![]() Let me refresh your memory with some such true gems of Manna Dey now. A simple definition or criterion to judge true melody is that which is evergreen unlike a passing phase. We get overwhelmed with music which is shot at us from TV or Radio commercials but if we proactively discover true melody we will be surprised by what we have been missing all these years. Similar is the case with several other songs which are based on classical ragas. ![]() Who can forget, O Paalanhaare from Lagaan or some of his other songs? Simple reason that it “grows in” us is that his music has a background basis of some classical raga, either Hindustani or Karnatak style. We rarely appreciate Rahman music in our first attempt, but give it some time and something catches our attention and we fall in love with it. Even the Rahman music is often characterized in this fashion. I may not appreciate it for the first time, but as is often the case, true melody always “grows in” us. This is the first time in my life that I am listening to her. As I am typing this, I have just now started playing Begum Akhtar’s album with her songs based on some classical ragas. There are actually several albums available in music stores and of course on internet websites which have collection of classical songs of several singers. Again, not to be frightened or overwhelmed with the word “classical”, but the idea is to expose ourselves to little different and melodious mood of music. If we are already listening to Rafi Sahab, let’s get an album in which he has sung songs which are closer to a classical raga. If we have been listening mainly to Kishore Kumar, let us now try to immerse ourselves into Mohammad Rafi and see how this new musical wave refreshes us all over again. Instead, all that is needed is to explore, experiment and expand our boundaries of melodies. This dichotomy unnecessarily creates boundaries between melodies. To be sure, there is no need to advocate any boundary between popular and classical music. To some more ambitious folks, this boundary also encompasses few popular ghazals of Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Udhas and in rare cases some Bhajans of Anup Jalota. We have virtually surrounded ourselves with popular film music and that seems to work for us. ![]() We never transcend the popular songs such as, Mere sapno ki rani (Aradhna), Papa kehte hain bada (QSQT), Mehdi laga ke rakhna (DDLJ), and of course, the recent hits from Veer Zaara, Lagaan, Chalte Chalte, Kal Ho Na Ho….the list is endless. Our fleeting lives just get spent listening to few repeated singers over and over again, be it Kishore Da of sixties or Udit Narayan of nineties or Sonu Nigam of 21st century. ![]() We seem to be content with the tip of the iceberg which floats on top of the water but that is only one tenth of the real content. Who doesn’t like melody? Whose heart doesn’t beat for Kishore Kumar’s yodeling? Whose ears don’t reverberate with Lata Mangeshkar’s eternal songs? Who doesn’t want to dance with Asha Bhosle’s scintillating numbers? Music is already in every heartbeat and yet in the humdrum and cacophony of hundreds of singers and thousands of albums among us, we still tend to miss the true music in its more intense and sublime melody.
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