Thank You For The Music

Yes, I like ABBA, but this isn't just about that. This is about the other magic that exists in our lives. This is about the second inexplicable phenomenon that takes over our hearts.

Music. That Music exists is perhaps one of the few virtues of the world. It is said that Music and Love have a deep connection because they both originate from the heart of beings. Music is borne out of Love. Out of strong emotions. When we make love, we make Music with our bodies. Music is when our mute soul expresses itself through vibrations and sounds. It is the Andante and Allegro pouring out from the deepest, most obscure corners of your soul. It is your life's slow Waltz. It is the smile that hangs around your lips when you close your eyes and sit back in your chair in the local coffee shop, and let the Moonlight Sonata take over you. Music is the adrenaline in your veins and the synapses in your brain. Music is You. You are Music. And it is timeless. Music is the perfect cast for emotions to be poured into, set and preserved. Through lifetimes, generations, civilizations.

Mozart's Don Giovanni was born out of his anguish, guilt and pain at the death of his father. The Reprobate Punished, as the title means, still makes the World shake as this Music takes over their mind and soul with its brilliance. You can still feel Mozart's pain as the chords and chorus hit you, and you carry it in your soul as if it were your own wound. There are many other examples, but I choose to share this one because it is close to my heart. I am Mozart's libertine, and when it all ends, I want forgiveness because I am pained and anguished.

Because of this intricate connection of Music to our very Being, it is very powerful. Music is, thus, also sacred. This can be especially well understood in the context of Indian classical music. It is believed that the seven basic notes, also called Sargam, were revealed to ancient, learned sages/priests/hermits by the Gods themselves. They prayed to God to be given a means to bring themselves closer to God and to their inner self, and they were given Music. They were given the ability to create instruments from trees and gourds, and produce sounds that could move mountains. Sometimes, not even metaphorically. Literally. The Indian history is full of records of musicians being able to perform miracles with their Music. Tansen, for example, could calm animals, light lamps, and even make it rain when he took to his Sitar.

When we hear a piece of Music that hits home with us, we undergo a transformation that changes a part of us forever. It opens up new avenues for looking at the World, contemplating life and even lifestyle. We are never the same again. Every piece of Music, when it hits our ears, causes the little cells in our ears to give a slight nudge to your nerves. These auditory nerves then carry this music to your brain, and every little bit is transferred through a chemical reaction. This chemical reaction is a physical alteration in your brain. It forms connections in your brain, synapses, that weren't present before, and it creates small molecules that preserve this Music in your head as a memory. In short, we are our own LP record, our own Vinyl, CD. Cool, eh?

With in invention of portable music players, headphones, iPods etc., our Music now travels with us everywhere. It is as if we were in our own Musical. When you walk down the street on a particularly nice day, and "I believe I can Fly" comes up on your mp3 player, the spring in your step gets a tad bit springier. We celebrate with Music, let it feel our loneliness, our joy, grow up with it, grow old with it, overcome our heartbreaks with it, share our victories with it. Our Life, really, is a soundtrack.

My life is a soundtrack too. A vibrant, ever-changing soundtrack generously stows away my emotions, my ups and downs, my fears and joys, my very soul in the secure folds of its warmth, its serenity. I am because Music is. I am fortunate to have heard those sounds and felt those vibrations and been swept by those powerful waves of Music that have moved the World since the beginning of time. For me, it all ends when Music ends. There is no world, no existence without Music. And my Music will stay with me. In this world, and the next. Like a Guardian Angel.

Thank you for the Music.