My heroes: Music

                        Had it not been for music the world would have been a far worse place than it is now. Music uplifts, relaxes, makes one wonder, gives hope and when words fail it takes over. There are a few genres of music whic appeal to me very strongly namely folk, rock and of course hip hop. The purists would snigger, but I am yet to come across a true blooded music purist. Most are phonies with little or no knowledge of genres or the evolution  of music. One might argue what is the point of knowledge when music can simply be enjoyed. Sorry, to be able to enjoy music it is necessary to know a little bit about its history and geography. My heroes are Raymond Manzerek of the Doors, Gautam Chattopadhay of Mohiner Ghoraguli and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd.

                            I was introduced to the Doors in college and at first did not think much of it till I saw the movie The Doors. Suddenly the 'doors of perception' were like cleansed and I was hit by a goods train. I started listening to their music all over again. Though there is no denying the genius and brilliance of Jim , I personally feel that it was the organ sounds that made the doors The Doors. The organ piece in the song Light my fire in my opinion is the best piece of music composed in the last century. The image of Manzarek looming over the keys with his long blonde hair covering his face, with his left hand thumping away at the fenders bass keys and his right hand weaving magic defined The Doors' sound and rightfully the age of pure passionate honest music. The same magic gets repeated in every single number that the band ever made. The sounds of the organ was mystical and bordered around spirituality. It transported you into another dimension.

                            It is impossible to fathom the genius of Gautam Chattopadhay because he is so much more than just a musician. I was introduced to Mohiner Ghoraguli in 1996 and since then it's been a long love affair with them. I cannot explain the influence the band has had on expanding my musical horizon. Gautam Chattopadhay seemlessly merged Bengali folk, Spanish rhythm, rock strains and hard hitting lyrics and presented it all in an ever so haunting musical package that nothing compares to it. He was a pioneer , someone way ahead of his time in terms of thought and execution and again someone who challenged the musical trends of the time. Gautam brought about a fine amalgamation of art, music and poetry - things that appeal to me most. A true creative genius he also made award winning movies. Much of his success came in the last few years of his life which ended abruptly in 1999. I know this love affair with MG and Gautam will last me a lifetime and I am certainly not complaining. 

                           Nothing can be written about Pink Floyd that has not been written before. The band does not exist anymore and much of the blame has been directed at Roger Waters and how. Arrogant and perhaps musically not as gifted as David Gilmour he has more than made up for these short comings through sheer brilliance of intellectualism. He gave us the first theme albums where one song merged into the next and created an hour long musical message so to say. I believe that a true creative person is the one who conceptualises and not the one who executes. The most difficult question to answer is what and not how. This is where Roger Waters score way above any other musical brain of our times. To come up with the concept of the Wall or the Dark side of the moon deserves much more than what it has already got. If ever there was a Nobel prize for musical genius then in my books Roger Waters would be its first rightful claimant. Today he is old but still defiant and couldn't care less about what the world has to say. A true rock star!