Music Without Boundaries

I had been to an Indian classical concert on Saturday near home and as expected there was a good sizable crowd- mostly the elderly who wanted to spend their evenings fruitfully instead of forwarding messages on their WhatsApp to their friends and family and watching never-ending mega serials, some young men and women like me and my friends who wanted to listen to good music as we learn music and a few lesser youngsters and children who were pulled in by their parents to improve their musical skills.

The music started with a sitar recital and we noticed a foreign lady holding a violin ready to accompany the sitar and tabla player. This was not a familiar sight in a purely classical setting though you do see western and other country’s musicians performing in fusion music concerts or Bollywood shows.

Then came the introduction of the artists and we got to know that the violin player was an accomplished western violinist interested in learning Indian music who had come to accompany her Guru, the sitar player.

This was a unique combination of a Guru Shishya ( teacher-student) and it was heartening to see the interest in the lady violinist to learn the music of a totally different culture and settings.

The concert started with a wonderful rendition of a raga which was mentioned that it had an Arabic origin. Wow, things were getting interesting, a violinist who was Russian and now a raga which had its origin in Arabia.

As the concert progressed we could see the strength of the sitar and tabla player of course which held the audience spellbound. Well, as you can imagine my ears and eyes were following the lady on the violin who did her best to follow the sitar player but also enjoyed the whole experience shaking her head in acknowledging the sitar player proficiency.

This experience strengthened my conviction that music has only one language which is a universal one and has no boundaries. All musical forms should enrich itself by incorporating other music styles and reaching a wider audience.

My heart is now wishing that more such concerts are organized all over the world where people learn the musical skills of another culture. This would make people realise that every culture is so unique and rich and spread the same message of peace, happiness, joys, sorrows, struggles, and triumphs of its people.

Hoping to see people from all age groups attending such concerts and enjoying and spreading the goodwill from these musical gatherings.