Bhimsen and BoneyM

 Imagine a scene out of Ray’s ‘Shatranj ke Khiladi’. Only replace the Mirza Ali and Mir Ali with my grandfather and dad or uncle. Weekends were spent avoiding this chess playing group, while Ustad Aamir Khan or Bade Ghulam Ali played in the background. I must be a 100 years old if this is how I grew up. Almost there almost there. But the point I am making is how music in the house I grew up in, was serious business.

The world around me may have been in raptures over slithering Sridevi and floundering Rishi Kapoor but no music of theirs was played in our house. If vocal classical was getting a bit much, we could listen to Ustad Vilayat Khan on Sitar. Even here there were mysterious rules. Vilayat Khan was great but not Pandit Ravishankar. Bhimsen Joshi was applauded, Jasraj was not tolerated. I think there were some reservations against Kishori Amonkar but I am beginning to forget the intricacies of our music listening. Rabindra Sangeet was BANNED. Did we want to sing in flat tones and that too in tunes lifted from across the world? On a lenient day, Nazrul Geet was totally permitted.

My mother was a bit of a rebel. She came into this household caught in a time warp and introduced Mohammad Rafi !! Sacrilege. Till the other daughter-in-law exclaimed in glee to one of his songs “Isn’t that Raag Vrindavani Sarang?”. So Hindi Movie songs were played liberally, as long they were composed before 1970, because they were entirely Raag based. Till date, I cannot listen to a ‘Tu cheez badi hain mast mast (replace with famous songs of 1990/2000s’) without cringing.

Father was closet rebel and jumped out of it when mom came. He loved Qawwalis. I was a wee kid when I saw my grandparents listening in rapt attention, to a Sabri Brothers tape for the first time, and beginning to tap their feet. Qawwali was accepted with open hearts and lots of clapping.

But what I discovered much later, that these closet behaviours were not the alarming ones. One evening I heard my parents listening to Boney M ( I present a video of their stellar performance, in the link below). What on earth kind of music was that? It’s not like I had not heard western music. There was a lot of Pink Floyd and lots of Bob Dylan (for some reason) played by a younger uncle. He also played heaps of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and ensured they (other than Bob Dylan) remain my favourites till date. But Boney M was what made me realise that the strict guidelines on ‘music listening’ have been thrown out of the window and it was now free for all.

Ridiculous after ridiculous songs became part of my life. Banarama’s Venus, Knack’s My Sharona, MC Hammer’s Can’t Touch This!! You name it and I was bouncing up and down to it, behind shut doors. There was still a time lapse between my peers and me, but I was getting there.

From the age of two, the daughter has patiently sat through musical recitals. Gundecha Brothers is part of her playlist and she sinks into the comfort of Offenbach’s Infernal Gallop, whenever feeling low. But I do hope she finds her ‘Boney M’, someday.

Till then, she has to borrow my list – and respond ‘At your desire’, every time I shout ‘I’m your Venus, I’m your fire’ ( The original fantastical performance, in the link below).