, she was groomed in the Jaipur gayaki by her mother Manik Bhide, Kishori Amonkar's student. Ms. Bhide also holds a doctorate in biochemistry from the esteemed Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay. She has composed music for several albums in the past, but Navagraha Puja series is her most ambitious project yet.
While it is a significant milestone in her career, one also wonders how such a venture could be creatively fulfilling for an artiste of her calibre, considering how limiting in scope devotional music can be. In a telephonic interview, Ms. Bhide responded: "It was a stupendous task, and I felt diffident about it. I spent a considerable amount of time with Prerana Thakore, who has done the research for this project. Only after that did I feel comfortable about it."
While reading the sleeve notes (which has lines such as "Chanting Navagrahas everyday enables one to overcome one's adversities"), one wonders how it was possible for a scientist like her to relate to such a project. Does it not run contrary to the rational outlook of a scientist? "Whether I am a believer or a non-believer is of no consequence. What drove me to do it was the music aspect of it."
She held forth on how astronomy in India is a well-developed science and physical objects, small or large, exercise some kind of force on us. She clearly stated she did not want to get into any kind of controversy and was interested only in the music. Such an experiment is outside the realm of my comfort, I admit. But that was the challenge. It was a unique opportunity and I had the full liberty to do what I wanted," Ashwini explained.
Cassettes are priced at (Rs. 65) and CDs (Rs. 199).
DEEPA GANESH
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