Stirring the Depths to Rise

Music......if there was ever anything that man would be poorer without, regardless of tastes, choices, attitudes and preferences, this is it......music......the only thing I know which can move anyone to any emotion......regardless of colour, race, religion etc etc.......regardless of language and regardless - on occasion - of even the words......the magic is palpable......and yet, one can't pinpoint what it is down to....

There is a wide variety of songs that comprise my nearly 60 Gig collection on campus.....the songs cover a variety of genres, right from Ghulam Ali ghazals to death metal, black metal, soft songs like Suzanna, psychedelia and also the regular thrash metal and hard rock bands that made themselves an indelible part of music culture......and in between them is the sublime magic woven by geniuses like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and company....the magic is endless.....

Sitting as I did today, reclining on my non-recline-able chair in class, there was a scene that played in my mind....it's a scene from The Shawshank Redemption. The scene when Andy talks about how no one can take music out of you, because it plays in the mind......and that is so very true.....you don't need to be listening to a song on a player or on radio or anything to be enjoying its beauty.....you just need to close your eyes and allow yourself to be transported into the blissful land that the tune leads you into.....

Also listened to this track called Ode to Joy when I returned to my room. That track reminds me of Dead Poets Society somehow. There is something in that track which moves the very soul. There are of course, several other songs as well, that have that effect on me. For some reason, Goodbye Blue Sky always makes me go totally numb and almost has my eyes welling up. There are other songs as well that evoke different feelings....

Music has something for everyone, in every state of mind. Anger, joy, pain, sorrow.....they're all captured so well. I can't understand people who say that they don't listen to music. I do not say they are lesser people. I would just say that they are missing one of the most beautiful parts of life......often people ask me what I think of when I sit alone.....the fact is, I am never alone. If not my thoughts, I have the music in my head that keeps me company.....and truly, in the words of Andy, nobody can take that away from me.....nobody.....

There are people who like to classify music and decide what is "cool" music. That is another thing I can't understand.....after all, how can music be classified on those lines? I find Indian classical to be awesome in the talent and the sublime dedication, nay, devotion, of the artists.....they transport you to a different plane.....the same holds true for Western classical.....and for genres like rock, metal......etc etc.....the only 'music' I can't identify with is the stuff I see as contrived.....like the stuff I mentioned on the last post......and the reasons are simple for me....

Why is it that some music lasts for centuries and has the same enduring appeal while other forms die within months or a few years at most? Why are Take That a group that belong in history's dust-bin while Bach is still revered? Why does no one even remember All 4 One while no one will ever forget Mozart? Why does no one - barring the inevitable exceptions - remember the Hindi songs of the 1980s while everyone can recall Mohd Rafi's 1960s classics?

I guess it's because of the very nature of music..... Music is a form of expression. It can express emotions that words fall way short of being able to say..... that is why an instrumental track like The Loner will give you a shiver down the spine that no words can bring about......and when you contrive to create that emotion, without really feeling it yourself, you will inevitably fall short. It is like an actor who mouths his lines without feeling the emotions that the character he is playing, is going through. The words and tone may be right......but the emotion is missing.

It manifests itself too. Why is it that the most beautiful tunes are often not that difficult to play....but impossible to replicate? Simple....the artist doing the cover just doesn't have that emotion...and it shows in the music....

And yet, why try to analyse it? Let it play....and when the music's over.....turn off the lights.....or rather, turn them off anyway......and take me to the place I love......take me all the way.....