A Restless Mind

Music has always been a huge part of my existence, so much so that I can easily associate certain periods of my existence to specific songs which were popular at the time. What I find really interesting is how much one's taste in music can grow and evolve through time. Just like personality undergoes a thorough metamorphosis, what one perceives as being good music can also change considerably.

I don't recall the first ever song, lullabies aside, to reach my ears, but I am pretty sure it was something by either Nadeem Shravan or Jatin-Lalit. Having had a typical South Asian upbringing, I was completely into Bollywood. The early Nineties were dominated by countless romantic comedies which had the typically one-dimensional Indian music of that era, characterised by the ubiquitous tabla and loud vocals of Kumar Sanu. ALL songs had the same blueprint. Don't get me wrong though, some of those were absolute classics, like the soundtracks of Saajaan, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Aashiqui amongst others. But at that time, I was only starting to get to grips with this new type of media.

Then, Dil Se came and everything changed! I already knew about Roja, Bombay and Rangeela, but when this good friend of mine lent me the music cd of Dil Se, I was blown away. I had started to be tired of the repetitive boring fare which was available in the mid-nineties, but listening to Allah Rakha Rahman's (A.R.Rahman) legendary soundtrack to the Bollywood film, Dil Se was an eye-opener (or an ear-opener??). The soundtrack was absolute gold! It redefined Bollywood music through its then unconventional fusion of Indian tunes with Western beats. Even after eleven years, the tracks still sounds very modern and avant-guardist. No other composer would leave such an imprint on my life. I have since then wolfed down anything created by the Mozart of Madras.

The Rahmania still persists to this day, but it became less intensive when I moved abroad for studies. It was quite strong in the first few months I was away from home. Listening to music has a bigger calming effect on my restless nerves than the purest weeds would have. It is the ultimate refuge, the supreme respite from everyday life. After a few months of trying hard to exhaust my inexhaustible A.R.Rahman collection, I set about discovering Western music. In Mauritius, I would never listen to an English rock song or a French pop song, purely because I was not into it at all. But I really started to give it a try at university. This phase reminded of my introduction to pre-1998 Indian music. It was chaotic. I got easily attracted to cheesy pop (which I now totally despise!!). Yet again though, a single album veered me right off the well-trodden track. That Grammy Award winning album was Green Day's American Idiot. Rock had entered my life and was there to stay. This new genre of music which blasted my ears for the next few years would come from artists like the Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, Kasabian, Coldplay, Marilyn Manson, Muse,...etc

I now had a more varied taste in music and kept on going as I broadened my tastes with the discovery of Nitin Sawhney and Pakistani bands like Junoon and Strings. I never forgot my first true love, that is, Indian music and I still find it incredibly silly when people refuse to listen to Indian music because for some reason they feel that listening to western music only makes it easier for them to be accepted in a westernised society, which is pure nonsense.

All was going fine with me indulging in indie, alternative, acid and alkali rock and at the same time, satisfying my cultural thirst for Asian music. Then a cataclysmic event rocked (no pun intended) my world a few weeks ago. I was once again growing weary of all the rock bands out there. I had narrowed my repertoire to a few Indie bands. But then I thought I wanted to try out some old rock. I had already been enthralled by Blues and Jazz (I am a closet Amy Winehouse fan and a proud B.B.King fan too!) without getting obsessed about it in the way I did about Rahman and western rock music. I think I reached a certain age where I wanted to explore more and more genres to satisfy my urgings for new musical thrills. So, in this verve, a colleague and friend lent me a music cd (getting a sense of deja-vu? I have really good friends!) to explore something new. It was called Experience Hendrix : The Best of Jimi Hendrix. The first song I listened to was Voodoo Child. Now, I knew who Jimi Hendrix was, but I had never given him a try before. As that spellbinding intro kicked in, I was transferred into another world. The guitar strokes were hypnotic. The lyrics and the vocals were mind-blowing. I had never heard anything like that. I had listened to Chuck Berry a few times before and he sounded like the genius everyone knew he was. But Hendrix was taking it to another level in my mind. Hendrix is considered to be the most influential musician of all time, but I am normally sceptical of these unofficial titles, but Hendrix not only made me eat that scepticism with a slice of bread and cheese but has also given me a new obsession.

Hendrix is now ever-present on my playlist and I will endeavour to dig out every single track of his and enjoy them. I am also planning to intensify my search for decent Blues and Country (heard some good things about a certain guy called Johnny Cash) tunes. I also have to check out these two bands that people are saying were quite simply amazing, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin! Will a lifetime be enough to experience all the musical goodies available on Earth?

I apologise for such a lengthy post. It only goes to show how embedded music is in my ordinary life that once I get started, no-one can shut me up. Let me know about how you saw the spectrum of your musical tastes evolve over time, or how it hasn't changed at all!

You can also savour the Voodoo Child track below!