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Sonu Nigam Taking to Indie Music?

Sonu Nigam Taking to Indie Music?

Why veterans of Bollywood film music like Sonu Nigam releasing songs online might fare well for the phenomenon of indie music.

If one were to associate Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam’s stint with indie-oriented music (which means non-film music for argument’s sake) his pop albums from the late 90s like Deewana and Mausam would come to mind, despite the fact that they were produced by labels like T-Series. In any case, the songs had spunk that sparked-off a generation of Sonu Nigam followers who weren’t entirely disappointed when he comprehensively shifted base to Hindi film music, through which most people know him today.

However, slightly over a week ago on February 19, he released a single online called “Trini Ladki” (video below) that has been written, composed and sung by him. Talking about a boy who gets love struck the moment he sets eyes on a girl in Trinidad, the song delivers a Caribbean flavour reminiscent of the Indian jazz age of the 70s. So far, there is no trace of a label backing the single and it seems like the song is Nigam’s personal exploration as an artist. Acting testimony to this is Nigam’s responses to audience comments on the YouTube link – the humble singer displays a sense of validated satisfaction on his indie path.

It will be naive to believe he responded to these comments himself, but the honesty is a tough dodge

Is this a foretelling for other established film musicians to explore their personal music by showcasing it online and gaining a formidable traction without the help of labels (read our story on strength of indie, internationally, here)? Does the digital medium provide sufficient room to popularize indie music (read here)? With musicians like Sanjeev Thomas (guitarist on A.R. Rahman’s crew, read here) and Raghu Dixit (read here) choosing to go the indie route online, does it signify and delineate a mushrooming trend that will phase-out record labels, thereby rendering it a fad of the past? Possibly, time will tell.

[avideo videoid=”fcxv2d62nUQ”]

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