PAIN AND MUSIC

“Music comes from a broken heart.”

In the latest Hindi movie ‘Rock Star’, Janardan (Ranbir Kapor) plays guitar and sings. He is a college guy and aspires to make it big as a singer and musician. But, he looks and sounds flat, dead. So, one of his well-wishers points to Janardan his flaws. “Every great musician, every singer and every creative person had that one thing common in them, which you do not have,” Janardan’s well-wisher tells him. “They all had a broken heart… They had pain… Music is born out of this pain.”

So, our Janardan believes in the theory of his mentor, and he goes about testing this theory. He loves a beautiful girl, and loves her madly. Love breaks his heart… Pain oozes out of his being… and the music too, songs too…the fame and doom, too. Yes, it is the transformation of a ‘nobody’ called Janardan into ‘somebody’ called Jordan.

Somebody!

About five hundred years ago, a little princess, at the age of 4, saw from her palace window a marriage procession. Fascinated by the gorgeously-dressed groom, the innocent little one asked her mother, “Mom, who will be my groom?” The mother pulled her little girl close and, in half zest , pointed to the stunningly handsome blue-boy Krishna’s idol. “He, my sweet heart,” the mother told her little daughter, “Yes, he will be your groom.”

That’s all that happened to Meerabai to transform from a well-bred Rajput princess into a passionate devotee of Lord Krishna. Her poems and songs are soaked in ecstasy… the love for her beloved Krishna.

Elvis Presley. John Lennon. Freddie Mercury. Jimi Hendrix. Michael Jackson. These are huge music legends. But, they are few I name here. I do not think, anything more, any music aspirant can ask for, as far as fame, money and power is concerned. There was that common thread of broken heart… pain and their music-connection. There was also the common tragic end - a very sad end - to the lives of all these legends.

Raj Kapoor made beautiful movies through the subject of broken love. Guru Dutt created magic through the same subject. Titanic is not just the name of a mighty ship; it is also the story of hearts broken in love… So was the tale of Romeo and Juliet of Shakespeare.

But, I really wonder: Can’t music come from a jubilant heart? Can’t music come from great joy, happiness and gratitude? Do you have to wear those tattered rags, tattoo and pierce your ugly body, all over – even drug and inject yourself with poison - and scream like a possessed cannibal? Can’t there be sweetness, can’t there be celebration, and can’t there be just clean, great music?

Nobody’s life is without pain...

Nobody’s love, too.

Therefore, there is music in everybody’s life…

There are poems to recite, there are songs to sing.

They say, “Pain is inevitable in life; but, our suffering is optional.”

When love breaks our hearts, why should we break our life? And, why can’t we create beautiful poems and magical music – something to uplift our souls, something to make us look forward with hope – even in such pain?

Agreed, music does come from a broken heart. But, it comes to mend the broken hearts, too… It comes to heal them, too. Moreover, music, also, comes from a joyous heart… with smart clothes and clean bodies… and loads of sweetness, too.

Sorry Jordon.

GERALD D'CUNHA