In a country where young musicians are constantly struggling to make a mark in the rock scenario, Grammy winning artiste, A.R. Rahman feels that India can’t produce a true rockstar. He was recently quoted saying, “I think in India, we don’t have a true rockstar. Culturally, we are a family-bound society and rockstars are known to do all sorts of odd things.” Although the music maestro had a point to make, doesn’t seem like our young musicians agree.
“I completely disagree. The fact is that Bollywood largely dominates our music industry. These big musicians never give young bands a chance to perform. We need a platform to prove our mettle. It’s not always easy to establish oneself in an industry where there are too many players already. One needs to understand what a rockstar is all about and India has many of them,” says Zaman who plays with a band called Astitva.
Aashish Mandhwani, from Fire Exit who play regularly at the TRYST musicafe, partly agrees with Rahman. According to him, family culture in India is not too encouraging when it comes to allowing kids to pursue music as a career. “Unlike in the West, in India you can only afford to be in a band if you have the right money. And since most of these band members belong to affluent families, parents don’t really want their kids to pursue music as a full-time profession,” he says. Having said that, he says that the definition of rock has changed over the years. Rock music is a far cry from the modern rock music of today. Many feel that we have evolved over the decades and branched out into a multitude of different genres and sub-genres to create music that is more a way of life.
“Unlike what it used to be back in the 1970s, today’s rock has elements of Indian music and mainstream rock, which makes it different,” says Aashish.
“I think Rahman was talking about rockstars from the 1970s who were too rebellious. Today we’ve moved way past that and a rockstar doesn’t mean someone who does odd things but someone who can set the stage alive,” says Prashant, a DU student.
Talking about the changing scenario of rock, Adrin of band Illusion says, “When you talk about a rockstar, many people tend to associate him with someone who is a rebel. But that is not the case anymore. Thanks to technology, the definition of rock has changed over the years. Now bands that play rock also play other genres of music and are true rockstars,” concludes Adrin.shruti badyal
The Asian Age
In a country where young musicians are constantly struggling to make a mark in the rock scenario, Grammy winning artiste, A.R. Rahman feels that India can’t produce a true rockstar. He was recently quoted saying, “I think in India, we don’t have a true rockstar. Culturally, we are a family-bound society and rockstars are known to do all sorts of odd things.” Although the music maestro had a point to make, doesn’t seem like our young musicians agree.
“I completely disagree. The fact is that Bollywood largely dominates our music industry. These big musicians never give young bands a chance to perform. We need a platform to prove our mettle. It’s not always easy to establish oneself in an industry where there are too many players already. One needs to understand what a rockstar is all about and India has many of them,” says Zaman who plays with a band called Astitva.
Aashish Mandhwani, from Fire Exit who play regularly at the TRYST musicafe, partly agrees with Rahman. According to him, family culture in India is not too encouraging when it comes to allowing kids to pursue music as a career. “Unlike in the West, in India you can only afford to be in a band if you have the right money. And since most of these band members belong to affluent families, parents don’t really want their kids to pursue music as a full-time profession,” he says. Having said that, he says that the definition of rock has changed over the years. Rock music is a far cry from the modern rock music of today. Many feel that we have evolved over the decades and branched out into a multitude of different genres and sub-genres to create music that is more a way of life.
“Unlike what it used to be back in the 1970s, today’s rock has elements of Indian music and mainstream rock, which makes it different,” says Aashish.
“I think Rahman was talking about rockstars from the 1970s who were too rebellious. Today we’ve moved way past that and a rockstar doesn’t mean someone who does odd things but someone who can set the stage alive,” says Prashant, a DU student.
Talking about the changing scenario of rock, Adrin of band Illusion says, “When you talk about a rockstar, many people tend to associate him with someone who is a rebel. But that is not the case anymore. Thanks to technology, the definition of rock has changed over the years. Now bands that play rock also play other genres of music and are true rockstars,” concludes Adrin.