Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “Without
music, life would be a mistake”! As for me, life can only be enjoyed with music as a perpetual accompaniment.
Music is the essential nourishment for
soul, it is solace, comfort and a prayer. Life can only be experienced when the heart
sings in rapturous delight - when music is in the air- everything brightens
up and heavens descend in celebration.When you are sad, heartbroken and devastated
it’s a sad song that comes to the rescue to brighten up the world drowned in
melancholy.Above all, a sad song has a special place in our lives,As example I
site this all-time favorite Ghazal from the film ‘Patita’
Hai-subse-madhur - vho-Geet-jisse hum-dard-ke - Sur mein-gatte’ hain”- Talat Mahmood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbZxgJW8CeU
Life will
always be full of joy and sorrows, like two sides of the same coin - So let’s
live it up as it is served.
In this edition [instead
of hospitality] I will take all my dear ones on a journey, along with my faithful
companion which has stood by me like a rock through thick and thin of life -Music.
Memories of my childhood
remind me of a lullaby sung to me by my mother goes …! “Dheerey-se-ajaa-khian-mein,nindia-ajareaja”(LataJi)
And then my father’s
favorite was “ Ek raje ka beta nikla lay kar udnay wala Ghora”( K.L.Saigal).
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX9aRhAfb70).
Even today these songs
transport me back in my mother’s lap and in my father’s arms if i.e. when he
was in good mood (Which was rare).
I grew up with my
sister’s favorite“ Mann-doley-mera-tan-dole, Mere dil ka gayakarar(Lata), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvOD8GZ7reo
then my Bhisham Uncle’s favorites’
“Rock around the clock and Are you ready” (Bill Haily).
“Rock around the clock and Are you ready” (Bill Haily).
Doris day’s “Que sera sera” which I use to remember by heart.
During my school days, one of the first
movie I saw was JAGRITI and then there
was this sad song “Chalo-Chale-Ma”(Asha),
I remember, every time heard this song, I wept and
even today it moves me to tears – it was a sad song. Altogether, I had 14
sisters (including cousins) and every Rakhsha
Bandhan, I would get loads of Rakhis’ ,and
this occasion always called for yet another memorable song “Bhaia mere
rakhi-ke-bandan-ko-nibhana”
Here are some memorable songs that I grew up with; I am placing below a
random list of my all time favorites which have a very special place in my life
even today;
·
Sub-kuche-sikha-hamne-na Seekhi- Mukesh
·
Sub-kuche-sikha-hamne-na Seekhi- Mukesh
·
Jane Kahan gaye who din- Mukesh
·
Ansoo-bhari-hain-Mukesh
· Chandan ka palna -Lata /Hemant Kumar
· Mitwa Lagi Re Yeh Kaisi-Talat Mahmood
·
Kiss- ko- khabar thi-hai-assey-bhi din aingee -Talad
Mahmood
·
Aye - Malik-tere-bande-hum- Lata
·
Raja - ki-aye-gi-barat- Lata
·
Tum -na -jane- kis-jhan-mein-kho-gaye – Lata
·
Jana- tha -hum -se -door-Lata
·
Ek-pyaar -ka- nagma-hai – Lata/Mukesh
·
Aurat ne janam-diya-mardunko - Lata
In the final year of Higher Secondary, I became a
passionate about Indian film music as I had wait for six months for my visa to
go abroad for further studies.So intense was this obsession that I almost became
a walking encyclopedia. I knew most of the songs, along with the names of writer
and music director. There were hundreds of songs which I liked, but the favorite
ones are mentioned above.
My visit to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon significantly
changed the pattern of my life. I developed liking for Lebanese songs and it was
here that I got fascinated by English POP music.
1960’s which saw the flowering of popular music (Bubble-Gum Pop), it was
the year that saw the birth of Rock and Roll, Jazz, Pop and folk music, all
these genres’ swept the minds of millions of fans across the world- I was one of
them. Some of my favorite numbers of that era are as follows;
·
Delilah - Tom Jones
·
Help Yourself-Tom Tones
·
Tie a Yellow Ribbon round the ole
oak tree – Toni Orlando
·
knock three times -Toni Orlando
·
There’s is a kind of a hush -Herman’s
Hermit
·
Three coins in the fountain - Connie
Francis
Years past, things changed and so did my choice of
friends and music. One person who came close as a friend and stayed a friend for
next 9 years was a girl called Judith Brewer- she was older to me – and still
became my closest buddy, guide and a dearest friend.I would give my right arm
to know her welfare. She introduced me to Neil Diamond’s song “I am, I said”
- a beautifully sung ballad about man’s relationship with city- New York. This
was the first one, followed by another memorable song “Stones”. I
followed him till he retired. Although all his songs are good but other favorite
ones were;
·
I am… I said -Neil Diamond)
·
Song sung blue-Neil Diamond
·
Play Me -Neil Diamond
·
If you go
away -Neil Diamond
My love for Beatles grew as they were a rage in
sixties and seventies, especially John Lennon and George Harrison whose songs
were amazingly superb like e.g. ‘Imagine”, “Jealous Guy” by John
and “While my guitar gently weep” and “Here comes the Sun” by
George. Then few other song writers who influenced my life were;
1.
Yesterday –Beatles
2.
Imagine- Beatles
3.
Jealous Guy- John Lennon
4.
While my guitar gently weeps –
George Harrison
5.
Here comes the sun - Beatles
6.
Gentle on my mind- Glen Campbell
7.
McArthur’s park- Richard Harris
(Actor)
8.
By the time I get to phoenix- Glen Campbell
9.
Where do you go to my lovely- Peter Sarstedt
10. Days of Future passed- Moody blues
11. Night in White Satin- Moody Blues
12. Morning has broken’- Cat Stevens
13. “ Moon shadow’ – Cat Stevens
14. The Windmills of your mind- Noel Harrison
15. Heart Of Gold- Neil young
16. Alone again- Gilbert O’Sullivan
17. Yesterday, when I was young - Roy Clark
18. Vincent ( Starry -Starry Night)- Don Mclean
19. ‘Rain Drop Keep Falling on My Head’ sung by DJ Thomas- From the film – Butch Cassidy and
the Sundance Kid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYwhvD2-fYw
20. Black Magic Women- Carlos Santana
21. Close To You – Carpenters
22. Yesterday
Once More – Carpenters
23. Maggi May – Rod Stewart
24. Have I
told you lately That I love You- Rod Stewart
25. Sitting on The Dock of Bay-Otis Redding
26. These Arms of Mine – Otis Redding
28. You Are So Beautiful – Joe Cocker:
· Glen Campbell
with songs like ‘gentle on my mind’, ‘MacArthur Park’ and his
finest ‘ By the time I get to Phoenix’.
·
Peter
Sarstedt, “where do you go to my lovely”
· Moody Blues album‘
days of future passed’ although whole album was outstanding but one song
was beautiful,’ Night in white satin’
· Cat Stevens
amazing song writer singer with songs like’ morning has broken’ and ‘moon
shadow’. At peak of his career he got converted to Islam and that was end
of his career. He has recently, thanks to his son has made new album but I
guess it won’t be same.
· “The windmills
of your mind’ a beautiful song from
Steve McQueen Movie Thomas Crown Affair sung by Noel Harrison.
·
Neil young’s “Heart
of Gold’
·
“Alone again”made famous by Gilbert O’Sullivan yet another
memorable song
·
‘Yesterday
when I was young’ by a very fine singer Ray Clark
·
When I was
living between London and Pari, I read the story of the famous artist Vincent
Van Gogh from there I learned to be a masochist and made him my hero and then
Don Mclean wrote a song about him called ‘Vincent’ an amazing sad song
touches my heart every time.
·
Another favorite
was ‘Rain Drop Keep Falling on My Head’ sung by DJ Thomas- a beautiful
song.
·
Carlos Santana
was a phenomenal musician, I loved his song ‘Black magic woman’ was just
outstanding. In 90s Santana came back in a big way but somehow the zest and magic
of 70s was missing.
·
Then there was
a group called ‘The Carpenters’ with songs like ‘Close to you’ and ‘Yesterday
once more’.
·
Another of my favorite was the ballad singer Rod Stewart who became famous
with songs like, ‘Maggi May”, Have told you lately that I love you?‘Still I look to find
a reason to believe’. He has a beautiful voice and his songs are very popular even today.
·
I also love, The Blues in Black and White, in this genre of music my favorite
singers were- late Otis Redding - Sitting on the
dock of the bay’ and ‘These arms of mine”andJoe Cocker singing; ‘There is no sunshine when she is gone’, ‘ You are so
beautiful”,’ with little help and many many more from both of
them.
Music played a very important role in the later years
of my life. There were 4 to 5 singers and the song writers who influenced the change
in me the most. They - in fact- were very importantin my life and have been
responsible for what I did with myself, in this world; my life will not be complete
without them;
1. Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) The most important singer in my life is the late . I still remember after the midnight show in Lebanon, as I
walked back home from the theater, I overheard someone humming a song in a very peculiar voice. I wanted to know the song
and asked this man who this singer was,he told me it was Leonard Cohen and also told
me that his songs are not available in Lebanon because he is a Jewish singer. I
wrote to my sister in London and she to send me his first album. Each song was
a gem - poetry so good, that it hit you deep down and it was full of meaning.
From that day I was his Diwana. His
next album was songs of love and hate, still better and third one was excellent.
I became his disciple and he became my God. I was never got lucky to see him
perform live although I was willing to pay my full year’s earning for one
performance. Some of his songs are;
·
Suzzane - Leonard Cohen
·
Like a bird on the wire-Leonard Cohen
·
So long Marianne-Leonard Cohen
·
Hey that’s no way to say goodbye -Leonard Cohen
·
Famous blue raincoat-Leonard Cohen
·
Joan of Arc-Leonard Cohen
·
The Partisan-Leonard Cohen
·
Seems so long ago, Nancy-Leonard Cohen
·
Chelsea hotel#1-Leonard Cohen
And the list goes on.He was the ‘God of Poetry’ and
hisinterpretations and rendition of ‘Burning
of Joan of Arc’ are mesmerizing, specially the last line: I saw her wince, I saw her cry; I saw the
glory in her eyes. Myself I long for love and light, but must it come so cruel andoh
so bright…!
2. Doors/ Jim Morrison - A crazy, rebellious singer, song writer, poet who was the icon of
counter culture and true representation of generation gap during 60s&70s-
he was born in wrong time and wrong
place. His music was bold and timeless; his songs were sentimental and philosophic
yet deep and aggressive. In sixties he was a revolution himself.1970-71 was a
significant year for modern POPmusic. Three greatest legends of that time;
Jimmy Hendricks, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison all died due to drug over dose.
Jimmy’s music has always been relenting from sixties till date. Well educated
and a voracious reader, he was strongly influenced by philosophers and writers
like Friedrich Nietzsche, Jack Kerouac or Marquis de Sade. Some of my favorite
songs are;
·
When The Music is over:Doors/ Jim Morrison
·
The End-Doors/ Jim
Morrison
·
Light My Fire-Doors/ Jim Morrison
·
L A Woman-Doors/ Jim Morrison
·
Riders on the storm: Doors/ Jim Morrison
·
Celebration of the lizard:Doors/ Jim Morrison
1. Kris Kristofferson- song writer, singer. With no hesitations I can say that he is one of the
best ‘COUNTRY’song writer and singer in the world but just an okay
sort of a film star. His songs are soul searching, emotional, and touched the
hearts and they were charged with a scent of life,as it were. It is irony that
this amazing singer’s first song called ‘Me and Bobby McGee’was made
popular by the great Janis Joplin(January 19th 1943 – October 4, 1970),
in Woodstock. He was intensely aromatic poet; he touched my heart and soul, to
be precise, I genuinely mourned the day he decided to be a Hollywood Star. All
his songs are beautiful, and more of App Beeti (self inflicted);Here are
some of my all time favorites;
·
Help me make it through the night : Kris Kristofferson
·
For the good times: Kris Kristofferson
·
Why me God: Kris Kristofferson
·
Jesus was a Capricorn: Kris Kristofferson
·
To beat the Devil: Kris Kristofferson
·
Sunday Morning Coming Down: Kris Kristofferson
·
The Silver Tongued Devil: Kris Kristofferson
·
Loving her was easier - Kris Kristofferson
·
Me and Bobby McGee :Kris Kristofferson
2. Paul Simon and
Arthur Garfunkel -King of folk- rock. In
1967/8 a famous movie called,The Graduate was premiered launching Dustin
Hoffman as a young Hollywood star. It was a big hit, but surprising the music
was created and conducted by Paul Simon. All songs were a great hit. They were four
songs, all written by Paul Simon and sung by Simon and Garfunkel and all were
great hit. Specially ‘Sound of Silence’ and ‘Scarborough fair’,
they were soft gentle and beautifully worded. Paul Simon was multi faceted
personality he was a song writer and singer – a real wizard of music, on other
hand Arthur Garfunkel was lead singer with Paul. Their third and final studio
recorded Album called “Bridge over trouble water” was the finest album.
Song ‘Like a bridge over trouble water ’became one of the highest selling number
of all time. This was their last album together, but their songs were so
outstanding that few years later, Columbia launched their album called
“greatest Hits of Simon and Garfunkel’, even today one of the highest selling albums
in USA.
After they separated as group and Simon
launched his solo album with strong leaning toward reggae and West Indies
music. Music provided by the duo was just too amazing and soulful and left a
indelible impression on my mind. My favorite list is;
·
Sound of Silence- Simon &
Garfunkel
·
Are you going to Scarborough fair-
Simon & Garfunkel
·
Mrs. Robinson- Simon & Garfunkel
·
Like a bridge over trouble water-
Simon & Garfunkel
·
Kodachrome- Simon & Garfunkel
·
To me this is the - Simon &
Garfunkel
·
Mother and child reunion-Paul Simon
·
You can call me al- Paul Simon
·
Graceland – Paul Simon
5. Jacques Brel French singer cum song
writer, for me he is the god of love songs, when he wrote the song called ‘Ne
me quitte pas’( Don’t leave me). This is the ultimate love song, I am sure people have heard its
translations in English called ‘If you go away’- which has been sung byDusty
Springfield, Neil Diamond, Helen Merrill & Stan Gets, Shirley Bassey,
Barbra Streisand, Dean Martin , Scott Walker and many more.For me this song
embraces the bible of love and all what it/or may mean.
·
‘Ne me
quitte pas’( Don’t leave me). Jack Brel
·
If you go away – Numerous Artists
In 1975, I finally decided
to settle down in India after having spent good numbers of years in Lebanon and
Europe, by this time I was bleeding serious and meaningful English music. On a lighter note, I would say that Ihad lived through the
golden age of Pop and rock music. My life – even today stays afloat with music,as
I carry the legacy of these great singers. I am happy to see that the present
generation is fond of my kind of music,compared to the contemporary genres.E.g.
Hip-Hop, Rap, Techno, Punk, Electro, Deep House, RNB etc. of course, no offence
meant to the music of today, in fact it must be appreciated – regardless of the
proverbial “ Generation Gap”
As for the music of 60s' and
70s' it certainly had more substance and depth when compared to the music of
present times! But I must admit that change is the only constant in this world-
So be it.
Since I returned to, without compromising my devotion to
my kind of music, I also started appreciating Indian music as well. In India
the popular music was always film music but 80’s onward we saw appearance of a
genre called Ghazal on the horizon of Indian music. A good Ghazals are soulful
expression of love, pain and beauty, it has influences of 12th
century Sufism - which in many ways is similar to the ‘Blues’. I think we need
to give full credit to Mehndi Hasan, Nusrat Fatah Ali, Gulam Ali and lastly Jag
Jeet Singh for making this music genre popular. In years to come nearly every
singer of any substance has ventured into to world of Ghazals’ regularly. My all time favorite Ghazals
are;
·
Yeh halka halka sa saroor hai by
Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan
·
Zindagi mein to sabhi pyaar kia karte
haien by Mehndi Hasan
·
Ranjish he sahi by Mehndi Hasan
·
Mujh se pehli se mahobat- Noor Jahan
·
Koi yeh Kaise bataye by Jagjit Singh
·
Kagaz ki Kashti by Jagjit Singh
·
Chithi Na Koi Sandesh by Jagjit
Singh
·
Ghazals from Mirza galib by Jagjit
Singh
·
Chitti Ai hai Chitti Ai hai by Pankaj
Udhas
·
Jo tum mein mujh mein karar tha by
Begum Akhtar
·
Kabhi kisi ko
mukkamal-jahan-nahin-milta by Bhupinder
·
Ankhian nu rein de by Reshma
·
Jab Dil he Toot Gaya- KL Sehgal
Coming back to recent Indian popular music, today we
have some finest music directors and singers like Rehman, Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu
Nigam, Arijit Singh and Alka Yagnik. My favorite songs from all of them are limited
but they are really good;
·
Choti si Asha- Rehman
·
Jai Ho- Rehman
·
O nadan parinde’, Rehman
·
Mitwa - Shankar Mahadevan
·
Maa- Shankar Mahadevan
·
Kal ho na ho -Sonu Nigam-
·
Sau Dard -Sonu
Nigam
·
Abhi mujh mein:Sonu Nigam
·
Chana Meraya, Arijit singh-
·
Aye Dil Hei Mushkil : Arijit Singh
·
Breathless – Shankar Mahadevan
·
Agar tum saath
ho: Alka yagnik
Closest thing to my heart is music and is very
important part of my life. Music does not belong to any country, nationality or
race. Music has no negativity. Music is a gift of gods to human kind which unfortunately is full of greed, pain and
agony and music is the only relief.To me music is source of inspiration it takes
the soul to where ever you want.It fills the world with happiness and tranquility.
Every facet of music is just beautiful. All my life I’ve relished and enjoyed songs
in Hindi, Urdu, English, Bengali, Arabic and many other languages. I have no
hesitation in admitting that all of them have same effect on the mind, body and
soul regardless of linguistic barriers.
Let me add that
as I, candidly pour out my heart out reminiscing about my favorite musicians and
singers, I am in no way comparing one with the other.Each one of them has given
so much to the world of music that we need many lives to understand all of it.
My heroes mentioned here have no nationality, no geographical boundaries and all
of them are destined to go straight to heaven-Where Gods will welcome all of
them with open arms- Amen
Written by Virat Varma & Anil Chak
