An ‘Overture’ Stringing The Pope, Yesudas and the ‘Songster Chaplain’
On Christmas Eve melophile MM Dileep meets Rev. Dr. Paul Poovathinkal to record details of his coordination for a unique musical album blessed by His Holiness Pope Francis and Yesudas, the legendary musician from Kerala.
Kerala, the relatively small State in the South Western tip of India and the classical language of the region – Malayalam -have produced a veritable ocean of melodious popular songs for countless films and theatre productions. As is well known, film music is the most popular form of music, not just in Kerala but in India as a whole.
Even so, Kerala has a number of records in the realm of popular music, including many that have been created by Dr. KJ Yesudas, a musician par excellence. Yesudas is called “Gaana Gandharvan “(an angel of songs) in Kerala and his fame has spread across the globe. Yesudas has recorded a phenomenal fifty thousand songs in various languages for films and albums in his career spanning more than half a century. Indeed, this phenomenal count is still continuing as the doyen is involved in many musical projects even now.
Recently, his supreme singing skills were appreciated by His Holiness Pope Francis, as he released a musical album put together by Rev. Dr. Paul Poovathinkal. This priest too has a unique record as a music practitioner, with many compositions to his credit. His singing too has attracted widespread attention. So much so, he is lovingly called as ‘paadum paathiri’, or the ‘ songster chaplain’ by his admirers in Kerala.
Rev. Dr. Paul Poovathinkal has proven his musical talent right from his early childhood. Later he systematically studied South Indian Classical music under the tutelage of several institutions and got his Doctorate in Carnatic Music. Fr. Paul recently collaborated with Manoj George (the famous Violinist who was part of three Grammy Award winning albums) for an International spiritual musical album in Sanskrit. The album titled,’Sarvesa ‘ is a Lord’s Prayer Hymns in this classical language.
This spiritual musical album marks a confluence of Indian and Western Classical music. The lead singer of the album is Yesudas and one could say that it is not just a coincidence that it is so. For Yesudas, he is also the Guru (or venerated teacher) of Rev. Dr. Paul Poovathinkal. The Reverent Father has repeatedly stated on record the overarching influence that Yesudas has had in developing his creative acumen.
Rev. Dr. Paul Poovathinkal shared his thoughts and views, especially in relation to the musical album released by Pope Francis, in an interview with The AIDEM. At the time of this interaction with Reverent Dr. Paul, an International All Religion Conference had been in progress in Vatican, which was organized by Sree Narayana Dharma Sanghom Trust, Sivagiri Madhom (founded by the late Sree Narayana Guru, one of the great social reformers of Kerala) in association with the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, a department of the Roman Catholic Church that focuses on fostering relationship between Christian and other religions. Incidentally, the first film song that KJ Yesudas recorded had its lyrics written by Sree Narayana Guru.
Question: It was on November 14, 1961 that the voice of Padmavibhushan Dr. K J Yesudas was recorded for his first song in a Malayalam song for a film titled ‘Kalpadukal’ (footprints). That was the beginning and the rest, as they say, is history. Now on the same date of November 14 2024 -more than six decades later- yet another historical event has taken place in Rome, when an international spiritual music album with Yesudas as the lead singer was released by His Holiness Pope Francis. We also know that you had a role in making this happen. Could you enlighten us about the making of the album leading to the historical event?
Answer: This is a musical project which was developed over almost two and half years. We started the project on 2022 April 18. I had originally composed the song for a special purpose involving a global music performance by our students. It was conceived for an online worldwide performance on World Voice Day. It was organised by a friend from New York. I composed the song, including the basic melody as well as the overall structure of the piece. Later, I talked about this development with my friend Manoj George to find out whether he will be able to do the orchestration and other polyphonic musical ornamentation. He said that the proposal (musical project) is beautiful and he expressed his interest in developing it. The question then remaining was about the person who would lend the lead voice. “Why not ask Yesudas”, this question kept coming up in our conversations repeatedly at that juncture. Soon enough I went and met him and explained to Dasettan about the project. Yesudas ji wanted a copy of the lyrics, which we saw as a positive sign. We took it for a silent ‘Yes’. Meanwhile, we began the recording of a major section of the song (the polyphonic voices) in Chetana Recording Studio, in Thrissur. In this, twenty professional musicians assisted us. Later we went to Cochin Arts and Communications studio (CAC), Ernakulam, where we recorded the audio of hundred Priests and hundred Nuns. And on the same day we recorded the video in the Little Flower Church, Elamkulam ; a small town close to Ernakulam. And we had an idea to submit this for the Grammy in the future. Later on, we thought of making an international orchestra for this. So my friend Manoj George had already established connections with a number of musicians, who were working with him for the last three to four years for a Grammy award winning album, in the US. Manoj arranged the musicians and finally we fixed our recording at the Village Studio, Los Angeles, Hollywood. We hired twenty-four American musicians, both string and wind instruments, known as String Orchestra, LA. On August 15th, the musicians played for us for the first time. We were so happy that we recorded our orchestration in one of the top most art places in the world, Hollywood. We attribute all these to the grace of God, His mercy, a gift to our persistence. And after having recorded the orchestration and completed it, we (Manoj and I) went to Florida, Orlando where Dasettan was staying and recorded his voice in a studio called Evermore Sound in Orlando. That was the process of him singing the lead voice. I too sang a small part in it. Then next task that awaited us was in Mumbai to record the flute played by Rakesh Cahurasya. With that ends the recording part of this story. The mixing and mastering was done by Ricky Kej, who already has three Grammy awards to his credit. At this stage, it struck us as a good idea to seek an appointment with His Holiness Pope Francis. The appointment also worked out in a miraculous way, opened for us by God’s grace.
One of our priests, who is studying in Rome, called me one day and asked whether I am planning to come there to meet the Pope. He told me that a particular seminar is going to take place in the Vatican and if I took the registration for this – it was planned as a three day seminar – I could get a chance to meet the Pope in person. Still, an herculean task stared at us in the form of obtaining the necessary Visa within a span of ten days. I approached the Italian embassy for an appointment, but there was no appointment available. Then the travel agency suggested that we send an email to the Consulate General of the Italian Embassy as the last step to procure an urgent visa. My application was nothing short of a lament.. So, when they heard my crying in a sense, the Embassy decided to give leniency and the visa application was sanctioned. The process once again was completed on a 14th. And when I told Dasettan regarding the proposed release on November 14th, he immediately told me ” Oh! Fr. Paul, that is the best time, the day I recorded the first song for my first movie and I am so happy that Pope has decided to release the album on that day itself !” So, Dasettan was so happy. We never planned or intended this. It just happened.
Q: About ‘Sarvesa ‘, How did the Pope respond to the album? What response from the Vatican made you happy?
A: Meeting with the Pope is always an awesome experience and arduous task, both combined. When our group went to meet there were four hundred people to meet the Pope and they were meeting one by one, you know! However, finally we got the chance to present one copy of our album in a pen drive attached to a promo-poster. He was so happy to receive that. We asked him to put a signature on our poster. He happily did that and blessed us. It was the day our dream was realised.
Q: This is the second international collaboration of Dr. K J Yesudas, as far as I know, after his solo album – titled ‘Ahimsa ‘ back in 2001. Do tell us about some special moments you shared with Dr. KJ Yesudas as a singer and your Guru?
A: Yesudas is a Yogi of music. Not an ordinary musician he is. The‘Nadopasana’ (devotion to music) he did for long long years is the stuff of legends. I have never seen such a disciplined personality on this planet so far. The way he nourishes, protects and takes care of his voice is unparalleled.I have learned from him many things, many times. I stayed with him in the US and in Chennai for months and on some occasions it was in Dubai. The way he teaches us – I have learned music from many other Gurus- is entirely different. He has got the holistic teaching style. If you go to a Carnatic musician or any other Guru they will teach you their repertoire. However, Dasettan teaches you the whole voice technique. He would guide you as to how you should keep your mouth, the integration of ‘Sthana’ [vocal base] and the vocal muzzles. No other musicians ever told me all these. I am talking about musicians only – sound technicians/ scientists are different.Being a musician he has got thorough knowledge of the functioning of the vocal chords and how it should relate with your ‘Alapana’ [the singing style] He will point out the corrections on the right note. This was a prominent part of our classes in the early days, when I was at the rock bottom of singing. He made me realise what I was doing wrong and that helped me to improve a lot. You will not get that kind of technique from any books, only from Gurus. And also, his teaching style is highly authentic. And with immense patience he descended to my level. He is on the top level, but he has that generosity to come down to my level. And he promoted me and introduced me to many places such as the Chembai Sangetolsav in Kottai Village, Palaghat, the native place of the legendary Carnatic Musician Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar (An annual Music Festival in commemoration of the Late Guru of Yesudas) and at his own parish in Fort Kochi (A regular annual musical concert organized by Yesudas himself on the day of March 31, in memory of his late singer father Augustine Joseph). He also arranged many concerts for me in Toronto and many other places. He came for my ‘Arangettam’ [maiden performance] as my Guru at Madras Music Academy Hall, on March 10th, 2004. The first close moment I saw him or the moment we started our friendship was at New Delhi. At that time I composed a couple of songs for Tharangini (the music label owned by Yesudas).
Q: The language Sanskrit is coming immediately below the proto Sanskrit language in the Indo- European language family. What is the reason for selecting the language?
A: The main reason is that I would like to project a Indian-Christian face to the world. Because the Indian – Christian face is deeply rooted in our [ Indian] culture. And the language Sanskrit is an essential part of Indian culture, just like Carnatic Music. And I thought about integrating all these aspects. But, to be very frank, the Lord’s Prayer itself is a universal prayer, which is applicable to anyone. So, what I thought was that since Sanskrit is an ancient Indian language, the Christian faith or the Christian prayer has to be articulated / communicated in this language to the entire world, especially with the help of our traditional Indian Classical Music (here Carnatic) format.
Q: Historically, music is considered the soul of the liturgical movement. And the musical interpretation of the liturgy has evolved over many centuries of cultural engagements. How did you think of clubbing Sanskrit and Carnatic ragas along with Western Classical musical ensemble/choral singing?
A: The teachings of the Second Vatican Council were an eyeopener for the whole church. It contributed much to the progressive thinking within the church. The Council said all the local churches, especially the Indian Church, should be able to express our faith through Indian culture, Indian Music, Indian Languages. The Second Vatican Council opened up a new horizon, in the sense of allowing the local churches to adapt their local culture/ language / music, whatever it is. So, in our project we sought to create a cultural musical synthesis of the East and the West. That is how the combination of Carnatic Music and the Western Music was done. When I selected the Raga ‘Natabhairavi’ I had noticed that it is very close to Minor Scale in Western Music and also Gregorian chant. Their singing styles also resemble each other. I never meditated on this Raga before making this music. It happened or came all of a sudden. Not premeditative composing. When I want to make a song based on the lyrics, the tune offers itself. I am of the view, think in today’s world we need cultural and musical synthesis. I believe the whole world is a ‘One Family’ or what we call it in Sanskrit as ‘Vasudhaiva Kodambakkam’.
Q: Hearing your musical piece I thought you emphasized on espousing the Cadence in that composition. I think it is evident in Orchestral Colouring…
A: Yes, when I compose, there are times I introduce these solfa syllables (Kalpana Swaras in Carnatic Music) into the Swara patterns.. The solfa syllables and their rhythmic formations, permutations and combinations ; that is the specialty of Carnatic Music. The Cadence – singing of the solfa syllables of the composition ‘Sarvesa’ is in an ascending / descending order. It was not intentional.,I just tried and it clicked in my mind and I fixed it. The Orchestral part came later.
Q: The term ‘adaptability’ is the driving force of Roman Catholic philosophy. There is a stream of opinion that this International Spiritual Musical Album ‘Sarvesa’ is vouchsafing this virtue. How do you look at this stream of opinion?
A: Right from the beginning of the church, it has borrowed from the Jewish music tradition, which is known as ‘psalm chant’ or psalm chanting. Only after the 4th century the liturgy was really formed in the Catholic Church. The liturgy got its formal shape after that. What I am trying to say is the church borrowed many things from other cultures. It had that kind of adaptability right from the beginning. The Roman Catholic Church always was willing to accept the good elements from the neighboring cultures and the teachings of the Second Vatican Council gave it a formal shape. Our culture is ‘Hindu’ – I mean the broad sense of Indian Culture when I say the term Hindu. Thus Carnatic Music and Sanskrit are all part of our Indianness.
Q: The concept of Neurological Music Therapy is a new domain for brain development, especially the children affected with autism and other cognitive difficulties. How would you evaluate your experience in implementing these new insights among the recipients?
A: Neurological Music Therapy originated in Colorado, US. Today, music is used as part of neuroscience, specifically as a tool to develop the human brain, especially for the children who are affected with autism, cerebral palsy and general mental retardation. Because their right brain is quite normal. In the right hemisphere we have our melodic memory and creativity or fine art capacities. Where there are issues in the left hemisphere, where we have cognition, sensory motor coordination and the language and speech capacity. So, what we are trying to do is to multiply their musical talents. According to neuro scientists, music is the tool by which you can illuminate the human brain in its fullness. Therefore when you try to sing or when you try to make music or try to listen to music, there will be more generation of neurons in your brain. Here, at the Chetana Institute, we have been experimenting with this for the past ten to twelve years with our students. So we have Pooja Ramesh, the girl who did a Carnatic Music concert by an autistic girl for the first time in India. We also have Kiran, he was affected with cerebral palsy. He also had a Carnatic Music concert here in our auditorium. Two years back I organized a live orchestra of these differently abled students. Their performance was great and had tremendous energy. So much so, when they performed in the Regional Theatre in Thrissur, the audience was really thrilled and surprised. They couldn’t have imagined such a level of performance by the autistic and cerebral palsy affected children!
Q: The release of the album ‘Sarvesa’ on YouTube is going viral and is engaging the connoisseurs of music worldwide. But our appetite for more is very strong. Would you please give us a hint of your future plans?
A: This album may lead to quite a few new productions after this. There are many international music competitions. We have a plan to submit the album for that too. That is the next face of development of this album.
Q: Can we expect Yesudasji again?
A: We can’t say anything now at this moment. Because it depends upon the situation. But we hope too, along with all of you.
