Why is every making this india versus pakistan thread. India has always had a very strong music tradition. They have a diverse range of music from north to south, from classical to modern. However, these days the main stream music is being fuelled by bollywood and similar filmi style music is being pumped to the masses for quite some time now. Some people might be getting tired of the trend but the majority is still very much hooked to commentary of love: "pyar howa... iqrar howa" , "zindagi ho tum .. har kushi ho tum *" , "*tum pass ayee... dill mein ajao"
Pakistan on the other hand is only emerging (for the past decade or so) as a major player in the music industry. Pakistani bands are usually led by youngsters experimenting (Giants like Adnan Sami, NFAK e.t.c are exceptions). So there is a wider experimentation thus a sense of more variety. Pakistani music is being driven by creativity and an atempt to be different and unique whereas the more mature indian brand is driven by a formula that works for the people, for money.
Pakistanis are most familiar with Bollywood. They really don't know about other types of Indian music outside of Bollywood. Actually..I think it's because they don't understand the other languages spoken in India
I used to listen to Bengali rock, which I loved. Very different. Also..Bengali classical (Tagore style) is awesome.
Traditional Guju/Raj music is popular..and Bollywood tends to copy off their tunes too.
Singers from Punjab are always coming out with their albums..and then sometimes they contribute to Bollywood too. Punjabi music really fuels Bollywood I think..it's very catchy.
Unfortunately...I don't understand any of the South Indian music..their languages are just too different. However..composers like AR Rahman...have come out with some really nice telegu albums...while I don't understand anything..lol...it sounds very catchy.
Private artists usually excell with their ghazal type music. Bengali, Marathi, and Gujurati ghazals are very popular..and sometimes outside of their respective states.
You have to understand that India is a very diverse nation. So, the music is going to be diverse too. Instruments which are used in Kerela..would not be used for example in Kashmir..while instruments used in Kashmir are not familiar with people in the South. North Indian music is I think called Hindustani..while South Indian is called Carnatic. Very different.
Bollywood...mainly composed of Hindi and Punjabi music is what the world gets to see..its the most popular..and makes the most money. It's all about glamour.
Because you don't have this huge bulge of a Bollywood blocking you...ur artists can experiment more and still make it big..new singers are constantly introduced..new talent is dispersed.
Bollywood singers seem to have a monopoly over other talent in India..but its still there..you just gotta look for it...and keep an open mind.
Oh yeah..so I pretty much agree with Gamma..just forgot to read his post.
Right. So you’re talking about “everyone making this india versus pakistan thread” while yourself are going around ranting about the superiority Indian music has had in terms of the huge grand history it has behind it! Pakistani music, according to you, is “less mature” and has only emerged during the last decade. I bet you have no idea about Noor Jehan, who was the rage 50 years ago. And then the 60s came with Ahmed Rushdi with his brand new rock’n’roll fused with filmi style. The 70s had Runa Laila while the act really started gettin hot in the 80s with Alamgir, Vital Signs, Sheiki and the rest of the gang. While the Indian music [mostly Bollywood; that’s the one almost all listernership] has generally been redundant in terms of composition/arrangement style, Pakistani musicians have always been far more creative and have really been on the cutting edge. And then coming to popular music which has actually flourished in Pakistan since the 80s, while on the other side it was just a fad which lasted for a couple of years in the mid to late 90s.
And now that’s just to set the “10 years” record straight and to give you a lowdown on something about which u seem cluless. It’s really not Pakistan/India ya know
anyway..i think we shud give congrats to bolly on his vast knowledge of music and let him know we are aware of the fact that pakistani music is superior to indian music..so he doesn't have to waste his time on proving anyone with a OPINION different than his own...wrong.
anyhow i think music from pakistan and india is great they both have their own style and thats the best thing and pakistani's should be happy with that so that can be one thing they can say is different about them. As for indian music its great too, any time you go to any event you will always hear indian music and people like to dance to indian music just the same cause its so universal in a sense, like if you attend a mehndi and you want to do a special dance im sure indian song would be more suitable then a pakistani song. Both countries have great music even if it is bollywood its still pretty dham good with all the new stuff they are coming out with. On a side note the song woh lamhey the remixed one is so cool because you can actually dance to it and have fun with especially at a party, unlike the original one where you can listen in your car with your lover or something. indian music is great and pakistani music is great!
Queer, while Runa Laila is of Bengali origin, she was a Pakistani when she made all her hits —> if you werent so thick you’d know that Bangladesh was Pakistan back then.
And yeah, Noor Jehan got her training whatever from India, but then and again established herself in Pakistan, and that is where she got most of her fame.
**Just one freaking article about Pak music getting fame in India and everyone has started to feel SO insecure! Like I’m hearing things like “indian music is great and pakistani music is great!”… **
Queer, like it or not, Runa Laila got her fame primarily from Pakistan. She stayed back in Pakistan but left in the later part of the decade. You can't change that! :p
Bro, it doesnt take a rocket scientist to see that Indian Music is Bollywood. Whats is popular across India? BOLLYWOOD!
You rarely see anything else, and if you do its limited to certain parts, while Bollywood can be considered truly India in that it is recognized across India and the world. But even so, Bollywood is rather homogenous!
You guys have to make a disticintion between the Musical heritage of India and popular music of the day. India has an awesome muscial tradition, and its very diversified, but the music industry is all about whats popular... So while Indian musical heritage is rich, popular music and themusic industry as an extension is rather limitited. I mean, make one classical India rag and see how popular it is compared to some bollywood style dance off....
Plenty. Not just South Indians..but Indians in general love the garba type (popular folk music) music…its popular at parties and weddings. Gujuratis amongst other Indians will listen to South Indian music (classical) when they send their kids to bharat natyam and watch them perform. The entire country listens to Punjabi bhangra type music. duh. Like I said..Tagore style (Bangla) ghazals which are incorporated into plays are popular in drama houses in Mumbai.
The truth is…Indian music is represented by Bollywood..because Bollywood is this huge glitzy glamourous money making machine. It holds international appeal (especially in the thirdworld..and now in the western countries as well), whether or not a few people find it dull and mundane..its the bitter truth.
I can say that I have listened to all kinds of Indian music without the Bollywood touch..from all parts of India. I’ve been to India..and I have been exposed to it..most of you have not.
Like it or not, India and Pakistan have a shared history that goes back thousands of years and both countries have cultures that identify with each other. If Kundan Lal Saigal and Mohammad Rafi sang in what is now Pakistan pre Partition then Noorjehan sang in what is now India at that time. The traditions that came down to what is popular at present are however hundreds of years old, especially between the people of North and Central India and Pakistan. As you go Southwards in India, the dominant Dravidian culture is completely different in terms of language, culture etc though ,musically, there are several similarities. That said, few Tamils understand Hindi or Urdu (with the exception of Tamil Brahmins and Ambur/Vellore and Vaniyambadi Muslims - Muslims from Southern Tamilnadu do not speak Hindi or Urdu) though the other Southern states have a vast majority of Hindi and Urdu speaking people.
If Salma Agha, Noorjehan, Adnan Sami, Junoon etc are popular in India, they touch the same chord that they do in Pakistan. I would presume that Indian music does something similar in Pakistan and hence it is heard there. Sahir Ludhianvi, Hasrat Jaipuri and Majrooh Sultanpuri’s lyrics would definitely be popular in both countries for obvious language and cultural reasons. A R Rehman’s (with apologies to Razea, most of his compositions are in Tamil and not Telugu - I know the family well and his daughters Khadija and Rafia practically grew up in my uncle’s place from the time they were toddlers) music is more “international” as it was influenced by music from his mentor Ilayaraja who was himself influenced by Western compositions from the 1970s to the mid 1990s.
There really is no need for anyone to get their trousers in a knot - both countries have brilliant and talented people and neither is going to lose by appreciating artists on the other side.
As an aside, one of the most comprehensive collections of Indian music on the net is at www.musicindiaonline.com Now would someone suggest a similar Pakistani site? Yes, I do understand Urdu when it is spoken thopugh, unlike my parents, I cannot read it.
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