Coming Om

The MNC marketers could have well learnt the rules of the game from Indi rockers. That is why Rock Machine circa 1980s evolves into Indus Creed evolves into Alms for Shanti. And that is why Varanasi Trail, a western melody with English lyrics, spawns a Hindi Kashmakash with lyrics by Suhail Abbasi in Alms for Shanti8217;s self-titled album.

If AFS, with its Indian influences and instruments, occupies the uncomfortable arena between world music and mainstream commercial music, the Pune-based Agni, who released their all-English debut album Wind Dance with Fire way back in 1993, brought out Mrityunjaya, a bilingual album based on classical ragas to appeal to Indian tastes, last year. Tandav, from the album, has been receiving generous airplay on satellite television.

So, have the two oldest bands in India come around to accept the fact that original English music may not be the best way to be heard in this country? Admits AFS vocalist Uday Benegal, 8216;8216;The popularity of original music in the English language will always be specific to niche audiences in India 8212; essentially the more affluent, urban, Westernised Indian.8217;8217; The idea is not so novel, so there was little opposition to the concept of a Hindi album, which came up right when they were producing the English version.

Agni, on the other hand, feels that it has successfully cut through the language barrier. 8216;8216;Though rock music in India is not something that holds mass appeal, it8217;s easier for people to relate to the music when8217;s it8217;s in Hindi,8217;8217; says Agni8217;s lead vocalist Kaustubh 8216;Koko8217; Dhavale. So much so that it is now planning to release Mrityunjaya in Tamil and Gujarati.

With three Hindi albums 8212; the very successful Dhoom Pichuk and Phir Dhoom and the recently released Euphoria Gully 8212; Indi pop-rock phenomenon Euphoria is living proof that Indianising works. Doctor-turned-lead vocalist Palash Sen has no hang-ups about pandering to the largest common denominator: 8216;8216;When I sang Candywalk with the Delhi-based band Orange Street for World AIDS Day last year, I rewrote my part in Hindi because it is an issue that needs to reach the common man.8217;8217;

But bands like Parikrama and Pentagram buck the trend to sing in the language of the masses. 8216;8216;We have refused 18 album deals that wanted us to go pop in Hindi,8217;8217; says Subir Mallik, who plays the keys for Delhi-based Parikrama. 8216;8216;We are not against the Hindi language at all, it8217;s just that we cannot relate to singing in Hindi because then the entire audience changes.8217;8217;

Parikrama is also one of the few Indian bands singing in English to actually have a listener base: Its fans made the single But It Rained the 8216;Request no. 18217; on Channel V for September 2002.

The Mumbai-based Pentagram8217;s latest album Up, released by Sony, is all English, though the Indian influence comes through in a track called 8216;So Strange8217;. Its vocalist Vishal Dadlani claims they are 8216;8216;not against incorporating Indian sounds into rock8217;8217;, but believes none of the Indian bands are really concerned about the way the market functions.

Far fetched? Even veteran rocker Gary Lawyer, whose 8216;Nights on Fire8217; from the 1993 album Other Side of Dawn was among the first Indian rock videos to play on MTV, believes there is definitely a market for original music in English in India. 8216;8216;It isn8217;t as if we aren8217;t an English-speaking nation. We are just not ready to give a band that plays original music in English a fair chance8217;8217;, he says.

Lawyer knows what he is talking about. The follow-up to the first successful album came almost five years later, by which time the singer had all but lost his Nights of Fire recall value. 8216;8216;An artist needs to be seen to be remembered. Music videos, after all, have been instrumental in the success of many western bands,8217;8217; says a wiser Lawyer.

Music channels second his opinion whole-heartedly. 8216;8216;It8217;s very difficult for us to promote a band if they don8217;t have a video. Even if it8217;s an interview, we need the video of the band,8217;8217; says Sunil Chainani, head of music programming and MARS Music and Artiste Relations, Channel V. MTV India8217;s Cyrus Oshidar VP, Creative and Content also emphasises that no band can be promoted without an audio-visual component. 8216;8216;Euphoria, Strings, Agni, Orange Street and Parikrama are a few of the Indian rock bands to be aired on MTV India recently. Bands like Strings and Euphoria have been on high rotation purely because they are more popular with our viewers,8217;8217; says Oshidar. And though Parikrama8217;s But It Rained and Orange Street8217;s Candywalk have both received received a fair amount of airplay seven-eight times a day, Oshidar says an Indian rock-specific show will be considered only on the basis of healthy viewer feedback.

The same truism goes for radio as well. 8216;8216;There is certainly a market for rock music in India, but it is a very small niche compared to categories like Bollywood,8217;8217; says Sumantra Dutta, COO of the Bangalore-based Radio City. 8216;8216;This genre of music is simply not populist enough because of the language constraints.8217;8217; It8217;s also perhaps the reason why no Indian radio station has a dedicated time slot for Indian rock music.

Agni8217;s Koko carps that the support system for Indian rock bands is sorely inadequate. 8216;8216;We don8217;t have proper studios or even music producers, like the west does. Record companies may not necessarily be interested in investing in original music in English,8217;8217; says Agni8217;s bass guitarist Pravin Bell.

8216;8216;Indian rock bands have never been successful commercially, the most prominent example being Rock Machine,8217;8217; Bashir Sheikh, director, A038;R Marketing, Crescendo Music, has the last word. 8216;8216;The Cochin-based 13 AD released an album with Magnasound years ago 8212; the sales didn8217;t indicate acceptance. While the Indian bands do well with their live shows, they lose out to international acts in record sales because of the latter8217;s greater reach.8217;8217;

Ultimately it8217;s about the kind of audience bands want to reach out to. While bands that stick to English as the medium of expression know that they reach out to an ultra-niche audience, hoping for a better tomorrow, bands that understand the nuances of a music industry that thrives on Indi-pop will believe that rock lives on, never mind if it8217;s in Hindi.