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| The team that attended the Infinite Love Concert by AR Rahman |
I would love to go on and on about the concert here, but I have already written quite a lot about it on my Bucketlist page. Those who would like to read it can find it here:
http://bucketlist.org/i/lC9U/#.VBUIFhBpipM
Since I have already written about it and do not want to make a double entry, maybe I should just stop here and conclude that I have completed the Bucketlist. Well that’s not possible is it? It’s just hard to shut myself up when I start writing. So what should I write about? Since this post is about me watching a live concert for the first time, then it would be wise to write about the music in my life; the songs and type of music that have influenced my life from young until now. That would be interesting, I think.
Well, where do I start? It’s very hard to recall the younger days. Everything always seems like a blur. But if I try hard enough, I still remember, in bits and pieces of course. The source of music during younger days was only from the radio and television. The radio, coming from an Indian family, was always tuned to Radio 6, or better known as Vaanoli Aaru in Tamil. That’s where you get all the Tamil songs from. As usual, the cassette player never worked from the time I could recall hearing from the radio. So it was always the radio station. The good thing was, Vaanoli Aaru had all type of songs, but all in Tamil of course. Be it old songs or new, Radio 6 had it all. In the mornings I would wake up to either “Paramasivam Kazhuthil” by TMS, “Iraivanidam Kai Yendhugal” by Nagoor Hanifa or my personal favourite “Vandha Naal Mudhal” also by TMS.
That’s how a typical morning started during my younger days, when I say younger day’s means up to standard 3. Radio 6 mostly played a mixture of old songs and hit songs by Ilaiyaraaja. There were some old songs which I really liked, “Ullathil Nalla Ullam” from Karnan, almost all songs from Thiruvilaiyadal especially “Paatum Naane” and mixture of songs from MGR, Sivaji Ganesan and Gemini Ganesan movies. KV Mahadevan and the duo of Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy reigned supreme those days. But it wasn’t a time where I was aware who composed which song and who sang it. Singers like TMS, Srikazhi Govindarajan, TR Mahalingam and many others were at their peak. I only got to know about these amazing singers’ years after listening to their voices. Then there was Ilaiyaraaja, the king of the 80’s. SP Balasubramaniam and Yesudass were at the pinnacle of their success. The 80’s had many memorable songs. Songs from Salangai Oli, Nayagan, Thalapathy, Mouna Ragam, Agni Natchithram, Sindhu Bairavi, Thevar Magan, and many individual songs from the movies of those days. It was the type of music that you can still listen too even today.
In standard 3 all these changed. My bus ride to school was the one that changed everything. While the radio was still playing old songs and mostly 80’s Hits by Illaiyaraja, which I am also a huge fan of, the musical genius AR Rahman had already arrived, making his debut in movies through Roja in 1992, and that was that. Before this, the cassette player on my bus would be continuously playing Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” or New Kids on the Block. But the older boys in my bus changed that when they brought cassettes of “Roja” and “Gentleman”, followed by “Kadhalan” the following year. Every morning I would be listening to AR Rahman from the moment I get on the bus until I reach school. Since AR Rahman started his career, he had made a deep print in my mind and my heart of course. He had a special touch when he composed for Maniratnam and I love almost all the songs. I can go on to list which songs of AR Rahman that I like but that would mean listing almost 95% of all the songs that he has ever composed, which would include some of the songs that I have not even listened to yet. His music garnered to every emotion and situation that I had gone through in my life. It was a connection on a different level. So whatever new music I listen to, AR Rahman was the only one that didn’t fade away even until now.
My bus ride musical journey ended when I was fourteen. Starting from form three, I cycled to school, so no more songs and music during my journey to school anymore. This was also the time that I was introduced to more western oriented songs. Even though there was no MTV on Malaysian channels during that time, the existing channels didn’t fail to air songs which were huge hits. This is when I came to knew about the likes of Backstreet Boys, 911, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, N’Sync, Westlife and many others. It was the pop culture era and whether I liked it or not, I actually listened to boy-bands. Yes, kind of hard to imagine right. Well, it was popular back then and who was I to escape mainstream media.
Never the less, form four onwards I started developing a new taste in music. Two tastes actually, the first one being Disney. I have always been a fan of Disney or any animation for that matter. I grew up watching The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Aladdin, Pocahantas, Toy Story, Hercules, Mulan and many others. At first I didn’t notice but the music and songs in Disney animations have always been something that I really enjoy. Sometimes I just play the songs rather than watching the whole movie. The “Beauty and the Beast” theme song, “I Can Show You the World”, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”, “Colours of the Wind”, “Hakuna Matata” and many more have been played over and over again in my house, through the VCD player of course. So, just like AR Rahman, Disney animation songs have always been there with me until now. Of course many new Disney songs have come along the way since then, but the oldies are always the best.
The second taste in music that I developed during that time was BGM. Yes BGM; Background Music. This was the time I got to know composers like John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Alan Silvestri, Michael Kamen, Trevor Rabin and other composers that I didn’t know by name but only recognized through their music. BGM opened a whole new world of imagination when I listened to it. I was able to create my own story in my mind when I listened to music from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, The Rock, Mission Impossible, Gladiator, Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron, Back to the Future, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, X-Men, Armageddon and many others. My story differs from the actual movies. The music drives me to come up with new ideas and stories, a world of imagination which I alone can shape however I want it. I almost forgot to mention one of my favourite BGM composers; of course it’s AR Rahman. He is a genius when it comes to BGM. The Bombay theme music takes me to a different world each time I listen to it. There are so many movies composed by AR Rahman that without the BGM the movie would not be worth watching at all. Just like AR Rahman and Disney songs, BGMs have also remained with me until now whether it’s old or new.
Soon came the years when I left Malaysia to go to Moscow. It was life changing years. So did my perception of music; it became wider. I became accustomed to wider genres of music in Moscow. I had friends from different walks of life and their musical preference was various. So I was introduced to new type of music and rekindled with music and songs that I have listened to before. First was Malay songs. I use to listen to quite a number of Malay songs back in school days. We had only three television channels back then, so you are bound to watch shows like Muzik-Muzik. It showcases local artist and their music; great way to get to know the local music industry. You also had song fillers in between television shows; that helped too. I would enjoy songs from Awie, Exist, XPDC, Search, Wings, Ukays, Siti Nurhaliza, M.Nasir, Ella, even Raihan. I was reintroduced to all these songs when I was in university. Plus a few more Indonesian bands which were quite good, like Peter Pan, Padi, Ungu and many others.
Besides Tamil, English and Malay, I listened to a lot of Hindi songs. At the beginning it was limited to whatever movies that were aired on television. But when we had a VCD player, the world of Hindi music blew wide open. We watched a lot of Hindi movies, my brother and I to be exact. Shahrukh, Salman, Aamir, we watched it all. Most of the movies had good songs. Be it Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or Lagaan, we would be listening to a lot of Hindi songs. But I did kind of side more towards songs from movies starred by Shahrukh Khan. But as time passed on, it didn’t matter who starred in the movie, as long as the song was good I would listen to it. For example, “Tere Bin” by Atif Aslam; I use to listen to it every day before going to sleep last time.
Most importantly, I started listening to band based songs and music when I was in Moscow, especially because my roommate was an excellent guitarist and he manage to put together a band of his own in Moscow. I use to follow the band when they go for their jamming sessions. This is when I found a whole new world of music. Everyone would have heard of famous bands like Nirvana, Guns N Roses, Metallica and others, so have I. But I only knew one or two of their songs before this. After coming to Moscow, I got to know more of their songs. “Don’t Cry”and “November Rain” played almost every day. Metallica resounded through the surround system in our room. I got to know new bands, Blink-182, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Sum 41, Korn, Matchbox 21, Incubus and many more. But I developed a personal favourite for a particular band, System of a Down. This band was little bit on the hard rock side, not totally, but they were around there. But I loved their songs. I would blast their songs in my room for hours; “Chop Suey” and “Toxicity” was played the most. It was ecstatic.
I also listened to Russian, Korean and songs from other languages. At a point, it didn’t matter who the artist was, as long as it was good I would listen to it. Whether it was Beyonce, Avril Lavigne or Gwen Stefani, Linkin Park, Alter Bridge or Limp Bizkit, Gorillaz, Enrique Iglesias, or Pussy Cat Dolls, Frank Sinatra, Elvis or Michael Jackson, I listened to it all, literally all.
After coming back from Moscow, my musical preference has not changed. I still listen to all sorts of music. My choice of music is not particularly defined by any genre; I was listening to classics like Bach, Beethoven and Mozart at one point of time, sometimes I still do. My love for music does not have any borders, whether it’s the language, the artist, the genre or any other way it is defined. The music that I listen to depends on my mood, my environment, my condition and my emotions. It’s a way I connect and talk to myself.
But, in recent times I have noticed one thing; I am not listening to music as much as I used to. Last time I use to sit and enjoy music, just as it is. I won’t be doing any work while listening to music. I will be literally just listening to music. That would be the primary job; listening to music. It’s been long since I did that. Writing this article has turned out to be a wakeup call. It’s about time I sat down and revisited some old songs for memories sake and also it’s about time I looked for new songs to build new memories with.
Oh yes, before ending the article, I should go back to the beginning of the article. Bucketlist “Watch a Live Concert” completed.
