I am a music addict and even when I sit to write, I always need good music playing! How do I define good music? Rock, Pop, Ballads, I basically like all kinds of music, but somewhere within I think the acoustic and semi-classical ones enthral me the most. No nasal efforts or cut-n-paste jobs please! And no hip hops either!
Being such a fanatic has its good and bad phases. You meet more of your kind, discuss music, share and learn about new music. I have some really good people around me, who are constantly sharing their tastes with me, referring new songs to me. It's like a carnival all the time.
Not always. My neighbour who stays in the flat above mine is always complaining.
"Aareh! Why do you listen to music at such high volumes? I cannot sleep!" (7:30 PM)
"Aareh! You have such poor taste of music, haan?! I'll give you some good songs someday!" and he departs singing some crap "capped bugger" song!! (7:30 AM)
Sometimes I wonder why. What is it about music? Or rather, what makes a song so good that it brings on immense overflow of emotions? We smile, we weep, and we appreciate. We yearn for more.
For me music is more than just sounds that we hear. Good music comes from the perfect combo of Lyrics and Tune. Some are enthralled by the tune; others sit back and let the words say their story. Its only when the perfect words match the perfect tune that we get a wonderful piece of music. Whenever I say this, one song instantly comes to my mind, from the master of music, A.R.Rahman. He and Javed Akhtar combined brilliantly in Swades and the song which touched me the most is Nindia. Nindia is what the name sounds like, a lullaby. I was surprised not the find the song in the movie, I expected a gripping on screen depiction. You can actually feel the snooze in the tune and the fitting background score. You listen to the lullaby and ask yourself, is it just a lullaby? The second stanza is actually my favourite. This stanza made this song one of my most favourites. There's so much pain in the song, the pains of lost childhood, pains of lost dreams and aspirations, pains of separation also somewhere. Javed Akhtar makes it so simple, he says so much with just a couple of words. True, the day's anguish is lost as we slip into deep slumber.
There are many such songs which are close to our heart. We all have strange reasons for liking them, but deep inside, they are all part of memories. They remind us of some special moments or that one special person. They bring joys of togetherness and pains of separation.
A special song of Shankar Ehsaan Loy comes to my mind. In India, it's hardly surprising that a movie as good as Mission Kashmir went unnoticed and so did its beautiful music (Something similar happened with Swades, another touching movie and wonderful music by Rahman. Is it India or is it me?). I am particularly referring to one song called "Rind Posh Maal". Shankar Mahadevan sang the song himself, and Sameer's lyrics are strongly oriented towards hopes for peace in Kashmir. The song carries wonderful thoughts. Music is secular and music has no boundaries. Mission Kashmir has a few good songs, but unfortunately, I seem to be the only one who remembers!
Music for peace also takes me to Bob Dylan and his famous Blowing in the wind. "How many times must the cannon balls fly, before they are forever banned?" he asks. This song is another example of powerful lyrics combined with perfect melody.
Sometimes music trespasses the boundaries of understanding also. A good example I would like to cite here is from our plant, Coca Cola Bhutan. I know of a person who is himself a big music aficionado; He frequently shares his playlist with me, giving me new songs and songs of his choice. But I was really surprised when one day he gave me "She je bose aache" – remixed by black! Being a Bhutanese national, it's only logical that his understanding of the lyrics is minimal. Yet he loves this song. Add to that recently, he got be the original "she je bose aache" by Arnob, which is actually quite good. Same goes for the original Korean song, from which our latest copy cat, pritam, obtained "pehli nazar mein"! I understand absolutely nothing of the song, but the tune and the background score are both so soothing! Check out the video too, it's really good. A really good song, far better than what he reproduced!
So much for me and I haven't written about what I intend to! Or have I? Music people hear! Yes, you can almost listen to the exclamation there. Having a good collection of songs myself, I receive frequent requests from different people for a particular song of their liking. One person, who frequently bugs me, asks, ridiculously, for item numbers from movies! And when I politely disappoint him, he goes "Aareh yaar! You don't have this hit song! What kind of stupid music do you hear?" Well! Curse me if I never heard an item number called "dekho jara dekho" from Sirf Tum!! Just the fact that I heard of the movie is a miracle in itself!!
No blog of mine is complete without a dig at the infamous "capped bugger"! India is probably the only country in the world where people listen to himesh sing and pay to watch sanjay and tushar kapoor act!! No wait, I have a better one, incidentally some country had George bush sr. and jr. as presidentsJ!! All hail the "capped bugger"!
On a more serious note, it's surprising that a music directing trio as gifted as Shankar Ehsaan Loy are not in everyone's playlist! I absolutely adore all of their work, right from the trendsetting Dil Chahta Hain to the more recent Rock On! and Luck by Chance.I have been following Shankar Mahadevan from Breathless and it's an amazing journey. Again, we talk of Javed Akhtar, who actually gave the lyrics for that album. You hardly find SEL working without good lyricists like Javed Akhtar or Prasoon Joshi. I could make 10 blogs writing about SEL, and maybe I will, but the point is, there is good music for people who appreciate, and that in itself, is the greatest gift of all for music addicts like me.
A few of less known SEL songs I'd like to refer to people:
- Yeh sama – Yeh Kya ho Raha Hain
- O Yeah – Yeh Kya ho Raha Hain (Don't go by the video, just listen to the song)
- Dheere dheere – Kyun! Ho gaya na?
- Jaane Yeh Kya Ho Gaya – Armaan
- Kitni Narmi Se – Dil Jo Bhi Kahe
- Kitni Baatein – Lakshya (the bunker song, full version)
- Dhuan Dhuan – Mission Kashmir
- Rind Posh Maar – Mission Kashmir
- Hum Khoye Khoye Hain – Nine (Shankar's Album with Javed Akhtar, not purely SEL, but a really good song all the same)
- Ya Rabba – Salaam-e-Ishq
- Jeene k Ishare Mil gaye – Phir Milenge
- Yeh aaj kya ho gaya – Luck by Chance
- Aankho mein jiski – Rock On!
- School Chale Hum – Ministry of Education (This songs is so good, reminds me of school, a must listen!)
For me, music people hear in a way illustrates a lot about the person. And everyone has the right to listen to what they like without anyone questioning their choice, or in this case, writing a blog!
In the end it's all about hearing what your ears like!
"Sometimes I wish I could hear all the music in the world" – A R Rahman
