Meditations on Music

Music, an indefinite power that brings about either the irruption

of overcrowded and long-restrained emotions or the subsidence of
overly excessive passions, is an enigma the clue to its fascination is
nowhere to be found. How music works into the passages of the soul,
no-one can ever claim to know. That is, the arduous attempts to
analyse the different workings induced by music in the human self is
a waste of time because music is innovated primarily as being
mysterious and inscrutable. Intangibility takes its throne in the
mighty court of music and is bent on perishing all rebellious attempts
that venture to break through the court and uncover the eternal
secrets making up its majestic pillars. Such vain attempts are to be
looked at as a struggle against reason, which keeps crying out the
absurdity of imposing logical analysis on the Delfic magical impact of
music. Indeed it is a wonder how one is suddenly driven to be in a
rapt attention the moment music penetrates his ear, how this
enchanting power drives him to abandon himself to its unfailing will,
and how he is thrilled, bewitched and eventually made captive of its
soul-stirring and soothing nature. Nothing but this living mystery
would stir imagination aglow; nothing but this prodigy would endow
cure and rest to care-worn man; nothing but this mystification would
set free the imprisoned noble feelings and compel the rolling tides of
strong passion to recede.

Music is the first of all arts to capture fancy and release

imagination to extend beyond time and space, beyond the restraining
boundaries of actuality to reach the heavens in its sublimity. It
kindles imagination, takes hold of one's senses and makes him
benumbed to every pain, relieved of care and unaware of the
existence of all those who fall out of the beautiful visionary world
created by marvelous heart-melting music. The mere overhearing of
the celestial musical sounds captivates the soul and makes it roam in
a world of fantasy, a paradisiacal world full of glamour, grace and
romance, a soft supernal world adorned with all that brings
contentment, gratification and pleasure. Sweet is the music that
brings contentment; sweet is the music that breeds imagination;
sweet is the music that crowns our souls with the most precious sense
of tranquility. O music! How sweet! How glamorous!

Just as an oasis that provides a delightful relief amid a dreary

vast desert, just as an inn at which a weary worn-out traveller can
make a stop and regain his vigour, just as medicine that sweeps away
all pain and sorrows, so music bestows rest, comfort and recovery
upon whoever submits to its most welcome authority. It is euphoric
music which at times of distress and utter desperate depression
comes as a god send, as a remedy for all illnesses and as a rescuer
picking man up from the filthy waters of life. This great healing
power pours a new reviving spirit into those who are lying almost
dead in the monstrous barren battlefield of life.

In addition to its being a sight for sore eyes, music reveals and
polishes some of our screened- off sensations lying dust-covered
behind a veil of daily worry. Through music our dead emotions are
brought to life again; through music our lively senses are further
excited and elevated to the skies; through music our sensitivity,
blunted by the inescapable battles with the detestable hardships of
life, will be completely restored to its original health, soundness and
good condition. Nothing else is more capable of setting the soul in
order and of taking one's mind off his misfortunes than music, which
permanently invites man to be absorbed in its overwhelming realm.
To mend tattered feelings and tormented selves is music noble
objective; to devise a matchless illusory world unspoiled by care is
music noble objective; to give a remedy to incurable diseases is
music noble objective; to charge one's soul with a multitude of
indistinct pleasant feelings is music noble objective. O music! How
impressive! How delightful!

Natheer A. Allabbad 1994