Playlist – Sanjay Sabarwal's Blog

Anokha – Soundz of the Asian Underground (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

These past few weeks, I have started to delve into my playlists again, and realized that I have become stagnant. Each playlist is a compilation of the same songs as well some new albums that I thought were interesting. My playlists are the height of my laziness. I no longer hand-pick the songs. Instead, I am content believing others that this is relevant music. Worse, I have even tried to convince myself, yet the playlists have become dustbins of music that I wish I liked but don’t really. Just like me to rationalize that all recommended music is something I want to listen to.

Are they all bad? Of course not! It’s my lack of willingness to sit through music so I can fall in love with it. Instead, I rather cursorily go through it, and added them nonchalantly. So there the music has languished and so has my willingness to engage with it. In the process, I completely stopped listening to music. Period. I didn’t quite miss it till much recently as I began writing. I felt something was missing. Music has always been my soundtrack, the thing in the back that goads me to keep punching these keys. It takes me on flights of fancies, and remembrances. Listening to some of the original playlists, I see how each track meant something to me, a bookmark for a particular person, time, or event. Some had instrumentation that shook me like A.R Rahman‘s theme music for the movie “Bombay” while others like Talvin Singh‘s “Jaan” featuring the ethereal voice of Amar hit into my soul. Each song had personal meaning or connection. They were friends. They were there when I needed them. Yet. I had abandoned them so thoughtlessly. So now I am back on Spotify, You Tube, Podcasts, looking for music that will feed me. That will make me dance across this page, keep me sustained as well as entertained.

A tad romanticized? Of course, what would music be if we didn’t add our own meaning to it?

Jaan By Talvin Singh Featuring Amar

Kehnde Ne Naina- Devika (Reshma Cover)