Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
FEW things affect the human race like music; its power to inspire, to inflame, to completely overpower. The sheer beauty of music is hard to express; it speaks for itself, in its own language.
Sitting in the auditorium, listening to the melodic musings of pianos and violins, I drifted off, allowing myself to get lost in the rising and ebbing notes that rang crisply through the hall.
The Young Musicians of the Gulf competition comes around every year and every year, it astounds me and wakes me up to a whole sphere of life that I've been missing.
The dexterity, agility and skill of the musicians that play their hearts out on stage never fail to amaze me as I listen intently; the outside world blurred to a standstill.
The competition shows that age is merely a number; the talent exhibited by these youngsters is incredible to say the least. The powerful voices they emanate, the careful speed their fingers fly with across piano keys, the graceful strength they weave their cellos with, the unwavering steadiness they play their flutes with - I watch them, almost enviously, as they immerse themselves in a different realm. What gets me the most is how effortless they make it seem.
The hours of practice, the endless pacing exercises, the nights of note reading - the amount of work that goes behind that three minute performance is overwhelming. And, they come out and play like they've been born with their instruments, as if they've plucked strings and weaved fiddles across bows for decades.
This year, while I watched the selection rounds, there was one performer that stood out after his performance - that made the audience clap their hands sore; that made such an impact with his resonating last note.
This Bahraini teenager brought a different tune to the stage as he strummed his instrument - a deep resounding comforting distinctive Arabic note.
"My name is Essa and I'll be playing the Oud"
And play he did.
With strikingly beautiful notes and prodigious skill, his hands flew through a fast-paced traditional melody with phenomenal expertise. This musical tribute to his roots makes Bahrain proud of such talent.
It was a joy to even just watch him play.
The hall erupted in cheers after he made his final bow, leaving the room still lingering with the faint echoes of ancestral desert melodies.
Grudgingly, coming out of the hall, I was left oddly elated, having been a lucky witness to the spine-tingling performances of all the participants. My head still swimming with those impressive notes, I tried to get back to work. I've realised that music, in all its booming glory, affects us more than we realise.
Classical music is unfortunately quite a rarity nowadays, and it's such a shame we don't have more of these events to stir up some well deserved interest in a beautiful art.
Being a rock band aficionado, you'd think I'd be one of 'those teenagers', the ones you wouldn't expect to give you directions to a classical orchestra in a cultural hall. But, just sitting there, in that impressive hall, with the lights dimmed and a warm spotlight on the performer, listening to the music being created by such young, magical fingers, letting those notes lift me into a trance and enveloping me for a brief moment into another world - I'd be one of the first people to give you directions!
That is of course once I 've pushed myself to the front of the line, armed with a programme guide and a voracious appetite for some good old fashioned classical music.
