Lalit Gupta
Closeted in his room in one of posh colony houses of Jammu, a young man with earphones plugged in, eyes closed, humming and swaying in ecstasy, has become a kind of enigma for worried parents: mother, a university teacher and father, a bank manager.
Unable to understand they watch helplessly their otherwise intelligent son who has cut himself from the mundane world and chosen to stay mainly indoors and immerse himself in music.
This is a not an isolated case in urban India and many regional centers like Jammu where young boys and girls having taken to western music stand isolated today. There is no reception and recognition by the society of their chosen hobby and calling of heart as most people around them think that this music is not part of our tradition.
In fact, amongst many forms of modernity, while modern visual arts stand institutionalized by a number of art faculties and institutes, art galleries, national bodies and expressions of individuals artists, the modern forms (western) of music and dance, unable to find place in pedagogy and social acceptance, still occupy a peripheral space defined by the actions of few isolated individuals, groups and bands that too in cosmopolitan cities and few regional metropolis in the country.
Like other forms of modern art, Rock Music, boasting many amateur enthusiasts and followers in the country today, was also an avant garde movement of 1960’s surfaced as music of protest. That is why it is full of raw, youth full energy. Rock was not meant as a commercial commodity. It was about speaking truth at the top of one’s voice so that those in power heard it. Its most important aspect was radical poetry that appealed to human nature, inside of a man.
Bob Dylan or Beatles were not only musicians but spiritual leaders and opinion makers for generations. This music was not about glamour but about a search for meaning and peace in life. That’s why it caught the imagination of youth in the West.
In India, pioneer rock musicians were Indus Creed, Rock Machine, Angee etc but soon artists like Remo started Indian ethnicity with Rock till in North India Rabbie Shergill reached height of his popularity with ‘Bullah Jane Kaun’.
The story of Rock in Jammu can be traced to isolated expressions of few young persons for whom it was a kind of statement of being different and off beat. They took to western music and played guitar, a visible foreign instrument and sang the then popular numbers. Which, being a rage in America and Europe were regularly being played from BBC and AIR stations during few selected time slots and programs like Top of Pop from Doordarshan.
The young amateur musicians of Jammu like Suman Gupta, (who later on became a painter) or Naresh Gulahti, coming from different backgrounds and interests also tried to form music groups in late 1980’s. These young men, mainly university and college students also found the Inter University competitions as a niche to practice and perform. Since student contingents from University of Jammu regularly participated in such competitions. It was here the local students got a first hand feel of the national scene along with the flamboyant style of Punjabi students.
The other venue in Jammu, where western music was played in public space was the newly opened Hotel Asia. Here a band played every evening. This band was led by one H S Irani. It was here that Sumit Sharma, one of second generation rock enthusiasts of Jammu responding to an advertisement got a break as a lead vocalist. Other young man associated with the band was Bhanu Manhas from Bhadarwah.
Recalling those days and his own journey in rock music, Sumit Sharma, one of few senior rock devotees along with Gautam, a guitarist, to keep the Rock alive and ticking brought together young amateur musicians of Jammu. He said that traditional Indian classical music was in my blood, as my father Dr Dev Rattan Sharma (Khajuria) was a Sitar player who had learnt sitar from Pandit Ravi Shanker and initially worked as music composer in All India Radio. But I was inspired by my elder brother Sharad who played guitar.
It was in this background that TACHYONS, the rock group, was formed around the year 1992. Named after the fourth state of particle, the band’s pivot was one Mahesh, a South Indian scientist working in Regional Research Laboratory who brought together Jammu’s young western music enthusiasts such as Sumit, Lucky and Chander Mohan.
There is a sea change from our times when our only references were Radio and films and DD programs like Top of Pop from Doordarshan, says Sumit Sharma. “The satellite TV, through channels like MTV\ HBO\CNN brought a revolution in media exposure of western music to the non-western fans. The digital media has been the biggest boon”.
But at the same time, today it has led to growing number of Internet freaks. Remaining closeted indoors for them there is no distinction between real world and virtual world thus making the new media as a solitary experience. With earphones plugged in, there is a kind of disconnect with the reality.
The performance of Rabbi Shergill, during the inauguration of Zorawar Singh Auditorium, was a moment of celebration for local rock aficionados. Encouraged by the ecstatic response to Shergill’s performance by Jammuites, we felt the need for a platform at the local level also. Thus the first Jammu rock fest was structured in Jammu in 2009 by DISHA, says Sumit Sharma. Drummer naveen kotwal
“The intention behind to organize the rock-fest 2009 was to bridge the gap between the digital world to the real world and also to the solitary to the group. Since rock is an active part of our lives in Jammu, the local level event would bring together hitherto isolated groups, individuals to share a common room–A room for angst-ridden souls”.
This rock fest lead to the surfacing of bands, groups which included Mythya, Solitude Saints, Srishti, all girls band like Dazzling Divas, Rumors. Afterwards many groups mushroomed. Solitude Saints became Super Solitude, Rumors split to become Insanity. The Roving Sikhs also caught fancy of the younger generation beside bands like Paradox, the Last Phenomenon, Moon’s Dog and Blood Line.
The movement of Rock music in Jammu is caught between two major issues. One is the lack of clear understanding that Rock music has its elaborate theory which is rather intricate. That in addition it involves technology which necessitates heavy investment and technical know-how. Deprived of these two basic things when youngsters try to emulate their idols, by witching voids and the result is obviously preposterous.
Despite the Bollywood flicks like “Rock Star’, becoming a hit, the Rock scene in Jammu has hardly changed. Bhanu Kotwal, who plays four string base guitar in the band Mythya, says that Rock continues to receive the lackluster response of civil society. “There are no promoters of Rock here. More than Jammu, we are received and recognized in places like Kangra in Himachal Pradesh. The only exception here is SMVD, Katra, which has regularly hosted Rock music concerts. Our people have less exposure. There are no takers for English numbers and popular demand is for songs in Hindi or Punjabi. After a Rock event is over, one hardly gets a word of appreciation for the efforts which involve lot of energy as well as money”.
There is no dearth of talent here, says Sohail Mushtaq, the talented rhythm guitarist. But due to lack of public appreciation and support, the amateur Rock musicians of Jammu, the sensitive souls, are more like islands unto themselves. They occasionally reach out to each other for making a group or a band.
The Rock Fest slated to be held in first week of November, 2012, at Police Auditorium Gulshan Ground, here, would be another effort by miniscule community of unsung musicians to make Rock as part of Jammu’s contemporary tradition.
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