Song of the Day # 296
From: bb (@ 12.234.176.52) on: Thu Sep 11 01:20:56 EDT 2003
Song of the Day: vandhE maatharam from ??
http://www.dhool.com/cgi-bin/stream.pl?url=http://www.dhool.com/sotd/vandhe.rm
- Indru Bharathiyaarin ninaivu naaL. (Sep 11th). This is a good occasion to feature my favorite song of the Mahaakavi, vandhE maatharam, sung by M.S.Subbulakshmi. I don't think this is from any movie, but may belong to MSS' thanippaadalgaL.
- This song always moves me to tears, whenever I hear it. Is it the lyrics, the tune (desh raagam?), or the sublime singing of MSS, I can't say. But, listen to this song alone, with your eyes closed, and feel the lyrics, and you will feel the same. The diction of MSS is absolutely outstanding. Listen to the way she starts off slowly and picks up speed later on, and ends with a flourish. Check out the way she sings vandhE maatharam after 'nin padhangaL iRainjuvaam, engaL thaai!'.
- Bhaarathiyaar wrote two translations of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's vandhE maatharam. This is the second one, and is titled 'Jaathiya Geetham (pudhiya mozhi peyarppu)'. Bharathiyaar sang these translations at the Indian National Congress Summit sessions at Calcutta and Surat.
The lyrics in TSCII is here:
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How did the man capture the essence of the original song in such a beautiful manner! The beauty of poetry in this song is amazing to me, and shows how beautiful thamizh is. The way he describes night,for example, as 'theNNila vathaniR silirththidum iravum'! The way he packs two opposite images in one line in 'thOLidai vanbu nee, nenjagaththanbu nee' (You are the strength in our shoulders, you are the love in our hearts).
One line especially used to get me hooked. At the end, he writes, 'iru nilaththu vanthu emmuyir thaanguvai'. I used to think, what are these two lands that he is talking about (iru nilaththu). Then, I realized that it is a short form for irukkum nilaththu (the land we are in).
- There is also a lesser known version of VandhE matharam written by Shri Aurobindo in english. It is not a full-fledged translation, but remains true to the original in spirit. Compare this with Bharathi's version:
Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
bright with orchard gleams,
Cool with thy winds of delight,
Dark fields waving Mother of might,
Mother free.
Glory of moonlight dreams,
Over thy branches and lordly streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I bow.
Discussion Pages in TFMPage on this Song
http://tfmpage.com/forum/28271.20880.03.21.22.html
http://tfmpage.com/forum/18618.20880.03.21.22.html