Day 271: Knocks on Songs

"When I am writing, I let the emotions talk to me. They guide where I need to go, I am not paying attention the lyrics and music, I just need to feel what the song wants me to feel." as I got the reply when I asked Abdurrahman Tarikei, a Turkish singer & musician about what he thinks about when he writes and sings. It was a coffee hour I was invited to and I got to learn more about music and songs in that brief conversation and shared songs. There is a word in Hindi that translates beautifully to a knock called "Dastak". What is more beautiful about the word is the associated meaning the feeling of anticipation, the notion of surprise and the eagerness on the other side. These qualities are born as a result of the first word and the way it is often said. I keep going back to this idea of whether a feeling emotes after the word has been expressed or whether it is exactly like what was said about the song by Abdurrahman, you feel it first & if you can get the feeling right you know you are doing the song justice. Such is music that it must be captured in it's most free form. Thanks to my conversation I feel we get to live & play these knocks on songs we write and sing.

Knocks on Songs
I am the "Dastak", the slow knock on the closed door
The one that I sing about, as you feel like you used to before
I close my eyes as I imagine just this much, my mind feels
And my voice talks back, only so much as it could reveal

So I take this breath of fresh air, that fills my lungs as I sing
I familiarize myself with nothing more, not even lyrics, but just a feeling
Some will say that in the depth of the day & in the song writer's need
Lies a music that is yet to be born, that to which only a few have paid heed

I am the slow winter on your closed window, I am conversations over tea
I am reminders of things, that which connect that little bit of "you" to "me"
We will write again in time, we will compose from the thin air
We will be reminded of inspiration when stuck in slow and silent despair

The knocks on songs, that come to the song writer's aid
These few things that through our voice and our thoughts escape
I surround myself with just this much, there is much more to feel
I listen with my eyes closed, waiting for something that the song reveals