Indian rock
Indian rock is a music genre in India that may incorporate elements of Indian music with rock music, and is often topically India-centric. While India is more often known for its (northern and southern) classical music, filmi, Bollywood music, Indi-pop, and Bhangra, the Indian rock scene has also produced numerous bands and artists.
Not to be confused with Raga rock.1980s and 1990s[edit]
While the orientalist trend of the 60s and 70s was by the 80s and 90s largely over, India itself continued to produce bands in various styles of rock music, from soft rock and roll and pop rock, to hard rock and metal. In the early 1980s, however, rock was largely overshadowed by disco, which dominated Indian pop music up until the mid-1980s.
With the arrival of MTV, tastes rapidly changed, encouraging bands to harden their style and focus more on underground styles such as death metal, alternative metal, and progressive rock. The 1990s saw the rise of a much larger following of various harder styles for this reason. Bands that had formed in the 80s, such as Rock Machine (who would later be known as Indus Creed) - (including Mahesh Tinnaikar, Uday Benegal, etc.)...altered their style with the influx of newer techniques and influences from the west. Notable suburban metal-blues bands with 1960s and 1970s metal influences included IIT Powaii based Axecalibre, fronted by Oliver Pinto, Prashant Nair and covered flamboyant guitar-based blues and hardcore metal including ballads. Contemporaries of the time were Easy Meat from Pune and Bands such as Holocaust, Morgue (fronted by vocalist Mrinal Das, Drummer Neeraj Kakoty, Ambar Das and Raju Seal on Twin Attack Guitars, Manas Chowdhury on Bass), Dorian Platonic from Guwahati, Assam, Grassroots Revival, Postmark, The Cannibals, Phoenix,Phynyx and Drixian Empire/Dark Crusader from Manipur.
Others formed in the 1990s with harder styles influenced by the growing split between popular rock, such as Britpop, alternative styles, such as punk, and metal styles, such as thrash. The Indian subgenre of fusion, which encourages a similar blend of ancient Indian musical traditions with rock music to raga rock, was also carried forward, and is perhaps the most unusual Indian style of rock. It was during this time that Palash Sen's Euphoria surfaced in the Indian scene as a straight ahead English rock band. The band later started writing in Hindi, and gave birth to what is now known as "Hindi Rock". Euphoria went on to become India's most popular, successful and commercially accepted Independent act. Other fusion bands like Indian Ocean and Mrigya also grew in popularity. As in decades before, university campuses and campus rock shows continued to be the driving force behind determining what kind of band would succeed and what kind of music young people liked.
2000s[edit]
The current Indian rock scene has a larger following than ever (although it is still marginalized compared to Indian film music, particularly the filmi soundtracks of Bollywood) and may soon become recognized in the international arena, as various South American and Japanese bands have become. Recent entries into the rock music scene are increasingly becoming comparable in their production quality to Western bands, and have been compared favorably to other internationally recognized acts. Now digital technology is making it easier than ever for these bands to distribute and sell their music. Some British bands of South Asian origin, such as Swami have, like their hip-hop counterparts, tried to enter the Indian market in addition to maintaining the traditional fanbase of non-resident Indians in United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. Others, such as Rudra, have emerged from Indian communities in other Asian countries. Progress is certain for the Indian rock scene with the advent of entities that support this genre. Rock Street Journal and Rolling Stone India[10] are the two major publications that have been promoting Indian rock bands. The scene has also been transformed by the online medium, and the subsequent rise of a number of online portals promoting Indian rock, most notably the indie music website NH7,[11] Headbangers India,[12] IndianMusicMug,[13] Unholy Maunder, IndianMusicRevolution, Metalbase India,[14] Indian Metal Scene,[15] and Metal Spree.
Independent record labels[edit]
Mainstream record labels in India often ignore rock, with a few exceptions. Album sales range between a few hundred copies to a few thousand. They are rarely, if at all, affiliated to the Indian music industry, and sales are not usually monitored. Songs of Bollywood usually gain more popularity as compared to the songs of bands. This is a huge set back. Bands also fail to sell their songs throughout the country even after making it available to major music stores, this is only due to lack of interest of people in rock bands. There are only a few bands that have become successful in selling their songs throughout the country. People who enjoy rock get the songs of their favorite bands, just by a click from any music website (sometimes their songs are uploaded by website administrators just after the day of release, this is illegal as per copyright law, but even then no action is taken). Hence, overall sales become less than expected. Bands in India mostly perform live shows with low priced tickets (as low as Rs. 100 or even less). Probably, the growing and the upcoming generation will have interest in Indian Rock and Metal. But care has to be taken to retain the copyright of the music.
The future looks encouraging thanks to entities such as Green Ozone, DogmaTone Records, Cochym and Eastern Fare Music Foundation, Infestdead Records[56][57] that are dedicated to promoting and supporting Indian rock.
Documentary on Indian rock[edit]
In 2004, filmmaker qaushiq mukherji, popular as Q, directed a rockumentary named 'le pocha'. In 2008, music journalist Abhimanyu Kukreja directed Rockumentary - Becoming of Indian rock that was produced by NewsX and had a national TV release. The documentary is arguably the first of its kind on Indian rock that showcases the evolution of rock music in India starting from the 1960s. The documentary features popular and classic Indian bands like The Great Bear, High, The Great Society, Shiva, Indus Creed, Millennium and Parikrama. The documentary is available for free viewing on YouTube.[58]
Leaving Home – the Life & Music of Indian Ocean (2010) directed by Jaideep Varma was about fusion rock band, Indian Ocean. Thus it became the first band ever in India to be subject of a documentary.[59] At the 58th National Film Awards, the documentary went on to win the Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film.[60][61]
In 2014, documentary filmmaker Raghav B[62] directed a documentary on The Big Bangalore Metal Project - contributing to the Indian Metal Music Scene features popular Indian Metal Bands like Kryptos, Dying Embrace, BevarSea, Eccentric Pendulum, Inner Sanctum, Shepherd. The documentary was to show the Metal culture and the evolution of its music in Bangalore. The documentary is on YouTube.
Issues faced[edit]
An all-girl rock band Pragash Band from Srinagar, Kashmir decided to call it quits after constant hate mails and death threats on the Internet, apart from the severe criticism and opposition from the religious leaders of Kashmir and other hardliner political parties.
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