Musical thoughts

Looking at the last two blogs, I seem to have been churning out sob stories big time aka Ekta Kapoor. Well, we cant all be cheerful all the time. No reason to bug us with your miseries, you say. I agree. It shall happen no more.

Heard yesterday that a friend has formed a band and the band is performing today in Bangalore. I have never been to a performance by a friend in a band. This would have been unusual. Maybe they will get really famous and come perform in Pittsburgh. Maybe I should stop talking nonsense and get a life.

Having practically no company does have its advantages. I have now discovered that I like carnatic music. Really like it. I used to be cajoled into going to learn singing. And giving exams in singing. Trust exams to take the joy out of learning stuff. The coercion probabaly resulted in some good things, like being able to distinguish good music from bad, but because of it,I never realized I have a liking for music.

In my opinion, one of the most uplifting forms of musical tributes has always been the Tyagaraja Aradhana. I have watched most of them in the past years and hearing thousands of musicians come together has always given me a high. Wikipedia has a page on it! ( But they have one on Anu Malik also, I just discovered). To come back to the topic, what is perfectly fascinating about the festival in honour of Tyagaraja is the fact that any small time musician can pay tribute to him on that day and feel one with the great masters. I think that is what Tyagaraja would have liked about it too. It is a pleasure to see the good, the bad, the ugly and the paunchy musicians sit on the banks of the river Cauvery and sing with the enthusiasm of kids. Camera conscious old men, female musicians wearing Kanjeevaram sarees and jasmine strands reaching their waist, interpersed with a famous musicians, all singing in one voice. Feels great to look at, to listen to. The melody seems strangely enhanced by the number of voices and feels almost mystic to me.

It has always been a dream to attend one of the Aradhanas. I got a pleasant surprise when I saw that Cleveland has a Tyagaraja Aradhana in April . Sadly this year it coincides with my exams. But next year, come what may, I will be in Cleveland in April. And maybe , who knows, the year after that, I may be in Thiruvaiyur!