Important to appreciate quality of Indian artistes: MC Stretch

He has hosted several international music festivals like Tomorrowland, Lowlands Festival, Stereosonic, and has just hosted the Vh1 Supersonic in India. MC Stretch, a popular DJ and emcee, says it is important for the country "to appreciate the quality of Indian artistes".

With most music fests in India being headlined by international artistes and with local talent only doing the opening act for them, MC Stretch, whose real name is Martin Ryan, says that there should indeed be "more focus on Indian artistes".

"(DJ and Grammy winner) Zedd is a wonderful fellow, amazing producer, incredible musician, is not bad onstage as well, but there are Indian comparisons that stand side-by-side with him... There are probably more people listening to Indian artistes than to Zedd," MC Stretch told IANS here.

"They (Indian artistes) might not be in the dance music as we know it, but honour and respect your own. Look after your family. The rest will take care of itself," added the Netherlands-based talent.

MC Stretch, who has numbers like "I've got this feeling", "Foresaken",and "Here we come" to his credit, says the situation is slowly changing. He cited the example of the recently held Vh1 Supersonic, which had homegrown artiste like Arjun Vaghale as a headliner for one of the three stages.

On the way global artistes are promoted to draw crowds here, he said: "In terms of advertising the international artistes... They are massive names for sure, so why not? If you are going to get 600 more, 6,000 more people because you are advertising Macklemore (American hip-hop artiste), you do that, but I think there needs to be more love and trust in the artistes (Indian) that have worked 15 to 25 years.

"These people have worked hard to stay original... Originality needs to be noticed and appreciated. Press, media, record labels, radio, TV need to stand up and honour the artistes that have worked really hard," MC Stretch added.

He also feels listeners are "brainwashed" into liking certain kinds of music.

"There is a lot of distraction out there. If the radio says, or plays, a track... that they are paid to play 10 times a day, suddenly it's locked in your mind.

"You are brainwashed. It might even have an amazing hook. It might be a wonderful track, (but) you don't need to hear it 10 times a day. I am pretty sure there are hundreds, thousands of beautiful hooks out there. We are locked in a system," he added.

(The writer's trip was at the invitation of Vh1 Supersonic. Kishori Sud can be contacted at Kishori.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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