The sound of Music

First, wish you all a Very Happy New Year. Well, I'm a bit late off the block, but well, this is my first post of 2009! Here's wishing you all a great 2009, one filled with peace - both within and without - and joy and happiness. Here's to the good times in 2009. 

Speaking of good times, I had a great time this morning. The morning was melodious, immersed in tunes and music at once uplifting and calming. I'd been to the Town Hall, here in Bangalore, to a programme "Majhe Jagne Hote Gaane" (The song of my Life, loosely translated), presented by Dr. Salil Kulkarni. And talking to him about his journey in the musical world was Sunil Barve, a well known Marathi stage and television actor. 

Music knows no boundaries, no barriers, and certainly none on the linguistic front. And yet, there is a different pleasure to listen to a musical performance in your mother tongue. It had been a long time since I'd been to a live performance of any sort - let alone Marathi music. And today was a treat, not only to the ears, but something deep within the heart as well. It's difficult to describe it. But the compositions played by Salil were at once uplifting, and yet calming. Some tugged at the heart strings and brought a lump in the throat - his rendition of the track from his album "Ago bai ... Dhago bai" about a kid who's alone at home because his parents are at work was one such - while others made your heart soar with joy. Some renditions touched the lover in you, reminding you of that touch, of the look in the eyes, and of the sweet sorrow of parting with your loved one. Some reached out to the little child and the child-like innocence that we all have within, albeit somewhere deep down where we're no longer aware of it. There were others which were devotional hymns - abhangs as they are called, and some may balk at listening to such music, but the atmosphere that they create is something totally, totally different. Salil's comment in the middle of rendering one such composition was telling. The people who go to discs and party and drink away into the night for a 'kick' would do well to listen to some such compositions once in a while, he said. Well, nothing against discs or partying or drinking, but indeed, some of the bhajans and abhangs really touch a different note somewhere within you, suddenly lifting you above the mundane. Well, that is a 'kick', isn't it? 

Then there was some cool fusion music, which really left one wondering about the skill of the composer. There was a raagmala - a sequence of raags - on the backdrop of western jazz! That was really something. And listening to that you really felt that yes, music is beyond all barriers. It is all pervading, all-encompassing. There were a couple of numbers for which Salil did an encore, on popular demand. Listening to the music, made me feel detached from the world outside. The routine - and not so routine - pressures of our life often make us lose touch with reality, with ourselves once in a while. Listening to music is just the kind of therapy that you need at such times. Of course, we all unwind with music to suit our moods after a tough day at work, or a particularly stressful, harried week. But live music. Aah, that is something different. Where you can really soak in the music. Smell it. Let it envelope you with all its richness. And finally you lose yourself in the melody... That was what it was like today. The Sound of Music...