Hridaynath's music owes its roots to his father Dinanath Mangeshkar's theatre music and quite a bit of Mumbai's film music, which you will notice in the interludes and the orchestral arrangement of Meera Soor Kabeera.

Dinanath died leaving five children with nothing but his passion for classical and theatre music. They grew up through hard times, and everyone knows how Lata excelled in film music to become one of India's national icons. Besides film music, where her repertoire ranges from the exquisite (Yeh zindagi usi ki hai) to the indifferent (Didi tera deewar diwana), Lata has recorded for Hridaynath verses from the Bhagavad Gita and the Marathi devotional classic Dhyaneshwari.

Meera Soor Kabeera  brings three bhakti poets together. Kabir (born in June or July 1398) wrote couplets, called dohas, that sought to stress the oneness of god. Meera was a romantic who boldly went against all convention and claimed god Krishna for her lover. Surdas was the blind Milton of bhakti poetry.

All three have long been legends with miracles and myths to their names. To Kabir goes the credit of bringing together clashing Hindus and Muslims with his aphorisms. These singer-saints together spearheaded the bhakti movement in the 14th century.

Hridaynath's style is staid, and has none of the wild energy of Kumar Gandharva, who also made tunes for Kabir bhajans. Hridaynath uses the violin ensemble quite generously, which slots his entire style with Mumbai's long-standing film style that's only now giving way to techno sounds.

Hridaynath admits to having simplified some of the lyrics. A summary of each verse appears on the inlay card.

While quite a few songs are in the well-established bhajan format with the manjira (small cymbals) and a 4/4 beat on the dholak, others like Arre dil mere mann are in the old film style, with heavy violin back up and drums. This song echoed popular film songs like Dard e dil, dard e jeegar. Lata's Bhabi Ki Churiyan hit Jyoti kalash jhalake finds an echo in Hari bin kun gati nahin. The same Shuddh Kalyan tune, and similar orchestra.

Naa main dharmi naa main adharmi represents the eternal quest for god, and is in the form of a dialogue. God (here the voice of Roop Kumar Rathod!) chides the bhakta for looking far and wide for divinity whereas He lives near the devotee.

Surdas's poetry takes up the futility of worldy relationships, time wasted in childhood, youth and old age, and the illusory nature of the world. Meera is the lover, the agony of waiting and longing and the joy of welcoming the lover reflected in her poetry.

Sahaliya saajan ghar aaya ri has a some surprising turns of phrases. Dheemi chadariya by Kabir is a beautiful poem which uses the image of the body as the bedspread which the poet keeps unblemished to place at god's feet. 

Lata sounds younger than in some of her more recent songs, and this album will add some more tunes to her devotional repertoire.