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Tag: music (page 2 of 3)

Daya Ghana

The weather here has been cold and rainy, although today was lovely. Clear and sunny in parts, not very windy, and perfect for my favorite concoction – masala mint chai. Really, I am in love with this formula and it beats any other kind of chai I have tasted so far, even my husband’s ginger flavored one. It is such a treat to feel the steaming hot chai make its way down my throat; it is my high, yet slow and luxurious, point of the day.

A song to go along with the dreamy and romantic rainy weather… I wonder if anyone here in the United States regards rain as romantic. For all of us, born and bred in movie-crazy India, how can rain not be romantic? I have an entire theory built around rain and fantasy. When it rains, the eyes get filled with rainwater, vision is blurred. The rain forms a glassy barrier between the individual and reality, as we know it. Wet hair, wild and shiny, looks lovely. A clean face, all make-up washed out, is fresh and youthful. The air is cool and moist, the ground smells fresh and verdant… how can the mind not spin fancies of its own?

The above just goes on to show that I am such a romantic soul. As dull and prosaic my life seems (battling traffic, cooking and cleaning, laundry, dishes – yawn!), my mind loves to see romance all around. And I am not talking about boy-girl stuff, please.

Digression! Yes, here is the song.

Romance from the past

Driving home from work today, it started raining steadily and on an impulse, I pulled out an old CD of Euphoria. Soon enough, Palash Sen‘s earnest voice resounded within the car and transported me to a time and age long gone by. Euphoria’s music is a little immature – most of the compositions are probably based in the same raaga, there is a general spirited energy in the songs that is typical of Palash and his personality – the songs are redolent of college, youth, romances in canteens, etc. As I heard one song after another, the musical vibe hit me, and it reminded me of old yearnings, patterns, faded dreams. In an interesting way, I was able to observe that tendency of the mind – to romanticize the past and to dream endlessly. Older now, I still dream a little – but I know that I am dreaming. Does that take the fun out of dreaming? Possibly… The sense of being the heroine of your life’s most spectacular novel, the fantasy of being the one who drives alone with a faraway look in her lovely eyes – what is she thinking about? A hidden sorrow, a love gone sour, a love unrequited, plain old-fashioned romance, tears over the phone, so many arguments, the magic of knowing that one is desired, adored, fantasized about… the eternal earnestness of youth.

Earnestness, sincerity, innocence – these are sweet qualities indeed and no reason to dispense with them as one ages. But drama… I am happy that there is less of it now. Well, lesser than there used to be.

The first tear…

So many years ago, one summer in Thrissur, Geetu and I settled down to watch a video of this song from Mohanlal’s wonderful film His Highness Abdullah. The song features a musical *duel* between a renowned classical musician and a relatively unknown singer. The two musicians go through the seven notes in perfect sync and alternation, finally culminating in Mohanlal’s ‘Aanandham Ananthaanandam Jagadaanandam Sangeetham.’ As the tears roll down the eyes of the blissed-out musicians, I was completely taken by surprise to find a tear running down my cheek too. One of the earliest occasions in life when I was transported to bliss on the wings of the seven transcendental notes… Truly, ‘Aanandham Ananthaanandam Jagadaanandam Sangeetham… Bliss, Eternal Bliss, Bliss in this World, Music…’

RDB is God…

RDB is God indeed, and his peppy songs have such a youthful vibe that they sound fabulous in any pub, disco or club… in any day, time or age. Plus they hold up remarkably well to remixing since many of them have a rock-n-roll beat. In the title track of Bachna Ae Haseeno, Vishal-Shekhar have introduced hip hop rhythms and the end result is very dance-floor-friendly, I must say… 🙂 I really like that they have retained Kishore Kumar’s magnificent voice in the opening lines and then the track transcends into Vishal’s basal voice… very nice indeed.

RDB stands for Rahul Dev Burman, the awesome music director from Bollywood…