It’s impossible to have imagined someone growing up in India without having heard a devotional song as a child. For most infants this is the first sound of music they would have ever heard in their fresh and constantly fascinating world. Most devotional music of India are composed either entirely in Indian classical – with it’s many flavours – or at the very least with a heavy foundation of classical. Qawallis and a few other types of devotional songs are the exceptions where their appeal lies more in their lyrics and rendition than it’s musical composition.
The singular devotional song that caught my attention at an early age and continues to permeate tranquillity all around whenever played is a particular one in Marathi, ‘Ughad daar deva’, quite literally meaning, open the door dear God.
