Baala Daariyali By Vinay

Title song for a TV series on the Kannada poet Da Ra Bendre. The show was hosted by Jayant Kaikini on ETV. Vocals: Supriya Acharya. Lyrics: Da Ra Bendre.

Bendre Namana

Something I composed for the 2009 album Ninna Nenapu. Lyrics: S Bageshree. Vocals: S Suchitra Lata. Guitars: Caleb Alexander. Keyboard: KS Umesh. Violins: Nelson, Amarnath. Recording and programming: Gokul Abhishek

TaraveMarave

This is the title track I composed for a serial on the writer and Kannada cultural icon Shivarama Karanth. It appeared on ETV in 2007, if memory serves me right. Violin and vocals: Deepu. Additional vocals: Suchitra Lata. Programming: Gokul Abhishek and me.

KaranthNamana

Manninalli

An Akka Mahadevi vachana. 'I think of you like an elephant separated from the herd/that keeps thinking of the Vindhya ranges./I think of you like a caged parrot/that keeps thinking of its dear ones./Say, 'Come, child,' and show me your beauty, god Channamallikarjuna. Vocals: Kowshik Aithal. Programming: Gokul and me.

Nenevenayya

Won't show its wounds/won't sell its charms/
This little calf/needs to rest a moment/
In its mother's lap.

A moving poem by Ramalingappa Begur about the feeling of being orphaned. Ki Ram Nagaraj, poetry guru and literary legend, recommended this poem for inclusion in the album Avva. Sunitha (who sang the movie hit Ello jogappa nin aramane) is the voice. NS Prasad played the mandolin. Programming: Gokul and yours truly. 

Gaayagala toruvudilla

From the album Aha Preeti! We recorded this song on a winter day in 1989. Sunitha and Raju Ananthaswamy did the vocals. Sadly, the hugely talented Raju is no more. Nataraj Huliyar, my poet-friend who has just written a play on Shakespeare, wrote the words when we were in university together. The orchestra comprised several well-known sessions musicians: Augustine, Nelson, Amarnath and another violinist whose name I can't remember, NS Prasad (mandolin), NS Murali (flute), Sadhu Kokila (keyboards; he is now famous as a comedian in Kannada movies), Tippi, NR Ramesh (tabla), Munisidda (additional percussion), Gopi (bass guitar),  Sudhakar (rhythm guitar). In the intervening years, Murali has passed away. The tracks were recorded at Aravind Studio in Bangalore. Sunitha and I are in the process of restoring and relaunching the album. Details coming up shortly!

Endo Kelida Haadu

Here's Ninna nenapu, the male version, from my album of the same name. The singer is Nithin Raghuveer. Supriya Acharya did the chorus parts. Lyrics: S Bageshree. Guitars: Caleb Alexander. Violins: Nelson and Amarnath. Drums: Joe Anthony. Programming and sound: Gokul. 

Ninna Nenapu by Nithin

Lyrics by S Bageshree. I'd made the tune a couple of years before we actually went out and recorded it, with six or seven other songs, at Arun Studio, Chamarajpet. This was sung by the well-known classical vocalist Kalavathy Avadhoot. She was moved to tears during the recording. Pandit Jayant Kumar Das played the sitar, V K Raman the flute, and Stephen Praveen the keyboard.. I'm trying to recall the rest of the line-up. We knocked on the doors of many labels, but they showed no interest. But here it is, dug out from the early 1990s, for your listening pleasure!

Ninna Nenapu

The earth is your charity
The crops are your charity
The breeze that swirls
and billows is your charity.

The oxen are your charity
The seeds are your charity 
The sea that eddies and 
surges is your charity.
 
What do you say of puppies
who enjoy your charity
and then praise others, Lord!

Devara Dasimayya
12th century

(Voices: Sunitha Ananthaswamy-Ramappan, Anitha Anathaswamy-Baru, Programming: Gokul Abhishek, translation and tune mine).

Ile Nimma Daana

An Allama Prabhu vachana we recorded for the opening titles of the docu-feature Arivina Mane, directed by Shivanand S. Singer: Supriya Acharya-Raghunandan. Sitar: Shruti Kamat. Sound: Gokul Abhishek

They are no heroes---
if they can't mount
a given horse,
and seek some other.

They only plod 
the three worlds weary,
lugging their saddles.

How would they know
the divinity that's our Lord?


Arivina Mane Opening Titles

Don't steal, don't kill, don't lie, don't fly into a rage.
Don't sing your own praises while you disparage others.
This is inner purity, this outer purity,
this the way to please our Lord Koodalasangama.

* An aphoristic vachana by Basavanna that shines a lamp for a righteous life.

Voice: Pandit Nandakumar Kurudi
Programming and sound: Gokul Abhishek

Kalabeda Kolabeda (Arivina Mane End Titles)

No, not with you, I swear,
Lord without Shame!

I cannot commit to one
and go with another.

If I do, they will
stand me naked
and kill me.

No, no, no, I swear,
Lord without Shame!

If I sleep with a bohemian,
they will take a hot knife
and cut off my hands, ears, nose.

No, not with you, I swear,
Lord without Shame!

--- Sule Sankavva


Olle Olle Flamenco

Work in progress, but sharing, nevertheless.

Singer: Inchara Rao

Sister, listen.
I saw a dream.
--- Akka Mahadevi



Akka Kelavva

Like a silkworm
that builds its home with love
only to be choked to death
by its own strands,
I desire as I please
and suffer torment.

Forgive my greed, 
Lord White as Jasmine,
And show me the way to you.

-Akka Mahadevi

Voice: Supriya Acharya, Neecia Majolly; bass guitar: Caleb Alexander; acoustic guitar: M R Jagadeesh; clarionet: Nagendra, harmonium: me.



Teraniya Hulu

Vocals: Inchara Rao; sitar: Pt Jayant Kumar Das; guitar: M R Jagadeesh; cajon: Ganesh; programming: Gokul 

Akka Kelavva

Listen, sister, I had a dream.

I saw rice, betel nuts, a coconut.
I saw a Gorava come for alms
with neat teeth and hair in little plaits.

I followed the one who 
transcends all boundaries
and held his hand.

I saw Channamallikarjuna
and opened my eyes.

Akka Mahadevi

* gorava: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorava
* rice, betel nuts and coconut represent wedding rituals
* Channamallikarjuna: A name that also serves as a signature in Akka's vachanas. A K Ramanujan translates it as 'lord white as jasmine.'

Akka Kelavva in Jazz

Like an elephant separated from the herd,
thinking of the mountainous Vindhya forests,
I think of you.

Like a caged parrot thinking of its dear ones,
I think of you.

Say, 'Child, come this way,' 
and show me your glory,
lord Channamallikarjuna. 

Akka Mahadevi
(12th century)

Voice: Inchara Rao, programming: Gokul Abhishek

Nenevenayya181016

What use reading the Vedas?
What use listening to the scriptures?
What use chanting the mantras?
What use penance?
What use anything that
doesn't touch the heart
of our lord Koodalasangama?
---Basavanna

Sung by Supriya Acharya
The Vachana Band
Also featuring S R Ramakrishna, Jagadeesh M R , Caleb Alexander, Gokul Abhishek

Vedava

Akka Mahadevi vachana.

Supriya Acharya
featuring Ramakrishna S R, Nagendra, Jagadeesh M R, Caleb Alexander, Gokul Abhishek.
The Vachana Band
Photo: Dinesh Kannambadi

Nillu nillu

Supriya Acharya
with Shruti Kamath, Gokul Abhishek
Music: S R Ramakrishna

Kotta kudureya

Tarave Marave

A pop-style track from the album Ninna Nenapu, released in 2007.

Tharave Marave

Aadaru Nanna Maatella

Mouna

Kalla Bekkanthe

Ninna Nenapu by Kalavathy

Jinke

Gelathi

The little one
who came to the fair
is lost in the crowd.
Help me find her, please?

I made music for this poem by Nataraj Boodal for the Kannada Sahitya Sammelana (2006) at Bidar. I was invited as that year's featured composer, and worked with one singer from each district, making new tunes and getting them to sing with an orchestra. We recorded this song a couple of years later, in the voice of the talented Geeta Bhat, who now lives in Chennai. Programmed by me and Gokul.

Santegendu banda magu

My compositions. For albums, movies, TV, theatre. Studio: The Music Mint.

ayyorama

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