Some musings on music, as it were…

This one time Donald Trump unwittingly left an impression on me circa 2003 is when the prankartiste Sacha Baron Cohen as Ali G mockinterviewed the realestate baron then to ask what he thought was the most popular thing in the worldNever mind the context of that joke without a pause Trump said ldquoMusicrdquo And isnrsquot that frickinrsquo true I thoughtEverybody in the world indulges in music while they donrsquot need it for essential survival unlike cooking cleaning etc You could hate some sorta music surely But you enjoy music period As against how fewer people engage with all other artsBut do we experience music the same way tooThe great VS Naipaul was once asked in a BBC radio interview about his personal relationship with music He said he grew up with music being ldquoexternalrdquo to his home Which is an interesting split to define it as I feltProfesional singer Shilpa Rao PicNimesh DaveIsnrsquot music quite internal to the brain still Can speak for myself Tap on my shoulder anytime Irsquod tell you the exact song playing in my head right now and all through the bloody dayItrsquos not necessarily a favourite song mdash quite often the last tune I heard getting off a cab perhaps Or simply something that someone said or I readsawWhich the subconscious mind drawing some connection or the other segued into pulling out a random track from an infinite playlistThe composition is usually an invading earworm I donrsquot knowcare for the lyric so much The notes refuse to let go Until another set similarly replaces it sometimes within a minute And yes I softly hum throughout the waking hoursWhich makes me wonder if this might be a desi thing mdash to whistle hum rattle or drum in the car in the shower up the lift down the streethellip Itrsquos how music possibly transmits through generations Melody is chocolatey Words are simpleAnd perhaps why we still love popular Hindi music from the 1950s down to the nasal rsquo90s Or maybe in the popular imagination BeethovenBeatles bigger than say Megadeth or SDRD Burman gt AR RahmanObviously no knock on the talents Theyrsquore all as timeless as it gets But you inevitably bend on your knees and move to Rahmanrsquos GOAT number lsquoChhaiya Chhaiyarsquo on the dance floor You hardly sing it to yourselfThat said for the most part none of us really are singers worth listening to anywayProfessional singer Shilpa Rao believes being born with a voice is a myth In the sense that ldquoyou sing in several capacities The lohrilullaby may not be technically sound But itrsquos correct with the love Thatrsquos what the music holds for yourdquoBefore Rao became one of Bollywoodrsquos top playback singers she read statistics in college ldquoIn one linerdquo she tells me ldquoStatistics is the study of human nature put in numbers it captures anomaliesrdquoAnd in that anomaly resides art Itrsquod be AI otherwise For instance she argues when she performs her popular track lsquoBulleyarsquo from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil onstage itrsquos usually the superloud audience around 10000 people who sing alongEach is not a perfect singer But the collective sound averages out the margins of error and it becomes harmonious ldquoTherersquos still no AI or autotune with humanfeel button to itrdquoWhat about those who sing so perfectly that your jaws drop that regularly when you tune in to reality TV shows like Indian Idol Sa Re Ga Ma Pa even YouTubeInstagram ReelsIf thatrsquos the level of talent thatrsquos always existed mdash whyrsquos it that when you look back at the popular Indian greats such few come to mind From 1950s60s onwards for decades in Hindi playback singing KishoreRafi LataAsha givetake a couple moreldquoPersistencerdquo Rao reasons Itrsquos one thing to sing a song already sung Quite another to repeatedly produce from within in two hours flat when no reference point existsThe first time Rao attempted an original composition lsquoKaisi paheli zindaganirsquo from Parineeta she knew she wasnrsquot there yet Composersinger Shankar Mahadevan guided her to sharpen wares with adjingles firstShersquos been a singer since a baby Her father S Venkat Rao a highend engineer with an MA in music ensured music wasnrsquot just ldquointernalrdquo to her homeIt was their home itself He told her there are always two lives mdash one with art the other without Pick the former Itrsquos inherently a more enriching lifeHe drove her to practiceriyaaz ldquoHersquos Aamir Khan from Dangalrdquo she laughs I suppose persistence makes perfect Sometimes the penny dropsThe first time I watched Rao perform live 2024 was in her 30second Insta Reel singing the title track of Kalank It felt so viscerally pristinepure I mustrsquove replayed it a thousand times myself Itrsquos gone viral sinceShe remembers it was from singer Hariharanrsquos birthday ldquoThey call it aamadrdquo Rao says mdash the arrival of the muse ldquoYoursquove to catch it Sur lag rahe therdquo The notes were flowingI find that with writing on rare occasion Surely same with you regardless of what you do Plus whether or not you believe in God mdash how can you not believe in music Turns out all of us do Amen to aamad Mayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14 Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper