Of Eagles and Daffodils.

There I was miserable in front of the TV , nut in a knot yet again over the filth that is Indian politics , another worn out Sad Sack loser day-end wondering why it should even matter so much and all that. Then I made the smartest decision of the day and listened to Shakti's exquisite  The Daffodil And The Eagle. (Shakti, in case you're not familiar)

Therapy and three fourths. 

I first heard Natural Elements, the album it's from, sometime around December 1991, a light  young college being in the sublime sun of a Delhi winter. Happy associations all round ! I'd bought it as a present for Ujjal, my soon-to-be brother in law who I was going to be meeting for the first time. Freddy Mercury had just died and I was thinking Queen. A cousin suggested this one instead. At the time, I hadn't even heard of  Shakti. Then, like everybody else who has, I fell in love with this mega super group of John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, L.Shankar and  Vikku Vinayakram.  

Daffodil is one I go back to repeatedly. It's such an achingly beautiful piece. It does something between breaking your heart and making it whole. On a lighter note,  it's also an instrumental title that you can grasp : clearly a dialogue between eagle and daffodil in the form of  a magnificent guitar-violin jugalbandi (that's a duet interplay in Indian music). Shankar and McLaughlin trade solos, exchange views, fight like raging dements, dive into the argument, augment each other's amplitude,  break apart in fury, come together for a laugh,break apart again. In the background, Hussain and Vikku drive a masterly rhythm full of  froth and movement and flight.  

Listening you visualize some verdant green village in Tamil Nadu in southern India - the brain and true cool of India ! - where a simply dressed genius mathematician is practicing his Carnatic music lessons of a hot sunny afternoon, his wife getting lunch ready, the house pungent with the smell of cleanliness and rasam, the deserted village street outside drowsy in the afternoon heat.  And off in the distant blue mountains, somewhere in an empty jungle, an eagle and a daffodil are in an animated conversation about something deep.

All of which you could say is kind of shit  because I know next to nothing about South Indian topography or Tamil villages,  sadly having  ever been to the beautiful region only a couple of times. Daffodils I know even less. Flower. Check. Famous poem about. Check. End of.

In point of fact, the melody is actually built at least partly around a Scottish tune also used in Morning Call from Mahavishnu Orchestra's Inner Worlds album. So so much for that little  flight of fancy  ! :) 

But you know what I'm saying. It's one of those pieces that take you to another place far far away, which is where I wanted to be tonight ! 

I believe Woody Guthrie  had a guitar case on which was written ' this guitar kills fascists' . This bit of inconsequential silliness (which unsurprisingly impressed a young Bob Dylan) has always tickled me. 

I mean, picture this  :

MUSICIAN : "My guitar's gonna kill ya, Fascist!"

NAZI SOLDIER : " Ja ?" 

Nazi Soldier shoots him

Ha ! 

But hearing this piece  was kind of like killing a fascist because I certainly killed all thoughts of (somebody I consider) one for the evening ! 

I love McLaughlin's playing on this tune.Those runs are the perfect blend of speed and feel. And the clarity  ! You can hear each individual speeding-note-in-a-hurry ring like a chime of glory. Somehow much as I admire and acknowledge the magnificence of his electric work , it never measured up in quite exactly the same way for me as his Shakti stuff. Find the tone a bit 'muddy' (unlike, say, an Al di Meola from the same mid-70's period and style ). What a giant of a musician though. An absolute gem and a genius (here's a recent Rolling Stone India  interview. The print issue has fantastic tributes by Zakir Hussain, Santana, Chick Corea and Steve Vai ) 

Krishna, my friend and long time music beacon, had the incredible good fortune of accompanying Fourth Dimension, McLaughlin's current band on their US tour a few years ago, even befriending the great man into the process. He tells me Mr. McLaughlin is a great guy too. And it just sort of strikes you that he would be too doesn't it.  One of those characters you tend to instinctively both respect and like. 

When you  listen , the attitude of  this track is all about that. Prowess and humility and grace. Four superb musicians challenging themselves. No fuss. Masters all.

It all began for me with this piece and it's going to stay.