A tradition betrayed

HIGH NOTES

For many centuries Indian musical tradition, be it Hindustani or Carnatic classical or even traditional folk music, gave India a distinct and unique sound with which to be identified.

Its elegance and brilliance was surely enhanced by the musical mastery of its ambassadors who trained hard to perfect the teachings of each tradition.

These musicians probably played to everyone from emperors to kings and might even have travelled to far-off places to perform. There's little doubt that the diversity of the Indian music tradition and its heritage was a cultural wonder to pride ourselves with. But mind you, I use the word "was".

Like all other cultural traditions, music is prone to evolve, given the vast influences that time and technology has subjected it to.

But unfortunately, to look at the current state of our musical output is to look at a painfully ugly picture. Its fragmented form and amateur style is only saved by a handful of gems, of whom many would be fortunate to stand the test of time.

It seems that there are a number of fundamental questions that need to be asked. For example "" while the majority of music that India has released over the last century has been film music, why are there not half as many musicians or singers who can claim their own audience without being associated with films? What could possibly be the reason for the lack of commendable talent today and are we really suckers for formulas that pass off as creativity?

Even though we can't make too generalised a statement, it would be fair to say that the music industry today is ailing from lack of imagination. We are followers of trends and we have seen this exemplified with the Punjabi music trend, the Pakistani band trend, the remix phenomenon and even in the Indian rock band circuit. And that's the real problem.

As someone rightly put it, "Music is about discovery." It's about finding something or someone that's new and interesting and catches an audience completely unaware. Great music is not about shoving videos of scantily clad girls or supposedly hunky men on us in the hope that we like the song. That's completely wrong and just plain insulting to audiences.

While the music industry in India battles the onslaught of piracy and illegal downloads and continues to run losses year on year, their focus is presumably on trying to get their music out there the right way. From slashing the cost of CDs to making their music available on mobile phones they are leaving no stone unturned in trying to make their music more accessible.

But they might be missing just one crucial note. That good music sells. It doesn't matter who you put in the video, all you need to do is make it available and then watch it flourish. And that's the bottom line.

It's surprising and sad that we have to search long and hard to unearth great musical talent. Our musical tradition has been born out of every nook and corner of the country but only the most commercial endeavours find their way on to national platforms.

To be completely honest, we are equally to blame. Music cultures thrive on the needs of audiences and if audiences don't demand something interesting, the system that feeds the need will continue to churn out uninteresting music.

It's also the fault of the music media who tend to come out only so often to actually write and talk about good new music.

But with many new independent labels and artistes now emerging, things do look set to change and hopefully we will be soon done away with these uninspiring times.

(craig_fernandes@hotmail.com)