Lullabies are known to one and all. Known by different names across cultures, the motive has been the same – to get a tired or a crying baby to sleep. Making a child sleep to a repetitive, hummable tune has always been the forte of women. This is the main reason why the song “Foremost Forever” starts with a lullaby. In line with the theme of the song, the power of lullaby in putting a crying baby to sleep is metaphorical to the power that women have to bring a crying society back to normalcy.

Even though it’s so natural and normal to think of lullabies as a part of our lives, there are interesting aspects to it. Musically, lullabies are a repeatable tune set to a triple or 6-beat (6/8). This is supposed to be representative of the “rocking” motion the baby experienced when it was in the womb. It’s a coincidence that the song “Foremost Forever” is set to 6/8 and so is the lullaby in the song!

If we look deeper into the lullabies in India, most of them have folk origins. But, one aspect remains, by and large, consistent. Lullabies are based on the Carnatic raga Neelambari (There is a raga of the same name in Hindustani classical music as well and hence the stress on Carnatic raga here). This was an interesting aspect that was told to me by one of my relatives when she heard a very early version of this song. I then researched on it and found that the notes in the raga are pretty much in line with E-major chord in the western musical system. This was yet another coincidence in the song – The lullaby is in E-major scale while the rest of the song is on E-minor scale.

While Lullabies are designed to set babies to sleep, the lullaby in the song intends to become an anthem of sorts, with many women joining in – Language no bar!

There is a need to awaken the consciousness of every individual and community to achieve our objective of restoring dignity and respect for women. This is a lullaby to awaken individuals, rather than put them to sleep, awaken them from the nightmare of atrocities to a waking life in a harmonious society!

Come, join us at Foremost Forever - We are determined to bring about this change at the grass-root level, look at areas of collaboration and synergy between the various volunteer groups in different organizations working towards women empowerment, and promoting dignity and respect for women, so that the power of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. 

We Can We Should We Will.

PS: The coincidence in the beat structure and the scale of the lullaby in the song reaffirms my belief that there is a higher force that creates music and that I am merely a channel to propagate it! It is a surreal experience with the way thoughts come to you and get converted to notes and tunes! 

What is "Foremost Forever" you ask? As the name suggests, it's a perennial superlative that's at the heart of our existence as a species on Earth. It's an emphatic reminder for all such of our species who have taken this absolute truth for granted. Simply put, No Woman No Life - Women are Foremost Forever.

With the advent of modern society and the so-called scientific temper and spirit of inquiry, one wonders if we have really progressed in the last few centuries. We seem to have taken life for granted, an existence that's cheap and has scant value for life. Look all around you and you will see women being denied a fundamental facet - Respect! I am in no way suggesting that modern society has triggered it. This denial is prevalent for ages now. Why is it that man, with all his imperfections and superiority complex, has brought this upon us? As a species, we have been reckless - be it with nature or women. I look at both as a parallel and hence the connect with the modern society - plunder of nature.

If we look at the evolution of man as on Earth, we realize there were 2 species co-existing at a certain point in time, namely the neanderthal man and the cro-magnon man. Neanderthal man is believed to not have adapted to changes around him and vanished with time. What we see around us are supposedly descendants of the species who indeed adapted to the changes - cro-magnon!

With advent of human settlements, ancient tribes and cultures probably realized the value of survival, as a species, on this planet. They inculcated this value in their tribes by way of worshiping facets of nature as a feminine force. From mother earth to the giver of food and nourishment, every aspect of human life was an embodiment of the feminine. Women are believed to have enjoyed equality and respect right from the Vedic age - the biggest proof being the fact that women priests were at the heart of ceremonies in ancient India.

We all worship gods and goddesses in India with the same vigour and pomp. Such is the deeply rooted value system in each of us that we invoke goddess for virtues like wealth, wisdom and strength. Ancient Indian scriptures talk about the trinity, Brahma (creator), Vishnu (protector)  and Shiva (destroyer). Each of these gods is believed to have a wife - Saraswati (wisdom), Lakshmi (wealth) and Parvati (strength), respectively. It's such a beautiful metaphor that one can create through wisdom, protect it by wealth and destroy it with strength. Do you notice that while the doer is masculine, the facet is feminine? That's what it's all about.

The song "Foremost Forever" has a couple of lines which capture this aspect (listen to it in the link provided at the top of this blog).

Wisdom, riches strength help survive - remember these facets are feminine.

There is a need to inculcate such values in the next generation India - in schools, remand homes and orphanages so that a new, vibrant, rich India is unleashed to the world.

Come, join us at Foremost Forever - We are determined to bring about this change at the grass-root level, look at areas of collaboration and synergy between the various volunteer groups in different organizations working towards women empowerment, and promoting dignity and respect for women, so that the power of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. 

We Can We Should We Will.