Marigold Ballads
Vanita’s debut album MARIGOLD BALLADS [December 18, 2020], with lyricist Ian Cardozo, was a joint effort to take war and its after-effects—something the public knows very little about in India-- to the man in the street. Vanita was keen to put Ian’s poems to music as ballads, as she was both moved and impressed by the unique contribution Ian—a retired Officer of the Indian Army who has seen war--had made with his poems of war in which the real India speaks for itself intelligibly, poignantly, distinctly, without "overkill."
The ten ballads open before us a canvas of life, etched with clearly defined strands that have gone into India’s finest hours, impressing upon us the existential courage that is a form of humanism. Thoughts of predestination seem momentarily inevitable, and yet the road taken by so many who have served one of India’s finest institutions abounds in exceptional examples of free will through the sunshine and shadows of life. There are other heroes and heroines from everyday life as well, human in their anxiety for their loved ones, yet evincing great fortitude in their acceptance of the casualties of war. And there is a requiem for the unknown soldiers as well. Very appropriately, the Marigold has great resonance as the Flower of Remembrance for commemorating the war dead of India.
When viewed in the Indian context and the genre of the poems, Ian is breaking new ground. The haunting quality of the poems remains long after reading them because they are expansive and convey the totality of the contained experience that is packed into each poem with artistic eloquence; and the valour and sacrifice make the reader an empathic participant in the fortunes of the warriors for freedom and their families.
The MARIGOLD BALLADS introduce the Army of independent India from a multi-dimensional perspective, correlating the lives of soldiers with experiences and events deeply embedded in the Indian consciousness, and touch on the very essence of the “human condition”. The ballads assess the Army as a quintessential Indian institution that has addressed the complex burden of the country’s history and its hopes through the vicissitudes of the Wars and their aftermath. Issues, themes, and paradoxes that are at the heart of ongoing debate on the Army, as well as the India it is a product of, determine the emphases of the individual ballads.
With independent India embroiled in repeated wars to defend its national security and citizens, the need for India to have and popularize its own war poetry has been long overdue. The MARIGOLD BALLADS go a considerable way towards filling this need. Drawing extensively on the proud traditions of the Indian Army, the ballads, which I believe to be the first of their kind, introduce the wider public to how the Army has held the country together, not forgetting the families of our brave soldiers who have unstintingly contributed all.
The next page has a description of the Ballads by Ian Cardozo.
Track Artist, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar: Vanita Singh
Composer: Vanita Singh
Arranger: Vanita Singh
Lyricist: Ian Cardozo
Producer: Vanita Singh
Album Artwork: Kamal Arora & Vanita Singh
Links:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1EJnsF1KaoC1aqBmNaiH4k
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/marigold-ballads/1545230676
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuiOdAwOV5c&list=OLAK5uy_mxJJK5u84Al00_QjJiDlq1DAmcBpnDbrI&index=1