For those
of you who are fans of pop/rock/metal/country music (apart from filmy
music), can you recollect any Indian music band/artist which/who has
taken the nation by storm by virtue of their work(not counting Bollywood
music)? Agreed, some good bands do exist like Euphoria and Indian Ocean
but they have not succeeded in creating a big and loyal fan base for
themselves which western bands/artists and even a few pakistani bands
have managed to do so with success.
India is a kaleidoscope of a vast number of cultures and traditions. There is a rich folklore celebrating the various religions, languages, communities, etc. India also boasts of a rich and old tradition of art and music spanning across different communities and regions. Especially on the music front, different regions have their own style of folk music. The Indian Classical music (hindustani and carnatic) is respected across the globe by the knowledgable and other music circles. Then there is a category called the “Filmy Music” (or more specifically Bollywood music since it is the biggest of the lot).
Indian movies have had a very close and dear relationship with music and songs ever since the inception of the indian film industry(talking movies i.e) where actors and actresses would lip-sync the songs sung by the singers. Decades passed by and filmy music evolved(focussing on bollywood) thanks to legendary music composers like R.D Burman who brought innovation as well as western influence into music. Then another living legend AR Rahman revolutionised filmy music in 90s and since then music in movies has taken a different turn and today the music has become more “techno” than ever. Amidst all these developments in 90s, another development took place and that was the spawning of music bands which were primarily into pop genre. The most noticeable among them was the band Euphoria which managed some popularity with its album(s) but they also went into oblivion afterwards. Today we do have fusion bands like Indian Ocean who have given masterpieces undoubtedly but they too are not into mainstream music. On the other hand, a few music bands from even across the border(read Pakistan) like Jal and Strings have been successful in making a good name for themselves in India also.
Apart from the Classical music and Ghazals which have a limited audience, the Indian music primarily revolves around films. Bright and upcoming music composers are told to compromise on their tunes and songs in order to grab maximum eyeballs for the respective movies so that the producers can be cash-happy. The scope for creativity on the musician’s part is reduced in such cases.
Coming back to bands, the only two Indian bands that one can think of are Agnee and Indian Ocean and they two are of two different genres. In India, you won’t find genre-specific bands like country/metal/rock even though increaingly these are being used in movies. The question is : if they can be used in movies (even though crudely), why is that bands focussing on these genres are yet to make it big. The main problem is that the ultimate destination for aspiring musicians and singers becomes bollywood where there is no dearth of glamour and fame and money and where songs are still (barring a few movies nowadays) seen as a trump card to pull the audience to the theatres at least for a few days. That is a significant reason why non-film rock’n roll/pop artists have not made it big through their ventures.
However the picture is slowly changing even though the change is very negligible. There are a few rock/metal bands blossoming since the last few years in the usual musical hubs of India, viz Kolkata and Bangalore and a few elsewhere, but they are still in their nascent stage. The interest and the inclination is evidently there thanks to increasing exposure towards various forms of Music. But the public perception in general about popular music has to change a bit and come out of the bollywood mould and musicians should let their creative juices flow without any inhibitions for creating more beautiful music. Maybe we will soon get Indian Bands which would take the nation by storm very soon. Let’s go musical!!
India is a kaleidoscope of a vast number of cultures and traditions. There is a rich folklore celebrating the various religions, languages, communities, etc. India also boasts of a rich and old tradition of art and music spanning across different communities and regions. Especially on the music front, different regions have their own style of folk music. The Indian Classical music (hindustani and carnatic) is respected across the globe by the knowledgable and other music circles. Then there is a category called the “Filmy Music” (or more specifically Bollywood music since it is the biggest of the lot).
Indian movies have had a very close and dear relationship with music and songs ever since the inception of the indian film industry(talking movies i.e) where actors and actresses would lip-sync the songs sung by the singers. Decades passed by and filmy music evolved(focussing on bollywood) thanks to legendary music composers like R.D Burman who brought innovation as well as western influence into music. Then another living legend AR Rahman revolutionised filmy music in 90s and since then music in movies has taken a different turn and today the music has become more “techno” than ever. Amidst all these developments in 90s, another development took place and that was the spawning of music bands which were primarily into pop genre. The most noticeable among them was the band Euphoria which managed some popularity with its album(s) but they also went into oblivion afterwards. Today we do have fusion bands like Indian Ocean who have given masterpieces undoubtedly but they too are not into mainstream music. On the other hand, a few music bands from even across the border(read Pakistan) like Jal and Strings have been successful in making a good name for themselves in India also.
Apart from the Classical music and Ghazals which have a limited audience, the Indian music primarily revolves around films. Bright and upcoming music composers are told to compromise on their tunes and songs in order to grab maximum eyeballs for the respective movies so that the producers can be cash-happy. The scope for creativity on the musician’s part is reduced in such cases.
Coming back to bands, the only two Indian bands that one can think of are Agnee and Indian Ocean and they two are of two different genres. In India, you won’t find genre-specific bands like country/metal/rock even though increaingly these are being used in movies. The question is : if they can be used in movies (even though crudely), why is that bands focussing on these genres are yet to make it big. The main problem is that the ultimate destination for aspiring musicians and singers becomes bollywood where there is no dearth of glamour and fame and money and where songs are still (barring a few movies nowadays) seen as a trump card to pull the audience to the theatres at least for a few days. That is a significant reason why non-film rock’n roll/pop artists have not made it big through their ventures.
However the picture is slowly changing even though the change is very negligible. There are a few rock/metal bands blossoming since the last few years in the usual musical hubs of India, viz Kolkata and Bangalore and a few elsewhere, but they are still in their nascent stage. The interest and the inclination is evidently there thanks to increasing exposure towards various forms of Music. But the public perception in general about popular music has to change a bit and come out of the bollywood mould and musicians should let their creative juices flow without any inhibitions for creating more beautiful music. Maybe we will soon get Indian Bands which would take the nation by storm very soon. Let’s go musical!!
