This thing called the PL that we engineering students have is a manna from heaven.not only does it give us all the time in the world to do all the useful stuff that we dont all semester long,it also gives us time to study.so here i was one fine pl night,downloading software for my ancient comp,when i happened to listen to the song "jiya na jaye" by faakhir from his album 'mantra'.what struck me about the song was that it was original,and melodious,unlike the remix crap thats regularly being dished out on music channels nowadays.since i had all the time in the world,i immediately downloaded the song.
i wonder why indian musicians arent doing good original stuff nowadays.the indian pop scene was totally rocking in the late 90's,with several singers like daler mehndi,shaan,sonu nigam bursting on to the scene.and they did real good stuff then.while shaan and and sonu nigam have moved on to playback singing,daler mehndi has (allegedly got several illegal immigrants deprted back to india from canada!!) found little luck with his recent albums.
on the other hand,pakistani bands and singers have regularly made good music,evident from the fact that these bands have a huge fan following in india.and lets face it,these guys are good.junoon,fuzon,atif(of yeh lamhe fame),faakhir,strings have sold albums like crazy out here.(ive purposely left out adnan sami for the simple reason that he cannot sing,and plus he would take up more space than required on this web page!!).its really good to see that these guys are getting the attention they deserve(and the moolah).unfortunately,our very own abhijit(chaand taare of yes boss) doesnt share my views.he feels a lot of indian singers are being neglected in the wake of this craze for paki bands.though his comments about adnan sami might be valid,i dont think its right to criticise these singers just because they are pakistanis.afterall,people want to listen to good music,and they dont care if its coming from across the borders.he seems to have conveniently forgotten the fact that indian movies are so popular in pakistan,that despite the ban on them,pirated copies are freely available,and people there love the stuff.chances are that if youre watching a pirated version of a movie at home,the cd has been originally burnt in pakistan!!.
thankfully,the scene seems to be getting a little better for indian pop music.ive heard good stuff by abhijit sawant(indian idol),rabbi shergill(bulla ki jaana totally rocks),kunal ganjawala(channa ve),bombay boys(though its half indian,and half norwegian) and kumar sanu(tera mera pyar),in recent times.
