The hammer will fall, eventually!

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) 

Forget all the historical inaccuracies and that the filmmakers jumbled up the timeline to make their story larger than life than they already are. That is the artistic licence for you and me, the liberty to romanticise up the story to spice it up for the screen.

1985 Live Aid concert was not the parting short for Queen before Freddie Mercury withered into the sunset to deal with his illness. In reality, his diagnosis was only known to him in 1987. No, Mercury was not the villain who wanted to part ways for a solo career. Other band members also had their individual gigs before that.

Nevertheless, the movie turned out to be quite an exciting depiction of a musical genius who had the trappings of wanting to bring out the best of rock music while living life to its fullest in his short lifespan and burning out before the legend in him ever did.

Farrokh Bulsara - Romi Malek

The take-home message that I took from this film that at the end of the day, when the tide is low, it is family that one can rely upon. In Freddie's case, there are his biological family and musical family. His biological family, by the twist of fate, a pure freak accident of Nature or a cruel throwing of dice by the Master Maker, are intertwined in the DNA of compassion and bond of love. The band buddies are bonded by the shared passion for music, the cement of life.


As strung in the lyrics of the Queen's super hit, 'We are the Champions', our words, actions and deeds land us in a lot of troubles. We regret, we pay our dues. Time and time again, we make the same bad mistake. Even though these wrong footings are a few and we come out unabashed even after falling flat on the face, sometimes we fail to rebuild our bridges. We go on and on, thinking we are indestructible and that we are doing the right thing. We think we are champions of the world.
But when fall comes, when the curtain falls, all the fame, the glory, the friends and all the things that came with it will just fade away. That is when family matters, to cry with you.

At the end of the day, only good thoughts, good words and good deeds leave a mark at the end of your time when it is ripe to move to the other side. 

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Bohemian Rhapsody | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

Not quite a break free!

 Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra
Brent Havens, conductor; Brody Dolyniuk, vocals.

Perhaps they wanted to re-live the lost times, the times that they missed whilst pursuing their dreams and music took a backseat. They ploughed while sluggards slouched. Maybe the present time is just too stressful and they yearn for the good old carefree days. Or they were inquisitive how a rock songs were to be belted by a philharmonic orchestra, singers rocking away carrying the mike-stand swinging it around like a baton accompanied by violinists and cellists.

In the hearts of hearts, they were just out to exhibit their new party dress and black tie clueless whether Kinks were competitors to Queen. Or to entertain their foreign business partner to show off that their third world capital city is at par with its western counterparts with a philharmonic orchestra to flaunt. Anyway, the mark of a city of a certain standing needs two things to be in the league of the big boys' club of 'cultured metropolis' - an orchestra and a marathon event!

Perhaps, they wanted to hear for themselves of the promise of the conductor that their music is as close as the Queen themselves. The audience must have also been wondering if the vocal range of the lead singer could match that of the legendary Mercury's. Even the talented George Michael failed to reach Mercury's span of vocal ranges. Could the sanitised high brow environment re-create the uninhibited flamboyant greater-than-life histrionic loud evergreen Queen music, they wondered?

And I wondered how many in the audience knew that Freddie Mercury was no red blooded English boy but  Farrokh Bulsara, a Parsi born in Zanzibar, fed ZoroAstrian diet, grew in Goa listening to Asha Bhosle and matured in the UK and as US!

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Thank you for the music

Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury

by Lesley-Ann Jones (2011)

If you plan to tell the world your legacy, that is if you had left one, it is always better to write your own autobiography rather than leaving it to people who claim to know you inside out. They can even tell the world how you think and what must have gone through your mind when you said or did some of the things in your life.

The biography was written by an award-winning journalist who had spent a lot of her professional time with the rich and famous. Of course, some would question her authority to write some intimate stuff about the man who had touched the heart of many, man and women.
The book runs swiftly through Farrokh Bulsara's early childhood in Zanzibar and Goa. It concentrates mainly on FB's adult life in the UK after obtaining his Diploma in Graphic Designing all the way through the trying times as a struggling musician to his superstardom and his fall.

We, the listeners, always assume that the Queen played one song which got the whole world mesmerised. The truth, is, however, far from that. The road to stardom involved many man hours manning a souvenir shop at Kensington Market and many failed attempts at creating bands - Smile and Ibex, Wreckage. It's a hard life, no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise. After many misses and near misses, fame and fortune came in abundance. With fame and fortune came ego, friction between friends, decadent lifestyle, up and down yo-yo of life, love, heartbreak, friends, foes and AIDS.

1946 - 1991

The trouble of biographies is that, like this one, the writer sometimes tries to analyse and psychoanalyse the person's behaviours and actions. Freddie Mercury's loneliness, being away from his family at such a tender age(since 9) is suggested as a possible reason for his close association with his longtime companion Mary Austin as a mother figure. The author also discusses the train of thought that must have gone through the mind of Freddie Mercury, his insecurities, his desire for the love of a different kind, his desire to come out of the closet, but at the same time not to let down his Zoroastrian parents, his disappointments in love etcetera. The author described him as a reserved man who treasured his privacy, felt courageous only in the company of friends, had been betrayed many a time and was not a confrontational person. In spite of shyness, probably because of his dental map-alignment,  he metamorphosed on the stage in front of his sea of fans.

The lyrics of the songs, as die-hard Queen fan may realise are quite cerebral. It is not your bebop teenage bumble pop songs. Infusing opera sounds and loud radio-friendly songs tell about varied topics from God, life, love and politics. The author, like others before her, stress that the innuendos in the lyrics and the metaphors of Freddy publicising his inner turmoils. Bohemian Rhapsody is said to be the public declaration of 'out-of-closet'. Look at the lyrics here and judge yourself!

The mind sees what the mind wants to see and the mind hears what the mind wants to see.
I guess all the fan and fortune overcame all his deficiencies. He came out with a bang, all pomp and splendour.

He really enjoyed his life, lived 5 lifetimes in his single short lifespan. His penchant for the gaudy and opera together with his exposure to kinds of music from the African continent, Indian subcontinent and the European continent managed to bring out the best that of a rock artiste could offer to the rocking world. His operatic manner of approach to rock and roll took him to dizzying heights.  

N.B. Freddie Mercury of Queen, the rock band, in the company of highly intelligent musicians - Brian May with Ph D in Astrophysics & Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University; Roger Taylor B Sc, the bored dental student who gave up Dentistry for a Biology degree and music; John Deacon, 1st Class Honours Degree in Electronics.

Freddie lived his life!

Freddy had a time of his life

This is one of the rare biographies of Freddy Mercury (born Farrukh Bulsara) where people from his childhood are interviewed. Notice how close his sister resembles Freddy (or is it the other way around?) And notice how the infrastructure in Zanzibar and Bombay can still pass off as frolics from Freddy’s past (in the 60s and 70s).

Forget about his sexual orientation, he is a wizard in bringing operatic type of sweet rock music to the world. Thanks to probably his exposure to music from the continents of Africa, Europe as well as the Indian sub-continent. Apperently, he used to enjoy melodious crooning of Asha Bhosle! Being the true musician that he is, like Sudirman Haji Arshad, he continued performing almost till his final stages. This is evidenced by his scarecrow like appearance in the ‘Innuendo’ music videos especially in ‘I am going slightly mad’.

It is interesting to see how well a Farsi boy blended into the British society, hardly giving any inkling to his Indian link, what more about his Farsi origin. One can even say that he is India’s earliest contribution to contemporary music before the works

Do you know that at least 2 of Queen’s songs are banned by RTM (Radio TV Malaysia) – namely ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Mustafa’. In ‘Mustafa’ the azan is used as part of the song. In ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, Islam is portrayed as a non compassionate religion. In this song, a young poor boy dies after being sentenced to death for murder. At heaven’s gate, he pleads for leniency amongst the angels of different faiths. Most angels feel pity for him. The Moslem angels appear cold and vehemently deny his appeal, “Bismillah, we will never let you go!” Ironically, they play this song over the Malaysian airwaves now but conveniently blanking off the part just like they do vulgar rap song with offensive lyrics. Cynics proclaim that Freddy’s aversion to Islam culminated from his Zoro-Astrorian faith. In the 9^th century, Islamic invaders chased them off their motherland in Persia.

In the mean time, enjoy this one and a half hour documentary of the lead singer of the rock group ‘Queen’, Freddy Mercury a.k.a. Farrukh Bulsara…