Great time to be making music in India: Rahul Ram

Indo-rock fusion band Indian Ocean's bass guitarist and lead vocalist Rahul Ram says the whole process of making and releasing music has been democratised in India.

Ram also pointed out the pros and cons of this. He says while virtual world gives a great exposure to budding music artistes, it also leads to "a lot more clutter" in the music territory.

"It is a great time to be making music in the country, the increase in the cover of internet, smart phones and the ilk has opened up numerous avenues for artists/musicians to publish their work and also get instant reactions/feedback to their content," Ram told IANS over an email.

He added: "In a way the whole process of making and releasing music has been democratised, its really easy to record a song in your bedroom, shoot an accompanying video and put it out there for the world to see, like, share, comment etc but with the territory also comes a lot more clutter."

Ram, who will be performing at the forthcoming music festival Taalbelia in Mandawa, Rajasthan with his band, also feels nowadays artistes need to "strive harder to make their content more clutter breaking and standout".

He said: "Because there is just so much out there an artist has to strive harder to make their content more clutter breaking and standout."

Taalbelia, a four-day long multi-format festival, will be held from January 26. With three stages for more than 30 acts, the fest promises to bring music, art, craft and gastronomic together.

Indian Ocean is known for blending in rhythms and tunes of different instruments into their music and coming out with edgy sounds. Apart from doling out albums like "Desert Rain", "Kandisa" and "Tandanu", the band has rendered music for films like Anurag Kashyap's "Black Friday", "Peepli Live" and "Masaan".

Talking about his performance at the fest, Ram said: "We are really looking forward to playing at Taalbelia - the location, setting and vibe of this festival is special. We have a few tricks up our sleeve for this one."

--IANS

sug/nv/vm