MUMBAI: On 10 May 2021, Singer Jashan Bhumakr is bringing forth a Marathi song extremely close and precious to his heart, his version of “Bhay Ithaley Sampat Nahi”. The song is basedon the poem from the famous and much celebrated Marathi poet, “Kavi Grace”. He fells in love with Grace’s poetry when He the chance to study it up-close andsing it during a project on it that he participated in few years ago. Sincethen, he has been planning to sing and release his own versions of few of his poems which he best resonated with.

The original versionis a classic sung by none other than the legendary Lata Mangeshkar-ji, and setto tune by Hridaynath Mangeshkar-ji who himself was mesmerised by Kavi Grace’s words. In his version, he has set to tune an additional paragraph of the poem which is not in the original song, and tried his best to tie it together with Hridaynath-ji’s beautiful tune. He is humbled and honoured by the fact that hisversion is being released by Fountain Music Company, the same record label that released Lata-ji’s version years ago.

This poem brings forth a unique, beautiful and painful concept of missing a dear one – that of fear.The words literally translate to: “I miss you so much, that it now scares me. Iremember you every single day, and every evening I sing the songs we sangtogether”. The emotions of love and loss are universal, making this song relevant to every heart. Specifically, Kavi Grace wrote the poem for his mother, who left him at a very young age making him overcast with a sense of helpless abandonment which infiltrated in much of his later work.

“As a sensitiveartist it is nearly impossible to isolate from the ongoing milieu. In these COVID pandemic times, especially the recent wave that has engulfed our country, we have all in some way experienced some of the sense of loss that probably Kavi Grace felt. My song is dedicated to all the people we will continue to rememberand sing for every day, just as the poet has outlined in his words" Jashan Bhumkar.