Growing up, I often listened to the legendary M S Subhalakshmi's Suprabhatam. That was a staple every Saturday morning as my father went about his prayer rituals as a devout South Indian. In recent years, his musical collection has grown tremendously to include Shreya Ghosal's Ganesh album (which is simply outstanding and highly recommended) and a very popular Ganesh album from the ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh. I even remember him listening to the infamous Anup Jalota...
My mum on the other hand, a Catholic by faith, listened to hymns and we sang in church every Sunday. I remember the school I went to would play hymns in Hindi and Marathi during school hours - both staple languages in Mumbai, my home for many years. My parents seem to find a musical route to express their spirituality and that's something I can identify with, be it via bhajans, Gospel music or new age interpretations of spirituality. A classic case of nurture and nature, I guess! They continue with this expression of their faith to this day...

And why am I thinking about this today? Because I recently listened to Vandana Vishwas. Her album Meera is a soulful collection of devotional songs that left quite an impression. Her voice displays a maturity that's well beyond her years and has a wonderful soulfulness about it. 

With a total of eight songs on this album, I was impressed with the simplicity and sincerity in her voice, coupled with her ability to live up to the sheer poetry of the lyrics. I also love the fact that her pronunciations are right on target and didn't miss a beat... something that I detest when lyrics are based on Sanskrit or other traditional scripts.

The album traces Meera Bai's life and is a good way to get interested in Hindu mysticism and spirituality. It starts out with Badara Re, based on the works of Meera Bai and composed by Vandana Vishwas herself. When I first heard the album, I sat up and took notice of her lovely voice right away. The next track Piya Bin is my favourite on the album - it's a beautiful mix of lyrics and melodious music, and you can tell that the artist is completely passionate about her art. Sanware Ke Rang, a devotional song about Krishna, has some good tabla and flute components, and is an upbeat song which makes is quite likeable.

The next track on the album Sun Lijo, presents a modern approach to devotional music using guitars to good effect. Her voice and the guitar seem to complement each other well as she sings another soothing track. I would consider this a more traditional bhajan with familiar rhythm structures. Take a listen and you'll see what I mean... Fagun ke Char Din is about celebrations and festivities during the month of Holi.

Another favourite on this album is Rana ji and as the inlay card explains, is about Meera Bai speaking directly to the new king, her brother-in-law who wants royal protocols to be followed at all times. Despite several attempts to kill Meera, he is unsuccessful and she decides to take things into her own hands and confronts him. The emotion in this song match the intensity of the lyrics and narrate a tale that intrigues and inspires, without much effort to do either. Chala Wahi Des follows next and I get the impression that Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle were influences as Vandana Vishwas grew up. I haven't quite put my finger on it but I think there definitely is something about the song that reminds me of some old Mangeshkar tracks... and in a good way!

The last track was unexpected and I didn't quite know how it fits onto this album. Having said that, the song isn't bad once you wrap your head around the fact that it is meant for Dandiya!Closer listening reveals that is merely a different version of the first track on the album, with a Dandiya-twist. Like I said, no biggie.

To wrap up, I am glad that this CD made its way to me, because apart from listening to soulful music, I had an opportunity to learn about another artist in the South Asian community, here in Toronto who definitely has talent. Her website sheds some light on the lady behind the golden voice - she's an exponent in Sugam Sangeet (which is a lighter version of traditional Indian vocal music)and an architect by profession. I'm glad her creative exploits go well beyond architecture and design because the album is a good find.