Mongsen Longkumer
Kohima
There is a saying I heard the other day, which said, ‘All art aspires to the condition of music’ which is profoundly true in many ways you wish to derive its meaning from. Music is a form of non-representational art, meaning that it has no physical form of displaying itself for people to see. It can only be heard and listened. Yet, it carries a lot of emotional content behind itself which people can derive a variety of meaning from.
Music in general is a very strange art form you see. In the age of modernity, where materialism, progressivism, secularism and rationalism became more widespread among the people especially since the turn of the 1960s, music too has grown exponentially over the same period of time. It has had a revitalizing effect especially in the culture among young people with each passing decade. Constantly changing its form yet always staying relevant in its meaning towards each generation.
The power of music derives from the fact that it has the ability to manifest itself into a cultural phenomenon which can change the landscape of a society drastically over a period of time. The hippie and the free love era of the 1960s is the most prominent example of that which shaped a whole generation that grew up in that era. And this carried forth unto other forms of art as well.
This sort of power and sway over people has never been felt in any other form of art because it transcends boundaries and borders which people set up between one another. It puts you in an emotional state of being which no other form of art can, and it influences your outlook towards life and the world around you. In a positive or negative manner be that as it may. So in a sense, music helps the listener to derive meaning from itself and helps one to navigate through a life filled with suffering and misery.
Music is also extremely malleable and culturally flexible yet at the same time it has a form of rigidity in itself which transpires over different cultures expressing themselves through their unique taste in music.
The internet has also further accelerated the spread of music to a wider and diverse audience at the same time. Which means that more people are finding commonality with this medium of art without even personally meeting or knowing each other at all. This is the beauty of music. It transcends the barriers of time and even place beyond our own expectation.
However, no matter which type of music it may be, one thing which binds them all together is that music has the intimation of genuine meaning behind itself. It always strives to carry an honest message behind its layers of composition which is directly or indirectly in line with the artist or the creator.
So, no matter how long humanity will continue to carry itself further into the unknown abyss, one thing is for sure. And that is that music will always be there along with us in our journey.
