Call-Response Crescendo

Greetings!


One thing common among the greatest music legends is that, they thoroughly excel in the art of call -response. In fact, they revel in call-response as the music approaches crescendo!

If you have any doubt, then you just need to play this great composition by Shakti, an extra-ordinary Jazz-Indian Classical Music fusion band - made up of the amazing  quartet of John McLaughlin (guitar), L. Shankar (violin), Vikku Vinayakram (ghatam) and Zakir Hussain (tabla). 

Although this video is dated (and you may want to turn up the volume to enjoy it better), you can also see (and hear) what a joy it was for these four to call-response among each other as they created music that makes our emotions dance! And so, they aptly (and quite elaborately) named this composition as " What Need Have I For This?-What Need Have I For That?-I Am Dancing At The Feet Of My Lord-All is Bliss-All is Bliss-All is Bliss" 

(Go ahead, play the video, watch enough of it to imbibe the musical bliss the musicians are in, and then continue to listen as you read on...)



So, where else do we see such a call-response in our lives?

Some of us are old enough to remember good ol' days of long distance calls from public telephone booths. In those days, telephone companies used to reduce night time tariffs, to encourage usage of the telephone lines in night (and make most of their investments). Those of us who remember this, would also remember the starry eyed lovers, queuing up in night at the telephone booths, to talk for hours with each other!  

Is this not a call-response in romantic relations?

Everyone who had ever been in love can clearly remember the heady feeling, where it starts with a call-response between one's own emotions and the image of the loved one created in own mind and then reaches crescendo as the call-response starts and continues among the lovers, even on a telephone! 

Does this call-response limit itself only to romantic relations? 

What about responding to a call of shriveled but caring touch of a grandmother's hand? Loving tuck-in by a doting mother? Shaky but warm endearing comment by a grandfather? Kind but heavy pat on back from a father? Cautionary pull by a sister? Re-assuring jab by a brother? Happy gurgle of a baby? Awestruck expression of a child? 

And, what about a text showing concern for your health from a co-worker? Courteous nod by the building janitor? Slowing down by a car driver so that you can cross the road? 

Well, we all know the answer to these questions in our hearts. We also know that, just as in music, one thing common amongst great human beings is - how gracefully they take call-response in all human relations to a perfect crescendo!


Sincerely Mine!
Anand Kulkarni

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The envelope

Image
Greetings! "Do I look like a beggar to you?" bellowed the Sir. The bewildered boy was at a loss of words. He started trembling and I thought he may fall down. "No... Sir..." He managed to mutter while clutching the tuition fee money in his hand. The Sir had an imposing personality and commanding voice. Getting a seat at his tuition was considered to be a one way ticket to get into the "meritorious students club". He used to nudge, cajole, incite and drive students towards fending off and getting victory over those nightmarish adversaries of every middle school child. The deadly trio of Audacious Algebra, Gigantic Geometry and Sneaky Science. It was the first day of this boy in this prestigious tuition class. (And mine too). He was facing the wrath of Sir as he went to pay the fee with currency notes in his hand. The boy looked at the ground as if he desperately wished the earth to swallow him. He felt the glowering gaze of Sir in front and t
Read more

Staging Sagely

Image
Greetings! In rocketry, "staging" means mounting multiple separable parts (with their own engines and propellants) to create a multistage rocket. These stages might be in tandem (that is one above other) or in parallel to each other. The most popular is a 2-stage rocket but there could be 5 (or even more) stages.  For a rocket, the ultimate aim is to put the payload in orbit. Each of the stage plays it's part in giving it the right speed and proper height. These parts do their "part" (literally), and then usually get jettisoned away, with explosive bolts. The rocket launch is successful, when each of these stages fire up, burn out, remain attached, as well as get detached, in the right place and at the right time (which is usually not a moment before nor a moment after they are supposed to do so) You may say, this is all good, but why write a blog on it? Well, because i think this entire process maps to life and growth as each one of us experiences it. As we gro
Read more

The unscathed frog metaphor

Image
Greetings! One thing common among Zoologists and Management Gurus (and perhaps the rare amphibian-cuisine-connoisseurs) is their fascination with the boiled frog! So, what is this oft-repeated sordid tale of the poor and ultimately scathed amphibian?  The pop version goes as follows -  "A frog is let into a pot with water. It makes itself comfy and takes to it like a fish (or rather like a frog) in water. Then the pot is very slowly heated. The frog ignores this slow, gradual, incremental change. But then, at one point of time, the water starts boiling and it is too late for the frog to get out of situation. The frog gets boiled eventually." Morale of this pop version of story is clear - beware of slow, gradual, incremental changes. Watch out for tell-tale signs, lest the situation worsens to the doomsday scenario.  They even have a name for this condition where people, organizations and societies go on ignoring gradual change and then eventually face their doom on account of
Read more

Rescuing the Romeo

Image
Greetings! Everyone (well, at least everyone who knows a little about English Literature), knows the plot of a play named 'Romeo and Juliet', written by that gifted prolific playwright - William Shakespeare.  It is a tragedy that has been played on stage for centuries and adapted into most of the languages. This tale has inspired countless adaptations, musicals and movies.  It has also been analyzed, critiqued and discussed over perhaps millions of conversations.  Still, as is the case with such timeless tales, once in a while someone sees one or more dimensions of this story and cannot help sharing what has been glimpsed. (Now, that I have given justification of writing once more about this oft written about tale - let me get on with it ..)  So, in the dimension that I glimpsed, I see Romeo as the intelligent, idealistic but impulsive and immature force of passion that lies within all of us. Romeo is the part within us that climbs the walls, jumps the balconies and goes to ext
Read more

Predestined "Free Will"

Image
Greetings! Question is, "Is all that happens predestined? Or human beings have free will to chose?" A boy throws a stone. Does he chose to throw it or the strong thought to throw germinates due to a program in subconscious driven by nature, nurture and circumstances (including gut bacteria)? Most experiments say that the latter is true. The decision already happens and then the thought comes in to merely justify it. Read a very interesting compilation of such experiments Here . Imagine a magic(?) trick where cards written A, B, C are put in front of a person . They are face up. The person is told that she has free will to pick any. The person choses A. The magician says that your free will was already predetermined - he takes a sealed envelope from his coat pocket. She opens the envelope and it says 'You are predestined to chose option A '.... The person is shocked and awed to see that her free will choice was predestined!!! (Of course, if she chose B then
Read more