Rock speaks your languages

Having been the monopoly of the English-speaking crowd for decades, rock music has found an unlikely ally in regional Indian languages now. With independent music making waves all across the country,  musicians are no longer averse to experimenting.  

Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Urdu - no language is out of bounds for this genre which has a growing fanbase among the youth in the city. "Youngsters like fast and upbeat numbers and when the songs are in their own language, the connect will definitely be more. Which is why we have so many takers for combinations of regional languages and rock, says Raveesh Tirkey, performer in  and manager of 'Live Banned', a band which plays popular songs in languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada (apart from Hindi and English) converted to rock.

"When we mix popular songs in these languages with elements of rock, a certain section likes it. There are also others who prefer it the way it is," he adds.

Arati Rao, founder of bFlat, says that it is the transition of Bengaluru from a sleepy retirement town to a bustling city that has enabled different variations of indie music to flourish here. "There are multi-cultural elements in any metropolis and the appearance of these bands  in our music scene is a reflection of that. There is something for everyone," she says. "We have been hosting independent music bands, regardless of their  language. For example, Chennai bands have been playing  regularly in Bengaluru because there is a huge Tamil-speaking population here. And also thanks to cinema, there is an affinity for all music in all languages.

 "This genre caught up because of the influence of what we listened to in the past and what we found on the internet. Singing in regional languages makes it easier for local people to understand the kind of music they make," says Ashwin Gopakumar of 'When Chai Met Toast'.