Global Raga

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From ragas and swaras, to metal and progressive, to jazz and indie — this past decade has seen urban Indian music embrace the experimental genre like never before, even deviating from the tried and tested formula of rock ‘n’ roll into more versatile streams. But is there really an audience for these independent performers?

While a cult following does exist for this daring lot within the country, several of them have been more successful plying their trade overseas. Some have paid homage to their roots by incorporating a certain element of desi flavour to their songs, whereas most others have taken on the challenge of a global appeal by the scruff of the neck — and come out trumps!

Serena Kern:
Hailing from charming Coonoor at the foothills of the Nilgiris, this singer-songwriter’s love ballads have enthralled Brit audiences while also clocking up a frenzied YouTube count.
An accomplished lawyer from the London School of Economics, Serena says her Indian-Swiss descent has helped her gain an eclectic take to the art, “At home, I was exposed to many different languages and cultures. Tamil music sparked my interest in Indian instruments and melodies; I was also exposed to Italian music, as my paternal family comes from the German and Italian speaking parts of Switzerland. The lyrics in my songs are intended to evoke feelings and thoughts that anyone can relate to. Ultimately, my background has had a big impact on my music style and my first album is called Sui Generis (a legal term) meaning ‘one of a kind’.”
She adds, “London is a city brimming with talent and opportunity as it attracts musicians from all over the world. University was where I first found an outlet for my creativity. There was abundant opportunity to perform and always people eager to hear something new.”

Atul Dwivedi:

This software engineer from Hyderabad decided to switch careers, taking off to LA to become a full-time musician. Combining organic sounds such as guitar, piano and saxophone, his genre of hybrid-pop has seen him cross boundaries with style — in Hollywood!
“Every year thousands of musicians comes to Hollywood to make it in the industry. Luckily I’ve found a really good team of producer, lyricist and engineers who share the same vision as me. Now I’m getting a record deal, this should put me on another level. I get more recognition and appreciation for my music in US than India. Different arrangements, different melody and production techniques take them to a whole different world of music,” Atul says, adding, “The main vision is to give Indian music to the world that they have never heard so far. Also people in the US are hungry for some good music. It is the right time and right place for artists like me.”

Sid Sriram:

He announced his entry into Indian filmdom with the smash hit Adiye from the Mani Ratnam-A.R.Rahman musical Kadal. But this graduate from the Berklee School of Music is more popular in the San Francisco Bay Area where he resides, with his indie approach garnering more than 21,000 subscribers to his music.
Sid says his classical roots aided his progress, “I was actually able to use my Carnatic foundation to grasp R&B vocal stylisation. I think being deeply rooted in one form of music only gave me a strong basis/mindset to explore and grasp contemporary Western forms of music. I think independent music has more of an in-built market in the US because of how record label infrastructure is set up there. The concept of buying music of a standalone artist is already very common in the US.”
He plans to balance his career between the two countries, “I think with the amount of creative energy India has right now, the market for independent music in India is going to grow. I’m always going to be between India and the States — both places are important to me professionally and inspirationally.”

Shaswat Sachdev:

Singer; producer; composer; filmmaker — Shaswat has juggled his multiple talents with consummate ease. Since completing a course at the New York Film Academy, he’s been on a roll composing, singing and performing all over the US.
“I have been in Hollywood for more than a year and have had the opportunity to work with few of the greats here. Fortunately my first project here was with one of the greatest mixing engineers of our time, Tony Maserati. I also worked closely with the great Broadway and film composer Mark Shaiman. Also, it was very humbling that my music was accepted and appreciated as the episode for which I programmed and produced was nominated for Emmy Awards for Best Music.”

Suvi Suresh:

After gaining fame as a bubbly teenager who was part of SS Music’s S5, she’s blossomed into one of the USA’s contemporary lights. A Full-ride scholarship at the Musician’s Institute saw Suvi collaborate with global performers and set up her own band — the Gold Miners — who navigate the L.A music terrain with élan. Classifying her sound as soul-funk-pop, Suvi says, “The best thing about learning music abroad is that they first embrace you, tell you that you are good if you are good and then they strip you down of everything you had learnt until then and educate you again — this time the right way. It was the best thing that happened to me. I have not decided to stay in LA forever; I want to learn and gain as much experience as I can, and bring it home to make independent music scene in India better than what it is now.”