We will rock you- for a Gujaratiben
As a child I could not understand "english music". I would just not understand the words. It sounded a lot like whoosh, foosh, koosh...My brother listened to all angrezi stuff. I would listen to Gulzar. I listened to the radio, kishore kumar and amitabh bachachn songs. If you grew up in the 80's you would have known how aspirational it was to be listening to western music. To know the latest hits. I used to be the source of the latest hits for my friends as I had an elder brother who brought in all kinds of music, but I couldn't care less, (though I pretended to care a lot). I could listen to Carpenters, Cliff Richard, Harry belafonte and understand it but put me through Pink floyd and I would want to cry. I used to cry. I used to beg my brother to stop it.
And then I heard Queen. I could understand the lyrics, the diction was clear. I don't remember which song I heard first. But I remember thinking that I liked it. The songs were not talking about love in a boy girl sense of the word. The songs were simple, anthem like, easy to sing along. They were dealing with many things, without trying to make an agenda out of it. I remember telling someone I liked queen, and he said "I hope you know 'eno singer baailo chhe" (I hope you know their singer is effeminate (hinting at the lead singer being gay). I definitely did not find the lead singer attractive, not my type, so that information did not make any difference to my opinion about the group or their music, (but in hind sight i do have an opinion about the person who told me that). The first video of queen that I had seen was Radio Ga ga. There used to be a programme on DD called Hottracks, and a friend used to record it on her VCR, that is where I saw it (We didn't have a TV then). The video was absolutely fascinating, I remember asking her to rewind it 2 times, and she saying "mujhe pata tha tujhe yeh pasand aayega"!
I was extremely self conscious of my taste in music and hardly ever picked up something to play. But was always happy when someone played Queen.
When I saw the film 'Bohemian Rhapsody' I realised why I enjoyed Queen over and above other music, (apart from understanding the lyrics). There is an underlying angst regarding gender and sexuality in most of the songs. At the same time it is normalised as a existential quest of every human being. Isn't that how most women work through their issues of gender identity? Normalise, enjoy, live, move on. The other thing was about Freddy's struggle with his roots. Again, if you grew up in the 80's you would know that no one around you was proud to be an Indian. and yet everyone was very desi, we could not live without our pani puri. Every one wanted to leave the country to settle abroad. (Not me but definitely most of the Gujjus I knew). And all those who left packed a pressure cooker with them. I loved (love) my country in a very 'love my family' kind of way. (Aware of its flaws, and happy to discuss it). I think the band was able to bring in these issues too without spelling it out and that somewhere struck a chord in me.
And then when Brian May says in the film "imagine a thousand people clapping together to the same rhythm" I was doing a face-palm. Of course I liked Queen!! They made us do Garba!!
And then I heard Queen. I could understand the lyrics, the diction was clear. I don't remember which song I heard first. But I remember thinking that I liked it. The songs were not talking about love in a boy girl sense of the word. The songs were simple, anthem like, easy to sing along. They were dealing with many things, without trying to make an agenda out of it. I remember telling someone I liked queen, and he said "I hope you know 'eno singer baailo chhe" (I hope you know their singer is effeminate (hinting at the lead singer being gay). I definitely did not find the lead singer attractive, not my type, so that information did not make any difference to my opinion about the group or their music, (but in hind sight i do have an opinion about the person who told me that). The first video of queen that I had seen was Radio Ga ga. There used to be a programme on DD called Hottracks, and a friend used to record it on her VCR, that is where I saw it (We didn't have a TV then). The video was absolutely fascinating, I remember asking her to rewind it 2 times, and she saying "mujhe pata tha tujhe yeh pasand aayega"!
I was extremely self conscious of my taste in music and hardly ever picked up something to play. But was always happy when someone played Queen.
When I saw the film 'Bohemian Rhapsody' I realised why I enjoyed Queen over and above other music, (apart from understanding the lyrics). There is an underlying angst regarding gender and sexuality in most of the songs. At the same time it is normalised as a existential quest of every human being. Isn't that how most women work through their issues of gender identity? Normalise, enjoy, live, move on. The other thing was about Freddy's struggle with his roots. Again, if you grew up in the 80's you would know that no one around you was proud to be an Indian. and yet everyone was very desi, we could not live without our pani puri. Every one wanted to leave the country to settle abroad. (Not me but definitely most of the Gujjus I knew). And all those who left packed a pressure cooker with them. I loved (love) my country in a very 'love my family' kind of way. (Aware of its flaws, and happy to discuss it). I think the band was able to bring in these issues too without spelling it out and that somewhere struck a chord in me.
And then when Brian May says in the film "imagine a thousand people clapping together to the same rhythm" I was doing a face-palm. Of course I liked Queen!! They made us do Garba!!
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