Whats'app Selections 2

There are many scattered reflections on music, nature and birds, particularly. Some of these I have intentionally and some accidentally deleted. My children and I have now started a Family Whatsapp where I store comments from other sites so as not to delete valuable comments.

Scattered musings on Music

Written to a friend

Was listening to Bhimshen Joshiji sing 'Bajubandh khula khula jai'. Felt I was in the presence of something great and mighty. Raag Bhairavi. And of course, Bhimshen Joshiji's mighty exploration of it. Raag Bhairavi. Like the wind and waters and tidal waves. As mysterious and as beautiful.

I was just thinking now that great musicians are probably those who in some previous life have been so devoted to a particular svara or group of swaras (say, a raag like Bhairavi), that they were willing to sacrifice everything for it. They would never want to come down to any petty or utterly selfish level whereby they would violate the spirit of the raaga. Musicians are those who see into the soul of notes.

To my friend Sharada on Bhimshen Joshiji singing 'Muhammed Shah Rangila re' set to Raag Miya Malhar:

Dear Sharada, while I look at his physical posture that speaks of intense and one pointed concentration,  I feel that musician and music are one. In one of his great poems where Yeats probes the relationship between the performer and the genre/medium, he asks, 'how can one separate the dancer from the dance?' (It could be in Michael Robartes and the Dancer or Among School Children) As I look at Bhimshen Joshiji's bent face, immersed in a sound universe, uttering the opening swaras of Miyan Ki Malhar, I feel he is  Raag Miyan Malhar. That is why he can sing it with such passion and power. The skies, the rain and the thunder speak through him.

With my old time college friend and Dada, Abhijit Lal Roy (Laluda):

Regarding an informal video of Shahid Parvez playing Raag Yaman.Parvez is in a hotel room most likely, and there are people listening to him. I had almost been certain that he was Parvez,but I still asked Laluda to confirm:

Laluda: It is Shahed Parvez indeed.Swaosthane sur sothikbhave lagle, shorire--mone ki je romancho hoy, eirokon ar kichute hoyna! ( when the right note is uttered in the right place the magical satisfaction it brings is equal to none other)

Me: Yet, it is Mishra Yaman, right?

Laluda: Yes

Me:  In the beginning it is the indescribable melody of Yaman which I fell is quite matchless. Little    rivulets of sound,  delicate embellishments....

And then bits of Khamaj come in.

I also like the carelessness of posture and moment

Composing on a rumpled bed

If one waits for the right moment, Laluda, it never comes

A lot happens in haste and lack of preparation

A little dirty also the scene, but I like the untidiness, yet, readiness

It's like 'ei danra, gaanta ga dekhi, ami bajai (Hey listen, drop everything and sing , let me play along..)

Laluda: Hyan. Yes. My teacher had taught me that Yaman embodied the extravagantly generous sensibility of a youth who was willing to give everything to the world. Imagine Panchak in Achalayatan who sings 'Aaj jemon kore gaiche akash' [Laluda's comment had been in Bangla. I gave a rough translation of it]

Me: Wow. That is rich. You know Laluda, I love Yaman the most.

Laluda: Me too!

Me: It's magical and overabundant in a way that doesn't offend. You used to sing that song.

Laluda: Yes, absolutely.

Me: It's like drowning in an ocean of melody and not being afraid..

       In a sea of Amrita!

Laluda: Taito! (yes, indeed)