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

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