I had once taken one of those quizzes online which asked you a series of questions and then told you which song suited your personality the best. Given my limited awareness of western music (it was even worse at that time — at least now I know who Justin Beiber is! ;)), I was at a loss when the song that matched me the best was “What a Wonderful World”, by Louis Armstrong. Obviously, I logged on to YouTube, found the song and thoroughly enjoyed it. With time though, I forgot about it and went on with my life.
Then came the era of increasing awareness of the beauty of music, and I started to wander a bit farther afield from my staple diet, and chanced upon Michael Buble. Before anyone accuses me of swinging the minority way, let me just say, I am as straight as an arrow! Anyway, what attracted me most to his kind of music (which is apparently jazz and some soul and blues as well) was the old-world charm that they seemed to exude. There was not too much orchestration, the vocals were pure and not subject to heavy synths and the music itself was simple and elegant, with wonderful lyrics accompanying them. I discovered classics that I had only read about, ‘Wonderful Tonight’, ‘Fools Rush In’ and the ilk. I sampled the original versions along with Buble and I was happy and as usual I went back to being satisfied with my limited set of music choices…
Recently, I saw Guzaarish — a wonderfully poignant film, extremely well shot and beautifully narrated. I cannot believe that this film was a flop when crap like Dabaang was a super hit! Anyway, Guzaarish had this running theme through it, and Hrithik sings “What a wonderful world” during his mother’s funeral, the same song that his mother sang at a bar when he was young, and I went back to Louis Armstrong. What a wonderful singer, what a wonderful song and what a wonderful world…
On another note, I watched Saat Khoon Maaf, and there was line that Naseer says towards the end that caught my imagination:
Zyada kabhi Zyada nahi hota,
Zyada hameshaa kam hi hota hai.
So, some Louis Armstrong before I sign off:
Anush
Musings... 