I believe in Music

It's a sunny day in Jodhpur, and I have just returned from class, and switched on my laptop, and decided to listen to some music. I opened Media player and Last Kiss by Pearljam started playing and it made me realise what a great thing music is. Music is something that has always been a big part of my life, whether its my love for singing or having a minor musical celebrity at home, or my wonderful and very radical Carnatic Music teach who encouraged us to listen to and appreciate the beauty in all kinds of music.

As I finish writing the above paragraph, my Media player who seems to always be insync with my head, starts playing a beautiful renderation of 'Seethapathe' by 'Nookala'. Khamas is a wonderful ragam and has a soothing effect. Nookala's amazing exploration of the ragam in the alapana has never failed to enthral me and he is one person who I know I respect. You can almost hear him becoming one with the music that he is producing. Maybe that was what they call divinity.  

I know my share of musicians, and the ones who I respect the most are the ones who have the ability and the passion to create music of their own. I have seen Ammamma going into those phases where she's making music, it's a beautiful thing to watch her sit with her  regal Bobbili Veena and spend hours composing new songs, and I felt honoured to perform her songs in my recent concerts. She is one of the few composers of the present day who makes secular music, yes very rare in Carnatic. I only hope that one day I'll be even half as good.

And then the player switches to Colorblind by Darius, which is one of my favorite songs. I think the song has a great lyrical value, and the music is really good. Yes, thats one debate I have with my teacher always, who feels that lyrics are not as important to a song as the music itself. I have always and will always disagree ( maybe that's the writer in me acting up) I think both the lyrics and the music are equally important. Whats the point of having miraculous music if the lyrics don't manage to convey the message.But that's what I think.

I think music is, apart from food, the way into a persons heart. Music touches you where words cannot possibly go. It made me a lot of friends, I love all the times I spend singing with my friends, Karaoke or otherwise :). 

Po achieved inner peace with Kung Fu. I think I know how I'll achieve mine. I think it's the feeling you get when after practising a song for hours, that one time you sing it, after singing it a million times, that you know its perfect. You know that one time, you have that song in your heart, and you and that song have become one. I think that moment ( which is hard to come by for me) is when you are at peace with yourself. 

Music has helped me deal with some of the most troublesome times in my life, I dunno what I would have done otherwise. I think my feeling about music can be summed up into these following few lines which are a part of the 'theme' of 30 Seconds to Mars:

                        

                        Some People believe in god

                        I believe in Music

                        Some people pray

                        I turn up the radio!

And my media player appropriately starts to play Sultans of Swing, one of my dads favorite songs :) Yes, I miss him.

Peace.