Reviewed by Chinmaya Dunster.
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Review
Who would have guessed that this New Age composer would suddenly emerge in the singer-songwriter genre? Yet again Shastro surprises me. When I first met him in the late ‘80s in Pune he was a photographer, talented enough to have been invited to do a couple of shoots with Osho. On my second meeting almost a decade later he turned up in the ashram’s Music Department with a clarinet he had apparently recently picked up and blew us all away with a live Buddha Hall concert with pianist Nadama. In the noughties, he formed his own record label and released numerous solo CDs as a multi-instrumentalist. Next I heard that he had given up music and was teaching tango internationally. After that he started sending me extraordinarily-skilled pencil sketches, before morphing back into music for several years studying Hindustani Classical on bamboo flute.
Surely you’d have to stay young at heart to go through all those changes!
Shastro’s version of Dylan’s classic stays close to the original yet feels far more intimate. While Dylan’s delivery can often verge on the glib, Shastro’s sincerity shines through in his voice. We can hear that this track means a lot to him. He tells me he used to sing it while busking as a teenager on the streets of Italy, so like many of us now living what will doubtless be our final couple of decades, he’s circling back to take a new look at his past.
Decisions like taking sannyas, that in our twenties we made almost heedlessly, surely haunt many of us now as we age. Dylan’s “May your heart always be joyful, And may your song always be sung” leads me to ask myself: was it? Does the routine safety-seeking of my life now represent an inevitable decline from the spontaneity of my youth? How far have I stayed true to my youthful ideals over a lifetime of compromises?
A rare poem by Osho is a reminder:
I wish to say to each and every heart,
“Take up your flute.
The time is going fast.
See that the opportunity to sing the song does not slip by.
Before the curtain falls you have to sing your life’s song.”
Bravo, Shastro. You have added another new verse to yours!
Quote by Osho from Seeds of Wisdom, No. 41
Lyrics
May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
Written by: Bob Dylan
Copyright © 1973 by Ram’s Horn Music; renewed 2001 by Ram’s Horn Music
www.bobdylan.com
Available from www.malimba.com – open.spotify.com – music.apple.com
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