Indian pop singers at crossroads:

(Written by Vijay Bhatt: Written November 3, 2019 for Blog Navraas)

As a passionate music lover I listen to /watch Indian Idol 2019 auditions which just finished and selected top fifteen candidates. These fifteen and the most who could not make it to the top 15, have amazing talent and highly skilled voice. Some are formally trained and some are informally trained without any structure. Some 'just sing' but they sing better than many long trained music students. It is simply mind boggling to comprehend and relate to how did these youth acquire such mesmerizing craft of performance and art of vocals. Their family background is so unassuming. Most of them come from non-musical families where they did not have any family traditions of music training. It is their pure passion for music that inspired them to pursue and take a shot at stardom.

Among the fifteen is a 'second innings' player Azmat. Azmat was the winner of SRGMAP 2011 when he was only eight years old. After the win, during his early teens he got drifted to wrong habits, now recovered edict is making a strong second come back! I could not sit on chair while he was singing.

Another contestant, a boot polish/kobler worker Sunny, is an almost reincarnation of late Ustad Nasarat Fateh Ali khan saheb. Sunny was born in 1998, the year after Ustad Nasarat Fateh Ali khan passed away in 1997.So theory can hold for believers in such reincarnation!. This singer brought judges and TV audience like me in tears! I can go on and on about all fifteen.

Each contestant already looks stronger than the other for the top spot.

While seeing this ocean of musical talent one may think what is hidden future for these brilliant God gifted angels. This thought led me to review last several years' top contestants and winners. I did some research about what are they doing nowadays. To my disappointment, most are struggling just as before. Some have joined other reality shows. Some have been touring to US and UK to cash-out before their names fade in the long alap of history ( Bada khayaal, making a pun!) . Some have joined chorus. Some joined Gujarati Dandia/Garba or other bands. Some go to wedding parties to perform. The list is not impressive at all from the point of view of their original dreams. They had dreams of being at the top pinnacle of music world, and APNE MA BAAP KA NAAM ROSHAN KARU, or getting a lot of money for financial independence. As we remember most of them had expressed such ambitions to uplift their poor families, make them proud and make a name!

My further research revealed that stars of not much distant past like Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Shreya Ghoshal era have almost lost their dominance and though they are still loved by film music lovers, many of them do not have any major albums, or film songs recently. They also are struggling and literally beg to be a judge, or a guest at some reality shows to stay in public eye and not be forgotten.

This led me to conclude that though Indian music is truly blessed with exponential talented singers the side effect is that unlike old days where Mukesh, Kishore kumar, Rafi saab, Lata ji, and Asha ji had total dominance over Indian film music, is a tale of history. Flood gates are open. The tremendous flow of talented artists are at the disposal of audience acceptance. A typical career life span of a popular singer is not more than five years at most, with some exceptions. Audience have choices. This is very similar to the Hollywood and western music Industry where the record artists may make big or fade away.

I think Bollywood film music Industry will not be the only source of Indian pop music anymore. Due to social media outlets like YouTube, artists have already started noticing the paradigm shift. Many have already started exploring their consumer base outside Bollywood films playback singing. 'Survival of the fittest and Struggle for existence' applies here too, actually more so!

(Written by Vijay Bhatt: Written for November 2019 Blog Navraas)