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May 13, 2016

If Music Be the Soul.

blind street musician

Just like a picture is worth a thousand words, music is when a thousand words can’t express itself.

Music is a refuge, an escape from the misery of life.

It is a marvellous complexity of expression, a universal language.

We wade through the depths of myriad of thoughts just by listening to a song.

Music is one manifestation of our need to communicate with one another. It connects us to the beautiful culture of a place, to our roots, to the cultural and spiritual soul.

Music is connected to every arena of our lives, even politically and religiously. But can music really change the world? Can a song really change the mindset of people?

I feel that it definitely can. Take John Lennon’s Imagine. He said that the track is anti-religious, anti-nationalistic but as it is sugarcoated it is accepted. It was written in 1971 during the Vietnam War, though its message encouraging tolerance and equality is no less relevant today.

Another instance where song conveyed the political situation of place is Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2, one of my favorite band of all time. The song starts by saying that it is not a rebel song, this song is Sunday Bloody Sunday. The lyrics of Sunday Bloody Sunday describe the horror felt by an observer of the troubles in Northern Ireland, particularly the Bloody Sunday incident in Derry, January 1972, where British paratroopers killed 13 Irish citizens at a civil rights protest.

Bono claims that the song is more about interpersonal struggles than about the actual Bloody Sunday events.

From ancient times music has helped people to express their innermost feelings. It helps us to explore, engage and express ourselves spiritually.

There is no religion which completely prohibits music from their worship. Now you would be thinking it is completely forbidden in Islam but not really. Music and Islam is something which is hotly debated in the past and the present. Sufi music or Sufism is a mystical dimension of Islam which preaches peace, tolerance and deepens one’s relationship with the divine creator. In India and Pakistan Sufi music is through Qawwali, Qalbana, Ghazals, etc.

I love Sufi music, although I haven’t heard many songs. Hearing such music gives us an instant and universal feel and arouse a mystical love and ecstasy for the divine.

Today, music is all about top selling music album or artists charts. Music is less about artistic creation and more about mass production and consumption. We are bombarded by popular music in shops, hotels and most public spaces, and this affects our emotions and behaviors.

We might not even know how it affects our moods—it probably influences our buying decisions.

We need to have music help each individual’s body, mind, soul and spirit.

Music is like the poetry of the air, when language aspires to transcend and when your soul wants to break free from life’s daily routine, that’s where music comes in

It heals and soothes the soul.

It is the language of the soul.

 

 

Through the silences,

Through the shores of time,

For others you may be just sounds and strain,

But you awaken me.

Like fragile wrist of time,

A tune from the past

A tune to the future

If music be the soul

You are the oeuvre to my soul.

 

Some songs that move me:

U2: Ordinary Love

Imagine UNICEF Version

Ben E King: Stand By Me

Jason Mraz: I Wont Give Up

 

 

 

Author: Leo Oommen

Editor: Renée Picard

Image: Jake Stimpton/Flickr 

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