Sunday, January 4, 2015

Serendipity of a musical kind

I was on a train traveling from Kozhikode to Mangalore, lying on the side upper berth. Just as the train was pulling into a station, I was struck by a rhythmic piece of music. 

I looked around to see who was playing it. Instead of feeling irritated, I found myself growing increasingly curious.

Soon, I discovered that a boy, around five years old, was playing it on a mobile phone from an upper berth. He was blissfully enjoying it, playing it over and over again. 

Just as I was about to ask him what song it was, his parents began scrambling to gather their luggage, and the boy was called down. He carefully descended the steps from the upper berth. 

Later, he began chatting with his mother, still playing the music. There was no way I could interrupt them with my question. It would have felt far too awkward.

The moment reminded me of something that had happened many years ago. I was at a mobile store when I heard a beautiful Tamil song. 

I asked a salesman what song it was. He said it was “some Tamil song”, but he wasn’t sure of the first line or the movie.

Now, I don't even remember hat melodious song. it was lost forever.

This time around, I didn’t want to make that mistake. So, I quickly took out my phone and recorded a short clip of the tune, hoping someone could later identify it.

Later that day, at a friend’s house, I played the music for her. She instantly recognized it: “It’s Cleopatra Stratan’s famous Zunea-Zunea.

Here's the original song from YouTube.

Here is a Wikipedia entry on Cleopatra Stratan.


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