On a lovely note…
What is it about music that mellows us down? Whether a human voice is involved or not, whether a musical instrument is prominent or not, whether electronic devices are tampering or not, music remains distinct in its entirety. It doesn’t demand a quora. Instead, it expects harmony. A radio lightly playing in the background while the barber is wreaking havoc on your pate adds value to your experience. You won’t notice it while you’re admiring yourself in the mirror but when the song is gone, you’ll miss something.
That’s the power of music.
Our brain not only understands this phenomenon but also respects it. On your way to work, your earphones are churning out a playlist. You pay attention to some songs, you miss others. However, for some reason, your brain is listening to all the songs attentively. So much so, after a few weeks, it will give you a sense of what is going to play next even though you can’t always mention the name of the song and yet, somewhere deep inside you, you’re expecting a dhun to arrive during the brief pause between two songs.
Precisely what music is supposed to do to us.
It keeps us in line with ourselves even though we don’t realize it. And this has nothing to do with songs per se. Even sounds, in patterns, have a sincere affect on our psyche. A creaking sound in the middle of the night takes our scared ass back to the horror film we watched in 1997. The whooshing noise of trees before they turn into statues us it’s going to rain. It might not pour but the music in the air suggests we grab those drying clothes in from the balcony. While traveling in a Mumbai local train, one-two rhythm that you hear from the tracks is basically your heart beating for the city. If you don’t believe me, you can hear from 0:16 here. Similarly, when you’re in shower knowing very well that you shouldn’t be wasting water so recklessly, a piece of you forgives yourself because the pitter-patter music of water calms you for the long day ahead. You don’t feel lonely anymore as the blanket of water envelopes you while whispering something you faintly remember from your aquatic days inside your mother.
There is no vacuum where music is involved. Only harmony.
Be it any culture in any tribe from any part of the world, music has made itself home as much as food has. Like a perennial river, it flows in all directions. Which is also why we can’t judge one other based on the music we love. Some like classical while others don’t. Some like metal while others don’t. To each her own dosage of happiness. If anything, we should make an effort to expand our horizon and try to enter realms we stayed away from. Yes, you might love Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan as much as I do but it’d be awesomer when you check out his collaborations with folks you don’t normally associate him with. On a similar note, hip-hop isn’t entirely about using the N-word and promoting sex and violence. That’s when you’ll witness the raw nerves of music. How fluid it can be. While gently reminding us that we are the ones who are rigid in our thoughts and perspectives.
Of late, I’ve developed a hobby of identifying the musical instrument at any given point of a song or a piece. It could be a cello or a harmonica or the humble veena; the guess game is on as it could be anything thanks to the advent of synthesizers. What I’ve learnt from this new obsession is after a while, everything reminds you of everything else. Like somebody in your office reminds you of a person you knew 10 years ago; a musical note could remind you of a bird call you know from last winter. It’s so similar and yet so different.
Which makes you wonder whether the wise ones got it all wrong. Maybe, just maybe, music is the true manifestation of god. For one, isn’t it everywhere? Two, doesn’t it connect every possible entity in the known universe? Three, won’t it encompass silence as much as the other way around?
