Music - The Soul of Life

Music means a lot to me

According to Oxford Dictionary, music is defined as "vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion". 

My definition of music is the art which involves the pouring of emotions; and the beautiful outcome is the devotional and expressive music which is pleasant for the ears. I personally appreciate music very much, and I love it when I hear people playing different kinds of musical instruments, omitting beautiful tunes. 

Om - the Hindu symbol 

Goddess Saraswati holding a veena

The importance of music and musical instruments is very immense in my culture, Hinduism. Some of our Gods play musical instruments, such as my favorite and most respected Goddess Saraswati. She is the Goddess of knowledge, music, arts and science.In the Thai religion, Goddess Saraswati is known as "Suraswadee". She is associated with the colour white, which symbolizes knowledge and purity. She holds a musical instrument called a "Veena" or a "Sitar" in her hands. Belief says that she plays music of love and life residing in the strings of the Veena. People who wish to succeed in their musical careers often worship Goddess Saraswati. He who has Saraswati's blessings will constantly succeed in their musical talents as She appreciates people who appreciate music - like Her. 

Thus, I have deep respect for all music loves as my culture teaches we to do so as even my God has the love of music and respects it.

Sorn played by Anuchit Sapanpong

Linking my beliefs with the Thai movie "The Overture", I like the character Sorn in the movie very much. He is determined to play an instrument called the "Ranad" in the movie. I respect Sorn as he possesses the passion for music - similar to the Gods of the Hindu culture. 

Sorn's passion for playing the ranad is shown in a few scenes. 

The first scene is when Sorn is shown competing with another competitor, Khun In, in the palace of His Royal Highness of Thailand. The scene portrays Sorn competing on a tough scale as Khun In brings in tough competiton to Sorn. Despite facing difficulties with a broken ranad, he is given another chance to play. Sorn proves himself well and wins the ranad playing competiton against Khun In. He manages to impress The Royal Highness due to his immense musical talent and manages to get a standing ovation from the crowd. This scene always impresses me too, and everytime I watch this scene, I build-up more respect towards Sorn as he has actually learnt how to play the ranand just for the sake of the movie.

Sorn playing the Ranad

Other than that, it is shown in the movie that Sorn craves to play the ranad during his childhood despite being restricted by his father. Sorn's father has actually restricted Sorn to play the ranad as his elder son, had passed away due to the intense rivalry and jealousy of the competitors of ranad playing competition. This phobia Sorn's dream to become a successful ranad player. However, Sorn defies his father and often sneaks off to practice playing the ranad in the jungles together with one of his good friends. He eventually gets caught but his father realizes that he has become a fantactic ranad player and releases his restrictions upon the advice of a monk. This shows how Sorn's passion for music has over-powered his fathers restrictions.   

Another scene which portrays Sorn's great love towards music is in the ending. It is shown that Sorn dies after his last play on the ranad. This scene portrays that Sorn's whole life is linked with music, and he even dies on the ranad. I can imagine how strong Sorn's love for music is. This scene always gets me emotionally choked, as it portrays the importance of music in the character's life. It makes me think - what is my passion in life? Having some form of passion is one's life is very important as it gives us a reason to live. This is the main reason why I adore this scene and I am also very much pleased with the character as he possesses a very high passion for music.

Sorn dies while playing the Ranad

Therefore, I have great respect for the character Sorn in the movie The Overture and I would love to watch the movie again during my free time.  This movie is a must watch for all music lovers and appreciators as everything in this movie is linked with music - the soul of life. :)

The Ranad....