Monday 20 June 2011

Hosanna... A beautiful chant

"Hosanna", a liturgical word commonly used in Judaism and Christianity. But have anyone thought to use it in a romantic song… ever? We all have certain prejudice not to deal with things which are related to any religious belief. It’s not only we, who feel discomfort to use religious words lightly; it’s deep rooted within our society to avoid those purposely in popular works of creativity, especially in lyrics. The reason is not that someone has told us not to use, but we don’t do it from a conscience of not to hurt others’ spiritual thoughts, in spite of their strong literal value. We use it only in devotional songs or verses. But think, are those beautiful, aesthetic words meant to be used only in categorized literature? My idea is somewhat different.

                                   Jessus welcomed by citizens of Jerusalem

The term Hosanna refers to a particular pray. According to believers, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the citizens welcomed him with this word, which means “We (or, I) pray to you, save us (or, me) now.” How spiritual, isn’t it? But that doesn’t mean it has to be said only to a savior of biblical figure like Jesus; nor to any random religious Guru. I can chant it to my mother, without whom I am incomplete, totally meaningless in this world; or my father, or my uncle, anybody I adore, I admire. A question can be raised why “save me”? The answer is simple, if I am in distress and in that very situation; my adored one can save me, why cannot I ask “Hosanna?”

                                            Poster of Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa

Now readers are totally confused why I am expressing all these! It’s because just few days back I heard a nice romantic song composed by legendary music director Mr. A. R. Rehman. The song named “Hosanna”. It is flawlessly sung by Vijay Prakash, Suzzane and Blaze, penned by Tharamai and Blaze. The melody has something that can lock you up in a trans state where you will find a peaceful ambience filled up with an immense prayer. The song is from a Tamil movie called “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa”. In the movie, the hero was singing this song when he saw her heroine for the first time..... Perfectly woven and rightly placed.

So, research, love and start nurturing those awesome liturgical words to enrich the popular music, forgetting all the taboo.

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