Interesting times in music

From hip-hop, jazz to EDM and rap songs, the Indian music industry is in “interesting times” when native music is getting a heightened tough of western music, says singing sensation Sonu Nigam, who believes that India's own music genres should also be rightfully given a respectable space to flourish.

The National Award winner, who has been enthralling fans in India and abroad with his soulful voice for over 25 years, told IANS: “Our (Indian) music is becoming more international.”

“As a musician, I value classical Indian music and I am of the opinion that genres like ghazals and bhajans, besides pure classical music, need respectable space to flourish,” he added.

Nigam finds that the Indian music industry has “changed a lot” as compared to earlier times.

“Good and average work happens in all eras. Today the music space has widened immensely. Music has also become more encompassing of multiple genres. These are interesting times.

“With access to millions of sounds and thousands of softwares, today the programmers and music producers have the liberty and luxury to go crazy with music production. Music is no longer region-confined,” said the singer, best known for his songs like Kal ho na ho, Abhi mujh mein kahin and Zoobi doobi.

Asked whether Indian music has moved the realms of film music, Nigam said: “I wouldn’t say it has moved beyond films but, yes, releasing independent music is my intent. And an online digital release today reaches out to audiences worldwide
in one single click of your finger.”

Besides, he feels having a discography of film songs and independent tracks completes the life of a singer in India.

“Film songs give you the opportunity to sing the compositions of multiple composers and widen the range of one's craft. Whereas private albums or singles give you a chance to express whatever you couldn't do through film songs as they are expressing the film, whereas singles are the artistes’ personal space,” he added.