Hailing from a family of great musicians, Valentine Shipley, the founder member of "Friends of Music", that provides a platform to youth for the promotion of original music, says independent artistes in India are still far away from the level of acknowledgement they deserve.
Valentine, the nephew of Van Shipley, one of the pioneers of instrumental music in India, believes that there is an absolute need to promote all kinds of music as nowadays it is only limited to Bollywood.
"We are far away from the real recognition that artistes and bands deserve. In India, everything is centered around Bollywood, which is absolutely fine but according to me, there does exist another world if you are confident enough to explore it," Valentine told PTI.
"30 years ago, when I started out, the music industry was not an established one. Mainstream film music, what we now refer to as Bollywood, was popular but there always existed an audience for Rock, Country, Blues, Soul, Jazz."
Valentine said he feels proud to see new platforms, welcoming the bands and unsung talent to express themselves.
"It has really opened up in the last 20 years (promotion of independent music), thanks to independent labels and management, that have allowed artistes to display their talent," said Valentine, who will be performing at Harley Rock Riders today.
The musician said working on his instrumental album "Memorable Ghazals of Jagjit Singh by Valentine Shipley" was an overwhelming experience for him.
"Not only did I understand the smallest nuances of his singing, arrangements, compositions, instrumentation, production techniques, but also got acquainted with the artiste and man he was.
"He truly was a genius and filled such a huge void in my life and in the world because he brought Ghazals to the common man," he said.
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