Rajeshwar Singh ‘Raju’
Yes the entire world is in the grip of this pandemic that has shaken the mankind. The long Lockdowns might be having positive signs as far as ensuring a check on spread of corona virus is concerned but at the same time they have emerged as a grave psychological concern too. The reason is quite obvious. We are not in the habit of being far away from the company of our nearer and dearer ones for a long time and are bound to visit different place of worship as well tourist spots for rejoicing. Whenever there are some holidays, we always pack bags to move to our favourite destinations with family and friends to relax. But it has become a thing of past now. For the last more than two months now, everyone has been within boundary walls of their homes or flats that have made life quite miserable. But, is there any other option? If you want to stay safe, you have to ensure safety of others also. For that_ Stay Home is the best mantra.
But during this crisis also there are the creative brains that have the skill to innovate new ideas to keep themselves creatively busy and offer an opportunity to others to amuse and forget the temporary tensions gripping owing to continuous Lockdowns and the stress that the deadly virus has imposed.
Now Music has the healing power. It is said that Music therapy has been very successful in stress and strain. When the world is undergoing same, then Music Composers have an imperative role to play. Brij Mohan, an ace music composer from the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir took Lockdown as an opportunity to quench his thirst for innovative music and also help the music lovers to get rid of psycho fear of deadly corona virus. His written and composed Dogri songs on corona have been viral on social media. These songs have been sung by eminent and versatile singer of the soil Sonali Dogra. Such the efforts have been widely appreciated not only in Duggar Pradesh but all over the world wherever Dogri speaking and knowing people are living. His written and composed Corona based song in Hindi has been sung by Ankit Kohli and Shivaji Saini from Muzaffarpur and Shubh Panchal from Hariyana for their Musical Band that has also been quite a viral on social media.
But he was not content with corona related works only and wished to work with even more novelty. He decided to work on free verse poetry that is in fact always a challenge for a Music Composer. The free verse poetry has no meter/rhythm which is a vital aspect for music composition. But here lies the challenge and Brij Mohan has the instinct of accepting challenges and coming up to the expectations of music admirers.
It is pertinent to mention here that he has already created magic with ‘Chamtkaar’ series based upon the free verse poetry of celebrated Dogri poets like Padma Sachdev, Ved Rahi, Lalit Magotra, Chhatrapal etc in the past that was a huge success. Now during lockdown, the tough task became his passion again. But, this time it was even more difficult.
In a conversation Brij Mohan said, “I enjoy the tough tasks and composing free verses is in fact a challenge that has always excited me. But during Lockdown it was even tougher. Social Media sites like Whatsapp played an important part in executing the whole process. The poets sent me their free verse poems on whatsppp. Then I composed music for the same and sent the tune to singers who recorded the same on mobile in their homes and sent back to me, which I further sent to Pawan Verma , a dear friend of mine for necessary minor editing before uploading on social sites.”
Unlike Studios packed with all technical excellence and support of different instruments, It was purely Home Made productions, wherein the voice played the magic. It was in fact a test of potential too. But fortunately, we have immense talent in singing who have proved their worth at national level too. Yes, of course it’s quite painstaking but when the result is awesome, those ones associated with such creative works feel overjoyed. The result was overwhelming that boosted the morale of every one and it was decided to make it a continuous process during ongoing lockdown.
During this odd time, within all limitations Brij Mohan has till date composed music for Dogri as well as Hindi free verse poems of prominent poets like Lt. Yash Sharma, Lt. Kunwar Viyogi, Lalit Magotra, , Arvind Raina, Shashi Pathania in Dogri and Sangeeta Gupta, Chanchal Dogra, Yogita yadav, Vijay Saraf Meenaghi and Rajeshwar Singh ‘Raju’ in Hindi. These soulful compositions have been given voices by versatile singers like Jitender Singh, Riyaz Malik, Lovely Chandra, Sonali Dogra and Vanshika Jaral.
Says Brij Mohan, “It’s a continuous process now as after the release of every composition the music lovers are waiting for the next venture.” He wishes to work for all the celebrated poets of Dogri as well as Hindi language. He admits that in addition to satisfy his inner instinct and serving the music lovers he has a personal agenda also behind this obsession. During the Lockdown and Covid 19 related news gripping every individual, he didn’t want to fall victim to loneliness and negativity propagated through different channels. Rather he wanted to encash this opportunity by devoting even more for his passion that helped him to abstain from psycho pressure. In order to keep himself busy and involve all other like minded creative people, he took a leap in this direction and was excited that not only many reputed personalities became an integral part of ongoing creative process but their efforts have been widely acclaimed across the boundaries also. He owes a lot to poets and singers who have made this dream possible and ensures music lovers that they will be provided with this type of music therapy uninterruptedly during the lockdowns.
Honestly speaking, Lockdown has been an acute problem for those who remain isolated and don’t involve themselves with different activities to pass this critical phase of life as a quality time. The personalities like Brij Mohan are an inspiration for others, who know the art of converting present crucial time not only into a Quality Time Pass but with all Creative Gains also.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
