Music for my soul

A composer creates magic by arranging basic notes to create a melody. This sentence is an understatement and does over simplify the process of creating music, it is more than just stringing together a set of notes. The idea of this article is not to discuss technicalities of music, which I will leave to the aficionados, but is about the music for my soul.

Be it the positive vibrations from MS’ “Suprabhatam” and “Bhajagovindam”, the raagams of classical music, the learning of the aaroham and avaroham of Kalyaani or Mohana raagams, singing of love for the Almighty through bhajans, the lazy cadence of ghazals, or the various moods of Hindi film music or the Frank Sinatras and the Queens of the Western world, music was always around me and I soaked it all in. The voices, the melody, the use of instruments, the beat and the lyrics, enamored me. Once I waded into this ocean called music, there was no turning back. Four decades later I am still close to the shore and the vast ocean stretches in front of me, calling to me to wade in further to listen to and learn more about it.

I believe music is personal, what touches me may not have the same effect on another person, and rightly so. Every composition elicits an emotion within us that is unique to us. For me personally, some pieces mesmerize me the moment I hear them and some slowly grow on me. I have yet to understand the “why” of it. For someone who really needs to get into the “how” and “why” of everything, this is one mystery I can’t solve. Maybe I will leave it unsolved and allow the magic to continue to nourish my soul.

While you introspect to find a composition(s) that nourishes your soul,  I will leave you with a beautiful Sufi composition “Man Kunto Maula” - a “Manaqabat Qawwali” composed by Amir Khusro. Khusro was a prolific poet and singer and served the Delhi Sultanat in the 13th century. He is credited with the invention of the “taraana” style of singing and the “Sitar”. Khusrau is also credited for devising the popular “Raag Yemen” which is said to be an amalgam of the Indian “Raag Hindola” as it existed at that time and the Persian “Nairez”. “Man Kunto Maula” is based on a “Hadith” (a saying by Prophet Mohammed) and is typically composed in raag Bhopali  or raag Yemen Kalyan and in short means,  “whoever accepts me as a master, Ali is his master too”.  As a non-Muslim, I am not versed in “Hadiths” enough to understand the significance of their message, but when I listen to Man Kunto Maula I feel an unknown thirst has been quenched.

I have now opened the door to the prolific Amir Khusro who needs his own space and hope to be able to create it one day.