Woke up this morning to a link from a dear friend Nitin Jacob. And it was to this commendable initiative from Times Of India and SaReGaMa, an attempt to acquaint Indians with the full five-stanza version of our National Anthem which Rabindranath Tagore originally wrote. Composed by the Bengali pianist-vocalist duo of Soumyojit Das and Sourendro Mullick (together called You &I) the adaptation, titled features 39 artists from across the country and across genres. Concurring with the Independence Day spirit and all that, I wont get into finding faults with this song. the arrangement is quite decent, and Harshwardhan Neotia‘s English narrative translating the lyrics just before the respective stanzas begin is also nice. More important is the spectacular lineup of singers that the song brings – there are classical veterans like Dr. Balamuralikrishna, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, folk singers like Lakshmandas Baul, even the staple film lineup features some under-rated artistes like K S Chithra, Rekha Bharadwaj etc.
So here is once again wishing everyone a Happy 65th Independence Day! Enjoy the song.
