Was this a Dream?

Was this a Dream?

My wife and I attended a program organised by Ashwath's family in December 2015. While I had put my thoughts together, I had not posted the same in my blogspot. I chanced upon this written article and decided to post it. The thoughts are still relevant today, three years later and does really bring back memories from the past to the present! 

“Tamboori” – this word brings a flood of memories in the minds of Dr C Aswath’s millions of fans around the world. This was his signature ‘final’ song in each of his live performances. It was hence befitting to have called the musical evening by this name by his family when they decided to hold a program in his memory on 12^th December 2015. While we lost one of the most eminent and prolific Kannada Sugama Sangeetha exponents six years back, the legend lives on in the minds of the people, his millions of fans, his core group of artists who had accompanied him through thick and thin and last but not the least, his extended family.

The entire team from his erstwhile troupe who agreed to put together and perform for the audience on 12^th did an exemplary job and we had the eerie feeling that Aswath was around somewhere in the backstage, guiding and motivating his artists to give their one hundred percent. Towards half way into the musical evening when the recorded version of Aswath’s song “Shalmala” – from his most successful live performance “Kannadave Sathya”  was played, there was absolute pin drop silence in the hall and one could hear a quick intake of breadth – an involuntary action when there is a catch in the throat. People were with him when he rendered this song in his inimitable style then and today it was as if history had repeated itself. With a packed audience in the R V Dental college auditorium and not an inch of space left, we suddenly got the feeling that he was around somewhere. The rapturous applause he received now was in no way lesser than the thunderous applause he received during Kannadave Sathya, held in Palace ground amidst a record Lakh and Twenty Thousand die-hard fans.

We are sure,  Aswath, would have been proud of his family for having put together such a fine program, and all this…without a formal induction or training on organizational skills required to combine the various pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that happens backstage to make any program a grand success. It requires weeks and  months of planning and organizing to ensure that every angle is covered to a perfection! A stickler for ‘Perfection,’ Aswath demanded and got 100% from each member of his troupe; hence this program “Tamboori” organized by his family as a mark of respect and remembrance would have been particularly significant to him! Wherever he is, the thought that he could have used his near and dear ones more often for their amazing organizational skills must be crossing his mind!  

H S Venkatesh Murthy articulated so very well in his brief recollections of life and times with Dr C Aswath. He said, Aswath is the ‘one’ music composer who brought out the depth and range of the poetry through his musical compositions and one could visualize the situations or the people and theme in their inner mind and heart. Each of the listeners present in his ‘Live’ performances visualized in that ‘moment’ in a manner that was completely their own emotional feelings…a connection that each individual could bring to life from their own personal experiences, past and present. This was the uniqueness of Aswath’s music compositions! There wasn’t a parallel during his days and I guess, there isn’t one as we live in the present! HS continued to add that Aswath, while singing to  any audience, be it large or small or even in a close circle amongst friends and family, there was this depth that couldn’t be separated from him.

His fans and the packed full houses in all his live performances had been his source of strength and perhaps the reason for his tremendous success. He loved his audience in much the same way as a Guru would love his students in a Gurukul…fiercely protective but at the same time giving them all that he had. And the audience reciprocated in much the same way, crying when he became emotional, whilst  singing and dancing with ecstasy on a fast number like “Shravana Banthu Shravana”. T N Seetharam, a very close and dear friend did mention this point in his short speech. He said that he was so enchanted with the rendering of this song that it made him feel why we should not have all the twelve months as Shravana! Having directed the most successful TV serial “Mukta-Mukta”, he had asked Aswath to compose and sing the music for the title song. In a magnanimous gesture he said people watched the serial because they wanted to listen to Aswath’s title track.

Long gone, yet having the magical power to draw people and family together…can only be the mark of a Legendary Genius – A shining Star! Not just the one in the sky, but in each of our hearts!