If music be the food of love, play on- said Shakespeare. Nothing heals or connects like music.
All India Radio is my earliest memory of listening to music at home. I am sure most of us would relate to that!
Daddy loved Ghazals and old Hindi songs. Mummy listened to more of Assamese songs . As we sisters grew up a lot of English songs and contemporary Bollywood numbers started playing as well! I also had a thing for Rabindra Sangeet - yeah, that's Bengali! So, we were listening to Assamese, Bengali, Hindi and English songs! In college Marathi songs and AR Rahman's Tamil songs got me hooked!
We used to have cassette players till the CDs came along. Remember those cute Sanyo and Philips cassette players? And Sony Walkman??? Nostalgia hits hard when I see the tiny I-pods today! In fact nowadays it's the omnipresent and omnipotent 'cell phones' which do the job!
Ever since I remember I have enjoyed music- listening, playing, singing or grooving to it! I even aspired to be a playback singer once! I took lessons in Hindustani classical (vocal) and learnt to play the Harmonium and keyboard.
Being a Fauji brat, live bands were THE thing for us , be it the military band (Brass band) or the Jazz band. While the Brass band was meant for formal events, the informal get togethers were livened up by the Jazz band. I generally got the chance to sing with them 🙂 I also learnt Punjabi, Dogri and Tamil favourites that the Band members sang!
As a teen, the romantic numbers took up most of the assorted cassettes collection ( I think we all remember those cassettes!) It was my prized possession- my music collection- and I was pretty stingy in lending it to others. My books and my music cassettes were my "treasures"!
Kenny G's soulful saxophone, Safri Duo's heavenly percussion, Clayderman's romantic piano renditions, Yanni's amazing orchestra- does music really need words???? I don't think so!
We grew up watching the Maestros on Doordarshan- Pt Ravi Shankar(Sitar), Ustad Zakir Hussain(Tabla), Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma(Santoor), Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia's (Flute), Ustad Amjad Ali Khan(Sarod). The list is endless! What a treat it was to see them perform! Again, proof that music needs no words!
Just for the record, Beethoven, Mozart , Bach certainly would agree with me.🙂
In the words of the revered Bard of Avon, Shakespeare, "When words fail, music speaks."
We have a tendency to categorise and stereotype everything! Music is no exception.
I remember being ridiculed in college because I loved Boybands like 'New Kids on the Block', 'Boyzone', 'Backstreet Boys' and was a crazy Bryan Adams and Ricky Martin fan! Some people thought "Metal" and "Rock" was the only music worth listening to and made fun of my preference for pop!
In school and in college, it was well known that when music plays, I go crazy and start dancing! I don't care where I may be !My daughters share my love for music.
We are literally always the FIRST ones to hit the dance floor! Thankfully, Adit enjoys it too!😍
Nowadays I am getting to know the contemporary music scene- what young kids listen to. Last year, my daughters were part of this 'children's concert ' we had for our musically inclined young boys and girls. The practice sessions took place at my house and it was a pleasure having 10-12 kids singing and dancing for 3-4 hours every day! No age barrier here, because I spoke to them in the same language- Music!
In fact, because of my daughters, I started checking out the latest names in the world of music. Alan Walker, Ed Sheeran ,Charlie Puth, Shawn Mendes, Selena Gomez, Camilla Cabello ,Imagine Dragons , Zedd, Martin Garrix are all part of my playlist now.
I enjoy a Latin flavoured 'Despacito ' as well as Japanese 'Lights' by BTS! I love listening to the young (and famous) Kazakh singer Dimash who sings in Kazakh, Russian, Chinese besides English! I listen to rap, rock, pop, percussion, instrumental, EDM- every single genre of Music! Why confine myself when there are so many options to choose from?
Old Hindi numbers and Ghazals, Elvis, English songs of the 70s, 80s and 90s, Hindustani classical , Western classical, regional Indian music etc- I listen to everything and enjoy it all! It all depends on my mood of the moment. 😬
So, I was talking about how music doesn't need words.
Music , in fact, transcends all man made barriers of language, culture, race or religion, nationality, etc etc . It heals and soothes like nothing else does. It touches the depth of our soul!
After losing Daddy in Jan this year, music was my only solace.... When I was really sad and lost, it kept me going.... It's difficult to show your sadness to your loved ones because you don't want them to hurt. I realised how hard it was for me to cry in front of my mother and my daughters, even though I had a tough time controlling my emotions. It was painful and depressing.
At the lowest point in life, I found BTS - the South Korean band which has fans the world over. Yes, their songs are mostly Korean, but with deep meaning. Their music touched my heart and soul and made my pain bearable. These 20 something boys were telling me it's ok to cry, to fall, to make mistakes and to be kinder to myself.... They were reaching out to comfort my pain by talking about theirs.... Korean or Indian, human emotions are the same. There's a reason they have crores of non Korean speaking fans all over the world!
Music is a universal language which everyone understands.... Music speaks to our souls.
No music, no life;
Know music, know life!
Nice...