New voices are emerging in Indian rock.
Two weeks ago, the town of Kohima was reverberating with the sound of rock. The Hornbill Music Festival, 2008, a state-sponsored event that attracts thousands of music lovers, not just from India but all over the world, was in progress.
The seven-day festival attracted, besides other rock bands of the country, Subir Malik of Parikrama, one of the most respected bands in the music industry today. “I was amazed to see the emerging talent there.” he says. “It’s a pity,” he adds, shaking his head, that “sitting in Delhi, we don’t even know about these talented voices. After all,” he quips, “these aren’t voices we hear in Bollywood.”
While Malik is already planning to bring a host of these voices to perform in Delhi (he himself manages and promotes 26 bands all over the country), back in Nagaland, Gugs, project manager for the Hornbill festival, is confident that the festival has been a platform for some very talented musicians. There’s Lui Tzudir, for instance, who took away the prize of the best vocalist at the festival this year.
Tzudir is a vocalist for Original Fear Factor, one of the more popular rock acts tucked away in Nagaland. This year, at the Hornbill Festival, Tzudir walked away with a cash prize of Rs 25,000 for being voted the best vocalist by the audiences. “I enjoy myself while singing, and that’s what eventually shows on stage,” he says.
But what does he feel about the music industry as it exists today? “There are times,” he confesses, “when I have to sing songs that are not my kind only to please the audiences and get paid for it. In reality, I would rather communicate a certain concept or thought through my lyrics. But our listeners are superficial. Many good musicians land up compromising to their shallow standards.”
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Tzudir adds that not coming from a wealthy background has ensured that he struggles every single day to sustain himself through his music. “It’s impossible,” he says, “to either compromise, or surrender, my music career.”
Compromising on good music is something Sona Mohapatra doesn’t understand. One of the most beautiful voices to emerge in the last one year in the non-film music arena, Mohapatra’s first self-titled album, Sona, according to most critics, broke through the clutter on the otherwise dull music scene.
“Music channels hardly promote us, especially because Bollywood producers offer them much more money to air their promos,” she says, busy with her second album which will be launched early next year. In fact, one of her songs from the forthcoming album has already been picked up by an FMCG major. The song has been licensed for the new Close-Up campaign directly through the artiste. What’s more, having travelled to several countries, it has been translated into 11 languages, all sung by Mohapatra.
After her hit single Afterglow (a song she performed with INXS), Mohapatra is now teaming up with international artiste David Bowie. In addition, her song “Sapne” has been shortlisted by the World Song Contest and is among the top five from 1,000 entries around the world. “This is,” she says, “the best result achieved by India in the last 43 years of the contest, where over 70 countries participate annually.”
Sadly, despite a clutch of talent, female singers aren’t too many, especially as far as the rock culture in India goes. “We do need to encourage many more female singers. We need to encourage much more expression through our music,” says Mohapatra. Her view is partly shared by Sanam, lead vocalist of music band Bandish, and an emerging voice in non-film music circles.
All of 19, Sanam joined Bandish earlier this year when he was auditioned by the band’s founder member Kitty and his brother, Desmond, who incidentally was also a judge on one of the shows where Sanam had sung.
“If there’s one thing I would change in this music industry it would be the jarring Hinglish lyrics,” says Sanam, who agrees that he’s dedicated his entire life to music. A graduate of Delhi University, Sanam left his studies midway to pursue music. “My parents have given up on me,” he chuckles, oblivious that he might just be taking a huge risk by not completing his studies.
But taking risks is what makes good musicians.
Ask Faridkot, a band which was selected in January 2008 as the best Hindi band in India by seasoned musicians like Palash Sen and Malik. “Right now, our music is confused pop. So it’s a combination of pop vocals, bluesy guitar playing, funk bass lines, melodic (and sometimes pompous) electronic layers flavoured with a pinch of jazz-based drums, all combined together in a heap of musical endeavour,” states their website, a platform where the five-member band constantly airs its views. In fact, Akshay Raheja, one of the band members, also performs with immense regularity with sarangi maestro Kamal Sabri.
While Faridkot came into the limelight after a talent hunt contest and now performs for college shows all over India, Manthan is a new, emerging band which has been handpicked exclusively by FM channel Fever 104. Samrat, one of the band members of Manthan, is excited about the platform that the FM channel has provided them. “I think we’re lucky to have been noticed by the channel and we are already performing with iconic bands like Indian Ocean,” he says.
Most of these voices that we hear today are unfamiliar but increasingly getting identified with college students and corporate gigs. And while there is much more talent waiting to come to the fore, this is just a beginning.
