Monday, August 24, 2020

Lyrics of "Nadupai balkieru" Kirtana

నాదుపై బలికేరు (పలికేరు)  నరులు శ్రీరామ
వేద సన్నుత భవము వేరు జేసితి ననుచు

ఆజాను బాహుయుగ శ్రీజానకి పతి
పయోజాక్ష శ్రీ త్యాగరాజ నుత చరణా
ఈ జగతిలో నిన్ను పూజించు వారిని
అవ్యాజమున బ్రోచు సురాజుని (సురాజ!)  (నీ) వాడైన

naadupai balikEru (palikEru) narulu Sriiraama
vEda sannuta bhavamu vEru jEsiti nanuchu

aajaanu baahuyuga SrIjaanaki pati
payOjaaksha Srii tyaagaraaja nuta charaNaa
ii jagatilO ninnu puujinchu vaarini
avyaajamuna brOchu suraajuni (suraaja!) (nii) vaaDaina

(Looks like there are three more stanzas in this song. I've not studied them, word by word, to decipher their import. Nor have I learnt to sing those three (missing here) stanzas. So, they have to wait for another day. This composition caught my attention while listening to an MLV cassette in the car while driving or waiting. I have tried to figure out each word after repeated "play", "pause", and "replay" of Sri Chembai Bhagavatar's performance. It is a beautiful lyrical composition with much meaning and depth of feeling. One need not 'mangle' the sweet Telugu words just because one is deficient in the language. You can enjoy the taste of sugarcane stem in two ways: a) In the village fields you can tear the outer cover and slowly chew the soft inner core with dripping juice. b) Or, in the house with friends you can chew the small cube-sized pieces with polished decorum. Your upbringing, taste, and culture should display your finesse and regard to the "sugarcane" - a product of long hours of physical labor, plant evolution, water, and the blessing of ample sunshine. Similarly, your singing of great compositions should bring out vividly all the colors of emotion, bhakti, meaning, and music. Foremost, you must with utter humbleness bow and pay respects to the composer. Distorting, swallowing words, mangling syllables will not do, absolutely not.

భవ = శివ (సం.); భవము = శివుడు) Copyright 2020   

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