Autorickshaw and PSQ: Program Notes

Sept. 17, 2024

Aaj Ki Raat

Aaj ki raat koi aane ko hai re baba, re baba, re baba
Intezar aur thoda sa intezar
Aaj ki raat koi aane ko hai re baba
Usse aane toh de o dil-e-beqadar
Phir kar lena jee bharke pyar
Shugu, shugu, shugu, shugu ... shugu

Na na na na na ... na na na na na
Tu toh na aaya, aaya koi aur saajan
Mujhe aakar bacha le, tu tu hi tu bacha le
Loote hai mujhko meri jawani ka dushman
Koi kab tak sambhale tu tu tu bacha le, bacha le

Translation

Someone is about to come tonight, oh my god
Let's wait a bit for him
Someone is about to come tonight, oh my god
O cruel heart of mine, at least let him come
Then express all the love that you want
(Musical rhyming words)

No no no no no ... no no no no no
You didn't come, but someone else has arrived
Please come and save me from him
The enemy of my youth is stealing from me
Until when will I protect myself, so please save me

The Trouble with Hari

Program Note

Picture a precocious little girl, growing up in a traditional Indian village, caring more for her pictures and paintings than for following tradition. This is the trouble with Hari, with playful lyrics set to a lively Brazilian-Hindustani-calypso beat.

Text

The trouble with Hari is she’s smart
Has iron will and a rebel heart
Mother tells her what not to do
“Don’t you play with paints - go to school”
But all Hari thinks of is her art

She makes giant pictures in the sand
She uses whatever is at hand
Images of Krishna, Arjuna
Characters from Bhagavad-Gita
The mythical tales of India land

Lakshmi Auntie lives just down the way
She sees Hari’s drawings everyday
She pays a surprise visit
To sit down with Ma and Pa
Tell them Hari’s head is in the clouds

“I have seen this kind of thing in the past
At this rate, she’ll marry out of caste
You’ve got to do something soon
To stop this bad behaviour
Or else your good fortunes will not last”

And Hari doesn’t know what to do
Arjuna’s struggle is Hari’s too
Why is it she cannot follow through
“I wish that Arjuna fashioned me into his arrow so that
he can shoot me high above my life, and all at once, I can be true”

The trouble with Hari is she’s smart
Has iron will and a rebel heart
Hari heard what Krishna had to say
Like Arjuna, finally made her way
Now her works adorn the Taj Mahal

The trouble with Hari is she’s far
From the only butterfly in this jar
When the Great Lord Krishna
snaps the lid
Gives you freedom like a little kid
Tell me, my friend: what then will you start?

Majnu Nihar

Manju Nihar is a Tamil folk song that is devotional in nature but is sung from the perspective of a man who metaphorically praises God through the description of a beautiful woman.

English Note

This is a nod to the Viennese waltz, written by Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar (1877-1945), sung using only South Indian solfege syllables sa ri ga ma pa dha ni (akin to the western doh re mi fa sol la ti).

Come Together

Program Note

We honour the Beatles’ fascination with India with this rendition of Come Together, where swampy blues meets solkattu (South Indian vocal percussion).

Text

Here come old flat top
He come groovin' up slowly
He got ju-ju eyeball
He one holy roller
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker
He just do what he please

He wear no shoeshine
He got toe jam football
He got monkey finger
He shoot Coca-Cola
He say I know you, you know me
One thing I can tell you is
You got to be free
Come together, right now
Over me

He bag production
He got walrus gumboot
He got Ono sideboard
He one spinal cracker
He got feet down below his knee
Hold you in his armchair
You can feel his disease
Come together, right now
Over me

He roller coaster
He got early warning
He got muddy water
He one mojo filter
He say one and one and one is three
Got to be good looking
'Cause he's so hard to see
Come together right now
Over me

Come together, yeah

Maya

Program Note

Maya is a 4-part suite, commissioned by the West End Cultural Centre in Winnipeg, in praise of the multifaceted Hindu Goddess Maya. The four parts include Illusion, Enchantment, Fantasy and then the goddess by name in a “pop” song-style feature, Maya.

Text

Maya, daughter of illusion, spirit of dreams,
Life’s own sweet delusion, you are that which is not, it seems,
Maya, conjurer of artifice, tell me what is truth?
When the more you know, the less you know…
It all stays the same, so what’s the use?

Kings and beggars, saints and sinners, those who weep shall also smile,
Wherever there is life, death is a shadow, and there’s life on the green mile.
Kings and beggars, saints and sinners, those who weep shall also smile,
Wherever there is life, death is a shadow, and there’s life on the green mile.

Maya, we are creatures of habit, blinded by what’s in plain sight,
Imprisoned by our souls, looking through the darkness into the half-light,
Maya, divine soul, behind your veil lies the truth,
Creation is illusion is knowledge is matter, and behind all that lies You!

Lovers and dreamers, fighters and schemers, in possession or in pursuit,
Hopes and fears, joy and tears, our perception of reality is untrue,
Lovers and dreamers, fighters and schemers, in possession or in pursuit,
Hopes and fears, joy and tears, this is life, this is the nature of You, Maya.

Bird on the Wire

Like a bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.

Like a fish on a hook,
Like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.

If I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go by.
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.

Like a baby, stillborn,
Like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.

But I swear by this song
And by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.

I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
He said to me, "You must not ask for so much."
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
She cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?"

Oh like a bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.

Take Five

Program Note

Take Five is a jazz standard composed by Paul Desmond, here performed a cappella, by Suba and Dylan.

Text

Won't you stop and take a little time out with me,
just take five, just take five,
Stop your busy day and take the time out to see
if I'm alive, just take five
Though I'm going out of my way
Just so I can pass by each day
Not a single word do we say
It's a pantomime and not a play
Still, I know our eyes often meet
I feel tingles down to my feet
When you smile, that's much too discreet
Sends me on my way

Wouldn't it be better not to be so polite
You could offer a light
Start a little conversation now
It's alright, just take five, just take five

Meditation Round

Nourish compassion without, within,
Let Earth Mother bestow her medicine,
Move from the world's din to Our unison,
This is how the dream begins...

Let us not return to what once was,
And sing of what could be,
Breathe in the love,
Breathe out the pain,
Hold on to possibility.

Chaiyya Chaiyya

Program Note

Chaiyya Chaiyya is an Indian pop-folk love song from the film, Dil Se, utilizing Sufi music and Urdu poetry.

Original Text

Jinke sar ho ishq ki chaaon
Paaon ke neeche jannat hogi
Jinke sar ho ishq ki chaaon

Chale chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya
Chale chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya
Chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya
Chal chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya

Sar ishq ki chaaon chal chaiyya chaiyya
Sar ishq ki chaaon chal chaiyya
Paaon jannat chale chal chaiyya chaiyya
Paaon jannat chale chal chaiyya

Woh yaar hai joh khushboo ki tarah
Jiski zubaan urdu ki tarah
Meri shaam raat, meri kainaat
Woh yaar mera sainya sainya

Chal chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya

Translation

The heads that have the shade of love
Heaven will be under their feet
The heads that have the shade of love

Come let's walk in the shade
Come let's walk in the shade
In the shade
Come let's walk in the shade

Walk with the head in the shade of love
Walk with the head in the shade of love
Walk with your feet over the heaven
Walk with your feet over the heaven

That friend who is like fragrance
Whose language is like urdu
She's my day, my night and my universe
That friend of mine is my beloved

Come let's walk in the shade