Dr Rajkumar, the versatile Kannada film thespian has sung many memorable songs, the one which stands out most in my mind is this song from Jeevana Chaitra. The lyrics goes like this... “The entire universe is one great symphony” (Naadamaya ee lokavella…)
About the settings: Set in the cosmic surroundings of the Himalayas, the echoes of Dr.Rajkumar’s melancholic voice set to Raga Todi reverberating in the Himalayas is simply mesmerizing. The harmonic tune sets the tone to the song that implies everything in the universe is a grand symphony of divine celestial music. Himalaya has always been abode of the gods for Hindus, and referred as god-souled or devatma. Great Indian souls like Sri Shanakaracharya or Swami Vivekananda found their calling here. The Himalayas are a symbol of the heights that the human soul can attain, its pristine vastness represent the human consciousness.
About the Raga : Todi raga has phrases of notes and intonation which is considered a difficult raaga to perform owing to its complexity in prayoga. This song has complex graces since it progresses with other ragas as can be found in the latter part.
About the Singer: This song proves Dr.Rajkumar’s versatility as singer with a broad range (semi-classical, devotional, sentimental and romantic songs). He won the national award for best playback singing for this song, the only film artist to have won the National award in both acting & singing.
On a lighter note, dr rajkumar also propounded the Einstein’s duality of time (its uncertainty) in this song, (if you come today … la desi James bond style, full length English song in a Kannada movie!!)
About the lyricist: Chi Udayshankar, another legend in the sandalwood pantheon has nicely combined all the theories of the universe in this one immersive song. He foresees all the prevalent energies as a symphony, a unified force emerging in one super symmetry that various science theories strive to explain (wave theory, string theory & so on).
Something like putting all the four forces of nature and the two particle types found in the universe in a mixer blender into one homogeneous mixture. (The four forces in the universe are electromagnetic force, the weak nuclear force and the strong nuclear force, and gravity. All universal particles can be divided into two types: fermions and bosons)
When the song hits its ending note, one can see Dr. Rajkumar in a different state altogether, his acting is in perfect sync with his inner feelings. Only an accomplished actor who is a singer can attain this elevated state
About the Raga : Todi raga has phrases of notes and intonation which is considered a difficult raaga to perform owing to its complexity in prayoga. This song has complex graces since it progresses with other ragas as can be found in the latter part.
About the Singer: This song proves Dr.Rajkumar’s versatility as singer with a broad range (semi-classical, devotional, sentimental and romantic songs). He won the national award for best playback singing for this song, the only film artist to have won the National award in both acting & singing.
On a lighter note, dr rajkumar also propounded the Einstein’s duality of time (its uncertainty) in this song, (if you come today … la desi James bond style, full length English song in a Kannada movie!!)
About the lyricist: Chi Udayshankar, another legend in the sandalwood pantheon has nicely combined all the theories of the universe in this one immersive song. He foresees all the prevalent energies as a symphony, a unified force emerging in one super symmetry that various science theories strive to explain (wave theory, string theory & so on).
Something like putting all the four forces of nature and the two particle types found in the universe in a mixer blender into one homogeneous mixture. (The four forces in the universe are electromagnetic force, the weak nuclear force and the strong nuclear force, and gravity. All universal particles can be divided into two types: fermions and bosons)
When the song hits its ending note, one can see Dr. Rajkumar in a different state altogether, his acting is in perfect sync with his inner feelings. Only an accomplished actor who is a singer can attain this elevated state
Did you know that Dr.Rajkumar actually recorded Naadamaya song for another film earlier?
Kannada senior artist and press reporter Sureshchandra who has covered Sandalwood for many decades recently revealed in a You Tube channel that Dr Rajkumar had sung Naadamaya song for an earlier Kannada film. He says that during one of the conversation with the thespian, he revealed that it Naadamaya song was recorded for the film 'Simhadriya Simha' by music director Ranga Rao which was later used in the film 'Jeevana Chaitra'
Song credit should have gone to Ranga Rao instead of Upendra (music director of Jeevana Chaitra)
Sureshchandra rues the fact that the music credits for this song 'Naadamaya ee lokavella' should have gone to Ranga Rao and not Upendra as the song was recorded earlier to Jeevana Chaitra for another film but for some reason shelved. When it was later taken for Jeevana Chaitra, the song which went to win a national award for Dr.Rajkumar erroneously credited Upendra (music director of Jeevana Chaitra) instead of Ranga Rao.
Ranga Rao went on win two state awards as best music director for Hosabelaku, Bandhana but missed out this laurel in his credits
Song credit should have gone to Ranga Rao instead of Upendra (music director of Jeevana Chaitra)
Sureshchandra rues the fact that the music credits for this song 'Naadamaya ee lokavella' should have gone to Ranga Rao and not Upendra as the song was recorded earlier to Jeevana Chaitra for another film but for some reason shelved. When it was later taken for Jeevana Chaitra, the song which went to win a national award for Dr.Rajkumar erroneously credited Upendra (music director of Jeevana Chaitra) instead of Ranga Rao.
Ranga Rao went on win two state awards as best music director for Hosabelaku, Bandhana but missed out this laurel in his credits
