The story behind LIGHT by Kelvin Brown
Many years ago, Swami Mrigananda of Sree Satyanada Mahapeeth, Kolkata, India asked me to add western music to some of Sree Archana Maa’s songs. Maa’s voice, harmonium, and tabla accompaniments were the musical materials I worked with, as heard on the bonus tracks Lullaby and Unknown Friend.
For English-speaking people, I asked Swamaji if he could roughly translate the lyrics into English. From that translation as a poet, I rewrote the words into poetry and prefaced the songs with the poetry dialogue for people to understand the meaning of each song.
LULLABY was initially an EP, including Louise Herft in Adelaide reading the poems of the songs Lullaby and Unknown Friend. The EP’s release took place at the Ganesha temple in Adelaide, with Indian dance students performing to the song Lullaby.
Mallar Ghosh’s voice, recorded in Kolkata, prefaced the second EP Weeping Clouds featuring the songs Flute, Light and Yearning.
Later I produced a movie featuring the ashram’s school, A Village School in Mahapeeth, that included Maa’s song to my poem, Land of Peace. I wrote the string arrangement, and it is called Mahapeeth.
One evening in Mahapeeth, the ashramites were singing bhajans, devotional songs, outside the temple in twilight. I recorded it with a hand-held recorder and incorporated music later on. The song is called Satyanada and is typical of the joyous sounds of singing in the ashram.
I have stayed at the ashram many times and once wrote a poem called Titten-Titten Nara based on Maa’s school. Lyrics from the poem created the song I composed and arranged, with Ramona in Adelaide providing the vocals. Titten-Titten Nara features in the bonus tracks.
Several years later, these songs, now professionally recorded and mixed, are remastered and placed on the single album LIGHT for all to enjoy. The serenity and power of Maa’s distinctive voice and music of these songs composed by her and her Sadguru Thakur provide a welcome listening, a time of devotion.
In honor of Sree Archana Maa, Score Sounds releases LIGHT posthumously for all to enjoy and remember fondly.
