When I
say Musasm, please don’t wear your dirty thoughts hat as you would be
thoroughly disappointed. I have a very different piece to present here. We all
are interested in Music. What kind of Music? Music of varied types be it
western, classical, jazz, latin and so on. Music is very graceful. Something we
can relate it to our thoughts, life and experiences. It takes us to a new land
filled with soul and peace. But what happens when Music doesn’t have any words.
Will it lose its sense? Will it lose its sanity? Will it lose its sanctity? I don’t
think so. One such beautiful piece which woke my senses or touched my soul is
Ancient love by Sitar stalwart Anoushka Shankar. She comes from a very lustrous
background of Music with her dad ‘Ravi Shankar on one side and half sister ‘Norah
Jones’ on the other. Her work has always amused me to a large extent. The way
she plays Sitar, One can see god or feel his presence in it.
Everything
about Ancient love –
The
piece starts with a Hindustani classical vocal played by a male counterpart.
The nuances were placed beautifully with the soft rendition of Sitar. Then it
slowly catches the pace with strong play of the instrument. In olden days, love
was very pure and simple in nature. Things like sun, rain, weather, nature, and
surroundings played an important role in the relationships. The experience was
ethereal. The boy and girl found their pleasure in small things and things
rarely got complicated. But religion played a significant part in their
relationship. They were strictly opposed to feel love outside their religion.
That was considered as a taboo. That was how lives of Janaki and Vinod had
turned out. Feeling strongly for each other, they couldn’t sacrifice their love
for their family and village but were forcefully caught up with the caste and
religion stigma. The social pressure made their lives difficult and the folks separated
them. Their love continued to remain alive and young but failed to unite them.
The last 2 minutes of Sitar says us the story of Janaki and Vinod’s last visit
to each other at the river backwaters. They were in midst of emotional turmoil.
They cried, laughed, hugged and kissed. That was the last time they were
actually alive. They lived. They did not take the worst case of death. But
though they stayed in marriage with the person of same caste, they were dead
from inside. They led the mechanical life and failed to feel bliss in world.
They desired nothing but each other. The end part gives us the trials and a
tribulation faced by them and ends on a sad note. The rhythm and tone is very
effective and tempo increases at the end. Anoushka has made the rendition very
interesting. I will come up with version 2 of the same instrumental legend
work.
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