Description

 A set of 2 CDs containing a selection of love lyrics by Bharatendu Harishchandra, performed by vocalist Shubha Mudgal. The verses have been set to tune by Aneesh Pradhan and Shubha Mudgal. 

In India, the abundance of exquisite literature that is geya or ideal for rendering in song, has often led composers to refrain from penning their own lyrics, and opt instead for sourcing lyrics from existing literary treasures. More specifically devotional literature in dialects of Hindi has often found its way into song texts of compositions from a variety of genres including thumri-dadra and khayal.

In a similar vein, the prolific and varied poetic legacy of Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850 to 1885) offers itself to musicians and composers, and in particular, to exponents of khayal and thumri-dadra genres. Born in Varanasi, and nurtured in a wealthy and accomplished family of merchants from the Agarwal community, Harishchandra enjoyed an undoubtedly luxurious and even extravagant lifestyle. In the short span of his life, he was recognized as being a powerful and revered dramatist, poet, actor, singer, philanthropist and visionary, earning him the title of Bharatendu, literally Moon of India, a title that soon almost replaced his name.

Like his father Gopalchand and grandfather Harakchand, Harishchandra too was skilled in the art of on-the-spot composition of verses, which he took to from the early age of eleven. In addition to studying Urdu and Sanskrit, Harishchandra equipped himself with a formidable knowledge of music and could therefore compose verses with equal ease in classical metrical forms as well as more popular forms such as hori, kajri and thumri and dadra. It is a selection of these verses that have been explored in this album.

- From the album notes