As the Indian music industry was battling monotony and mediocrity in the early nineties, a new genre of music took the industry by storm and ruled for the decade that followed. Infusing western elements into the conventional style of music, this genre ushered a change in the way India perceived music. Backed by peppy permutated paradiddles, sampled beats and groovy bass lines, Indipop came into being.
As the name suggests, it was an amalgamation of Indian style of music and pop music of the west. The initial foray into the music industry for Indipop artists was challenging as Hindi film music ruled the roost and there was no room for a new genre to fit in. Also, acceptability among the masses was a matter of concern. Not to mention, record labels were reluctant to take the gamble of signing newbies and preferred to play safe.
But, a modest start led to a revolution and Indipop numbers became chartbusters overnight. Because of its newness perhaps, it was an all accommodating and versatile genre. From Usha Uthup to Alisha Chinai , Neeraj Shridhar to Shankar Mahadevan, Lucky Ali to Sonu Nigam, the range of artists it incorporated was wide .And in quick succession, talented artists like Shaan, Sagarika, Ila Arun , Mohit Chauhan, Palash Sen, Bally Sagoo,Shubha Mudgal etc, started getting noticed as music labels gave them breaks. This was a welcome change as it was for the first time that independent artists and especially bands like Silk Route and Euphoria came into the scene. A genuine blessing for Indipop artists was the advent of satellite television, which helped them get noticed among the masses by making appealing music videos with a Western touch. Western influence was specifically predominant in Alisha Chinai’s work, she being touted as ‘The Indian Madonna’. Production value wise, the Made in India video featuring Milind Soman and Alisha Chinai, may now seem to have become dated, but it was insanely popular in 1995/6.
Creativity was a forte of Indipop. It be the north eastern influence in the melodies of Leslie Lewis of Colonial Cousins and Zubeen Garg, the Punjabi touch in the music of Gurdas Mann, Daler Mehndi and Mika, the breathless song by Shankar Mahadevan, the MCing and Rap in Baba Sehgal’s songs, Indipop movement gave a lot of freedom to artists. Adding versatility to this genre were female artists like Anaida, Raageshwari, Sagarika to name a few, also ventured into this promising segment.Eventually, artists started reviving golden oldies by remixing them. Albums like Instant Karma and Dance Masti became runaway hits, which marked the start of the ‘remix era’ in the Indian music industry, in which the music video played its part to the fullest.
The remix from the initial movement were still reverential of the classics but then caught in the ape mentality, the remixes became egregious and insulting to the original compositions. That is a heavy cross that the Indipop has to bear.A curse that Asha Bhosle is a vociferous critic of.She herself, for her credit still outsold many Indipop albums when she released her own remix songs viz. Rahul &I.
Indipop had provided a platform for talented artists and in the initial years of the new millennium, Indipop artists started tending towards the lucrative Hindi film music industry. Shaan , KK, Zubeen Garg, Lucky Ali have now sung chartbusters after another. But lately, the Indipop industry has lost its charm, partly due lack of substance and partly due to the loss of its most prominent voices to the film music industry.And just as the singers have moved on , so have composers like ehsaan -loy- farhad. Though Indipop has waned in its presence and remarkably in its quality, it has contributed immensely to the Indian Music Industry. And that is evident from the fact that we still listen to those peppy tracks on radio stations and reminisce.
