There’s a mysterious quality about music that science can’t dissect. It’s a marvel watching musicians of all genres transform sentiment into melody. Making something out of nothing, musicians ingeniously manifest the best and worst parts of the human experience in to fervent orchestras of sound. World famous guitarist Carlos Santana eloquently agreed with this notion when he said that “Just as Jesus created wine from water, we humans are capable of transmuting emotions in to music.” Musicians tap in to a special frequency converting the energy of a sensation in to songs that pull at your heartstrings.

Where words and pictures don’t work, music becomes the alternate therapeutic medium of expression. The artist sometimes thought mad for his inability to effectively articulate his thoughts becomes a mastermind with this tuneful and cathartic mode of communication. Elvis Presley put it well when he said, “I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.” You see, learning to strike the chords is not enough. Acquiring the technical skills is only a small portion of the equation. Although the tools of the trade do need to be learned, its undeniable that the root of good music comes from a place deep inside. Latent music bursts out from the musician working with his instrument of choice, even if it’s just his voice.

Even if the seed of the musician’s talent springs from his sensitivity to the human condition, it is still a wonder how the artist thinks up different tracks that merge together. How does one know how to harmonize the high and low pitched sounds? How does one dream up the next note? Its amazing to watch fingers move speedily along piano keys or strum along familiar strings so knowingly.

One may contemplate that perhaps the source of inspiration of the music may explain the mystery of it, but in truth, it’s not always possible to pinpoint one incident that invoked a song. It’s seems an accumulation of many conceivable and inconceivable factors. “After it's finished, sometimes I can trace a path that goes back to the possible source of inspiration,” Tracey Chapman said, showing us that the motivation behind a track is not always clear-cut.

Its not just the words that impact us, not just the pleasure in recognizing a storyline; music is a unanimous dialect that resonates with us. Unique as each production is, it has the ability to speak to the masses. It’s a language that can touch us in places other mediums can’t reach. We seem to genuinely identify with certain tempos and rhythms.

Music is obscure and enigmatic in its own right. We can sing a happy song and get glassy eyed. We can hear a sad song and be jovial. We can hear a gospel song that brings us to our knees or an opera that causes tears to stream down our faces uncontrollably. Music is complex and powerful and we seem to love being participants of the psychological games it plays.

- Zihan Kassam