Every voice has a story and The Stage 2 contestants show how their calling can lead them to the Grammys some day. By Unnati Joshi
Who said that the glut of home-grown sounds and their new-fangled innovations, based largely on Western derivatives, have drowned the appeal of classic rock, pop or funkIJ New India is now ready to give the Western genres of music a run for their money. Most of the current crop of English music performers are born of middle India, showing the world is indeed flat. Courtesy the reach of digital platforms, generation next is now appreciating and internalising the classic icons from the 50s.
If the reality show on English music, The Stage (on Colors Infinity) is any indication, we may well be preparing a generation of Grammy winners.
Sparsh Bajpai
Twenty-year-old, Sparsh Bajpai from lucknow is an opera singer. She has been wowing audience and judges since the competition kicked off. “I started singing for myself around the age of seven. I was a fussy toddler that wouldn’t eat until my parents played their collection of Jagjeet Singh’s ghazals or Donna Summer, laura Brannigan. I guess they made me the hippie I am today.”
A huge fan of the Korean culture, language and music, she promptly said, “I feel in the West, because they don’t have the culture of playback singing, an artist works towards being a complete package. So the performance becomes as important as the singing. In India, we don’t always give presentation much importance since the beginning. It really holds us back if we are put up to compete internationally. To be honest, I don’t listen to current Bollywood music since I don’t relate to the sound. But I really feel we are losing our charm. Because of the amount of movies being made the quality is suffering. I think it will take a lot of time to hear more English music in Bollywood simply because it isn’t the language of the masses. And Bollywood appeals to the masses. And that’s okay.”
Raghav Meattle
Singer-songwriter Raghav Meattle, who has been a part of the music industry for over six years, told us, “Ever since I can remember, my parents put me onto Hindustani classical music when they saw me playing the harmonium when I could barely walk. While in school, I was a part of the school band, but I really started taking my music seriously only in college. I spend a lot of time on making a song because I like to put myself in those situations to be able to write something meaningful.”
When asked about the challenges he has faced, he said, “I think the accents in India and in the West are extremely different. I’ve always tried to retain my accent and not emulate something that doesn’t come naturally while singing. If you’ve lived in India, there is no way that you haven’t been influenced by Bollywood music. It’s everywhere and I love it! There are so many indie artistes singing in Bollywood movies as the mainstream music industry is also looking for different kinds of voices and experimenting with new sounds. English music is already making inroads and in the next couple of years, you should see the biggest hits having a lot of English in them.”
He is 24 and has also lent his voice for songs of renowned brands like Rayban and Yash Raj Studios. He runs a studio project by the name Meattle and Malik on SoundCloud.
Manveer Singh
The “little monster” Manveer from Karnal, Haryana has already paved his way towards fame with her love for lady Gaga, “lady Gaga is my biggest inspiration in life. I really feel her songs deeply and sometimes I lose my mind and turn into a weird personality as I cry for hours for no reason while watching her live performances.”
Sharing the challenges he has faced he said, “The only difference is the difficulty in catching the real accent especially for the beginners, I go by the lyrics, be it in any language. The words have to touch you.”
Natasha Sehgal
Nineteen-year-old Natasha is a self-taught singer and has visibly taken the judges by surprise in all of her performances so far. “I’ve always dreamt of becoming a Western music singer and I am completely absorbed by the idea of connecting with the world through the medium of my music. I love trying my hand at different creative forms of expression and so apart from singing and song-writing, I also have my own beauty and lifestyle channel on YouTube.”
But is India ready to hum the English tuneIJ “There’s no doubt that the Indian western music scene is yet to come close to the scale as in the West. But I think it’s going to be really exciting to see a lot of growth in that space in India in the years to come. Specially looking at the great response we’ve all received thanks to The Stage, I really sense the Indian audience opening up more and more to homegrown artists who sing and compose in English.”
The teenager has constantly received praise not only from the judges, but also from netizens with her every performance.