Passion 2: Music

“Dil hoom hoom kare, ghabraaye
Ghan dham dham kare, darr jaaye
Ek boond kabhi paani ki mori ankhiyon se barsaaye
Dil hoom hoom kare, ghabraaye

- Rudaali (1993)

7 yr old me asks: That so doesn’t sound like Dimple Kapadia. And where are the musicians??
Mom: That’s called playback singing. Songs are pre-recorded in a studio and later, simply played during the shoot. And no, Dimple Kapadia ain’t singing this one. Playback singers do the singing, in the studio.

That accounted to the little me, for all the sudden music and singing in Bollywood movies! I’d always wonder how difficult it must be to set up a music troupe in the middle of nowhere! Now I finally knew their cheat. Hmph!

Thus started the growing love for this new and independent (as I now realised) form of art. Being an actor din’t necessarily mean you had to know to sing or play the instruments, after all. There were special artistes to do just that.

Back then, I was exposed primarily to Bollywood songs, with added Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Urdu songs ranging from Classical, Carnatic, Ghazals, Lavnis, movie numbers, Devotional songs (Islamic, Christian, Hindu) and the like, thanks to Dad’s wide and eclectic music collection. That exposure still shines on..

It also happened to be the same year that my dad’s friend gifted me a Casio, my first keyboard. Unable to do create any music more than few pounds on the keys, I’d always end up letting it play the preset tunes and demos. I loved my instrument! With a little practice, I could play some tunes from Hindi movies, if not too well. Six years later, we heard of a tutor/ Guru who’d recently moved into our block. All of us little happy campers ran to her with our keyboards to finally make sense of the keys!

My Guru was a dear Lady who was amused at the first demo of my keyful proficiency that I offered her. Assured me I’d learn fast enough and set to work at once. Hindustani Classical is the medium we learnt in. The Sa Re Ga Ma and the soulful Ragas were a joy to play! She kept our fingers tickin’ with Bollywood numbers as well, those that we’d chose as we liked. Quite a lot of note-writing on her part to put down every key note in Sa Re Ga Ma! It was amazing how 7 notes with variations is all it took to make music, and that so diverse!

As it turned out, I was the best among the lot, for all I ever did those days was ram on at my keys day and night back home. My Guru’s husband, also a Tabla Guru himself would love always stop by and make me play whenever he came around. He’d then prop his tablas up onto the table next to my keyboard and we’d both then jam to the finest of ragas- Raag Yaman!

Their beautiful daughters were friends of mine, and theirs was a happily musical family from Indore. My best memory with them is the Diwali evening I’d spent with them and their extended family, so much of happy singing and playing.. my first performance in front of a highly, musically proficient audience! Their applauds being my highest accolade yet! Those were the days..

(To be Continued..)


----------------
Now playing: Lata Mangeshkar - Dil Hoom Hoom Kare
via FoxyTunes