Kay Kay

Preserving Indian music

Indian music is like an ocean without end: it is too deep, vast and spiritual to be dried up by any external influence, however strong. It will certainly not vanish from the scene which is what the insecure champions and puritans do not realise when they thunder against alien influences.

At the annual hard rock festival that coincides with the Independence day celebrations, in Mumbai, upcoming singer Kay Kay had to do some impromptu dancing too - to avoid being hit with bottles thrown by a section of the audience. What has irked this group was the fact that Kay Kay had dared to sing a Hindi song at what was a Western music festival. And one need hardly add that these youngsters with all Indians!

Though the incident got sparse media coverage it does provide food for thought, and fodder to the die-hard traditionalists who will once again express outrage and despair at the upcoming generation which is so enslaved by Western music that they do not respect/like/love/understand their own sangeet.

As a natural corollary, they will also lambast our film music directors and lyricists and also the music companies for polluting the tastes of our youngsters in their quest for money.

There is a certain substance in this allegation. But alas! All such worthies are blind to certain realities staring them in the face. They are in fact hitting out at the effect and not the cause of this malaise. The growing clout of Indipop and international music in India and the increasing de-Indianisation of even film music is the logical, even inevitable result of a whole group of causative factors which are at the core of what happened to the Tadap tadap ke iss dil se singer.

Indian music is like an ocean without end: it is too deep, vast and spiritual to be dried up by any external influence, however strong. It will certainly not vanish from the scene which is what the insecure champions and puritans do not realise when they thunder against alien influences. They should in fact introspect and look inwards for solutions rather than blame the foreign hand in music!

Unfortunately, it is in this very analysis that they go be-sura. They want to serve the cause of Indian music by wanting to force it down throats when they should be presenting and marketing it in such an appealing way that every Indian will get hooked to it regardless of whatever liking he may have for any alien music. They cannot hit out and condemn what everyone enjoys, and expect to be accepted. Neither can they sit in judgement of what people like and play the highbrow card.

As veteran composer Vanraj Bhatia says, “Songs like Aati Kya Khandala (Ghulam) or Ek do teen char (Tezaab) become a craze because they are so fresh and charming. Who are we to sit in judgement of popular taste?” Having composed 7000-plus jingles, most of which have struck an instant rapport with the people, the veteran maestro knows what he is talking about. But perhaps the so-called champs have also forgotten is that both these songs are 100 per cent Indian at the core!

And those who are writing an epitaph for Indianness in popular (film or non-film music) are either ignorant of amnesiac, because they should know and accept that even today the greatest chartbusters and most successful scores are those which have been thoroughly Indian in core and content, right upto Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and 1947. And this has been always been the case, with startingly negligible exceptions. And yet a Naushad goes on and on, ad nauseam and beyond, about how our sanskriti and musical heritage are being ravaged. What purpose does the same rhetoric expressed in a 100 interviews serve? Has it improved things even one bit for the music he so vociferously exalts? Never was there such a chasm between intention and results!

But look instead at the bastions of Western music in India - the dance floors of the pubs and discos. And you will see that Indian music has stormed these citadels of firangi culture and hooked a crowd which previously would thumb their noses at anything (musically) Indian. And who is responsible for reaching out to them? No, it is not Naushad and all these self-styled conservationists of Hindustani and Carnatic music but men and women like R.D. Burman, A.R. Rahman, Colonial Cousins, Daler Mehndi, Shanker Mahadevan, Ila Arun, Asha Bhosle and Shubha Mudgal!

Thanks to these people, the doors and the global skies have both opened up to Indian music - folk, classical, light or film - because they deliver Indian music in a way and style that appeals to a youngster whose musical tastes have still to mature. With the globe going pint-sized due to technology and marketing, everyone - and not only the teenyboppers - has a vast choice in everything from music to clothes. Life today is all pace and physical expression - and inevitably, their first choice will be what is in resonance with their needs. They will therefore choose, not necessarily the best, but most certainly the most attractive thing going and the most simple.

It is the simplicity and instant appeal which hooks everyone. And can one honestly say that this was not always the case? Popular music has to be simple music, ergo, simple music will always be popular. And therefore, these oh-so-righteous musical ‘patriots’ should work at making our music as alluring, if not more so, than the options available. Then and only then can it enrapture us - and maybe even the globe.

Shubha Mudgal may have irked her purist contemporaries by going pop, but she has served the interests of Indian music far more with just two humdinger tracks Ab ke sawan and Dholna than with all her previous classical albums. Because those were savoured by those who were already deep into Indian music.

Besides, if you want to teach anyone a language or a subject, you begin with the alphabet and the simplest words. Why don’t people realise that this applies to Indian music as well?

And those who claim to serve the cause of Indian music fail in one more area : the flaunt the melodic aspect of our music and equate Western music with rhythm. Obviously the body responds to the latter and the soul to the former. It is easier to respond to rhythm. The mindset thus created in the youngsters today is that one cannot groove or boogie to Indian music. But yet again, our folk music can take on the world and the techno beats with the heady rhythms. And this too has been proved more by the much-maligned Choli ke peeches and Ab ke sawans.

The music of Viju Shah and A.R. Rahman (in films) and Ila Arun and Daler Mehndi (in folk) has proved that Indian songs can be made even more exotic with Western attire. Had fledgling composer Ismail Darbar adapted a 200 year old bandish and reproduced it in a conventional way, Albela sajan aayo ri (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) would have been just another traditional song used in films. But by amalgamating it with a delicious modern rhythm, he made it stand out all the more and appeal to all ages.

If Naushad’s classicism did not diminish a whit because of his vast use of the piano and violins and by wearing a suit and tie, why should the Indianness of so many son-gs of today be nullified by a Western garb?

The normally soft-spoken Suresh Wadkar had another valid and intense point to make when he started that Indian classical music (in particular) suffered because several artistes resorted to theatrics and even vocal gimmickry. Physical and facial contortions and vocal outlandishness may appeal to die-hard classical lovers, but would put off a potential aficionado. Diction should be clean, clear and straight. What sounds sweet always appeals,” said the singer, adding that such minus points reduced the reach of Indian music which was so rich and superior.

We are now in an age when even human beings and celebrities are commodities which need marketing for widespread acceptance. While moral or ethical the pros and cons of this truth is beyond the scope of this article, the fact remains that what will be sold most is what most of the people find the most attractive. If these champions of Indian music are genuine champions, they should realise this and act upon it. Then even they will not have any fears for the future of Indian music, which on the strength of its inherent qualities, is anyway destined to be around forever.