The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto
Auhtor- Mitch Albom
Publisher- Hachette, Rs499
Mitch Albom delivers a memorable musical treat, liberally garnished with dedication, bravery, friendship, forgiveness, and love, enduring beyond life and death, writes KAlYANEE RAJAN
Music transforms lives. Everyone has been touched by music in one form or another at different stages of their existence. Mitch Albom (1958-), a best-selling author from America, makes Music the narrator and prime mover in the life of a legendary musician Frankie Presto in his latest novel, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto. A life-long musician himself, Albom brings in voices of various people from the real world of Music, like Marcus Belgrave, Darlene love, Paul Stanley of KISS, Ingrid Michaelson, John Pizzarelli, to lend authenticity to the fictional character of Francisco de Asis Pascual Presto, nicknamed “Frankie” by his American managers. Taking authenticity, research and the experience of book-reading to another plane altogether, Albom offers the book accompanied by a CD containing exclusive musical tracks mentioned in the book sung by actual professionals.
Albom is also a philanthropist, donning many hats, including those of an award-winning journalist, screenwriter, dramatist, and broadcaster, having produced six number one NYT bestsellers. He takes the readers along a roller coaster ride through Frankie’s life, beginning with his death and moving back and forth thereafter. Divided into six parts, the novel follows the narration of Music as it collects and distributes talent among its gifted disciples, Frankie being its most prized pupil, hailed by all as the greatest guitarist ever. It begins with people congregating for Frankie’s funeral service, after his mysterious death, and delves thereafter into a life equally shrouded in enigmatic tales and rumours. The story has all the elements of a classic whodunit, a dramatic death during a festival concert with a sold-out crowd, the body lifting up before dropping down to the stage lifeless, with people gathering for the funeral voicing it, “because no one, they say, dies that way on his own…”
Frankie’s mother Carmencita dies soon after giving birth to him in a church in the city of Villareal in Spain during the times of the Red Terror (El Terror Rojo), the civil war, with raiders coming to destroy that very church; but not before humming to him a melody which was to haunt him through the rest of his life, called “lágrima” meaning teardrop, composed by the famous guitarist Francisco Tárrega. For a while the young nun takes care of him, but soon weary of the demands of a growing infant, abandons him to die alongside a river, where a hairless dog belonging to a sardine-factory owner Mr Baffa Rubio saves him. It is Rubio who takes care of him hereafter and takes him to be trained by a blind musician whom he calls El Maestro.
In between following the chronology of Frankie’s life, fragmented conversations and interviews with the mourners coming to the funeral, build up Frankie the legend, the fantastic musician who rubbed shoulders with legends such as Django Reinhardt, the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and touched the lives of many of his contemporaries as well as those who came later. Popstar Frankie walks through each milestone of the musical landscape of classical jazz, rock and roll, spanning decades beginning with the 40’s. The recurring theme, as the voice of Music tells us, is “Everyone joins a band in this life”, and as life goes on, one moves from this band to the other, the bands themed around family, friendship, romance, neighbourhood, school and the like. Some bands last through life, others are made and broken on the way; the important aspect being “…in each band you join, you will play a distinct part, and it will affect you as much as you affect it”. Frankie’s band with Rubio is broken rudely and suddenly just as the one with El Maestro gets consolidated. At the same time as a child, he also meets the love of his life Aurora York, and together they witness and pay homage to the mass grave of six people killed by the militia, and thus begins Frankie’s tryst with Six: He uses up the strings from his first guitar to fashion flowers for the dead. later he is gifted six guitar strings by El Maestro which hold magical powers, each string turning blue every time a life is transformed.
Tragedy seems to be forever lurking at Frankie’s heels as he is separated from El Maestro who in turn is murdered for a few banknotes, and yet, Frankie also manages to run into just the right people who appreciate and further his talent. His pursuit of and eventual marriage with Aurora, their loving repetition of “Aurora means Dawn”, their passionate and tumultuous love for each other also forms a major part of the story. The reader is catapulted to the heights of musical melange as Frankie effortlessly delivers many memorable performances and collaborates with several other musicians. He is adored by one and all, his songs turn chartbusters, his records are a rage, and also tries his hand at films. Briefly married to an actress, his personal life turns messy and several bad life-choices leave him broken. Most incidents of his life leave deep scars in Frankie’s mind and soul, plunging him deeper into a shell, up to a point where he disappears from public life altogether, arguably at a time when he was at the peak of his career.
Each of the six parts of the novel records one string each turning blue and a life altered for the better. Towards the end, having achieved resolution and partaking healing after immense suffering, Frankie returns to play one last time, changing another life. What lies behind the mysterious heavily clothed figure shadowing FrankieIJ Why does he disappearIJ Who were Frankie’s parents and who, if at all, killed FrankieIJ The novel is a lyrical masterpiece, with the storyline dancing to various movements of the symphony-the allegro, the adagio, the minuet/Scherzo and the rondo-- not just for anyone who has followed and grown up on the music of the west, but for those of us who love and appreciate a well-told story. With The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto, Mitch Albom delivers a memorable musical treat, liberally garnished with dedication, bravery, friendship, forgiveness, and love, enduring beyond life and death.
The reviewer teaches English literature at a Delhi University college