I have never been a connoisseur of fine music. I just don't have the ear for it. I figured since I cannot appreciate it fully, I might as well invest my time and resources into something I understand - like books.
There are times though, when I find this need to listen to something other than the voice inside my head and meaningless (mostly) chatter of the world outside. And classical music is what I turn to. I cannot understand its nuances, but there is something there that touches me in a way that popular music does not.
I have been to both traditional hindustani music as well as western music recitals and it is here that you can truly appreciate the the term - 'pin-drop' silence. The viewer automatically zones out (or in, as you may see it) and forgets such mundane things as coughing (!) or replying to that text message for sushi with a friend.
Recently though, I have turned to a different kind of music to pacify myself - music of the religious kind.
My heart does miss a beat when I hear a dervish twirling to sufi music, or an elevated Gregorian chant, or even when I listen to a good recetation of the Ramayan. Which brings me to this - music is an integral part of almost all religions. I am a Hindu. I cannot understand a word of Latin, but when I listen to Salve Regina, I sense a distinct chemical reaction taking place in my body, similar to when I listen to the Bhagvat Gita or watch a sufi reach religious ecstasy. The music (for lack of a better technical term) is very distinct in all of these - still it manages to elicit the exact same response from me. It amazes me. every.single.time.
Music does bind us together in a way that a lot of other things don't.
