Music

I have got a good collection of music - a lot of thanks to Anand. The number is huge - there are so many pieces that i have never listened to. Most of the times when I put on music I directly go on to my favorites.

The other day i started exploring other folders because my favorites had been playing since the morning and it was getting a little bit monotonous. The first piece that i stumbled upon was titled Exodus by Henry Mancini. I put it on and i was blown off...this awesome piece had been lying on my comp without my knowledge. I started searching for other works by Henry Mancini - when I realized that Henry Mancini did not do the score for Exodus but Ernest Gold did. This little episode made me very much interested in these Hollywood music composers.

I talked to friends and started collecting information about great OSTs from the past. Indira asked me to look for Dr.Zhivago and when I found Lara's theme by Maurice Jarre I knew I have hit a gold mine. Maurice Jarre has composed for movies like The Ghost, Lawrence of Arabia, A walk in the clouds etc. I searched for something from Henry Mancini and came across Moonriver from Breakfast at Tiffany. Then I also got Brian's Song by Henry Mancini and I was floored once again. I am all for easy listening and there have never been better pieces that stir your soul so effectively than all these names that I am throwing around. Who can forget the haunting piano piece from Love Story that won its composer Francis Lai an Oscar? Then Nino Rota's Godfather themes, Howard Shore's Lord of the rings scores, Hans Zimmer's Gladiator & The Preacher's wife, Ruyichi Sakamoto's The Last Emperor, Vangelis' Chariots of Fire and Conquest of Paradise are all great pieces and compositions. A music lover's collection should have all these compositions - any music collectionn is truly incomplete without these.

I have got a new area to explore.

Our contemporary music collection is large and growing. Enya, Loreena MCkennit, Mike Oldfield, Hevia, Vanessa Mae, Bond, Moby,Enigma, Sarah Brightman, Vangelis, Yanni, Karunesh, Kenny G, Secret Garden, Deep Forest and many more.

Conquest of Paradise is playing in the background. A couple of years ago I was browsing through channels when I heard a sound - it sounded like Gregorian Chants (it was not); when I came back to the channel where that music was playing, I was surprised - it was a B grade Hindi movie playing on Zee Cinema while the initial credits were rolling. I waited for the credits to roll fully to see who had given the music. I saw an unknown name and marvelled at the beauty of the piece. Many years later I realised that the piece of music I listened that day is Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis.

Indian music directors have been taking inspiration from these old compositions and are mostly safe as only a few are aware of the original. While listening to Brian's song, I kept thinking where had I herad this music before. Remember the steamy swimming pool song in the Rekha starrer Khoon Bhari Maang? Rekha returns from States as Chariots of Fire starts playing in the background and then we see Kabir Bedi & Sonu Walia doing a hot number in the pool to the tune - only the word were "mai teri hoon Jaanam" (I am all yours dear). What a contrast. I think Rajesh Roshan did the music.

Amongst the movie themes The Specialist holds a very high place - at least in my list - both the opening and closing themes are fantabulous. The movie was a multiple Razzie nominee that year, but music is simply great. If you have not listened to them, please do. Then Roxette's Take my breath away for the Tom Cruise starrer Topgun. At this point I's like to mention If i could fly by Roxette again - great piece.