Music some random thoughts

Mizhiyoram nananjozhukum ........ Manjil virinja poove parayoo nee elam poove .... It was a friday evening of our tenth standard class . Pindrop silence ..Though a "disciplined school :) " and the class was filled with "disciplined " boys meking them listen to a malayalam song that too the emotional kind was not easy task .. And i not being the great singer it was not the voice . But i still remember it was the deep haunting melody and the "feel " of the song accurately reproduced and sung unaccompanied by any instrument .

Music has that power . It conveys what words or even non verbal cues cannot . And inspite of all the Raagas ,octaves , chords , etc is based on just 7 base units . Yes from the most seemingly random noise (for non western music lovers ) of heavy rock music to the carnatic and hindustani music music has a rhythm of its own . Learning it you feel once again like a child making baby steps into a world of its own .

Coming to another random thought it reminds me of the great movie Sankarabharanam in malayalam . In it there is a scene in which loud playing western music youngsters challenge a seemingly "oldie " classical music master . Soon they were baffled at the way he sings the tunes of the western song easily . As a child when i watched that movie in theatre i realised the superiority of classical music with its superb voice control but as a teenager and adult i gradually became a western music fan . But now learning music once again i am realising that scene meant not superiority or inferiority but all music is one in the basics .

Hotel california is one of the greatest songs and nowadays i am struggling hard to master it . Having heard or thought guitar is "easy " i went online and saw the video of it and read the history of the song . Then i realised it took one and half years to produce this song and the 4 or 5 guitars including a double guitar with 12 strings showed that there is nothing "easy " in music . Its a vast ocean and learning humility and practising is the only way to navigate this enchanting sea .

And lastly a random thought about my erstwhile neighbour . Neighbour in the sense that he lived 2 kms from my home but more than 100 years past . He was a great king . But more importantly unlike other kings who appreciated music he appreciated and wrote music .. His name was Swathi thirunal the Maharaja of travancore . I read about him recently and his contribution to music was exemplary as was his contribution to his kingdom including a great legal system and university college trivandrum .

Enough random thoughts ... From Don Henley (Eagles,,,, Hotel California ) to Swathi Thirunal Maharaja music has no colour , no division . Isn't music one more reason to celebrate the unity of mankind across countries and continents ........