Who says you have to go to a nature reserve for an encounter with interesting wildlife? Sitting right here, in a city of about 4 million people, we have encountered the following:
1) Some months back, a family of mongoose, who would trot across the top edge of the gate, in decreasing order of size. As though aware of what a show they put on, they didn’t look sideways at their audience, or down at the ground. “Just passing through”, they seemed to say.
2) A cat gave birth to her kittens on our living room chair (I wrote about that experience earlier). They have moved out, but every once in awhile, the cat returns, almost as though to check that we are behaving as we should be
3) Three to four different kinds of birds hop onto the window sill of our dining room every day and complain vociferously if an over-ripe banana has not been placed for their royal consumption
And today, reporting live, I bring you two eye witness reports:
4) A one-inch frog (it is the monsoon after all) that hopped its way across the bathroom floor. Reaching the bathroom door, it had nowhere to go. Pausing to consider his next move, he spotted a thin crack between the door and the wall. Not worrying about size and fit, he turned around, pushed his butt in, and slowly eased himself into the crack. Since then, there have been no sightings. Stay posted though, we might have breaking news, any moment now…
5) A small cute looking mouse: She leapt off the shoe-rack this morning and vanished by diving into some old newspapers under the staircase. ‘Ah well’ we thought. It turns out, however, that this mouse has a good sense of theatrics. Having received shrieks (of what she probably took as appreciation), she has taken to repeating her feat – - crouching unseen on the shoe-rack and leaping off when an innocent human is trying to reach for their chappals.
So the next time you want to spend big bucks on a safari, save your cash… just come and stay with us instead.
By,
Suchitra Shenoy
(read more by Suchitra at http://dosomethingbeautifulthebook.wordpress.com
Friday, February 25, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
This and That
This week’s post consists of interesting things I read / saw / heard and wanted to share. Am just adding brief notes to pique your curiosity so that you click on the links given. So, without further ado:
1. A part of this article by Neelesh Mishra in the Mint Lounge yesterday. The article is about Vishal Bharadwaj and his journey to success makes for interesting reading anyway, but the anecdote reproduced below really grabbed my attention.
‘You could say that where Bhardwaj is today is the result of a journey he began hesitantly with a script in his hands, pitching it to Shabana Azmi a few weeks after the 11 September terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, asking the veteran actor to play the role of a witch. Azmi’s response wasn’t quite on expected lines. “Why are you doing this to yourself? If this film fails, then your career as a music director is also dead,” Bhardwaj quotes Azmi as having said at the meeting that became a turning point in his career.
If he was thrown off balance, it didn’t show.
Bhardwaj asked Azmi to imagine a man on the 90th floor of one of the towers of the World Trade Center, who has just come in to work and has switched on his laptop. He sits back and begins sipping a cup of coffee when, outside the window, he sees an aeroplane coming right at him. “Poof! It’s all over in the next second! We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next minute. We have to live our dreams as much as we can.”
Azmi agreed to act in his debut film Makdee.’
Dream On !
2. This article titled ‘Thank God for Politics’ by Shekhar Gupta in the Indian Express yesterday defended Dr. Manmohan Singh and his recent press conference. Being a big fan of the good Dr., I had to include it in this post. I really liked the way Shekhar Gupta defended Dr. Singh’s speaking style :
‘His style is like that of a professor caught in the complex detail of a problem rather than that of an expansive Atal Bihari Vajpayee. And his method and moods? I have often said that even at the best of times Dr Singh seems to come across as Rahul Dravid batting at 39 for 3. He is not given to flourishes of any kind whatsoever………………
can you deny that Dr Manmohan Singh is honest, capable, well-intentioned, wise and, most importantly, re-electable? So what if you do not exactly find him to be a rock star in front of the camera. That was never promised to you in the first place. But one thing you can be sure of. Whatever his countenance and style, like the dour but indispensable cricketer we compared him with, he is at his best at 39 for 3, which is how the scoreline looks for UPA 2 right now. You can trust him when he says he isn’t going anywhere midway through this innings, and you can also be sure his party will now cut all the clutter and confusion and work with him rather than at cross-purposes.’
3. As some of you may have figured, am a big fan of weekend newspaper reading. And I recently found out that the Hindu is now available on the same day in Mumbai. So now Sunday morning newspaper sessions can be spun out longer with the Hindu too. (Surprising that the paper has such stiff and turgid prose on a weekday but is thoroughly readable on Sundays.)
4. Watched Raell Padamsee’s production of the evergreen ‘Sound of Music’ at NCPA yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Delna Mody as Maria ably held the play together; Marianne D Cruz Aiman as Mother Superior was sensational in the song ‘Climb Every Mountain’; Dalip Tahil as Captain Von Trapp was a total surprise – he looked dapper and handsome and quite unlike the villain of so many Bollywood films of the 80s and 90s, and he sang really well too. Where have these people been hiding and why don’t we have more musicals being staged in Mumbai ?
Suggest you give this play a dekko if you liked watching the movie as a child, or if you have a young child at home.
p.s.I couldn’t find any clips from Raell Padamsee’s version of this production, but just for kicks, here’s a video of an unusual performance of Do-Re-Mi, for a commercial by Belgian brand VTM in 2009.
By,
Zen
1. A part of this article by Neelesh Mishra in the Mint Lounge yesterday. The article is about Vishal Bharadwaj and his journey to success makes for interesting reading anyway, but the anecdote reproduced below really grabbed my attention.
‘You could say that where Bhardwaj is today is the result of a journey he began hesitantly with a script in his hands, pitching it to Shabana Azmi a few weeks after the 11 September terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, asking the veteran actor to play the role of a witch. Azmi’s response wasn’t quite on expected lines. “Why are you doing this to yourself? If this film fails, then your career as a music director is also dead,” Bhardwaj quotes Azmi as having said at the meeting that became a turning point in his career.
If he was thrown off balance, it didn’t show.
Bhardwaj asked Azmi to imagine a man on the 90th floor of one of the towers of the World Trade Center, who has just come in to work and has switched on his laptop. He sits back and begins sipping a cup of coffee when, outside the window, he sees an aeroplane coming right at him. “Poof! It’s all over in the next second! We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next minute. We have to live our dreams as much as we can.”
Azmi agreed to act in his debut film Makdee.’
Dream On !
2. This article titled ‘Thank God for Politics’ by Shekhar Gupta in the Indian Express yesterday defended Dr. Manmohan Singh and his recent press conference. Being a big fan of the good Dr., I had to include it in this post. I really liked the way Shekhar Gupta defended Dr. Singh’s speaking style :
‘His style is like that of a professor caught in the complex detail of a problem rather than that of an expansive Atal Bihari Vajpayee. And his method and moods? I have often said that even at the best of times Dr Singh seems to come across as Rahul Dravid batting at 39 for 3. He is not given to flourishes of any kind whatsoever………………
can you deny that Dr Manmohan Singh is honest, capable, well-intentioned, wise and, most importantly, re-electable? So what if you do not exactly find him to be a rock star in front of the camera. That was never promised to you in the first place. But one thing you can be sure of. Whatever his countenance and style, like the dour but indispensable cricketer we compared him with, he is at his best at 39 for 3, which is how the scoreline looks for UPA 2 right now. You can trust him when he says he isn’t going anywhere midway through this innings, and you can also be sure his party will now cut all the clutter and confusion and work with him rather than at cross-purposes.’
3. As some of you may have figured, am a big fan of weekend newspaper reading. And I recently found out that the Hindu is now available on the same day in Mumbai. So now Sunday morning newspaper sessions can be spun out longer with the Hindu too. (Surprising that the paper has such stiff and turgid prose on a weekday but is thoroughly readable on Sundays.)
4. Watched Raell Padamsee’s production of the evergreen ‘Sound of Music’ at NCPA yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Delna Mody as Maria ably held the play together; Marianne D Cruz Aiman as Mother Superior was sensational in the song ‘Climb Every Mountain’; Dalip Tahil as Captain Von Trapp was a total surprise – he looked dapper and handsome and quite unlike the villain of so many Bollywood films of the 80s and 90s, and he sang really well too. Where have these people been hiding and why don’t we have more musicals being staged in Mumbai ?
Suggest you give this play a dekko if you liked watching the movie as a child, or if you have a young child at home.
p.s.I couldn’t find any clips from Raell Padamsee’s version of this production, but just for kicks, here’s a video of an unusual performance of Do-Re-Mi, for a commercial by Belgian brand VTM in 2009.
By,
Zen
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Review of 'Dhobi Ghat'
If you are an immigrant to the city and have lived in Mumbai for a while, it may bring back many memories of places visited in your early days in the city when you were enthusiastically trying to discover and lap up everything Mumbai. Watching this movie will make you want to go back and revisit some of the places again and go to those that you may have not been to as yet, to rekindle your love story with Mumbai (perhaps with camera in tow). The essence of this movie is aptly captured by Arun (played by Aamir) when he raises a toast to Mumbai calling it his muse, his whore and his beloved.
I thought some key aspects of the character of Mumbai were missed, but I suppose it can be overlooked as the director’s license, focusing on parts that make her complex tale more vivid. Apart from this, there were some inconsistencies in the characters; the relationship between the wealthy investment banker on sabbatical and the dhobi that seemed incredulous in parts (but that was the foundation of the script) and finally, the last fifteen minutes that could have been more sharply edited. Put these few flaws aside, and you have a fine directorial debut.
I liked very much the sensibility with which Kiran told her story; the gentle pace of taking the tale forward – not jarring, loud and in your face (you never felt rushed though it was a 90 minute film) and the rawness with which parts of old Mumbai were shown, including a fabulous scene during Ramzan at Mohammed Ali Road. The cinematography by Tushar Kanti Ray was superb, and theme music by Gustavo Santaolalla was haunting, (Kiran has always been a music lover, pity the album is not available for sale), and the characters pretty well etched and enacted.
About the characters; Munna (played by the talented Prateik) was well nuanced as the young dhobi with dreams of joining Bollywood. His character had a unique mix of awkwardness and ambition, evident in his interactions with Shai (Monica Dogra). As for Shai, she looked reasonably hot and befriended her dhobi with a nonchalance that honestly made me uncomfortable.
Shai’s love interest Arun, was the reclusive painter with a charming smile, spoke precious little and had an excruciatingly shy nature. Angst ridden Arun had to keep shifting house when his lease lapsed, and in one such apartment, he chanced upon some video diaries left behind by the earlier tenant that proceeded in a surprisingly real way to give renewed meaning to his life of solitude. The tapes contained diary-like narratives of a young Muslim bride Yasmin (Kriti Malhotra) that she meant to send to her brother back in U.P, as she discovered the city and her newly wed husband. Arun found happiness in this companionship and some nice moments followed as he started defining himself in relation to her, with an intimacy that he shuns from the other women in his life.
The story telling goes back and forth - covering the four characters and a silent old lady who is Arun’s neighbour (metaphor for Mumbai? ), and suddenly you find you are deeply involved with the multiple relationships woven within the backdrop of the city you love and despair at, simultaneously…
Regarding the cast- this movie converted me to an Aamir (as Arun) fan, met rather high expectations I had of Prateik, thought Monica Dogra was competent enough, but the greatest kudos must go to Kriti Malhotra in her portrayal of Yasmin. She used her eyes, smile and voice to express her story with a rare innocence and touching authenticity that stays with you after you have walked out of the theatre.
Kiran’s movie shows some of the clichés of life in Mumbai (disparity in wealth and living conditions, how both women are in search for enduring love, though their societal positions are so different) though not in a clichéd way. At the end, it is about the greatest cliché of all – dreams.
Dreams that people have in this city, few that get realized, many that don’t; and those seemingly futile ones, that one can’t stop pursuing because those maybe all that one has defined their life by.
By,
Soma.
I thought some key aspects of the character of Mumbai were missed, but I suppose it can be overlooked as the director’s license, focusing on parts that make her complex tale more vivid. Apart from this, there were some inconsistencies in the characters; the relationship between the wealthy investment banker on sabbatical and the dhobi that seemed incredulous in parts (but that was the foundation of the script) and finally, the last fifteen minutes that could have been more sharply edited. Put these few flaws aside, and you have a fine directorial debut.
I liked very much the sensibility with which Kiran told her story; the gentle pace of taking the tale forward – not jarring, loud and in your face (you never felt rushed though it was a 90 minute film) and the rawness with which parts of old Mumbai were shown, including a fabulous scene during Ramzan at Mohammed Ali Road. The cinematography by Tushar Kanti Ray was superb, and theme music by Gustavo Santaolalla was haunting, (Kiran has always been a music lover, pity the album is not available for sale), and the characters pretty well etched and enacted.
About the characters; Munna (played by the talented Prateik) was well nuanced as the young dhobi with dreams of joining Bollywood. His character had a unique mix of awkwardness and ambition, evident in his interactions with Shai (Monica Dogra). As for Shai, she looked reasonably hot and befriended her dhobi with a nonchalance that honestly made me uncomfortable.
Shai’s love interest Arun, was the reclusive painter with a charming smile, spoke precious little and had an excruciatingly shy nature. Angst ridden Arun had to keep shifting house when his lease lapsed, and in one such apartment, he chanced upon some video diaries left behind by the earlier tenant that proceeded in a surprisingly real way to give renewed meaning to his life of solitude. The tapes contained diary-like narratives of a young Muslim bride Yasmin (Kriti Malhotra) that she meant to send to her brother back in U.P, as she discovered the city and her newly wed husband. Arun found happiness in this companionship and some nice moments followed as he started defining himself in relation to her, with an intimacy that he shuns from the other women in his life.
The story telling goes back and forth - covering the four characters and a silent old lady who is Arun’s neighbour (metaphor for Mumbai? ), and suddenly you find you are deeply involved with the multiple relationships woven within the backdrop of the city you love and despair at, simultaneously…
Regarding the cast- this movie converted me to an Aamir (as Arun) fan, met rather high expectations I had of Prateik, thought Monica Dogra was competent enough, but the greatest kudos must go to Kriti Malhotra in her portrayal of Yasmin. She used her eyes, smile and voice to express her story with a rare innocence and touching authenticity that stays with you after you have walked out of the theatre.
Kiran’s movie shows some of the clichés of life in Mumbai (disparity in wealth and living conditions, how both women are in search for enduring love, though their societal positions are so different) though not in a clichéd way. At the end, it is about the greatest cliché of all – dreams.
Dreams that people have in this city, few that get realized, many that don’t; and those seemingly futile ones, that one can’t stop pursuing because those maybe all that one has defined their life by.
By,
Soma.
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Mindful Musical musings of 2010
I had a slow start to 2010 and I used the time to make a number of resolutions – conscientiously as I do every year. Like many, I seldom keep any beyond the first weeks, but I kept one resolution in 2010, that was to enjoy my music again.
From when I can remember, I have loved listening to music…it has been my companion from my school days and then in college and thereafter. In fact when I was an obnoxious teenager I would listen to music on my walkman turning up the volume so high that I could block out what was happening outside. Music had been my peace, my escape, my love.
In the last few years, in the busi-ness of life, I had forgotten the glorious happiness that music used to give to me. It took me a number of years and a few life interventions to realize what this lost companionship had cost me.
Don’t get me wrong, it is not that during the last few years I have not been listening to music…of course I have, there are some favorites that I heard from time to time, I listened mindlessly to radio countdowns and of course the latest hindi music albums that caught my fancy either through the count downs or through flipping channels on tv. It’s just that I had stopped being mindful in listening to music.
2010 was different, hence I want to share my top music musings for the year (has nothing to do with releases in 2010), many that I will carry through with me into 2011 and perhaps longer. There were many that I had to cut down to keep to the top few but this was also the fun of writing this list – so many that I had to sacrifice when they were jostling for a top ten slot.
1. ‘Forever Young’ by Bob Dylan
Reassuring
I am surprised it took me so long to really discover Dylan and Forever Young. It is a strong contender for my song of the year. It was my chicken soup for the soul song for 2010 – listening to Dylan’s raspy voice singing (saying) “May your hands always be busy, may your feet always be swift….May you have a strong foundation, when the winds of change shift” never fails to give some old fashioned inspiration….And poetry this, “may your heart always be joyful, may your song always be sung, and may you stay forever young”…
On searching I found a book devoted to an illustrated version of this song…a perfect gift for young impressionable minds. As for me, am planning to get my hands on the Dylan documentary now to understand better the person behind the song.
2. ‘Here we go again’ by Ray Charles and Norah Jones
Unwind
What an unusual combination of folk in a duet, ‘genius loves company’ indeed. Bluesy, slow and meant for an evening when you want to switch off the lights, switch the lamp on and have a glass of cabernet for company.
3.‘Uff teri ada’ from Karthik calling Karthik.
Joi de verve
“jogi nach le...rang rach de…lehra ke balkha ke tu duniya bhulake naach”
Javed Akhtar wrote pretty lyrics for this song and Shankar Ehsaan n Loy lent stunning music. I wanted to turn up the volume and dance all night. The on screen visualization of this song also added to the feeling … My highly perceptive driver turned up the volume when this song played on radio and that’s when I realized I had been spending too much time in the company of my driver!
4 & 5, Undiscovered genres – ghazal and Hindustani vocal.
I pride myself on being someone with clear likes and dislikes and the two things in music that I was sure I didn’t like were ghazals and Hindustani vocal music.
I read somewhere that circumstances just reveal yourself to you…and my revelation was that I loved ‘Aaj jane ki zid na karo’ by Farida Khanum. You may have heard this song in the background if you have watched ‘Monsoon Wedding’, but listening to the full version is altogether something else. I heard this song, and then I heard it again, and again to realize that I had fallen in love with a ghazal! Gawd! The sheer power of Farida Khanum’s voice capturing emotion like no other and minimalist accompaniments makes for an incomparable listening experience. Later in the year, someone sang this song at a friend’s house and ironically everyone left immediately after the song was sung.
Hindustani vocal by Ustad Rashid Khan. I heard Ustad Rashid Khan by chance. I have been in awe of Ustad Amjaad Ali Khan from class XI, in spite of this I have never had the chance to listen to the man live and this year I got my chance…but to listen to him play in the second half I had to sit through a vocal performance by Ustad Rashid Khan.I was not a vocal person (have heard some greats including Pandit Bhimshen Joshi, god rest his soul.. Kishori Amonkar and Ajay Chakraborty in the past and and an opera that I fell asleep in:-) . Anyhow ). So I braced myself deciding to deal with this before the real thing…and I was astounded.
I guess what I realized in 2010 was that I can’t discount any genre of music as not my type…
6. ‘Ragas Bhairav and Charukeshi’ by Ustad Amjaad Ali Khan
Divine
Ustad Amjaad Ali Khan is in a league that few maestros reach. The first thing that struck me was how distinguished he looked live on stage, (salt and pepper hair, sharp features, smile and gentle husky voice) adding to his 6th generation Bangash lineage. As he played ragas Bhairav and Charukeshi , the magic he made with the sarod elevated the musical experience to near divinity . If there is sadhana in music, it was this. Coupled with Ustad Rashid Khan’s performance in the first half; this made it my most outstanding concert of 2010.
7. ‘Goldberg Variations’ by J.S. Bach. played by Simone Dinnerstein.
Sublime
He is the greatest of them all, yet in the past years I have spent many more hours listening to Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. In 2010 I started to comprehend the matchless combination of musical engineering and profound expressivity that Bach possesses. Whenever I listen to this CD, I feel uplifted and ready to start on all my projects! I hear that ‘Godel, Escher, Bach’ is a fascinating book that explores the similarities between the works of the logician, artist and structured composer.
8. ‘Ale’ from Golmaal 3 – music by Pritam and sung by Neeraj Shridhar and Antara Mitra.
Anthem
This, I like to call my anthem for 2010. The most non serious song in my list and perhaps the most surprising entrant on my list, what I found endearing about this song to me was the lyrics that kept me company in some nights I had to spend traveling, transiting and stranded in various airports and locations in December on a NYC – Mumbai (flight) journey that lasted 6 days
“Duniya ki baatein waatein chhod ke, Gummo ki baahon ko marod ke
Khushi khadi hai jis mod pe, We got to go that way, we got to go that way”
If only I figured how to live this more often – ok am trying.
9. ‘Saajnaa’ sung by Mika and Chinmayi, from the movie Lamhaa
Deeper than love
The song of 2011 for me. Lyrics by Sayeed Quadri, music by Mithoon and sung soulfully by Mika and Chinmayi in the most beautiful way possible. Melancholy and optimism (is it only me who finds optimism in this song) fill every note at the same time …It’s not fair to pick any particular lines, they are all so lovely, but if I must, I pick “Haan tera saaya toh main hoon, par sang tere naa reh sakoon, haan is safar me toh main hoon, par sang tere naa ruk sakoon….. ”. It’s a song that someone described as ‘an excellent song’ and it is! This song gives me goose bumps each time I hear it.
10. Finally, a song by Tagore
Wisdom
The lyrics go ,“Tomay natun kore pabo bole, harai bare bare (2)
Oh amar bhalobashar dhan”
and in English
“In order to discover you (experience you) in a new way, I keep losing you again and again, my love.”
It is said that Tagore’s songs can be interpreted to be sung to God, or to your love …upon reflection, my hiatus with music (love) enabled me to discover and experience music in a new, more mindful way again. And perhaps discover a bit of myself in the process as well.
By
Soma
(1 ‘Mindfulness’, a concept found often in the context of Buddhism and in the domain of meditation , refers to being completely in touch with and aware of the present moment, as well as taking a non-evaluative and non-judgmental approach to your inner experience)
From when I can remember, I have loved listening to music…it has been my companion from my school days and then in college and thereafter. In fact when I was an obnoxious teenager I would listen to music on my walkman turning up the volume so high that I could block out what was happening outside. Music had been my peace, my escape, my love.
In the last few years, in the busi-ness of life, I had forgotten the glorious happiness that music used to give to me. It took me a number of years and a few life interventions to realize what this lost companionship had cost me.
Don’t get me wrong, it is not that during the last few years I have not been listening to music…of course I have, there are some favorites that I heard from time to time, I listened mindlessly to radio countdowns and of course the latest hindi music albums that caught my fancy either through the count downs or through flipping channels on tv. It’s just that I had stopped being mindful in listening to music.
2010 was different, hence I want to share my top music musings for the year (has nothing to do with releases in 2010), many that I will carry through with me into 2011 and perhaps longer. There were many that I had to cut down to keep to the top few but this was also the fun of writing this list – so many that I had to sacrifice when they were jostling for a top ten slot.
1. ‘Forever Young’ by Bob Dylan
Reassuring
I am surprised it took me so long to really discover Dylan and Forever Young. It is a strong contender for my song of the year. It was my chicken soup for the soul song for 2010 – listening to Dylan’s raspy voice singing (saying) “May your hands always be busy, may your feet always be swift….May you have a strong foundation, when the winds of change shift” never fails to give some old fashioned inspiration….And poetry this, “may your heart always be joyful, may your song always be sung, and may you stay forever young”…
On searching I found a book devoted to an illustrated version of this song…a perfect gift for young impressionable minds. As for me, am planning to get my hands on the Dylan documentary now to understand better the person behind the song.
2. ‘Here we go again’ by Ray Charles and Norah Jones
Unwind
What an unusual combination of folk in a duet, ‘genius loves company’ indeed. Bluesy, slow and meant for an evening when you want to switch off the lights, switch the lamp on and have a glass of cabernet for company.
3.‘Uff teri ada’ from Karthik calling Karthik.
Joi de verve
“jogi nach le...rang rach de…lehra ke balkha ke tu duniya bhulake naach”
Javed Akhtar wrote pretty lyrics for this song and Shankar Ehsaan n Loy lent stunning music. I wanted to turn up the volume and dance all night. The on screen visualization of this song also added to the feeling … My highly perceptive driver turned up the volume when this song played on radio and that’s when I realized I had been spending too much time in the company of my driver!
4 & 5, Undiscovered genres – ghazal and Hindustani vocal.
I pride myself on being someone with clear likes and dislikes and the two things in music that I was sure I didn’t like were ghazals and Hindustani vocal music.
I read somewhere that circumstances just reveal yourself to you…and my revelation was that I loved ‘Aaj jane ki zid na karo’ by Farida Khanum. You may have heard this song in the background if you have watched ‘Monsoon Wedding’, but listening to the full version is altogether something else. I heard this song, and then I heard it again, and again to realize that I had fallen in love with a ghazal! Gawd! The sheer power of Farida Khanum’s voice capturing emotion like no other and minimalist accompaniments makes for an incomparable listening experience. Later in the year, someone sang this song at a friend’s house and ironically everyone left immediately after the song was sung.
Hindustani vocal by Ustad Rashid Khan. I heard Ustad Rashid Khan by chance. I have been in awe of Ustad Amjaad Ali Khan from class XI, in spite of this I have never had the chance to listen to the man live and this year I got my chance…but to listen to him play in the second half I had to sit through a vocal performance by Ustad Rashid Khan.I was not a vocal person (have heard some greats including Pandit Bhimshen Joshi, god rest his soul.. Kishori Amonkar and Ajay Chakraborty in the past and and an opera that I fell asleep in:-) . Anyhow ). So I braced myself deciding to deal with this before the real thing…and I was astounded.
I guess what I realized in 2010 was that I can’t discount any genre of music as not my type…
6. ‘Ragas Bhairav and Charukeshi’ by Ustad Amjaad Ali Khan
Divine
Ustad Amjaad Ali Khan is in a league that few maestros reach. The first thing that struck me was how distinguished he looked live on stage, (salt and pepper hair, sharp features, smile and gentle husky voice) adding to his 6th generation Bangash lineage. As he played ragas Bhairav and Charukeshi , the magic he made with the sarod elevated the musical experience to near divinity . If there is sadhana in music, it was this. Coupled with Ustad Rashid Khan’s performance in the first half; this made it my most outstanding concert of 2010.
7. ‘Goldberg Variations’ by J.S. Bach. played by Simone Dinnerstein.
Sublime
He is the greatest of them all, yet in the past years I have spent many more hours listening to Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. In 2010 I started to comprehend the matchless combination of musical engineering and profound expressivity that Bach possesses. Whenever I listen to this CD, I feel uplifted and ready to start on all my projects! I hear that ‘Godel, Escher, Bach’ is a fascinating book that explores the similarities between the works of the logician, artist and structured composer.
8. ‘Ale’ from Golmaal 3 – music by Pritam and sung by Neeraj Shridhar and Antara Mitra.
Anthem
This, I like to call my anthem for 2010. The most non serious song in my list and perhaps the most surprising entrant on my list, what I found endearing about this song to me was the lyrics that kept me company in some nights I had to spend traveling, transiting and stranded in various airports and locations in December on a NYC – Mumbai (flight) journey that lasted 6 days
“Duniya ki baatein waatein chhod ke, Gummo ki baahon ko marod ke
Khushi khadi hai jis mod pe, We got to go that way, we got to go that way”
If only I figured how to live this more often – ok am trying.
9. ‘Saajnaa’ sung by Mika and Chinmayi, from the movie Lamhaa
Deeper than love
The song of 2011 for me. Lyrics by Sayeed Quadri, music by Mithoon and sung soulfully by Mika and Chinmayi in the most beautiful way possible. Melancholy and optimism (is it only me who finds optimism in this song) fill every note at the same time …It’s not fair to pick any particular lines, they are all so lovely, but if I must, I pick “Haan tera saaya toh main hoon, par sang tere naa reh sakoon, haan is safar me toh main hoon, par sang tere naa ruk sakoon….. ”. It’s a song that someone described as ‘an excellent song’ and it is! This song gives me goose bumps each time I hear it.
10. Finally, a song by Tagore
Wisdom
The lyrics go ,“Tomay natun kore pabo bole, harai bare bare (2)
Oh amar bhalobashar dhan”
and in English
“In order to discover you (experience you) in a new way, I keep losing you again and again, my love.”
It is said that Tagore’s songs can be interpreted to be sung to God, or to your love …upon reflection, my hiatus with music (love) enabled me to discover and experience music in a new, more mindful way again. And perhaps discover a bit of myself in the process as well.
By
Soma
(1 ‘Mindfulness’, a concept found often in the context of Buddhism and in the domain of meditation , refers to being completely in touch with and aware of the present moment, as well as taking a non-evaluative and non-judgmental approach to your inner experience)
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