MYSTICSPICE

When I was about 11 years old, my dad used to forcibly send me to a didi (young women older than me) who lived in our neighborhood to learn Hindustani music. My dad was very particular about his morning walks, he would wake up every day at 4am to go for walks. There were times when on his way back he would hear this didi doing her riyaaz (rehearsal/practice). He was totally mersmerized by her singing. So one day he went to her and asked if he could send both my sister and me to her, thinking maybe we could also learn to sing like her. Unfortunately, that didi agreed, as a result my sister and I had to wake up everyday really early to go for our music lessons. We both hated it, getting up early in the morning, taking bath and getting ready at 5am to go for music lessons was something we weren't too happy about. But then, no sooner would we start our riyaaz, than we would completely overcome our grogginess and get immersed in the moment. That didi was a well trained and a talen...

Music is something that never fails to inspire me no matter what. I am presently listening to the streaming of the live concert called" The Concert for Bangladesh". I was under an awe to see flawless performances by some world famous artists. Particularly the Sitar and Sarod duet by Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbal Khan (Amjad Ali Khan's father) with Allarakha Khan (Zakhit Hussain's father) on tabla. It was such a rousing experience. I was watching on the computer and was completely mersmerized. I wonder how the experience must have been to see them live.Throughout the performance I couldn't help watching the faces of the performers and the only thing that was apparent on their faces was- calm and confidence, they were playing difficult pieces and nowhere throughout their performance was there any stress or any kind of fear that was seen. I understand that these are great performers but to see them doing rather performing in front of such a big audience with ...