I don’t need binoculars to listen to the sort of music that makes the heart go dib-dabba-dab-dab or wishy-washy-mishy-mashy or something just as romantic and real as this. What I mean is that I would not want to be too far away from the singer or the musician and obviously music that resonates with our heart-beat.
There is the music that the big channels promote, that lifts the singers on to stages that are high in the sky and we need to pay to listen to them… not that this music isn’t good enough or that this music isn’t always affordable enough… just that this music isn’t really all the music that exists in the world. Yes, you can tap your feet and gyrate as much as you want to, listening to music and songs that hardly ever get recorded by professional cameramen, that don’t have videos shot, that don’t go with labels and sub-labels of music giants, that aren’t recorded in fancy studios, and don’t get performed in concerts that get the national press excited. What I’m trying to define is the underground music. This can be Indian music as well.
Yes, underground music needs all the support that we can give. This is the music that thrives on real-time applause and travels from one man to another through privately recorded videos in smartphones… or just the nippiest of word-of-mouth tickles that get just a few more curious souls saunter in to listen and go back saying, ‘This was an evening that will sing for a lifetime!’
I remember one such encounter in a little known pub in the area just behind the iconic market at Knightsbridge. They called it the haunted pub for some unknown reason… but as we (that is, Specky, my wife and I) entered we could discern in the dim light a young girl with sad eyes singing a song of yearning. We sat inside even though it was a sunny day and many would have opted to go out. We listened to one song after another and then actually got up to shake her hands before leaving. She just said, ‘Do tell your friends about me.’
The truth is that underground music thrives on tell-your-friends-about-me kind of logic… but I know in my heart that this is not enough. If you hear a song and love it but you’ve never read about it or even heard the channels mention it, you’ll know it is underground. You’ll know it needs you to keep it alive. You’ll know that even this music needs its own sort of awards. Well, if it is underground Indian music, they obviously need Indian awards. This is precisely what artistaloud is trying to do. This is what the talented but unknown and universally unheard musician or singer needs.
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Underground music needs you. #artistaloud #AAMA2014
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Arvind Passey
20 April 2015
