Melancholy

Melancholic songs can touch the deepest parts of one's being. They are compositions that are hand-crafted with poignant poetry and soul-stirring music which beautifully capture emotions of pain, turmoil and longing. The notes, low and high, and their elegant transitions, evoke one of the most basic and gentlest of feelings in the mind of the listener : compassion. The listener begins to recognise and empathise, or, relate to the emotions at play. Moreover, a great vocalist that can depict the subtleties of such emotions through graceful nuances of his or her singing brings the listener much closer to the song. Mohammed Rafi was one such legendary singer that was not only talented and versatile, but was also well-acclaimed during his times and continues to be an inspiration for music lovers and singers in India, even decades after his untimely death.

Here are few such songs. Not necessarily sad, but beautiful.

Ehsaan tera hoga mujh par (Mohd. Rafi)

Humein tumse pyaar kitna (Female version, sung by Parveen Sultana)

Tere bina Zindagi se koi Shikwaa (Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar)

Harjaaiyaan (Nandini Srikar)

Nahi Saamne (Hariharan)

Jab chali thandi hawa (Asha Bhosle)

Guncha (Mohit Chauhan)

Dhak Dhuk (Amit Trivedi)

The Rain Song (Led Zeppelin)

You're lost little girl (The Doors)

Jo Bhi Main Kehna chanhun (Mohit Chauhan)

Dil Se (A. R. Rahman)

Yeh jo des hai tera (A.R. Rahman)

Breathless (Shankar Mahadevan)

Angel (Sarah McLachlan)