Do you speak wind ?

Crash: What's that noise?

Buck: It's the wind. It's speaking to us.
Eddie: What's it saying?
Buck: I dont know. I dont speak wind.

This is my favourite quote from the movie ICE AGE ( 2009). Made me laugh so much when Buck says ....I dont know. I dont speak wind. Well why i thought of it now is because last weekend i went to watch INDIA BEAT 6 at the Merdeka hall of PWTC in KL. Have only watched it on tv all these years...and this is the first time i got to watch it live. And...we met some friends at the entrance of the hall who were worried they might be bored of the first half which is instrumental performance. Nantha and i thought the same and were more interested to watch the bharathanatyam dance performance which comes a little later.

The concert featured the very best international carnatic artist such as :

Padma Shri Shobana Chandrakumar – Bharathanatyam

Padma Shri U. Shrinivas on the mandolin

Padma Shri Kadri Gopalnath – Saxaphone

Kanyakumari – Violin

Shashank – Flute

Sikkil Gurucharan – Vocal

Anil Srinivasan – Piano

Prasanna – Guitar

Bakthavathsalam – Mridangam

Radhakrishnan – Ghatam

U. Rajesh – Mandolin

Akkarai – Violin

Vijay Ghate – Tabla

Rajashekar - Morsing

So we went into the hall and managed to get a perfect spot to be seated....then, walked in the musicians with their respective instruments . They looked so ordinary until they started playing.....the main instrument was Saxaphone accompanied by violin , mrithangam and Ghatam.

It was our FIRST time hearing Saxophone in a live performance especially in indian carnatic music and Padmashree Dr Kadri Gopalnath was just AWESOME ! Nantha and i were totally lost in the music which carried our souls into joyous realms and i closed my eyes to let it carry me further.

That is when i realised that we dont need to have learnt music to be able to flow with it. When good musicians play....they definitely get to your soul no matter what kind of knowledge you have about the instrument. I have not even touched a saxophone in my life, let alone play one....and yet...the music conveyed such intense feelings that you and only you could understand for yourself. You cant explain it....and i thought no wander they call him a genius. He took like 20 years to connect this western instrument to indian carnatic and gosh the outcome is divine !

Then of course the bharathanatyam performed by the ever gorgeous and graceful Padmashree Shobana....but i have to admit that i am not really a fan of her dance style. I dont know why, i cant seem to connect with her moves. But the thought of watching and even snapping pictures of someone who came from a family full of super gorgeous dancers like Padmini and Rahini is definitely exciting especially because she looks so much like Rahini . Well if you are a niece to such dance goddesses you cant help being a goddess yourself....thats what i see in this beautiful dancer.

But then again....though i LOVE Indian classical dance more than any other art form...on that day, the saxophonist spoke through the wind a little louder than the dance goddess did with her ankle bells !!

And overall it was a musical treat and i know watching it on tv will not do justice to that divine music that was rendered life ! Still...do catch it on tv when they show , believe me you dont have to speak wind to understand it.... just close your eyes and let yourself drift with the music...the rest will come naturally :)