Parasites of Heaven and My Deep Love for Music
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| Parasites of Heaven by Leonard Cohen |
I want this blog post to be a placeholder (similar to the previous one on Sneaky Pete) for writing about my favorite music. I hope to return to this page over the years and add to it as I feel inspired.
This is going to be a very special list (the ones in bold) while the rest will be acknowledged in italics or not at all. I can only speak to my formative influences, which would likely be different from yours.
Leonard Cohen. Poetry has never come easily to me, except when I hear it in the soothing, booming voice of Leonard Cohen. My baba had a copy of Cohen's Parasites of Heaven (poems) on his bookshelf. I called my dad baba, the word for dad in Bengali, a touching tribute from him to the language of his professors and colleagues at his alma mater IIT Kharagpur.
Had it not been for that, I might never have given Cohen's music the chance it deserved. That's what upbringing can do. My dad also introduced me to Michael Jackson, Vangelis, and lots of other great music, some of which his friends had recorded for him.
Growing up in New Delhi, India, I was lucky to have access to western music tapes at the South Extension II music stores. And When I really wanted to explore I would drop off empty tapes at a sardarji's store in Palika Bazaar, Connaught Place and ask him to put a few handpicked albums on there.
Another poet who got through to me is Sixto Rodriguez, that mysterious, wonderful Detroit-based songwriter, singer, and guitar player who would have died largely unknown if his song Sugar Man hadn't become the surprising anthem for the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa.
I used to listen to music a lot more than I do today. Commuting to work was a great opportunity. But Covid ended that. I have 1000s of my favorite songs saved on micro SD cards that slip into MP3 players. I also like to play the radio to discover new music or be reminded of old music. Pandora and Spotify have tried to replace the radio, but I never fully embraced these internet services. Moreover, I am usually shuffling between five different things: Netflix, email, work (techie stuff), reading, texting/chatting, YouTube, etc. So, lately I've been struggling to find opportunities to listen to music and one of the best I've come up with is to listen to music while writing blog posts like these.
Jagjit Singh. Another superstar by dad introduced me to. I can still picture the album cover for the very first and megahit release The Unforgettables that launched this maestro of Sikh and Punjabi heritage into stardom. His command of multiple languages (Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi) probably contributed to his marriage to the divorcee Chitra (with a daughter from a previous marriage), who became his improbable duet partner. Jagjit was so particular about everything that he worked tirelessly with his Bengali wife to teach her perfect pronunciations of Punjabi and Urdu words. Jagjit mentored many musicians, but none with more love and dedication than his most devoted student Chitra.
One of the many ghazals Jagjit sang was written by one of his favorite poets Nida Fazli.
duniya jise kehte hain
bachche ka khilona hai
mil jai to mitti hai
kho jai to sona hai
(translation is my own)
worldly possessions
everyone aspires to
devalued once acquired
worth gold when denied
Gulzar said about Jagit that his primary talent was that of musical composition. The way he changed the taal (beat) and rearranged the music to fit the poetry to the music until he was completely satisfied. As modern day fans of Taylor Swift and others will acknowledge, success in music, or anything else for that matter, is rarely accidental and mostly earned. A one-hit-wonder, like The Bangles, can be accidental, but a sustained career over multiple decades and albums is definitely earned through talent combined with a ton of hard work and grit.
Something a lot of people don't give Jagjit enough credit for is that he was a complete entertainer, a huge diplomat, and an all-around humanist. He was never handed a silver spoon. Born in Ganganagar, Rajasthan (bordering Punjab), he received classical music training and got to be known as the Ghazal King out of sheer hard work and talent. He was completely self made. Jagjit started off doing ad jingles on All India Radio and performing at house parties for the rich and famous in Bombay.
Ant yet, wily like no other, when introduced the band members at the start of his concerts he was also tacitly conducting a final sound check and making fine adjustments. He often continued to make adjustments to the sound system through the first few songs.
As his popularity grew, he successfully incorporated Hindi and Punjabi songs into his primarily Urdu repertoire. He brought in songs from his Bollywood and television soundtracks. Jagjit worked with many poets (including Prime Minister Vajpayee), putting their work to music and giving them the reach they would never have had otherwise. When he noticed a concert audience losing focus he would lighten the mood with a word or phrase translation or humor injected into the song's lyrics. His trump card was a well-delivered joke between songs, which always delivered the needed shot in the arm, energizing the audience and motivating them to stick with him. He was an ardent student of performance art and one of a kind!
Despite the worst of setbacks (his step daughter committed suicide and his son was killed in a vehicle accident), he soldiered on without Chitra (who wasn't able to carry on performing) because his passion was unrelenting and his positive thinking did not allow him to quit or just around and mope. He did release a tribute album for his late son, but then returned to regular album releases and performances.
Steely Dan. There are many bands who have tried to bridge the jazz-rock-pop divide, but none came through more clearly to me that Steely Dan. This is an example, contrary to the first two, where it's a team effort. Dan Fagen and Walter Becker have not been anywhere nearly as successful in their solo careers. I can think of so many bands where the solo careers just never took off at the same amplitude. For example, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and so many more. Partly it was because by the time the solo careers were launched their peak years were behind them.
Many others who ought to be mentioned alongside Steely Dan include Pink Floyd and Supertramp. I wish I could remember how I got introduced to every artist, album, and song. But I do recall that my best friend Sandeep's mom was traveling abroad and he had asked me to make a list of albums for her to bring back. I wasn't going to miss an opportunity like that I put together list that I am still proud of today: Zenyatta Mondatta, Santana (the first album), Deepest Purple, Rumors, and Abbey Road.
Bob Marley. Reggae drumming comes somewhat naturally to me. It's easy enough and allows for the type of simple experimentation and instinct I can manage.
At school, I initially tried my hand at violin. Reading Yehudi Menuhin's books and the whole nine yards. But it was not for me. Then I switched to tabla, but without a set at home and a bigger investment in instruction there wasn't much hope. And yet, to the annoyance of my parents, I was an incorrigible dining table drummer. It was only once I got back to Canada, my country of birth, that I finally acquired a drum set (in an illegal barter) and got the opportunity to put in some decent amount of practice. Eventually, I teamed up with a few fellow students at the University of Windsor and formed a band that we called Groundwater. We played some Bob Marley covers (No Woman, No Cry) along with some original reggae written by our band's singer/guitar man Christien Gagnier.
On the topic of reggae, I have to mention David Lindley and his band El-Rayo X who opened for Jackson Browne when I saw them live at Pine Knob in Ann Arbor, MI. It was one of those time when I ended up more enthralled by the opening act than the main act. And it was one of those rare occasions where the lead from the opening act (David Lindley) was also part of the main act. That's some kind of stamina!
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