Sha Sa sa Ha

These points were highlights of many discussions with different friends at different points in time - about singing, listening, about music and musicians in general. Didn't know how to make a coherent essay out of it. Since they were lingering on in the mind even after many months, felt like spilling the beans here. So, here goes the collage.

- Till the advent of digital music players, music CDs and MP3 format, listening to a carnatic (or for that matter , any other form of music) used to be a hobby and pass time for the rich. Only they could afford the money and means to buy record tapes. Cassettes were, to an extent, affordable to the middle class but still not a whole lot possible. Technology has made music affordable and reach more people, no doubt. Starting from CDs to Mp3s, now its the digital recording devices and broadband that makes music sharing easy across the globe. Jaya TV concerts happening in Chennai are broadcast by music aficionados through youtube within few days.

Every listener's house is nowadays flooded with CDs in all colors. Over a period of listening to music albums again and again, we start listening to the musician more and not just the music. Profound does it sound. what does it mean! We start to like one person's way of singing more than the other and attach stupidly silly reasons to it. At one point, the monkey mind kept analysing, judging and marking on a scale of 1 to 10! Mind was also justifying the whole process as 'I am becoming a better and better listener day by day'. Juvenile as it may get. I went thru this.

Then suddenly all the judgements drop and we just only listen - listen with oneness of heart, mind and love for music. Everything else vanishes. Pure music, pure love, still mind.

- Apologize for the judgements that happened during the above described period of listening. It doesn't bother me anymore but used to give me goosebumps when I hear it loud and clear. Sudha Raghunathan always, BJ and Nithyasree for some time now, and recently RG - all of them were appalling with their pronunciation - Sha instead of Sa ! Where do they get it ! Sowmya tried hard, got it wrong the first time, kept trying, got it all right the third time onwards. Keep up the hard work. Again apologize for my bitter/pompous remarks, but I went Grrrr when I heard them ஷொல்ல instead of சொல்ல.

- Having chosen to work in a manufacturing plant, it becomes next to impossible to allot time even over weekend for music practice. Its been years since I sang (except for the disability leave time when I had the fortune of practising daily at home). All the while, listening was non-stop during the evenings in the kitchen. So, manodharma/imagination for singing is faster and more developed now than what the voice could reach. This in turn turns out to be discouraging to practice further. The listener in me is more advanced than the singer.