For a very long time, the idea of fusion music has always attracted me. This subject has been really talked about, written about a lot. A lot of artists (and I include myself here) perform it. The term "fusion" has been widely used to generally define something which is incomprehensible or indefinite in the field of music. However, we must appreciate the efforts being put in this area as these efforts lead us to gain a huge variety of new sounds, original songs and some amount of genuine fusion music.
Fusion music means a fine blend of two or more genres of music that can sound good together. Let us have a glance at the origins of fusion music first. It is not a very old trend in India. It is said to have begun with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan's performance in 1955 in the USA. It came into being with Rock and Roll fusions with Indian music in 1960s and 1970s but it was limited to Europe and North America. For quite a long time, the Indian fusion stage was taken over by Pt. Ravi Shankar, the Sitar maestro. Pt. Ravi Shankar began to fuse Indian classical music with Bud Shank - a jazz musician. Soon the trend was imitated by many European and American music exponents. In the year 1965, George Harrison played the song "Norwegian Wood" on the Sitar. Another jazz expert Miles Davis recorded and performed with the likes of Khalil Bal Krishna, Bihari Sharma and Badal Roy.
The Mahavishnu Orchestra of John McLaghlin pursued fusion music with great integrity and authenticity in the mid 1970s. In the process, John joined forces with L. Shankar, Ustad Zakir Hussain and others. This trend of fusion music took over Indian and British artists in the early 1980s which inspired them to fuse Indian and Western traditions. In the new millenium the trend of blending Indian film music with Punjabi Bhangra has been very popular among the global audiences across America, U.K. and India. Indian classical music being one of the strongest and purest form of musical traditions was fused highest with numerous other forms of world music. Right from early 1950s, it was used frequently in Indian films with a lot of experimentation. For ex., a bandish (composition) of Raag Kamod "Eri Jaane Na Doongi" was used in the film Chitralekha by music director Roshan with a slight change in lyrics, original composition and and overall arrangement. After this era, there was a tremendous change of trends in Indian film music, independent music and world fusion in general with the booming technology in the late 1970s till date.
This is a very brief background of the trend of fusion and experimental music I wanted to talk about. With the blessing of technology everywhere, a lot of positive changes and new trends have been introduced in the world of fusion and experimental music. Many artists and bands (especially the independent ones who don't necessarily work for Bollywood producers) like Indian Ocean, Agni, Shakti, Vasuda Sharma etc. are bringing in some very unique songs, sounds and hopes to the current scene when genuine arts and music is slowly surrendering to utter commercialization and demeaning standards. A band like Maati Baani is helping us to keep the purity of Indian classical music alive fashioning the traditional bandishes with some trendy loops. These artists are working hard to create beautiful original music using the age old traditions of Indian classical, ghazals, folk, sufi. Also, the idea of covers of an already existing song brought in a wide range of new artists on the block. The very famous trend of using minimum instruments in a particular composition to enhance the soul of the melody seems very endearing to the ears. For ex., I have heard end number of beautiful cover versions of a famous ghazal "Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo" which used only a flute, or a violin along with a fancy percussion instrument like cajon or a tambourine.
As a performer and an observer of all these changes and new entrants in the field of fusion and experimental music, I have also experimented a lot with my thoughts, expressions and styles of making music. At the end of each blog, I will post one of my audio/video link to share it with you all. This is my first ever blog or let's say anything that I have ever written about music. I will appreciate your feedbacks, opinions and information on current scene of fusion as well as global music. Please feel free to have a talk with me on anything that relates to music. With this blog, I am sharing one of my early attempts at songwriting. This song is entitled "Waiting". It is composed in Indian classical and American pop styles. Based on the melody of Raag Jog, the song talks about the emotion of wait, surrender and ardent love. I have written, composed and sung it. The production and arrangement is done by composer-arranger Harshit Acharya and the music video has been made by Aashini Shah and Vishwesh Kolwalkar.
Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52aFEWYLvlg
Citing credits : culturalindia.net, YouTube.com, Himali Vyas Naik
