It really gives me a great deal of peace and bliss when I hear the lines “Mangalakara MandahAsa Vadanam” .. It instantly reminds me of the smiling face of Lord Ekambareshwarar sitting with Mother Kamakshi in the main sannidhi. How does one translate such a nice Sanskrit phrase? The word “Mangalakara” doesn’t have an equivalent word in English that conveys the same feelings. The nearest word I can think of is, “auspicious”, but that still doesn’t produce the same effect of the Sanskrit word. One way of translating that would be “Auspicious and smiling / charming / pleasant face”? I don’t think I am doing a very good job of it, or may be there is no way of saying it in any other language as beautifully as Muthuswami Diskshitar composed it in Sanskrit.

Jayashri has presented this so well, and I kept listening to it again and again when I first came in contact with this CD over three years ago. Try it out if you have some time. If you have not seen Lord Ekambareshwarar in the temple, you would really want to see him after listening to this song. And once you see him you will never forget his face & form !!!

One thing I observe with carnatic musicians is some of them are fixed on a traditional setup. This includes not only the choice of the accompanying musical instruments, but also the costumes and stage setup etc. I have heard some of them talking about preserving all the traditional aspects of carnatic music. I am not against the traditional way of singing carnatic music, nor am I averse to traditional costumes, stage setup etc. However, I am a bit uncomfortable at the thought of what appears like confining music within artificial boundaries. Today we do use instruments like sax, mandolin, and violin in carnatic music, which were once seen as western instruments. I seem to think that music grows when we try new techniques, which in this case includes the choice of musical instruments (and I neither imply, nor a fan of singing or listening to carnatic music in pop style). Of course carnatic music with traditional instruments has, and will continue to have, its own charm, but that doesn’t justify reservation towards “non traditional” music instruments. My perception may be wrong here, but I have heard and sensed this kind of reservation towards modern musical instruments with some people, and I always wondered about the reason.

This album by Jayashri is a clear example of how nicely one can mix various instruments while preserving the melody of carnatic composition. Like I said in my earlier posting, some people may not like this, but in my observation, everyone to whom I introduced this album, immediately ended up liking it. Try it if you have not already done so, and forgive me for any spelling errors or broken sentences in this posting. This is intended to be a very quick comment.

Also wanted to provide the links for Jayashri’s CD I mentioned in my earlier reply. One may or may not like this, but it is certainly worth a try. I liked this album, and still consider this to be one of the best in my CD list. The following URL has all the songs of the album Panchabhutams.

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/carnatic_vocal/s/album.2308/

Especially the following ones on Sri Kalahasthi (Vayu) and Kanchipuram Ekambareshwarar (Prithvi) are my favourites. The following links may work directly upon clicking on them

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/eJy2IDOjgS.As1NMvHdW/

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/eqy2VOlugt.As1NMvHdW/

And here is Ananda Natana Prakasam:

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/cJy2tSX23t.As1NMvHdW/