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Movie Memories
Indian Soundtrack
My friend brought a cassette from India, a movie soundtrack. The cover was stuffed with strange text along with a small picture. I had no idea what to expect, it could have been anything from church music to the whining raga. But in no time I was sold. I had found a sweet new dimension.
The singers had an unbelievable range of emotion in their voices. There was such a swing in the music that I suspected an overdose of joyfulness. There was so much drama that there was no need to see the movie itself.
The world of emotions was unbelievable, it was easy to imagine that the poverty of the country was at least partly replaced by rich expression of emotion. I wonder if our culture forces immigrants to keep that bright disposition inside just for themselves.
By and by I began to hear the separate words of the songs. Especially the refrain "qurbaani, qurbaani..." came through. Later on the cassette was taken away, but I still remembered that heavenly music.
That all happened 17 years ago, and for some reason this is what came to my mind when I was thinking what films mean to me. I guess I have grown away from the silver screen, since the Indian Soundtrack was my most vivid memory.
I turn to the great traveller of our times, the Internet, and try a search with the refrain qurbaani. I get a number of pages of Islamic people praising the glory of Allah, but I also get some Indian movie pages. After some surfing in their marshmallow world I suddenly come across the contents of the old tape in digital form. For a moment the screen fades and looks just like the old cover.
By and by I began to hear the separate words of the songs. Especially the refrain "qurbaani, qurbaani..." came through. Later on the cassette was taken away, but I still remembered that heavenly music.
I register and now have the permission to go and listen to the old Qurbani soundtrack again, unless someone starts worrying about the copyrights.
Songs from Indian movie soundtracks can be found at:
http://www.raaga.com
A review of the movie Qurbani:
http://www.indolink.com/bollywood/memories/reviews/qurbani.html
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