KOZHIKODE: Since its intellectual era began, Kozhikode became an astonishing kernel with its phenomenal way of presenting music. Celebrated musicians such M S Baburaj and many other musicians with their immense skill and talent, not only made a mark in the history of Malayalam film industry, but also bestowed Kozhikode with its new genre of mainstream music.
To an industry which thrived on songs which were another form of poetry or Carnatic music, they gave a Hindustani touch.
Lo and behold, everybody knows what happened next. A large number of songs were influenced by Hindustani ragas. They may not have imagined the leverage of the evergreen compositions such as 'Oru pushpam mathram' 'Anuragini', which is crooned by Malayalis even to this day. Meanwhile, there was an underground subculture that was being formed among the youths of that generation, which began since the early 60s. Bands such as ‘Canabras,' ‘ Halleys Disciples,' 'Third Eye,' and 'Dreadlocks,' got their influence straight from The Beatles, Santana, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Eric Clapton, and so goes the list. Sources claim that they set the stage on fire!
People grooved to their performances, held at Tagore Hall, Town Hall, the open air on the beach and some of the leading hotels back then. But, however, a huge lack of appreciation for such talent prevailed in the mainstream music industry.
Further observations spill out the fact that acceptance of such music genres (rock, metal and its sub-genres) decreased by the late 90s. A new era of mainstream music, led by inept musicians, took over the Malayalam film industry, which was of course the best medium to reach out to the far ends of the Malayali community. What stood behind the decline of such a subculture which is perpetually accepted in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and certain other urban cities in Kerala? "There exists scarcely any producer who encourages such musicians nowadays,” says veteran musician Pramod Reynolds, who is an active member of the band ‘Renegade,' which was started back in the 80s. "No one is ready to invest a hefty amount in these musicians. You will get a karaoke orchestra for `10,000 or a DJ set for a maximum of up to `4,000 to `5,000. But a rock concert costs up to `20,000 including the whole microphone and speaker system, stage setup, and the artistes' allowance. But they are not ready to consider the amount of work put into staging a really phenomenal rock concert, which is really worth the amount of money being spent," adds Reynolds. He goes on to say that all that the artistes are asking for is appreciation in the form of good payments and offering them a good stage with a good crowd.
A good deal of musicians put away their dream of playing in front of live audience and settled with playing for movie songs. So what is wrong in playing for a movie song? How many of us think about the guitarist of a particular song which we like or the drummer of the song which we listen to day and night until we get the hook of it? This exactly is the down side. They hardly get recognition.
'Yagya', a band from the city, is quite popular among the young crowd. The reason behind this is their conventional method of playing. They stick to the alternative rock genre and choose to cover mainstream popular songs. "The audience is awestruck when they hear old Malayalam songs revived and played using percussion instruments such as cajon, darbukka, thumba, djembe, chimes, shakers, timbale, etc " says Abhijith, a vocalist of the band. Even the constituent members of the band are conventional in the role they perform. Three crooners, one guitarist, a drummer and a percussionist.
'Absolute Convergence', the lone metal band the city can be proud of, however, is not well established. Apart from a couple of shows in colleges, the band did not get to perform much. Don Samuel, a member of the band, says, "People are still stuck in orchestras and ghazal night phases. They show favouritism towards a specific genre of music and blatant dislike towards metal genre."
"We don't want them to like our music, but at least acknowledge us as a band for the hard work we bear instead of addressing us as a bunch of kids making deafening noise," adds the keyboardist. 'Absolute Convergence' is a 5 piece heavy metal band which performed and marked its presence in Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi and Coimbatore. "But again, now the scene in Kozhikode is changing. After our band, people are slowly becoming aware of such music," say the members. The band has already released a couple of their singles and are currently working on their debut EP (extended play).
It is not that there are no exceptional artistes left in Kozhikode. The crux of the problems lies in the fact that the public is not ready to accept such talents. People, instead of just closing their eyes towards such artistes, should be ready to embrace them wholeheartedly. After all isn't that what 'Kozhikodens' are known for? - Akshay Raj