Music is the food of life! Music is something that I’ve loved ever since I can remember loving anything. What I love most about music is its ability to adapt to the changing times effortlessly. In the early 1900s, classical music was for the elite classes in most parts of the world. In Europe, there was raunchy cabaret that enchanted the poorer folks, that and songs of struggle and strife. In America, classical music was ‘in’, but not as much as good old country music down south. Then came jazz! And as Satchmo wooed young women with his golden trumpet, he helped carve out a niche in music history. Jazz music, till today, remains America’s only original art form.
In the 60s, people like Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Elvis, John Mayall and the Rolling Stones revolutionised music and were part of a movement that created the myriad of genres that still exist today. Now, we have thousands of artistes and sounds to choose from.
What I also love about music is that, if you know music carefully, you can find a song for almost every mood, every emotion and every breath you take. In my collection of almost 300 CDs and over 100 records you can take your pick and groove to the rhetoric and multitude of moods in each song.
India, quite alike the Africa it broke away from when the continents were formed, is filled with music in every drop of blood and sweat and the colourful corners on every street. India still has its music, not the music of most Bollywood films, but classical, fusion, ghazals, regional sounds and more. The poetry in those traditional instruments has captured hearts all over the world.
Today in Goa, like the melting pot of cultures it has become, you can find different sounds all over the place. Each hotel and restaurant, each club and disco, the parties on the beach and the rare, unknown, yet amazing musician that plays at Anjuna. As I walked into the Saturday Night Market at Arpora, Carlos and his merry band were playing their hearts out and everyone around them couldn’t help but tap their feet. Friday nights at Cavala’s sees Alex, Nini and Menino — the Music Company regale the people who walk through the restaurant’s doors. They and many more at hundreds of places all over the state add to the emerging Goan culture, which was earlier only thought to be found at raves on Saturday night. To an outsider, Goa is the place to be, except for the high priced taxis, and drug and child trafficking. The reason Goa is so badly exploited for the wrong reasons is because some people weren’t interested in anything other than making a quick buck. Now, it’s up to you to try and help change that and make Goa into what it should be — a place where the music plays into the night. A place where you can relax to Sting and Miles Davis on a quiet evening, or jam it up with Bob Marley, Snoop Dogg and Martin Solveig at the clubs in the hills and on the beach. Music makes me happy and music makes the world go round. Music is in every Goan and every visitor to the state, in the food that’s created all along the beachfronts, and by the river. Music is also what makes Goa come alive every night, right into the early hours of the morning, in the art at Kala Academy and in the films and stage productions all over. But somehow, the music just doesn’t feel right, not with the garbage in the river or the ban on locals entering shacks in some beaches up north. It’s still our state… your state. Don’t let the music play on it’s own, get behind the decks and dictate the flow.
Feb 8, Gomantak Times, Goa
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