Musical Madness 2.0

mayG and I have been wannabe musical maestros in our own senses. We consider ourselves more than the average "bay-sura" (somebody who sing out of tune) and find ourselves singing casual duets unconsciously all over the house at random times. She might we working on her laptop humming a tune with the follow-up lines continuing from across another room from my side.

This would of course would make us unconsciously very content, just with the thought of being bonded even in the world of music. The funny part is that we share a huge common music vocabulary as well. Not that we have a 100% commonality, that would be too perfect, there are some tunes that mayG brings up which I have no clue about it. This is usually from the "farangi" (English) genre.

I am not sure if I have some which mayG doesn't know. If they are then they would be probably from the Qawwali or Sufi domain. This was all well and good until recently when the little one joined in as well -

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new genre in the house - Barney. Dora. Nursery Rhymes. Kid Songs... sigh..

She has figured that this is another way to get involved. So once in a while, out comes a tune at the top of her voice, expecting everybody else to follow-up on the lines. This would seem cute to most readers and it doesn't seem like a big deal - Parents should after all appreciate and encourage such acts of confidence by the child...

Well, let me tell you that you forget one small aspect of toddler tunes - they are always and always sung with actions! You can't get away with a casual hum, fade it out in the background and switch back to your own music quickly. You have to do all the hands up high and touch the toes and look left and right and do the boogie-woogie stuff.

As she has grown older, she has picked up on all the cheapoo bollywood tunes that *the mom* is such a big fan of. So we see the little one joining in even on the most difficult to remember and hum-along tunes.

The three year old has all the desi girls, rock ons and dance pe chance types learnt to perfection and for the others where the lyrics are kinda tricky, well who cares! its all about being involved, for that we have mastered the art of lalala-ing and hmmhmmhmm-ing along! One doesn't need to know ALL the words, right?

We have of course noticed this and trying to revert this concept of bonding to something more constructive. That same energy is being directed to Religious Rhymes (Yusuf Islam). But its a long way back from where we have come.

I wrote this post after this just happened.. funny scenario - picture 3 different songs being sung at the top of the voices by 3 different people (2 adults, 1 child) trying to suggest that their song is the best and everybody should sing that now! Check out the selections -

mayG - "Kya Soorat hay... Kya Soorat hay... (Bombay Vikings)"
UTP - "Kuch larkiyan ... Chaierin Mujhay... (Sajjad Ali)"
Little one - "Baba kee Rani Hoon... (Hindi Movie)"