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)