I don’t know a,b,c in western music. My ears are tuned in to mostly Indian classical – which is Carnatic (south) and Hindustani (rarely) (from north). Even the music instruments I am familiar with are ancient Hindu instruments such as the Veena, Flute, Tabla, Mrdangam etc., barring violin which has amazingly adapted to classical Carnatic. Apart from that, devotional bhajans that are classical based, and Bollywood/Tamil filmy songs are my favourite light music. Sadly world sums up the entire Indian music as the last one line of mine.
So when son was listening to this album I was really surprised. The video seemed to be out of Jungle Book. The music was clearly Hindustani. Fusion no doubt. He says he is listening to this artiste for a while now. The artiste took an year to make this Indian themed/classical Hindustani based album in which Anushka Shankar and even the veteran Asha Bhosle have recorded a number. I am loving this more as I listen to it. I have a little granddaughter who already has a fine musical taste. I am introducing her to mostly devotional bhajans such as those sung by our young Soorya Gayatri for instance. Looking at Krishna, she feels inspired already to learn flute, not yet 5. Plus she sings along with her dad most of what he plays or sings. Its a treat to watch her sing. By 3+ she was already crooning to Mona and the Frozen. We all love this Gorillaz album that I am sharing here. I think it has beautifully captured the essence of classical Hindustani in the Indian jungle backdrop. India is a phenomenon that cannot be bottled up by a single definition. But whatever the artiste managed to capture sounds good. My son has an ear for western music and keeps attending concerts. He was learning keyboard as a little boy that he left even as he was making great progress. He used to refuse to listen to Indian classical when he was still in high school saying that it was elitist. I never preached him anything. He used to read a lot even then and he decided that he would skip Indian classical that is not for the masses’ consumption. (Surprising that for the ritualist religious person I am, he is agnostic/atheist.) For the same reason, he loves rap even though he is also tuned into varied genres of western music – like jazz, rock, metal etc., i think. I am not familiar at all with this kind of music so I don’t qualify to comment on western music. I am merely sharing this beautiful piece of totally different genre of Indian classical fusion music that I am loving more and more with each passing day. The album is pretty new, published in last 1-2 months and I think my boy has placed order for old type LP record.
vijiravindran's 