You are all set to leave for your office, to start another day in your professional life. However, before you leave, the last thing which you need to garnish your mood is some good music. You plug in your earphones and switch on to your favorite track. You may turn on your ‘shuffle’ button to enjoy a wide array of mood swinging tracks, but you would hate to answer someone asking you to move aside while you are either in a public vehicle or in your own car. Although Music may be the last thing which can save this earth, its mammoth variety has always been an interesting area for exploration.
If given a chance to enlist all the genres of music in the planet on the paper, it won’t be a hefty task. But I do not wish to indulge you into a typical fifth grader ‘History’ class. I will just to try to find out the vents which act as the perfect getaway for various human emotions while listening to the music. It may sound vague initially, however, towards the culmination you start realizing the fact that ‘it’s not that impossible’. As far as Indians are concerned, being born to a multicultural society brings in with it all kinds of unique musical flavors and tastes. It is so hard to find a fine line between the music of a particular region with the other. On technical terms, it may sound different, but most of them reflect the organic flavor of the particular regions of the country.
There is a reason as to why Indian musicians are being recognised and respected all over the world. Traditional Indian classical music has been one of the oldest forms of music in the country. Since the mythological times, music has been used as one of the greatest aspirations to human civilization’s greatest achievements. People, who truly admire its value, know the fact quite well that such a rich culture cannot die away that easily. The modern music genres found in the Indian sub-continent may have some of the worst critical acclaim from traditional Indian classical music veterans, but the popularity for this new form of music has grown to immense heights and continues to grow till now.
Incorporation of various musical cultures from all over the world by Indian musicians in their musical ventures has not been a new phenomenon. ‘Fusion’ has been the most demanded and obviously, one of the most popular music genres in the Indian sub-continent. A unique mix of classical and western musical flavors, Fusion music has acted as the cementing factor for the tormenting relations between India and Pakistan. There is no need to mention the fact about the popularity of Pakistani musicians in our country. Sometimes, we do agree that the Indian musicians have a lot to learn from their Pakistani counterparts.
Talking about the western influence on our musical architecture, it has been immense. Since the inception of cinema, western music has always been a huge source of inspiration for composing timeless melodies. Excluding the genius of a few musicians in Bollywood who do not believe in changing even the originality of their inspiration, western music has been adapted and remade in a typical Indian style of composing music. People like A.R Rahman and R.D Burman have been the pioneers in bringing in the western essence blended with true Indian flavor in order to suit the Indian ears.
Folk music in India is apparently the road less travelled. Commercial needs have become the need of the hour, and so, regional music has been unable to receive its due of respect and admiration. Thankfully, unique projects like “The Dewarists” have started their quest to find out more about the musical treasure hidden in each and every nook and corner of the Indian sub-continent. Fortunately, some regional musicians in India have been travelling the world to spread the magic of organic Indian music, but there are more to explore and many more to suit the international standards.