They speak the language of music, each one of them, and that is what binds a WhatsApp group of passionate music lovers. They speak, listen and discuss only music, Nothing But Music (NBM), as they call the group.
The group that is a little more than a year old is the brainchild of singer-music director Azeez Bava. “It happened by chance. I was a member of another group that tended to be too exclusive and a bit too ‘religious.’ Though some of us did voice our concern nothing seemed to change. That’s when I thought of starting a group that would share music and discuss Nothing But Music. We launched it on August 21, 2015,” says Azeez, who is one of the three administrators, the others being Babu and Gafoor.
Azeez says he did not have to search much for a name. “Illayaraja’s album ‘Nothing But Wind’ is one album that I listen to repeatedly. Even before the idea of starting a group was mooted and some of my friends got together to see how it could be done the name ‘Nothing But Music’ was there in my mind.”
In NBM the standing rule was that music is a language where everyone attempts to communicate through it. Listening, experiencing and responding are the principles that move the group. “On a given day I post two or three songs from my collection and then the members take over. They share their favourites, rare songs, comment on the postings and sometimes are drawn into a discussion.”
NBM has 123 members that comprise professionals, singers, musicians, composers, home makers, celebrities like actors Mammootty, Siddique and Manoj K. Jayan, director Siddique, music director Ramesh Narayanan, singers like Biju Narayanan, K.R. Viswambaran, IAS, and more. “Membership is only on request. We do a preliminary screening only to gauge how much they speak the same language. Most of the members are recommended by existing ones which makes the job easier for us administrators.”
Azeez lets us into some of the future plans of NBM. “We will be having an annual get together of our members in November this year. Work on building up an archive of songs has begun. We have the facility to store two lakh songs, which can be shared among our members on request. Some time later we would like to do a ticketed programme in the city the proceeds of which will go for some social cause.”
