World famous song 'Sojugada' is now winning Marathi hearts!

                             

      Being a lyricist, I believe, there is always a special story behind every song, a special instinct that forces you to put down the words with the melody. Behind the Marathi version of Sojugada, I always felt that immense energy while creating a song, and I call it, an ultimate Shiva instinct!

     I still remember, last year I was just surfing thru insta on Mahashivratri night and came across Sadhguru’s Isha event just by chance. Various artists around the globe were performing their art in devotion to Lord Shiva, and then at late night around 12: 30, came a girl in a yellow and blue dress on the stage, she preferred to sit down with musicians, smiled wholeheartedly and started singing a devotional song in her uniquely raw voice. That was a prayer, which I could not understand with its words, but I could absolutely feel its purity. Total bliss to my ears! 

     Two weeks later, one of my recordist friends Nilesh shared with me a post; as someone was looking for lyricists from various languages for creating a remake of one Kannada Song. Kannada into Marathi! My eyes blew up! Why did someone want to do so? Is there really someone who is equally enthusiast for preserving our rich Indian regional languages thru such artistic experiments? And what was the song? I simply googled the name of the song and I landed upon the world-famous YouTube video of that Mahashivratri night, which I witnessed already. The song was 'Sojugada Sooju Mallige', sung by the Voice of Karnataka folk music, Ananya Bhat!

     Ananya, a gifted vocalist of the south Indian music industry, one of the finest stage performers of Indian folk music, a front girl of her own band, named ABC, a trained theatre artist, and an approachable soul, now a friend! She is the second person I see after Hritik Roshan who received overnight popularity and who carried that fame for contributing to the well being of society! I am fortunate that I could get a chance to work with her throughout a year and every time I discovered her passion for the folk music of India, not just Karnataka but India, I repeat. She is always in search of music that is deeply rooted in the generations of our nation! She finds out the rarest folk instruments that one cannot even imagine. Giving you an example, a ring instrument for rhythm, called 'Ghaghra' in Kannada, which she has worn in her thumb in the Sojugada Shivratri Video is actually an ornament, generally used to decorate bull horns for noticing their presence! It makes a sound, belongs to our folk, she uses it in her performances! Different know?

     'Sojugada Sooju Mallige' is a song that originates from Kannada Janapada Geethe! It is the best example of our traditional oral literature. Obviously, the great original lyricist remained unknown. For me, it was a perfect task to stick with the melody of the song and also to convey its word to word meaning into my mother tongue Marathi without changing its approach. If you listen to it carefully, you will notice, the words Sojugada Sooju Mallige themselves express the stringed beauty of this song. Marathi words should have been quilled over tune in a repeating manner, that too with keeping original Kannada meter in mind! My friends Girish SH and Sneha Walande helped me in understanding the meaning of Sojugada, meanwhile, subtitles started appearing on Ananya's Shivratri performance, the video went viral- became an international sensation of 2020, was hitting lakhs of views overnight. It took around four days to flow the Marathi version into my veins and finally, words took shape one night when I could not fall asleep without putting them down on my laptop.

     I also must share my experience of recording this song. Doubtlessly, a musical treat again! Literally, goosebumps in the stomach when Ananya closed her eyes and touched the cloud with her 'Mahadeva'. Only a studio glass in between! The great Shiva instinct I realized everwhere! Everyone knows about her power-packed singing style, needless to spend words here. Must say, her disciplined approach towards work and dedication towards perfection are the things which smoothened the work! We recorded Sojugada Marathi just two weeks back, and as we were heading towards Shivratri, Ananya was telling me to plan its release for audio platforms only. Coincidently there were our two film director friends present in the studio, Rohan Shingade from Marathi and Guru Savan from the Kannada industry, both were convinced about its picturization. Finally, Ananya finished the song for making it available also for the video platform! Midas touch of our sound recordist Ruturaj Kulkarni (TSM Studios, Pune) played a vital role indeed!

     For me, language is not just a way of communication or not the thing which builds up communities under territorial roof. Language is the road map of a culture, it tells you where its people come from and how far you can walk with them to discover the new dimensions of life! Sojugada has proved, devotion is the purest bliss, even languages are not required to deliver it! The song has touched crores of hearts and changed millions of lives. People say Sojugada has crossed the borders, I would prefer to say Sojugada has united the whole world under one shiva roof! It doesn't matter whether you listen to it in the original Kannada or now in the Marathi, it will touch you uniquely if you are ready to see its magic! 

     Fights are still going on Belgaum borders, we are fortunate to become a part of the masterpiece Sojugada, a peaceful prayer, which touched people on the ground of humanity!

     I became speechless when Ananya said, 'Praju, this is the first time, I recorded Sojugada properly in the studio!'.... 'That too in my Marathi!'... I whispered super proudly in my own ears! Being a KGF Chapter 1-2 playback singer Ananya Bhat perfectly knows the magic of multilingual singing and I am the fortunate lyricist who witnessed her honest efforts of singing, for her very first song in the Marathi language! It makes me always proud when artists like Ananya shows respects towards my mother tongue! She has a folk heart and a global ear I must say!

     I believe in people. We all are cosmic children! We have to tune up across borders to enjoy this virtual era! We need to work fullest for world peace! Miracle happens! Millions of hits can also be faked with money backing statistics and crores of hits can also be gained with purity and devotion! A song, that stole Sadhguru's heart is healing people, especially in this crucial pandemic! A girl, who stole Sadhguru's heart can easily steal anyone's heart in any language! I am happy, I met her, and we could gift each other this artistic piece!

Kindly listen to our Song, Shubhra Champa Pushpe Gumpheete (Sojugada Marathi version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xn9P91RrWU

Original Kannada Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7mz7PtuQZs

Keep sharing.. keep loving! 

-       Prajakta Gavhane