Big B to record Madhushala in his own voice

Amitabh Bachchan is now recording his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan's "Madhushala" in his voice.

Madhushala (The Tavern/The House of Wine), is a book of 135 "quatrains": verses of four lines (Ruba'i) by Hindi poet and writer Harivansh Rai Bachchan (1907–2003). First published in 1935, the work got Harivanshrai Bachchan instant fame, especially when his own recitation of the poems became a craze at Poetry symposiums.

Amitabh Bachchan posted on his blog that, "...singing the verses of Madhushala, the 'alaap' and lending orchestral brilliance to the basic structure that I made in an impromptu setting on my piano. What a different world this is...We crave today in music sittings for the age of unplugged instrumentation. The reality and the joy of listening to the original sounds of string and 'dholak'. Of the great masters and their wares - the Sarod, the Shehnai, the Sarangi, the Sitar. All lost and buried under the weight of modern sounds, mastered and manufactured through science and technology. All gone and overtaken by technology."

"Gone are the days when at song recordings over 100-150 musicians sat through days in large studios, and played to perfection in one single take. A mistake by one resulting in the entire song being recorded again! Now the electronics take over. A small room, barely 5 by 6, houses a large machine that balances sound, a microphone which stands in for the singer and the instrument both."

"I wonder as I sit vacant in the studio ... who would want to listen to the words and philosophy of my father? It would hurt me beyond measure if it were to be looked upon as something that needed to be designed for commercial value...It is a proposition that seems irrelevant with today's youth."

He says that he is not sure whether the poems will be relevant to today's youth.

He added, "So, make it and keep it and live with it alone in its beauty. Getting the others on the same plane is asking for much, too much. The humiliation if they treated it shabbily would be difficult to overcome. I shall live with it on my own. Sharing it with them that do not have the intent to understand it, would diminish its wonderful sheen. Better then to burst into trance like condition within the silence and contours of my own little space, than to be seen coaxing another into submission and forced liking." 

Author : Suja , a management trainee, programmer, movie enthusiast and a fashion critic who loves to enjoy each moment of her life and is crazy  about music! (suja@indiaviolet.com)


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- Unknown Updated at: Tuesday, March 27, 2012