Imagine. Or remember. You are a long way from home. You are alone in your rented apartment. Or rather you are stuck. You do not want to go out because outside is a sea of unfamiliar faces speaking in an unfamiliar tongue. And you are not in the mood to explore new places or make new friends. Because your heart keeps telling you this is not where you belong.
For the want of something, anything to hold on to, you take your iPod, you play the latest song you have added to your library. And there it is – Rahet Fateh Ali Khan singing ‘tu na jaane aas paas hein khuda..(you may not realise, but God is somewhere near you)’. And you just know that he is singing it for you. That someone out there knows what it is you feel like. Because isn’t that why you feel a lightness in your heart all of a sudden? Because he has just reassured you that its not a big deal, you’ll find your way, because don’t you realise? God is near you. And even if you are not a fanatic believer, you believe the song, the words.
Because thats what music does. It gives form to your feelings. Words long stuck inside are let out. And the biggest magic of all, music makes you feel a little less alone. Because atleast for one moment, you believe that you have company in what you feel, or the situation you are in. The power of words is undeniable.
Even if you are a less gifted person who can’t tell the difference between pop and rock, or decently carry a tune, when you have a song playing in your mind, when you sing it to yourself, you kill the silence in your head. And I believe that is music’s biggest gift to man. No wonder ABBA sang :
Thank you for the music, the songs I’m singing
Thanks for all the joy they’re bringing
Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty
What would life be
Without a song or dance, what are we?