The problem with an idea that you have in your head is that its expression is not pre-decided by words. Often for an easy, always discussed idea, we have pre-decided words that sort of express what the writer wants to convey. But, for newer ideas, newer insights, words either need to be re-decided or re-invented in a way that the idea is expressed as closely as possible to what is in the head of the writer. This is a serious concern for today's idea that I have as well.
Music interests me on a philosophical level. Not from an aesthetic point of view, but from a point of view of an Epistemology. We will try to articulate this half-baked idea, that is inside my head right now, into a succinct way such that we may hypothesize it in a crisp manner. But, beware, I am not emotional about music. I keep emotion as a by-product of the listening exercise, An exercise that should essentially begin as a neutral, rational exercise such that you indulge in the meditative stance that music offers usually.
We will take a song of Kailash Kher as an example. And I will try to express what I observe while listening to it. It will be an interesting exercise on my part, since it feels like a Philosophical experiment.
I would suggest to read this piece and listen to the song (the link of which I attach below)
Chokh puraavo
Maati rangaavo
Aaj mere piya ghar aavengey
Khabar sunaaun jo
Khushi reh bataaun jo
Aaj mere piya ghar aavengey (2)
Heri sakhi mangal gaao ree
Dharti ambar sajaao ree
Utregi aaj mere pee ki sawaari
Har koi kaajal laau ree
Mohey kaala tika lagaao ree
Unki chhab se dikhu main to pyaari
Lachhmi ji vaaro
Nazar utaaro
Aaj mere piya ghar aavenge (2)
Rangon se rang miley
Naye naye dhang khiley
Khushi aaj dwaar mere daaley hai dera
Peehu peehu papiha ratey
Kuhu kuhu koyal japey
Aangan aagan hai pariyon ne ghera
Anhad naad bajaao sab mil
Aaj mere piya ghar aavenge (2)
Anhad naad bajaari sab mil (3)
My First Proposition is the following, Here me out,
1. There are at least 2 stories visible to me when I listen to every lyrical music. First, conveyed by its lyrics, which is the obvious one, intelligible by anyone who is basic literate.
2nd is the story told by the music itself, the beats, the drums, the instruments, and the overall background.
Here is what I see in both the stories for the song,
Lyrics is obvious, A village woman, today my beloved will return, let us make the arrangements. What is interesting is that the story told by the lyrics and that of the music interchange at times.
Like, when, the Last line plays, this becomes so very obvious, As if the lyrics offers a clear way to divulge fully into the music. The last line says, "Anhad Naad Bajari Sab mil", Now, in Sufi Spirituality, Anhad Naad is the voice of God, the voice of silence.
How did a village woman get to know about anhad naad? How is it relevant to this context? Your beloved is coming back to home and this is what you consider a suitable music to welcome him? The voice of God? Anhad? Clearly, the story suddenly shifted to a devotee in a temple, or a Sufi Mystic in his Trance. Suddenly, the village woman turned into Meera, or Rumi.
And In retrospect, the whole song became a song of mysticism. But, it was not like they did not hint at that in the mid-lyrics. The music where Kher starts a new verse. listen, The voice becomes deep, the music slows, as if a Saint is about to deliver his sermon, As if After a chant, Osho is going to explain what the lines meant. Thee subsequent lines become meanings of the previous ones.
My Second observation is, Shokh puraao, maati rangaao, Fine. But why the voice is so meditative. The voice begins deep, here until the crescendo is reached, the voice of Kailahs kher is as if, A mantra has been chanted.
"Krishnaaya Vasudevaaye, Haraye Paramatmane,
Pranatah Klesha Nashaye, Govindaaye namo namah!"
This is what it seems to me. As if before a bhajan, A Kabir Doha is chanted. The spiritual story stays with the main worldly story of the village woman, in the background always, until the last, when the spiritual story takes over. As if, the village woman and Meera were connected somehow.
3RD OBSERVATION
Sitar starts playing. Suddenly, flashes of memories, ordinary nostalgia flashes before our eyes. This is all happening in imagination. Why suddenly the glimpses of a woman's fantasies about her man became so spiritual? Sitar symbolizes memories. The nostalgia. And there is only one Nostalgia in spirituality, that of the connection with the divine. Once, you were amongst the Gods. Now, you are separated. And you miss the divine. Ordinariness estranges you. Normalcy kills you. You were not normal, you were never human. You were divine. But you forgot it.
"Wo Darveshi, Jo Taj kar aa gaya tu, Ye Daulat uski Qimat hai? Nahi toh!"
~ Jaun elia
"The Sainthood that you rejected, is this wealth the price of that sainthood, that divinity? I hope not!"
Fourth
Khabar sunaaun jo, khusi re manaun jo, Aaj mere piya ghar aayenge. After nostalgia, the village woman announces that divinity will again collect the fallen one which fell from grace.
Unki Chhab se dikhun mai pyari...
His light makes me enlightened. The village woman becomes a moon.
Fifth
Shahnaai plays. Rangon se rang mile, Khushi aaj daale hain dera. Suddenly the lyric became Nature centric. Anhad naad bajaao ree sab mil, aaj mere piya ghar aavenge...
The voices, natural unnatural, everything subsumed under the voice of silence. This is the moment of ultimate bliss, the moment of divine. The moment when Piya came, took her by his arms, Hugged her. She melts in his arms. Rumi's eyes in trance gets filled with tears.
Meera, falls dancing in a sweet pain of the body. A Buddha forgets the body and the mind in that moment.
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