Life starts with everyone clapping

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

The pun in his remark got me clapping involuntarily. Wonder, how else could anyone react to Grammy winner rapper Jay-Z holding former US President Bill Clinton as the ultimate rockstar, “people clap in a restaurant when he finishes dinner.” And, he didn’t stop at just that adding “I don’t get that treatment. I get it when I walk onstage, but not when I have dinner.” There is not much to read into it other than the fact that anything that induces clapping should be worth a cause. And, I mean it!

I say so because I find that clapping benefits us more than what it is credited for. People clap in the park, yoga teachers induce clapping as an essential step and acupressure technique counts on clapping to trigger a healthy body response. As old as human existence, clapping both hands is more than what we might ever consider it to be. It is clearly emerged more than a standard civic gesture to attract attention; to celebrate success and to express admiration as a sign of approval.

Clapping gives an adrenaline boost to the one who is at the receiving end, be it in a political rally or a public performance. But it works the other way round too! Don’t you recall ‘slow’ clapping has often been used to pull down a bad speaker or boo a poor performance --as an act of disapproval?

The musical aspect of clapping has often been underrated. Be it classical or western music, clapping has been tried as an interesting interlude. While it is somewhat organic to qawali, in other genre, it has emerged as a creative interlude that a few music composers have been able to master. Who can forget several such compositions by noted musician O P Nayyar who had turned to the clap as his signature tune for numerous Bollywood songs from the 50’s through the 70’s.

Clapping is after all the most common sound that we, as humans, have been using without our vocal cords. Need it be said that clapping with hands is the first act that all of us have learnt as a child. It is only in our later years that we become conservative in our use of clapping as a social gesture. No wonder, we now find claquers filling the gaps in radio programs and television. Why clap when one could be paid to do so, I imagine!