Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Power that is..Music.

I hope everyone loves music. Its so universal, so neutral… Music doesn’t differentiate on what religion you belong to, what your wealth is, nor any thing else!

Even a deaf person can make the greatest of music.

Even a blind man can go on to become a great singer…

Even the music of the dead lives with us till today..

So, why is it so? I dunno…

You give a kid, a 1-2 year old kid at that, a colour pencil and paper. Under normal circumstances, the kid will scrawl something illegible. [well, on the brighter side, that may become a priceless piece of art after some years!]. But under present circumstances, that’s what a kid can do.

Now, give that kid a drum. No, Not a guitar, but a drum. That Kid’s too young too learn the nuances of knowing the guitar. So give a drum…

I assure you that the kid will play something that will make sense to a musically inclined ear.

That’s the neutrality of music… Anyone, Anyhow, Any where….It can be played under any circumstances.

Music is played at Birthday parties and at funerals. Music is played when teams win and also when teams lose in sports… You can’t escape it nor do you want to.

The sound of water dripping on an aluminium sheet… listen closely, and u’ll get your music.

When you listen to a person whom you really adore / love to world’s end…. That comforting voice… That’s music.

Music is Magically Understanding Self in Chaos.

The Lyrics, the Sounds, the Beats… The Melody…. The Message…

Music… is the antidote for something that has no cure… When music enters your mind, allow it to take over for a brief moment. And if you are sane and don’t dope, for that brief moment, every part of your body shall feel free from the clutches of a rigid, monotonous day.

One of the most beautiful quotes I have come across with regards to the freedom that music offers is in the movie , “The Shawshank Redemption”. The main protagonist(Andy Dufresne / Tim Robbins / being in jail), is alone in the warden’s office cleaning and arranging stuff. He comes across a Mozart Record. He locks the warden’s office, puts in the record, places the Public announcement system Microphone near the Player. This is what Ellis Boyd Redding (His fellow inmate / Morgan Freeman) says when Mozart’s Duettino Sull’ Aria is being played over the PA..

“I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.”


THAT, my friends, is the power of music…

The Well...

Filled with despondency… I really was. June 13-14 2008. Friday the 13th was bad as the day is.
Whilst coming home, my mind was racing with thoughts…Thoughts that caused disconsolateness...
Nox arrived, away from the Sun.
My lachrymal gland worked overtime that night.
T’was now 11-ish. Nothing to do. Put on the radio on my mobile. Dean Martin playing on 107.1 FM.
Then suddenly, I came across a well. It was nearing dusk.
Melancholia taking over.
Descended down the well.
Staring down at the bottom of the well.
Now I know why people meant that phrase…
It’s so sad to see the bottom of the well…
A well’s disfigured life with all the trash at the ground…
You feel your own life moving towards it, towards the junk..,
Waiting to bide time till it takes over.
I saw many dead at the bottom…
I cried…
Fate had decided itself.
What’s this fluttering around?
A Butterfly to keep me company till I descend?
It was a Black Butterfly…But so beautiful!
As I was descending, I saw it rest on the surface of the water.
My legs now touched the surface of the final frontier.
Slowly now I thought… resigned to Fate…
The Butterfly took in its wings, sat.
There was no reflection of it…
I kept on watching, waiting for the reflection…
I could see no one except the sky.
The Sky!
It existed…
The fact that it manifested was proof enough of its existence, waiting to be touched.
The B’fly raised it wings.
Flew skywards..
Saw up I did.
Far away I was from up.
Hope
It still existed…
I just needed to trust it…
And for no rational motive, I did…
Came the Butterfly, overgrown now to size dragon-like…
Lifted me from my descent… by its claws
And raised me high
Oh, what a beautiful feeling!
To touch the untouchable sky…
Flipping in air, to music
Screamed I…
And opened my eyes, Dean Martin had stopped; Tom Jones was now playing…
My ticket was redeemed…
Switched Off my mobile; went to sleep.
Woke up, things were unchanged.
But,Now,
There was Hope...