Of Notes and Tunes

Notion - For music and moments are bound melodiously Song - M oh Moh Ke Dhaage Literarily, this one is as garbled and incoherent as any of my other ponderings. Generically, it is pretty inconsequential and unnecessary at this point in time.  Sentimentally, a bit anachronistic. But, emotionally it is way overdue - just like some emotions are. If you haven't yet, watch the musical Wicked or at least listen to its songs or if not all songs, at least For Good. Glinda's part sweetly starts with, "I have heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason..." Sure, Wicked might not be the true and only source of the above adage, but there is no harm in listening to or quoting from Wicked unnecessarily. But yes, all would mostly agree that people come into our lives for some reason. Everything may not happen to us for a reason but we do learn something or the other from all life events. I firmly do. And because I am a bit theatrical, I extend this belief to music too...

Notion - For some beginnings need no endings Song - The Namesake Opening Titles Completion is an integral part of human existence. What begins, must end and fulfilment occurs only at the end. It is all about the climax, isn't it? Sure, the opening of a story or of musical composition are critical and are duly credited for their excellence. They have to capture our undivided attention. But is that ever enough? We never say, 'Oh! What a fantastic opening - Ok bye!' Wouldn't argue that we shouldn't do that lest it comes across as rude. But what if the beginning was more than anything and everything you could have ever asked for? There is a reason why even after all these years,  the line "You had me at Hello" from Jerry Maguire is one of the most fulfilling romantic lines you would ever come across. Thus there are those rarities that beautifully deviate and escape the limitations of needing a conclusion to be satisfying. And oddly enough, I don't know whe...

Notions - Beauty and the Beast Song - How Does A Moment Last Forever Once upon a time, Not so long back in time Traveled a boy to San Francisco For the very first time. I take the liberty of addressing the 27-year-old me in this story as a 'boy' for an emphasis on the child in me - the child in me that learns his life lessons from animated movies. The slightly elder version of this boy chooses to learn about life from series and movies he has watched. But most importantly, all versions of me find immense inspiration and sheer bliss from music. So let us hear one such musical story about this 27-year-old boy. Back in 2014, I had the chance to visit San Fransisco for Christmas break. This was the very first time I was visiting San Fransisco and after having visited the city at other times of the year, I can easily say that my personal favourite time would always be around Christmas. The weather was perfect, the city had donned its gay apparel, and I was having the loveliest times...

Notion - Ranjish Hi Sahi ' The apt representation of what this song elicits would have in fact been a blank page - or probably a line that started with spaces and trailed with periods. For I really know no words that can articulate what this song does to me. But I shall attempt. Only because today has been a day of having faith and believing in my instinctive impulses (there’s a blog coming up about it separately too!). And this impulse deserved all my time and effort and heart and ... The song’s playing in the background, and even if I pause it, it will resonate in me. With that happening, it becomes extremely difficult to do anything else. So do excuse the abrupt sentences. ' These were thoughts noted down in February 2018. And I never hit 'Publish' then. And it's September 2018 now.  I have come back to this piece of mine many times in the past few months. But I have always hidden it away, even from myself.  Ever felt the need to, actively, not spea...

Notion - Musical Identity Song - Thomas Newman's That Next Place Human memory is bizarre and confounding. At least mine is. Strangest details stay organically preserved as though the gray matter cultivated them. I was a young kid and my sister a teenager when my mother very matter-of-factly revealed to her who was the killer in the novel she was reading at that time. Five or six years later, when I picked up the same novel and that character's name appeared matter-of-factly on page 30 or so, I yelled out to my mother that she had ruined the novel for me. That name stuck with me for all those years even though it was a She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named name in my house.  So it isn't surprising for me that a conversation between my father and his friend, about a movie uncle had really liked and recommended to my father, stayed vaguely distinct with me for years along. Uncle had described Meet Joe Black as an absolutely marvelous movie starring an honorable Sir Anthony Hopki...

Notion - John Williams Song - John Williams conducts Jurassic Park I can only steal good quotes or a few famous lines about music and its greatness for all there is to be said, asked, argued or praised about it is already in print. And where words have failed to express a view about music, music itself has expressed it expressly. Music, in all its forms, has a hold on me like it does on very many souls and I consider myself truly blessed to be moved by it. But I have a peculiar interest that has seldom and scarcely been shared by other music lovers I know. Background scores. I was the only 10 year old I knew who owned a Titanic cassette in 1997. Of course, my mother assumed it had other songs besides 'My heart will go on' but little did she know that I had the album version of the song on a separate cassette. I wanted the Titanic cassette for the background score tracks. To this day, 'Never an Absolution' is my favorite James Horner compositi...