Indian music and culture is something that has always interested me, yet I have never really taken the time to explore it fully. It has always had a mystical feel to it, with its enchanting sounds and rhythms that seem to take your mind off to distant lands when you really focus in on it.
The majority of the Indian music I have listened to is in soundtracks to Bollywood films. These movies have continued to grow in popularity world wide in recent years. Cable television here in England even has an entire channel dedicated to it, where you can watch all the latest and famous Bollywood movies, twenty fours hours a day, seven days a week. This is something that twenty years ago people wouldn’t of thought possible.
It’s only in recent times that such music has started to be enjoyed and shared in the west. This may be due to the increasing number of Indian families moving here and spreading the culture around the globe, which has allowed people from different cultures to experience and enjoy multi-cultural entertainment. I think that this is a wonderful thing and that it’s great to embrace new music and culture. Experiencing new and exiting things helps to keep life interesting and different each and every day.
I recently came across an interesting website that really intrigued me. The site was full of incredible violin solos. One violin instrumental I particularly enjoyed was Jagjit Singh’s famous Ghazal Hoton se choo lo tum from the movie Prem Geet. It was clear to see that even to an ear like mine, not use to sounds of this type, that the musician had some serious talent. It was marvellous to watch him sit there and play this lush rich sound that entwined and weaved its way through my speakers.