Disappearance Of Traditional Music – Swathi Ramesh (10BME0221)

Carnatic music is not something that many young people relate to these days. Indeed, gone are the days, when harmoniums and sitars were the 'it' things to learn and mothers fought with their counterparts and vied for the best Carnatic teachers for their children to learn from. Just like Sanskrit is slowly disappearing and getting lost in the myriad of new and hip languages, Carnatic music which owes the inspiration of its innumerable songs to the language, is slowly fading. Yes, ask a teenager on the street whether he or she has ever come across the words sruti, swara, and raga, and the tala system. Probably learnt them in history class? Do they listen to it? ‘No way' would be the typical reaction. Ask the same about the latest Metallica song? ‘Oh yeah!’ would be the reply. I'm not saying Carnatic music is gone forever. Go into the streets of say, Chennai and every other house would be buzzing with the sounds of a sruti box and a hoard of children singing along with thalam. You won’t find elder people listening to hard rock. No, it would be classical. It could and would be Carnatic music. So all is not lost yet! Carnatic music is a form of the Hindu legacy. A world without a legacy is like an ocean without a ship.

A ‘Rolling Stone’ Gathers No Moss, Just Good Music – Varnika Angampally (10BME0224)

I am so thankful to the magazine ‘Rolling Stones’, with the help of the internet. All my life, at least for the last five to six years, I have discovered and found such good music with the help of these websites and the magazine. There is never an end to finding good music. I personally like Indie Rock, although the genre was more prominent in the early 1980s, people have rediscovered this genre and the younger generation now love it.

Although Beatles has been my all-time favorite band, over the past year, I’ve started listening to bands like Foster the People, Fun and Eels. Listening to these artists, I understand what the older generation says about alternative rock, and soft rock. It’s not like I don’t listen to other genres of music, but Rock and Indie Rock fascinate me. The rhythm of the guitar, drums and the vocals are really soothing and satisfying.

Music – ‘Food For The Soul’ – Arpan Jivani (10BEM0080)

Life is hectic, fast and dynamic. It is much like a randomized set of events that fall together in this continuum of time, and being humans we need a certain amount of rejuvenation to keep some sanity in it. To me, that rejuvenation juice is this brilliant, infinitesimally diverse domain of human senses: Music.

Music has been the age old route of ultimate levels of self-expression, reaching those crannies of the heart and mind which words fail to even brush. Be it folk songs that bring out cultural vibrancy, or the emotionally arbitrary and psychedelic notes of alternative genres; every form of music has had its own place in society. And it is not any different at the individual level.

Preferences of music, like those of food, vary with a person’s disposition, and I’m no exception. On unusually happy days it is mostly snappy music that wins the ticket. The Beatles feature on the prime list with ‘Here comes the Sun’, ‘I want to Hold Your Hand’ and the evergreen ‘Hey Jude’ in the loop. Also queued are happy greats like Elvis Presley (“I ain’t nothing but a hound dogaah!”), Frank Sinatra (“Fly me to the moon”) and the lot. Not to leave behind our very own desi stuff: ‘Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye!’, ‘Wake Up Sid’, and ‘Jaane Tu..’ are one of my most favorite Bollywood soundtracks!

If you got happy days, you get your share of the blue ones as well. On those days I got to my company the wonders of jazz. Chet Baker with his amazingly soothing compositions, Buckethead for the mornings, and Mr. Muddy Waters bring out their best to get things up for you. Also in the loop is Coldplay’s springwaterlike music doing what it does best: Aqua Regia.

Then you have the average, everyday days that desperately call for some energy source. On such days, I call upon the services of one Mr. Heavy Metal and Mrs. Progressive Rock. Tool, Porcupine Tree, Kyuss, Eluvitie; they’re just the tip of the iceberg. Nothing better to pump some hormones and get you up and going than these kings of the class.

Finally, the evergreens. The Doors, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, The Who, and the best – Hindustani Classical. Give me any day, any time; I’ll pop them into my ears and won’t complain one bit.

So, there you have it! The one thing that fuels my mind and energy. Because, as they say, a world without music is like a dry canvas.

My Recurring Affair With Music – Samuel Victor (10BME0213)

Assuming my memory isn’t failing me, I can think back to a specific age when I first glimpsed a sight of what was to become my raving obsession with music. Of course, I used to listen to songs on and off before that too, but this one moment in my life changed everything I perceived about music. The band was Linkin Park, and now, in retrospect, I wonder how I was ever obsessed with such a mediocre, main-stream, sell-out band. Whatever the reasons, my first exposure to the genre called Metal (or Noise by most people) had a long lasting impression that would remain with me for the rest of my life. The raw sound of distorted power chords being belted out on drop tuned electric guitars appealed to me and invoked a sense of power in me that I had never experienced before. I had found where I belonged.

As time moved on, so did my tastes in music. I progressed, from the land of wannabe social rejects (whom society surprisingly accepted with open arms and stuffed wallets), onto the more brutal and serious tones of Thrash Metal. I discovered Metallica and Megadeth, two of the four bands that pioneered modern Thrash Metal. Their songs were more than just pleasing tones to listen to; they were anthems that defined generations. This was also when I had just started learning how to play the guitar, so it was like quenching my thirst with gasoline. I’d spend hours listening to Metallica, and learning a new song on guitar, not realizing how time was flying by me. Our ‘Superman versus Batman’ debates soon turned into ‘Metallica versus Megadeth’. 

Now that the flood gates were open, there was no turning back; Metal had become a way of life for me. I discovered the dark arts of Death Metal, which many people (my parents included) believe is anti-Christ. In fact, my parents actually went through this phase where they believed I was delving into Satan worship! It is safe to say I wasn’t. What really fascinated me about the genre were the ultra-fast guitar riffs, the machine-gun like double bass drums and the down tuned guitars which lent a different tone of brutality to the whole mix. Where most people just heard loud noise, I could appreciate the beauty of the music. Bands like Children of Bodom and Killswitch Engage were the new kids on the block. Looking back, I realize now that my taste in music actually evolved to match my increasing proficiency with the guitar. Once bands like Metallica no longer provided the challenge I wanted, I sought newer, faster bands like Children of Bodom.

But as always, Death Metal also finally caved, and gave way to my current obsession with Progressive Metal, Math Metal and Metalcore. Bands like Dream Theater, simply put, blew my mind away with a wide array of complex, technical music that I had never experienced before. Bands like Periphery, TesseracT, Cloudkicker, Meshuggah, Textures and Animals as Leaders left me wondering which world I’d been living in all this time. The people who had earlier thought I listened to loud noise, were now certain that I’d gone completely insane, listening to pointless drivel. But it takes a good ear to appreciate the off-time signatures, polyrhythmic undertones and the djent style of guitar playing. When you have to count out how many beats are to a bar just to follow the song, you definitely know you’re losing it! But it’s oddly satisfying to be able to understand such music which confounds most people. 

It’s been a long journey, getting from there to here. But given a chance, I wouldn’t change a thing. Music has been a part of me, the one thing that has always stood by me no matter what, even in the toughest of times. It has shaped me and molded me into what I am today, and for that, I am eternally grateful to the numerous artists whose creativity helped fuel mine.

My Taste in Music – How It All Came Together – Ameya Date (10BEM0019)

I’ve always loved music. Ever since I was a child, I have had that soft spot for good music. As I have grown up, I have developed a varied taste in music, due to a lot of different people and phases in my life.

My parents have always been avid listeners of Indian Classical and Semi Classical music. My dad in particular is a devoted fan of classical music, himself being quite proficient in playing the Tabla and singing. So naturally, I grew up with greats like Lata Mangeshkar and Pundit Bhimsen Joshi’s songs playing in the background. Old classical music was always a constant. It was there when we went on a long journey in a car; it was there on a quiet Sunday morning. And I fell in love with it too.

I also took some training in classical music. It just made me a bigger fan of the genre, because then I knew what the singer was trying to do, and how difficult it was. The high notes, the resonance of voice, the variations in scale, all of them connected with the music lover in me. I found that it was a very intelligent art. The effect that the overall song had wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t correctly and properly channeled. By the time I was a teenager, I had become a huge fan of Indian Classical and Semi Classical music.

In school, I was first introduced to English songs. Surprisingly, I took a liking to them instantly. I became a fan of the lyrics especially. I tried my hand at writing a few poems myself. My friends and I used to compete to see who could rhyme the best. I think due to this interest in lyrics and rhyming, we became fans of rap songs, and pop songs and rock and roll music. We listened to only what we thought was the best songs in these genres. The Backstreet Boys, Eminem, Kanye West, Avril Lavigne, Justin Timberlake, The Beatles, Abba and many others are some of my favorite artists in these genres. The lyrics, combined with the music and the talent of the singer just made it all come together in a way that wowed millions worldwide.

As I grew older, and as my knowledge about the world grew with me, I started to listen to various kinds of music. I started listening to genres like punk rock, heavy metal, progressive metal, and thrash metal and such. I found that these types of songs have a certain element of power in the lyrics, music, and vocals. I found myself swaying and nodding to these songs at first, and before I knew it, I was head banging and screaming to my heart’s content at concerts. The bands like Linkin Park, Metallica, Green Day, Iron Maiden, A Day to Remember, Slipknot, AC/DC, All That Remains, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Atreyu, Hinder, Chickenfoot, Killswitch Engage, Lynyrd Skynryd, The Offspring and many others really created history in their own right and made me a huge fan of their music. The way the drums or the rhythm guitar or vocals make a feeling of power surge through you is just not possible to describe. It has made the hair on the back of my neck stand. It has made my hand rise involuntarily in the air. It gives one a feeling of power, a strange joy. I have every riff, every note, every solo etched in my memory, and I am hungry for more.

Music has always been a companion. If I’ve been sad I’ve listened to it and felt better, if I’ve been angry I’ve listened to it and vented off steam, if I’ve been happy I’ve listened to it and celebrated. I have closely analysed songs, I have listened closely to the lyrics and the music, and I have found joy in the little details that I have noticed. In fact, when I listened closely, I realised how heavy metal music is actually very close to Indian classical music. When heard superficially, both genres seem to be poles apart, but they are quite similar. In terms of the effect of power that both of them have on the listener, in terms of requiring only skilled masters of music to be able to do justice to the songs, in terms of variety and allure and captivation of audiences and in terms of technique.

Now when I look at my collection of music, I’m truly baffled yet amused at how such a variety of genres ended up on my playlist. I have collected the music as I have grown up, and I’m not about to stop.

In conclusion, I can say with certainty that music has played a vital role in the kind of person I am today.