Viral Fever

2011 was the year of the YouTube artiste and the phrase “going viral”. Where would Kolaveri Di have been had its music makers not uploaded it on the video-sharing site? The song from the simple tradition of “Gaana Payettu” cut across the North-South divide with its risque poetry and catchy tune. Apart from creating stars on YouTube,music grew exponentially on the internet. Several Indian bands like Indian Ocean gave away their songs for free download. American clarinetist and music composer Shankar Tucker delivered innovative covers of popular and not-so-popular internet song like Aaj jaane ki zid na karo and O saaya,and a Punjabi rapper,Kanwer Singh,in Canada talked about social issues and about being gay. Indian listeners followed it all,beat for beat,on the “tube”.