Indie India
It’s fair to say that film and classical music have been the most popular forms of music in India. However, there has been a recent uprising in the underground music movement called the Indie scene. This movement sees Indian bands play at Indian stages as well as international venues. But what led to this movement? Here’s a quick Indie 101, if you’d like to get in on the next big music kick in the country.
What is Indie?
Independent or Indie music is music that is produced independently from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording and publishing.
There are more than 500 Independent musical acts which are often unheard and sometimes perish over the course of time. To survive in this industry, the artists need to run on faith, in themselves and their sound. While starting out, there’s often a struggle to find venues, hopefully, gigs that will pay.
THE PAST
The Indie scene dates back to the early ’60s, when a surge of rock n’ roll hit Indian shores with the era of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, etc. creating waves worldwide. Bands cropped up, ones that would start out by doing covers of prolific bands. The Trojans, The BeatX, The Jets, The Spartans & Atomic Forest come to mind, from that decade. There was a time in the ’70s when Led Zeppelin came to India and jammed with local artists; something that’s unheard of in our current music scenario.
The original rock resurgence which made the movement what it is today, can be dated back to the early 90s. Rock Machine (now Indus Creed) was one of the bands that spearheaded this movement. They played in Russia back then as part of cultural and arts exchange program which was sponsored by the Indian government. They shot to fame when the original music/music video made it to MTV. By this time, may other bands like Parikrama, Pentagram, Zero, and Indian Ocean were also hitting cult status.
THE PRESENT
Over the past few years, there has been a tremendous growth in the Indie scene. Several artists switched to the DIY format and started pushing their limits. This growth can be credited to music festivals and live music shows, such as NH7 Weekender, ZIRO, Magnetic Fields, and Strawberry Fields are purely dedicated to the Indie space. Another important factor for this growth is the media. With a dedicated music channel just for independent music, Pepsi MTV Indies is spreading the Indie cause to the masses. With TV shows such as The Dewarists, Coke Studio @ MTV, and Music Mojo people are opening up to new music tastes. Magazines such as Rock Street Journal, Rolling Stones India, Metal Wani and blogs such as NH7, IndiEarth, and Homegrown dedicate their print space to the trials and triumphs of Indie sounds.
Several bands now travel to the West to perform, thereby exporting Indian Indie music. The Raghu Dixit Project, Pentagram, Skrat, Greyshack, Skyharbor, Shaair & Func, Demonic Resurrection, Nucleya, Arjun Vagale, The Midival Punditz and several other musicians and bands have received international acclaim and support. Parikrama opened for Iron Maiden in India and played at the Download Festival, UK. Karsh Kale performed at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Another trend that is growing in the scene is crowd-sourcing. For the past three years, ennui.BOMB has been organising crowd-funded gigs called “The Control Alt Delete Series” and has been very well received by the public. Artists such as The Vinyl Records, Mame Khan, and Sandunes crowd-funded their albums and music videos. There are many websites which offer this kind of service, Wishberry being one of them.
THE FUTURE
The Indie torch for the future seems to be shining bright. The scene has been growing exponentially for the past few years and will continue to do so. There is a growing audience for Indie music in the metros. However, people need to start going to more live shows to discover and support local artists. Being appreciative of local bands also goes a long way in building up the music community as a whole.
In closing, I would like to quote Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. “A mind that is stretched by new experiences can never go back to its old dimensions”. Give Indie a chance and you won’t regret it.
