Music for the soul

In one of my previous articles, I went all gaga on the sense of sight. To be even-steven , let’s give a shout out to another very important aspect of human communication, the human mic interface – the wonderful sense of hearing. If seeing is believing, hearing is feeling.

As they say, there is a music for every occasion. I have a bunch of songs that I turn to, when I am stressed up. They lift my spirits up like nothing else can. “Om Mani Padme Hum” is probably the first thing I turn to, when stressed at work. Within few minutes, I am back to my normal self, solving some of the toughest problems daunting me. The theme song from “Game of Thrones”, well, nothing else nudges me to achieve some big things in life; It reminds me that I have a Mythological duology series to write. “Let it go” the amazing song from the movie Frozen is something that always motivates me to rise from the petty problems in life. Devotional songs when you are in a spiritual mood, foot tapping numbers when you are in the mood for dancing, meditational songs to calm your nerves, the list is endless. I have realized that listening to some nice music makes mundane tasks, that are otherwise boring, feel like meditational; I have a play list that allows me to truly enjoy washing the dishes. I read somewhere long time back that we will have AI algorithms that can “sense” our emotions and play suitable music for the mood. Imagine you come back home from work, quite stressed up, the music system plays you a relaxing score, automatically. Probably you come back triumphed about the small or big success at work, the music system plays you a foot tapping number. Music for every occasion unleashed.

Music is an integral part of the important memories of our lives. Have you observed that some songs instantly take you back in the memory lane? A song that reminds of your school days or spending some amazing time with that wonderful buddy of yours, or your first crush, your wedding, a time when you or your kid was much younger. I have plenty of such fond memories. “Shubarambh” from Hindi movie “Kai Po Che” instantly brings to memory the time when our daughter Aishani was around a year old; she loved it so much and we danced to the song carrying her all around the house. Ah, those wonderful days. ”Vaseegara” song from Tamil Movie “Minnale” reminds me of my grandma who absolutely loved the song. Though she wasn’t an ardent music lover, somehow this touched her soul very much. “Gudugudiya” by Raghu Dixit reminds me of the wonderful time that me and my wife spent at a friend’s house in the laidback town of Mysore, we had driven from Bangalore and this song was probably in a repeat mode on the car music system. Heavy metal songs from Metallica, Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd never let me forget those glorious Engineering days. As they say, life is all about memories and music is a bookmark into that humongous book of lifelong memory. Pick your song and go back the nice memory lane, again and again.

I truly enjoy songs with “heavy” lyrics. By “heavy”, I mean something that deeply touches my core & connects to me. Some songs you fall in love instantly when you hear them. Then there are some songs that you make you fall in love over a period of time, probably once you get hold of the lyrics. Maybe I have a bias here, but some songs in my state language Kannada are filled with such deep lyrics. Jayant Kaykini made fantastic use of these strengths of this wonderful language and penned down some classics for Kannada movies. “Mungaru Male” was his (and probably the Kannada music industry) rise to fame, with the song “Anisuthide” going on to become almost a national anthem at its “peak” time, as my Tamilian friend told me. Urdu Language is well acknowledged the world over, for some deeply emotional songs. No wonder Ghazals are a go-to genre whenever a strong emotional bonding is required (with the self or others). The “happy” song from Pharell Williams has some fantastic lyrics like “Clap along if you feel like home without a roof”. My daughter introduced me to “Believer” song from Imagine Dragons, wow, what powerful lyrics like “I am the master of my sea”, sing along and you get into this nice aura. Pick your song, sing it along and thoroughly enjoy it.

A writeup on music cannot be complete without mentioning the brains and talents behind them. Each of us probably have a list of favorite artists; music directors, singers, lyricists, etc. AR Rehman went on to claim national fame after his phenomenal music for the movie Roja. His composition rendered with beautiful lyrics and voice elates us to a whole new world. I personally am a big fan of Yesudas, I find his voice simply magical & godly. I once heard his song “Harivarasanam” in one of the temples in Mangalore and it transported me to a whole different “heavenly” world. Gulzar is a hugely popular lyricist in the Hindi music Industry, delivering some soul touching wordings. I would like to thank all the artists in the music fraternity for putting in so much efforts to deliver such pieces of quality. Pick a song from your favorite artist, take a bow & appreciate the talent & effort.

I would like to end this article with a deep sense of gratitude for this wonderful sense of hearing; I feel so sad for people who are deaf and dumb; for the sense of hearing is so divine, a medium through which the artists easily breach the self-imposed mental blocks, open us up into this whole new world. A world full of happiness and content, a sense of pleasure, calm and satisfaction. Turn on the music, baby! Music for the senses, music for the soul.