Record labels need to back independent artistes: Ehsaan Noorani

Ehsaan Noorani of Bollywood's popular music composer trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy says that while independent music artistes have a viable platform in the online medium, it would be great if record labels start backing their work too.

Noorani believes Indians do have an ear for music apart from what emerges from Bollywood.

"Admittedly, Bollywood has taken the largest chunk of the pie when it comes to music mostly because of the large amounts of money that is invested into Bollywood.

"There are lots of independent artistes that do have the internet as a platform to put their music out, but record labels need to show interest in putting their music out," Noorani told IANS.

Asked if regional music can see the fame Hindi music has scored, the 52-year-old musician said: "It is possible. But the language divides in India do marginalise the music widely. But there have been exceptions too, like A.R. Rahman."

Noorani, who is a guitarist, is participating in FM station Radio City's Gig City with his team members Shankar Mahadevan and Loy Mendonsa.

Gig City is a radio concert which has brought together renowned artistes like Shaan, Farhan Akhtar, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Salim-Sulaiman, Ayushmann Khurrana and Sunidhi Chauhan on one platform.

Besides working with Mahadevan and Mendonsa, Noorani performs with band Fender and Friends featuring guitarists like Warren Mendonsa, Rudy Wallang, Amyt Dutta and singers Arunima Banerjee and Tanya Sen. He also performs with sitar player Purbayan Chatterjee in an ensemble called The String Fraternity.

--IANS

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