Indi pop - Grade: 100 PDF

Preview

Summary

yes...

Description

World Music Cultures Prof. Sara Brown Austin Baggett Genre Essay 1

Indi-Pop

When you first think of Indian music most people including myself imagine the outlandish squeaky sounds we hear in Bollywood movies that contain weird vocals and instruments we have never heard before. Although this is the stereotypical “Indian” sound there is an entire world of music in India that we have never even heard of. I specifically was shocked to learn that there is an entire Indian Pop music industry that I have never even heard of along with their stars and number one charting songs. We have all heard of Ariana Grande and Drake but have you ever heard of Yo Yo Honey Singh or AKASA. While these names may be unfamiliar to you they are some of the most charting singers in all of India. Let's dive into this unknown world.

Traditional Indian music dates back just about as far as calendars do and there is nothing more recognizable than the Indian sound. Unlike other cultures, Indian music such as Raga was not used as a form of entertainment but rather as a spiritual journey. Through music was the way for people to connect with the gods. These same forms of music are what led to the creation of what is known was Indi-Pop The origin of Indian pop dates back to the ’60s when an Indian musician named Ravi Shankar befriended The Beatles. Ravi was known for his amazing raga performances and is considered to be the best player of the sitar in the second half of the 20th century. This friendship was deemed the “bridge” between Indian and western music. Both the Beatles and Ravi’s musical specialties shed off on each other and through a mixture of Ragas and

Jazz, Shankar and The Beatles familiarized more people with the Indian-Jazz style of music. Although this was the start of this genre the term Indi-Pop wasn’t created until the 1980s by a British band called Monsoon whose lead singer Shiela Chandra was of Indian descent. The band was known to incorporate Indian sounds into their music. Before this, the Indian Pop sound was often turned away by record labels leaving most Indi-Pop singers to gain their popularity off of singing covers. One of the most popular being Sharon Prabhakar's cover of Whitney Houston’s “I wanna dance with somebody” Over the years the term and the music spread and the era game that is known as Indi-Pops peak… the 90’s. By 1996 Indi-Pop had begun to blow up all over the world after the release of the album “Made in India” by Alisha Chinai which made her a star. Today we see Indi-Pop performed all over the world mostly at music festivals and artists' concert tours.

What is music without a performance and Indian Pop stars are known for their elaborate over the top performances. Indi-Pop performances are normally at your typical outdoor amphitheaters or small arenas. There is not typically a need for a huge arena venue as we typically see in western pop concerts because the music is just not as popular. Indi-Pop concerts draw a lot of attention from the younger crowds due to their high energy and fun dance-like atmosphere. Most of the time you will see the crowd jumping and singing along to their favorite artist. Artists typically like to tell a story or set a theme with their shows which often leads to many emotional performances as well. This goes to show that unlike more disciplined Indian music and dance Indi-Pop is more free and loose and people are just there to have a good time or to feel something beyond their everyday normal lives. The highest-charting male Indi-Pop singer Yo Yo Honey Singh is especially known for his dance breaks and loud over the top sets. In a live

performance at the Radio Mirchi Music Awards, we see Yo-Yo performing a remix of the hit song Scream and Shout by Will.I.AM and Britney Spears along with a hand-full of his original songs. There are a handful of background dancers, disco lights, and pyrotechnics all in front of a crowd visibly having a good time. Although this sounds very similar to a Western pop performance Yo-Yo is known to stay true to his roots by adding in traditional Indian choreography and instruments. That performance can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPmySGscQWo.

Consider Indi-Pop to be normal western pop music with an Indian spin. We see a common correlation in instrumentation between the two genres of music. Without vocals, most Indi-Pop tracks could be considered as normal pop songs. Although this is the case with most Indi-Pop artists some do incorporate traditional Indian instruments in combination with the typical guitar, piano, and synth electronic sounds, like the sitar to give it a more Indian feel. Where we see the main difference between the two is the vocals. Indi-Pop is mostly sung in a mixture of Hindi and English. Most Male Hindi pop artists take on an almost hip-hop vocal style of singing and speaking the lyrics while females sing as a normal pop singer would. When asked in an interview with Radio Mirchi “Who is your idol”? Indi-Pop singer Shreya Ghoshal said, “Mariah Carey because her voice is like an angel and I want to sound like her.” A trademark Indi-Pop song contains a catchy lyrical pattern accompanied by an irresistible beat and rhythm.

While it may come as a surprise to you, I have found myself adding more and more IndiPop songs to my playlist over the past couple of days as I have researched this topic and written this essay. Being a hardcore pop lover I feel as if I have uncovered an entire world of music to

explore. I strongly encourage you to open your minds and your ears and who knows in no time you might be buying a ticket to your first Indi-Pop concert.

Works Cited

“Honey Singh Sets the Stage Ablaze.” Youtube, uploaded by Radio Mirchi, 23 Mar. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPmySGscQWo.

Pandula, Shrihari. “The History of IndiPop - Shrihari Pandula.” Medium, 9 Aug. 2020, medium.com/@shree12777/the-history-of-indipop-d14e5b6a3030#:%7E:text=Post %201947%2C%20India%20and%20Pakistan,a%20Pakistani%20singer%20Nazia %20Hassan.&text=Ironically%20then%20in%201980s%2C%20music,pop%20and %20rock%20music’s%20existence.

“History of Indian Pop Music.” Playlist Research, 4 Apr. 2013, www.playlistresearch.com/article/indianpop.htm....