Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Morning Music

Like many others, I begin my day with a heavy shot of music. It plays in the background and forefront of my waking hours while I go about doing my routine activities. Yoga, Hindustan Times, Orange Pekoe, staring from my window at the newly built crows nest on the tree outside etc., while what I call as ‘Morning Music’ keeps playing in my world.

'Morning Music' because all music can’t be played at the beginning of the day, as there is a certain mood associated with mornings. Something which our very own Indian Classical gurus from the past understood clearly and composed Ragas suitable for different times of the day. I can’t imagine beginning my day with the Tom Waits album ‘Closing Time’ while I completely relish the ‘The White Album’ with its aircraft landing sound (Back in the USSR, the opening track) every time it becomes a part of my mornings.

Let me take you through the chain of melodies that I queued up for this morning.

It began with the delicate piano note of Satie’s 'First GymnopĂ©die'. Its gentle melody feels as if a mother is lovingly caressing a child’s head to wake her up from a good night’s slumber.

Then it moved into the brilliant three violin and a bass piece called ‘Canon in D Major’ by Pachelbel. I've already mentioned it in my earleir post and along with GymnopĂ©die, it has become a permanent fixture of my current being. Its slow beginning and full bodied yet gentle finale makes one ready for the day.

A change of genre happened here with Mr Neil Young coming in with songs from his brillaint early albums, ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’ (2nd album, 1969) and 'Harvest' (4th album, 1971). The master’s guitaring in ‘Down by the River’ and the honesty of poetry in ‘Heart of Gold’ is exceptional.

The old country crooner, Hank Williams came next with his melodious and simple ‘Lovesick Blues’ and ‘Cold Cold Heart’. The latter has been sung by so many other artistes including Dylan and Norah Jones but nothing beats the rawness of Hank Williams's voice.

The morning’s chain of melody ended with ‘I Feel Free’ from Fresh Cream, the fabulous debut album by Cream (1966).

I switched on BBC World to know whats happening in the chaotic state of Pakistan and the rest of the world. The channel also informed me that the first exibition of Bob Dylan’s many paintings has opened up at a museum in Chemnitz, Eastern Germany.

ps: I spent the Diwali weekend in the peaceful surroundings of Kerela. I had gone there for important personal reasons. The visit was nice and peaceful with a lot of good Malayali food (specially Fish Molly & Prawns Chilly), car rides and a boat ride thrown in. I enjoyed myself completely.

11 comments:

Brown Weed said...

ahem.. no mention of miss Red Eye?! (also she needs a better name)

Smiling Dolphin said...

so did her parents give you their blessings? i hope they did, you sound like a nice guy:-).

how come you picked up only on the nature stuff in my post and not the scotch!!! the distillery we went to was dewar's by the way. tommy dewar was responsible for some of the best ad campaigns in the category.

meraj said...

even i'm surprised at missing the second learning...a complete mindskip.

perhaps, its because i'm relishsing the Irish sorts (Jameson) these days :)

Bhaskar Khaund said...

jesus what time do u get in at work ? :-)

Anonymous said...

baba I followed this Tagged thing back to all related blogs from phish to strawberry fields and others but still left with a confusion as what is this "Tagged".
could you please put some light on it as what is this?
ALIen

phish said...

i think all of us who subscribe to this phenom called 'morning music' should have a post each on how their mornings start.

great insight into kind of people we are. and what keeps us going in this city of sweat. or wherever.

meraj said...

bhaskar,
living very close to the office helps.

ALIen,
if you tag someone on any subject, that someone also has to write on the same subject. the popular one is '10 things bloggers didnt know about me'. Phish did a smart tag. the fact that I havent responded to it yt is another story.

Phish,
well said...maybe it cals for a separate blog called morning music. wanna start one?

alien said...

thanks a lot the kind reply and clarification, will be waiting for your piece of writing, when are we going to be blessed with it?
Cheers!!!!

phish said...

not a bad idea at all. not bad at all.

Anonymous said...

hello meraj sir, when's next you are in delhi ? and do get the mark knoffler solo cd 'cos i want to rip it..too costly otherwise..hows the top secret "Manhattan project" going ? ( hint : manhattan is in emerald island), our good old would-be IIT professor turned bechara telecom professional still around ?
cheers,Tathagata

meraj said...

phish,
lets do it then.

Tatha,
should be there next week with the album. yeah, that good man is still around but desperate to fly.

cheers!
m