Coffee, Music and Road Trip!

Late night snack, a tall order of coffee, and driving my car through downtown Bellevue or Seattle, sometimes feeling nostalgic with some old songs, is how some of the Friday nights have gone. Two aspects of Lata Mangeshkar’s singing give me a transformative experience, first the sheer raw power of her voice and second the dynamics of the singing.

Rim jhim gire sawan (Female Version)

This song appeals to me because of its dynamic singing. Most of my early childhood I almost exclusively listened to Kishore Kumar! But this song was never my favorite until I listened to Lata Mangeshkar’s version much recently. Until then I found male version mostly lethargic and average in composition. Could be because of the lyrics too which I found uses archaic and old-fashioned words such as ‘agan’ or ‘sawan’ rather than contemporary words.

However, Lata Mangeshkar’s version gives me goose bumps with each note striking so swiftly with quick yet smooth and effortless transitions between notes! It’s like a powerful V8 engine sports car effortlessly raving through the difficult curves and upsides of a mountain road in supreme control without ever feeling underpowered no matter the steepness or sharpness of the curve! It felt a very different song and even the picturization of this version is so full of life! I don’t think its deliberate, maybe mostly coincidental, that the abrupt ending of the note on the word ‘cha-li’ in the line “‘jane pike cha-li kya pawan” creates an effect of hitchki! And, you know what, now no complaints about the lyric either!

Desert Rose, Song by Sting

So many dreams and so many wishes in this song! The beauty of this song is that it’s lyric plays with the listener’s mind in that it doesn’t describe anything specific but just triggers sensations in mind. The dreams and wishes expressed in the song are not specific situations but rather triggers to invoke individual imaginations and personal associations.

When the singer sings the line, “I dream of rain”, it is left to the listener to build the personalized story in their mind of the rain in their life, in their world. When the singer sings, “I dream of love”, it’s the listener’s mind at work again to build that individual fantastic romantic imagery. Those neurons in the distant compartment of their brain fire, memories are dusted and those long gone faces and moments begin to appear and at the same time the distant vague moments in future begin to take shape. When the singer sings, “No sweet perfume ever tortured me more”, there, a new compartment in the brain is lit, those longings just became alive! It evokes aspirations and echo’s the ripples of dreams in the listener’s mind. It is fire work all over the places in the brain!

Reminds me of the verse “Hazaron khwaishen aisi…!” Genius!

Chuckanut drive evening!

I often drive around Seattle for pleasure. One late afternoon on weekend, I decided to go to Bellingham, WA. I was near Chuckanut drive, a scenic pass just before Bellingham, and Sun was about to set now. Good opportunity for some pictures of Chuckanut bay.

For some reason, apple music algorithm decided to play, “Jeena yahan marna yahan..!”. Very philosophically romantic! I didn’t listen this song for several years. Anyway, the song began to play, and I was driving happily enjoying leftover, and now cold, coffee I bought earlier! But then the sharp crescendo on the last note in the following line caught my attention, “bhuloge tum, bhulenge wo, par hum tumhare rahenge sada…”. I hit repeat on the player.

The lyrics, the composition, my leftover coffee, chuckanut bay and the sunset, just created a different world! And then I listened to the song again. Notice the way the song keeps climbing higher and higher successively on each beginning note until it reaches the peak at “rahenge…”. Beautiful crescendo! Composition gives an experience of climbing the stairs of a temple. Lyrics in this line has complete selfless devotion! The tune, the lyric, the violine and Mukesh’s deep resonating voice, all becomes one spirit in this line! Spiritual and romantic, like the Chuckanut bay, now with the purple and pink shades of sunset!

Now was the time to take some good pictures and head back to home!