THE MUSIC- UNCHAINED

Oh, they would say
He doesn't know music
A raga when it is played out,
And  talks about music
And he only 'believes'!
But he still insists because he knows that
God's music is in every one
And he doesn't take the structure that somebody put there
To be God's stricture
And nobody has exclusive rights to that!

Oh, he had listened to ragtime and jazz
And he knew Adorno's strictures
And Hobsbowm's attitude to Jazz
And Brecht's making Armstrong sing
And had a debate with Miles Davis's round sound
Without an attitude in it.

There is music in Hendrix's belching
At his death
Buddy Guy would have called him a buddy
Because he listen's
Even if they say that he doesn't 'know'.
He said there were miles to go before he wakes
And Miles to come, with a broader smile!
He couldn't introduce you to Flamenco
But a Flamingo did reach out to him.
He had stolen a little music from every one
Because he didn't know the cooking
And still wanted to end up with a ketchup
In the end.
Then one day the Universe opened its music
To him
And from a drip and from a drop
Came a new day
That had unchained its swing
And he no more wanted to recognize
Because God's music is everywhere
And it doesn't fear
Crossing the ocean
Or walking on the waves.
And the song that left Kuttappan's lips
Had climbed and looked for a new shore
From this hill to that
And had looked to where the sirens
Were singing for who was coming.
He met a voice he couldn't recognize
And said Salaam, and became a friend.
And he asked himself with Dylan
"How many ears must one person have
Before he can hear people cry?"
The sad voice of Begum Akhtar
Sang to happy ears and said listen
There is such a thing like sadness
In this world
And Runa Laila
Had a mast calendar for the year
So he knew that the fisher-folk
Had heard water,wind and the sand
And had listened to the Fish and the Fisk
And they went to him
Because the time had come-
Are we adequate music, or less?
I don't see any difference
Except where it is chained!
Doesn't the bird chirp for you
And the kettle boil
Doesn't the pot sweat for you
Doesn't the plastic burn
Doesn't the cloud sing its hymn
And a chant reaches you from nowhere.
I met Debussy and he was busy
So I went down the lane
And met with John Lane
On the street
We shook hands
Because we were still shaking
And then the Lord came in-between
And sent for Ford
Is he in Ox-Ford
And am I but an Ox?

Sun Ra sat at the piano and played
You have to face the music
So the lizard had crawled down
And listened to the floor
And the dust had whirled up
And a movement was made,
For Paradise had come
And officers found rhythm
And a band had played in a school ground
For all to hear!
And in Rasputin
Boney M seeking a preacher and a teacher
Who had drunk the poison of life
And was still sane.
So you are a church girl
And you are a cheer girl
And you still be together
And be with ox!

There was a movement in Susie
when she listened to the chorus and became a 'Thumbi'
And when it was lost
She didn't know what to invoke
And a voice came through the wind to Basheer's ears
And Robeson was there and Bessie was there
With a Sufi soul
And Safiya took me to the beach and sang for me
"Let human beings love each other
And make a church in their hearts
And allow all castes to enter it"
And I bowed
For I knew that there was music in her
And  what a wonderfull world
By Louis who was no doubt' Arm-strong'
And lung strong played out
And so was it in the telegraph operators
And the Rickshaw pullers
Since a voice asked them
"Kaun desh hai jana"
And the Earth song came by
And the trees whistled or him.
From the Baul to Dibango
From the ringing of the conductor's bell
And a Siberian cranes graceful flight
From  'Manasinte kithabile' to 'Naya paisayillaa'
He didn't set for himself a pyramid of  musical caste
From the apex of which everything else
Seemed far off and immaterial.
They wouldn't let a Gift be
Because openness had polluted him
But he took him along.
A  Gond's song reverberates in his heart
And he could see Rajkumar innovating his verse
While he sang.
Binu was there with him with his flute
That searched out
And the other flute that came from Bastar
Could play itself without him blowing
The whining of the dogs had comedown
And the bell rang
With a music from the street
And the windmill circulated a tune
Through the alleyways
Where Tracy Chapman
was 'Talkin' Bout a Revolution'
And A coconut woman was calling out
Najmal opened a window
And a Gypsy feet kept dancing to the tune of Violin.

At David Hall where the nations sang their songs
To Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
We listened
And knew that there was more to nations
Than national songs allowed
Than nationalism and xenophobia
And that you can't go to music
Always through structures and strictures
Since West is not the world
Neither is it in the East
Neither in the North-
In the South maybe!
For they had a song for Rabana
And Sahodaran's song
Had placed Maabali in every heart
Alongside an equality
which still had an e- quality and a New-gen swing
And would listen to the International
And Brecht singing Mackie the knife
And Victor Jara singing
'Te Recuerdo Amanda'
Which then blended
With Kochukunju Upadeshi's song
And a brown girl
Danced with Dhanush in the street
To a tune of Anirudh or Harris Jayaraj
Danced to a gypsy Django
And the moody blue note
Of Ornette Coleman had just passed by
And Fateh Ali Khan sang Allah Hoo Allah hoo
Because the song of power was muted
And John Cage had broken a few cages for me
And the movements of the people
Asked themselves where they were going
Since the four doors are open
And anybody could enter
And the wind circulates in Appachan's abode!