Music is magic. As for an individual listener, it can change his/her perspective, can intensify , enhance and/or wash away the mood of the moment, and energise the soul. As for the larger whole, the community, music has the might to unify the varied group in to something better.
Why these musical musings? Is that your 'a-mused' query? Well, the immediate look-in is the ongoing Mitr Mahotsv, organised by Mitra Foundation.
Imagine a lovely evening, dusk setting silently. There is a dapper nip in the air as winter is tentatively deciding to settle down in Pune. Just a hundred or two feet away from the roaring traffic is a well-lighted pandal, perfectly structured, what with giant screens mounted at strategic points.
The softest delicate notes float in, and the batate wada crunching chit-chatting janta goes quiet. The silence, nay, rather, the peace grows by the second, as transfixed by the sweet santoor notes is the public that does not understand the niceties, especially because the performing artist, Rahul Sharma (the son of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma who made santoor, a local Kashmiri instrument, accepted globally, and both by the classes and the masses) has chosen to play a Raag not much known.
Yet every trill and each tone of the Raag, Raag Rajeshwari, keeps on unfolding with masterful and yet gentle charm. Somehow, somewhere it touches the sensitive chords of a roughly two thousand strong audience that listens with rapt attention, clapping at times at wrong places which is okay, too, because that piece, may be, touched some cord in the soul.
Next follows a 'jugalbandi' with the tabla maestro. This duet of the 'sur' and 'taal' literally transfixes the audience. So is the artist, eyes closed, as if lost to the world of music which he himself seems to enjoy a lot, accompanied by his percussionist, too. He reveals, moreover, how the melody in that extremely difficult-to-play instrument can create its special harmony, its own rhythm. The mehfil continues from classical to folk.
On the wings of notes float two hours. The ticking time, measured by seconds and minutes, does not seem to matter as captivated by the empire of music is the audience, even if not exactly initiated. That is the might of music.
Such might, present in abundance, makes the evening magical, especially because instrumental music is beyond words, and yet somehow manages to touch softly the tender core of human(e) beings. Yes, mighty magical is music!
Pratima@ I cannot thank Gokhale Madam enough for the invite because thus could I participate in a miracle!
Quote of the day: "Music washes away," feels Berthold Auerbach,"from the soul the dust of everyday life."
Word of the day:leitmotif. 'Leitmotif' refers to the underlying idea, the central organic structure of the piece. It is a term that has transcended the empire of music to successfully reside in the realm of literature.
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