Moderator IBNlive: Dear Readers, Welcome to today's session on the Freedom Chat with novelist and music columnist Indrajit Hazra. He will answer your queries on Indian rock scene: Faking it or making it. Indrajit, please take over!
Bleh: Have always wondered, either we do not have bands singing in Hindi, or if they do, they are called really weird names like Bhayanak Maut. Now how much of band names in India are based on the concept of the band and how much for 'cool' value? Also, Why don’t our bands sing in Hindi? Or is it un-rock?
Indrajit Hazra: Always asked myself that question. Why don't more bands sing in Hindi. The problem I think is that for some reason or other Hindi makes bands think in terms of ‘santoor', 'sitar' etc. The language itself seems to have been sucked in with a 'nationalistic' project. So you don't get that many kick ass (what's that in Hindi now?) bands singing in Hindi - apart from trying to make statements about Indo-Pak peace. Bangla bands, if I might say so myself, have latched on to the subversive, 'humorous' 'Zappa' side of rock - like Chandrabindu and Cactus. So as for names, maybe a David Dhawan-Ramsay Bros fetish lingers?
Ali: What do you think of Indian ocean?
Indrajit Hazra: Too lilting for me, I'm afraid. But that doesn't mean I don't like tea
Patrick French: What is the influence of Baul singing on late-period Michael Jackson? And do you want to run the Indian Summer review?
Indrajit Hazra: Baul and Michael go back to his Off The Wall days. When he turned white though, he strayed over to Sufi which is a bit of a sell-out if you ask me.
Jhon: Do u agree with this?
Indrajit Hazra: Absolutely! Why don't you?
Sonic: Hi.
Indrajit Hazra: Hi sonic. Are you youthful enough for the new Sonic Youth album?
Uppalapati: Why do we need to follow Western music while we have pleasant Indian music?
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Indrajit Hazra: The same reason why we can eat fish and curd if we want to. I wish we got a choice like the one you suggest about passing faeces and passing urine too. But hey, it's the width of the experience, right?
Kelvin: I think Indian is faking it.
Indrajit Hazra: 'Indian' is faking it most of the time in rock. Its the 'Have sitar will play' problem. But we're growing out if it, methinks.
Fqqwf: Hi, between rock and writing, which is your priority?
Indrajit Hazra: Well, rock is a noun. Writing is a verb, so I enjoy nouns, but I do verbs.
Mahesh: What's your view on rock not only helping people forget Indian music but also its culture n traditions?
Indrajit Hazra: I forgot your question because I was breathing... :)
Krishan:What is the first rock band post independence?
Indrajit Hazra: Pass. What's the answer?
Divya: Much of Indian rock seems to be a decent cover of Deep Purple or Doors. And that kind of rock is now so old that I really feel we have no sense of the changing scene. Rock festivals at places like IIT (my Alma Mater) were so obsolete and generic so even before we talk about making or faking we need to get a grip of what it really is all about.
Indrajit Hazra: You're absolutely right! Covers and that too of classic rock have been the default position for rock bands in this country since Gandhiji's Non-cooperation Movement. I think that's why it's refreshing to hear acts that are into mash-ups, feedback, electronica and a handful of bands like Cassini's Division into punk rock. Classic rock is nice when the uncles are over and you want to remember the first time you listened to (GNAAAAAAAAAH!) Hotel California.
NEHA: Who, do you think, is a 'revolution' in THE GREAT INDIAN ROCK TRICK?
Indrajit Hazra: Cheap beer + Live gigs=Rock Scene. In Bombay perhaps?
Shana: I think that the Indian rock scenario is pathetic, the lyrics are lifted and the music sucks, how can they improve?
Indrajit Hazra: By not getting obsessed about sounding 'Indian' and at the same time show how 'deeply influenced' their guitarists are by Chic Correa and Steve Vai!
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bhandu: Hi Indrajeet Most of the times there are differences in the members of the rock band and finally it leads to the dissolution of the band? Why is it so?
Indrajit Hazra: Because rock bands aren't the Congress Party. Or the Bharatiya Janata Party! Or my maternal uncle's family. Bands are formed by pals. When they grow out of each other, they go their own way. Like, er, the members of the Great Elastic Rubber Band.
fqqwf: Smart answer. I know it's difficult to pick, ain’t it? But tell me something. I read you regularly, not really the rock stuff. You tend to write serious stuff in first person. That at times is nagging. But I like your writing dude.
Indrajit Hazra: First person phobia, eh? Well, I'll write in third if you really want it that way. But it's really a cover up job - those 'One says.' 'It is known.'
S. Venkataraghavan: "Indian Rock" immediately means "vernacular rock". It cannot mean "rock by Indian bands". It's precisely why we do not have "Australian Rock" (AC/DC?) or "English Rock" (Def Leppard?). However, we do have "Norwegian Metal". Hence, for a particular country to tie-in with the word 'rock', it needs to lend its own statement to it. Hence, "Indian Rock" would include Hindi, Tamil and Bengali, but would exclude English, even if the songs were about life in India. Similarly, the addition of Indian instruments would qualify that particular rock for "Indian Rock" as well as "fusion". Your views please.
Indrajit Hazra: That would be a bit of a cottage industries attitude, wouldn't it? To make the language the arbiter of genre definition? What about instrumentals then? Can the Shadows have theoretically been an Austrian band? Indian rock is just a catchall term to get rock music that's from India identifiable. But musically speaking, there's nothing that is nation-specific. As you rightly point to, The Beatles' Inner Light isn't Indian rock even though it has shenais in it
Gaurav Pant: Why don't India produce some rock sensation like Sir Bob Marley?
Indrajit Hazra: I don't think Bob Marley got knighted. But that's partly because we are yet to find a great combo of a musician-performer in the rock scene. We have plenty of them elsewhere - Kishore, Bappi L, Asha etc. But rock has a different aesthetics. If bands perform while their parents are sitting in the front seat, and when they give out AIDS-awareness sound bytes, that's not too subversive is it? I think rock 'n' roll is 40 per cent music and 60 per cent attitude - one feeding off the other. You can't have a desi Eminem who's preparing for the joint entrance exam.
Nymphadora: Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Do our rockers get any?
Indrajit Hazra: They do, but they're terribly cagey about the first and second and thus go embarrassingly silly gushing about the third.
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manoj: Are the Cream better than The Who?
Indrajit Hazra: The Cream is miles ahead of the Who. Disraeli Gears over Quadrophonia. Strange Brew over Behind Blue Eyes.
Arhan Writwik: When will you stop penning unintelligible articles on HT? Don't you understand they are torture on readers? Please learn from Sanghvi or Karan Thapar how to write plain, simple and beautiful English. And please answer this question. Don't delete it.
Indrajit Hazra: Torture is good. Haven't you heard of S&M. Clearly you're not my model masochist? I learn from Sanghvi and Thapar everyday. But the pay to write crap so that they seem doubly beautiful is a temptation worth succumbing to. Always.
Uppalapati: I admit that but why is it that no musician is pursuing Indian music? Why not giving the audience a taste of that?
Indrajit Hazra: Who says that they aren't. Orange Street's got a classical gharana thing going in every gig of theirs these days. And Jal's got the sufi-swirl happening. No?
jud: dada bhalo to
Indrajit Hazra: Shob thikthak. Aar apni? Thin Arrowroot khachchen tho?
Nymphadora: All Indian rock bands. If they make any sense whatsoever, have long-haired dudes. What is the mystery of the locks? And how do you look so un-rock?
Indrajit Hazra: Punk rock, my friend, asks you to leave your locks behind at the key. So for every Iggy Pop there's a Johnny Rotten. By the way, the temperature in Delhi now is touching 40. In London, somewhere between 27-30. In Kansas, it's about that too. So long hair goes only that far than elsewhere. But you're absolutely right! There is something about long hair, lice, perhaps? I do like Accounts Rock, thus my hair.
greatelasticrubberband: I demand the return of Indrajit Hazra's Great Elastic Rubber Band. Is there any chance of getting to hear you play a gig?
Indrajit Hazra: Come under my shower. We'll jam
flibbertigibbet: We can ask questions in any language? What is thin arrowroot in Bangla?
Indrajit Hazra: Shoru thirshekor
Real thing: What is Indian Rock? And how come it just came along suddenly?
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Indrajit Hazra: No it hasn't. It's been plodding along for years. Great Bear etc.
flibbertigibbet: "Come under my shower" shudder. I hope that means a bathroom singer. All brilliant men seem to like other brilliant men in the shower. Another rock thing?
Indrajit Hazra: Which brilliant part of town do you come from?
greatelasticrubberband: You and Jeet Thayil play guitar, Rana Dasgupta plays piano, Sarnath Banerjee plays mandolin. Have you every considered an Indian Writer band?
Indrajit Hazra: Amit Chaudhuri has already beaten us to it. And we'll stick to writing, thank you very much
Silvester: Do you think that rock in India is pretty commercialised in a twisted manner for example Metallica's Black Album ( its not even their best, just sold millions of copies) is so popular, but ask the average fan about Venom or Testament, he might give you a blank stare. I m not blaming anybody, I’m just saying that we have a very limited source when it comes to getting the music we love.
Indrajit Hazra: I think rock is commercialised the world over. The Sex Pistols was a commercial enterprise and the Rolling Stones is one of the best businesses. The trick is to bring the edge over to the mainstream - like Never Mind did with 90s punk - which automatically redefines the edge. So while Death in Vegas was a underground, cutting edge duo, once it stepped out into the mainstream thanks to Liam Gallagher singing a song with them, they became less 'cutting edge'. But I think the trick is to trust the ears. Everything else is spin, legitimate spin.
greatelasticrubberband: It has been reported that you recently had an illicit relationship with a cartoon character named Clifford the Big Red Dog. Comments?
Indrajit Hazra: You're not the bitch are ya?
Gaurav Pant: Hindustan Times or Times of India - which is better in terms of content? Answer honestly.
Indrajit Hazra: Times of Hindustan
bhavin: Hi Indrajit can u tell me what’s the one right quality a writer is got to have? A right mind? Or a right heart? Thanks.
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Indrajit Hazra: A right mind. Then you can fake a right heart.
kartikeya sahu: Hi.
Indrajit Hazra: Hi kartikeya
flibbertigibbet: The one Indian rock band you would ban from getting up on stage.?
Indrajit Hazra: Silk Route. But nah, I'm not into banning. Dooba-dooba maybe.
karthik: Don’t you think rock is nonsense. I mean metal and death metal. I am not talking about soft rock.
Indrajit Hazra: One man's nonsense is another man's sense. For instance, I can't understand ever how Cold Play is so big in India while no one listens to Morrissey. Go figure, fuggers!
Gaurav Pant: What do you think about the Pakistani Bands dominating the Indian Rock/ Pop Scenario? Why So?
Indrajit Hazra: They probably give us that bit of being 'exotic' without being out there. Also, they don't seem to have a tremendous hang-up in general about showcasing their Pakistani-ness the way some Indian bands show off their 'Indian-ness'.
Anoop: Don't you think it's time now that international rock magazines like Rolling Stones should hit India?
Indrajit Hazra: Well, only if it's the Rolling Stone we're talking about here. And only if the rock aficionados can handle stories about our pop culture in all forms, Himesh included. Can you handle that? Then I think it's time. High time.
Rajiv: Hi Indrajit.
Indrajit Hazra: Hi Mr Gandhi.
vishal: Hello Indrajit. I'm a great fan of yours.
Indrajit Hazra: I'm a great fan of yours by default too. Honest. We share the same taste.
rock chic: Oxymorons rule the Indian rock scene. Creativity is synonymous with aping the West. The few bands that go the original way, don’t get as many gigs as those who do covers! Its a lose-lose situation. Wonder why none of the bands have penned something on this? Instead they pen lyrics that no one can relate to in India or sell out like Brahma or pentagram! What can the beleaguered old school rockers do?
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Indrajit Hazra: Frankly, they need to forget sucking on that pen while writing lyrics to incorporate the big issues and stick to things that we can identify in songs here - misery, joy, love, bonking, hating your best friend's luck, that kinda thing. And the rest will follow.
manoj1: apniki bheeshon aantel!
Indrajit Hazra: Aapni bheeshon strategic discussion korchchen!
Yogesh Joshi: Do u like HR (Himesh)?
Indrajit Hazra: I haven't heard him enough, but I like the phenomenon he is. He's bigger than what he is, which is really not a bad thing at all.
Silvester: Megadeth or Metallica?
Indrajit Hazra: Megadeth any day. 99 ways to die is an old favourite of mine.
Anoop: Given a choice to be an editor of a Rock magazine in India (which magazine would it be?); a super duper journalist, and a owner of grand chhole bhature dookaan (shop)? Which one will you pick?
Indrajit Hazra: Easy, since I don't like chhole batura (or own VIP number plates on my fleet of cars).
pandora: You're really cute. Are you single?
Indrajit Hazra: Nope. See double all the time. Which doesn't mean I'm drinking now.
ravin: Hi Indrajit may I know your favourite rock band? And your favorite rock song? And if possible reasons of liking that band? Thanks.
Indrajit Hazra: Rolling Stones. Gimme Shelter. Because I want to be Keith Richards when I grow up. No, seriously, because the Stones has the right mix of the sex 'n' drugs 'n 'rock 'n' roll in them. Lots of bands rock. It's the roll that's the hard part. And their best is truly best. I get goose pimples listening to their 1969-1973 albums. Back to back.
greatelasticrubberband: You visit France often as a French-translated writer. Say something in French.
Indrajit Hazra: Fugine 'ell, si vous plais!
Rock-Shock: No one answers my questions! :(
Indrajit Hazra: Hey Rock Shock, will answer in a jiffy
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Biranchi: Indian folk songs are always very attractive. Do you think that rock bands always having a damaging effect on our sweat folk songs in the name of innovation or creativity?
Indrajit Hazra: It's a baul eat baul world out there. Influences shouldn't be one-way, if they are sometimes. And any concept of 'purity' - in music or elsewhere - can be dodgy...
Anoop: How about heading Rolling Stones in India? Do you think you are a good candidate for it?
Indrajit Hazra: Naa. Don't think I can give up my first love.
Rock-Shock: And please translate that French into English.
Indrajit Hazra: *&** hell! Please!
chetan: Hi, Do you think Indians genuinely appreciate English music? Do you think Indians bands inspired by Cold Play, The Fray, etc have a chance to survive? Are there any recording labels willing to take in such bands?
Indrajit Hazra: I think there's no direct link to liking music. I'm a Bengali but I like some Hindi songs. The same goes with what you call 'English' music. Inspired by bands is one thing, to do what big bands do simply because that's the formula that works is another. And the formula doesn't work, mostly because they become 'tribute' bands, not bands on their own right
kushi: Hi Indrajit, what's the secret of your success :)?
Indrajit Hazra: Bournvita.
Anoop: What is your first love?
Indrajit Hazra: Being lazy and writing silly pieces for a national daily.
Silvester: Do you think anti authority bands like Rage Against the Machine and System of A Down can flourish in India? I’m talking bands with a defined social undertone. An answer will help us gauge the state of our "democracy" so please Mr Moderator.
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Indrajit Hazra: Rage and System operate against a 'System' that funnily enough, ironically enough allows them to become a phenomenon. It's not the State that drives great sonic passion and rage like that. It's the people. And I'm afraid very few people here want that kind of stuff. The standard response is that 'They're 'playing angry' for effect'. Which sort of ends the whole phenom at the source, doesn't it?
greatelasticrubberband: Favourite authors, please. Five. Childhood up.
Indrajit Hazra: 1. Rajshekhar Bose 2. Kafka (don't groan!) 3. Philip K Dick 4. Jim Thompson 5. Philip Roth.
kushi: Thanks for disclosing your secret. Well, how many times you drink a day?
Indrajit Hazra: At least one bottle of Coke and I don't count the water. Why, problem?
amit: Recently, too many Indian writers have been long listed for the Asian Booker. What do you think of that? How do you think is the character and trends of IWE changing?
Indrajit Hazra: The list I guess is to make proper nouns of more writers from Asia. So in that respect, maybe they've succeeded in getting publishers - more than readers really - interested in them. The character of writers from India writing in English is changing for the better in that they are breaking into genre fiction, genre-mashing fiction and not constantly mentally translating their writings for a non-Indian readership ('Should I italicise 'daal' or write 'lentil soup' or...'. So that's a relief... I would hate to be thought of as a writer of fiction 'that encapsulates India' etc. I'm dealing with my stories. Not with anthropology by disguise.
Anoop: Can you separate Rock from sex, drugs and lies? (if yes then how? if no then why not?)
Indrajit Hazra: Yes you can. Sex, as you know, involves at least one other person. Drugs not necessarily so. And lies definitely not. Rock uses all these three themes and makes it into an emotive fodder. So.
pagal guy: Hi Indrajit first of all I would like to ask who is Indrajit :) no offence!
Indrajit Hazra: Ravana's son. Hope you don't mind.
kushi: Thanks. I was just kidding about your Bournvita stuff. What's your favourite album? And why?
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Indrajit Hazra: Answered that. Stones. Let It Bleed
Rock-Shock: Portnoy's Complaint. Read that? Roth?
Indrajit Hazra: Yup. Great. He's great with language, which he makes inseparable from his characters (Zuckermann etc), which he again makes inseparable from his stories.
aseem: hi Indrajeet. Have read a few of your articles in HT. I find you make simple things complex with the kind of language you use and write, just for the sake of making it more intellectual and hip. What would you say on that. By the way I like your attitude. You seem cool from what I presume. :)
Indrajit Hazra: You presume wrong. I am fundamentally an accountant by heart. Simple things, by the way, are simple things. If it doesn’t make them complex, who'll do the dishes. (You got that I hope?).
Anoop: Man! You are too serious. Where did you get all this inspiration from?
Indrajit Hazra: I don't.
greatelasticrubberband: I too am a great fan. When is your next book out?
Indrajit Hazra: December hopefully. Got the MS next to me now and am staring fondly at it.
Silvester: If Black Metal came from Norway, and Early Metal from Britain, Rock n Roll from America, what do u think India's got to offer?
Indrajit Hazra: Kirtaan metal (which does have a punkish-repetitive element to it) Honest.
Silvester: What do you think about one of the members of - lets not name the band, lets say Five-pointed star instead after he’s decided to become a judge in one of those filmy-song talent shows? I myself am flabbergasted. Wasn't Penta-oops Five-pointed star doing pretty well on its own?
Indrajit Hazra: Penta-woops got a bit sold out methinks. But I'm a fat one to talk...with a day job and a sound system and all
aaki: Okay. So why the hell aren’t you writing about music that regularly? I keep looking out for columns, but the columns come about rare nowadays. Hence, HT City goes untouched every Thursday. Write more?
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Indrajit Hazra: Now every Saturday, since the last two Saturdays, Rock 'n' Roll Circus will be back on. Sorry about the chhutti. Had a book to finish.
greatelasticrubberband: I mean a writer band that doesn’t suck. Come on, think of the groupies.
Indrajit Hazra: I thought of them and then my mind went back to moustachioed girls and then it comes back here scared.
mahendra: Which city in India has the best receptive audience for Indian Bands not doing covers.
Indrajit Hazra: Delhi. But then, that's because I'm here and get to listen to the crowd listening to the bands. I might be - and probably am - terribly wrong.
bleh: Right, so rock: Do we even rock? Or simply allusions to it?
Indrajit Hazra: We rock, at times, but least so when we're on the stage playing rock or down there watching a gig.
amit: Roth reminds me, what about language-mashing by Indian writers? I'm not talking about chutnification or god's-own-countryfication, but about a vernacular-mangled Indian English with Roth-like energy. Ruchir Joshi and recently, Chandra have tried it to some extent. But I don't see anybody else around. Do you?
Indrajit Hazra: I do a little, but there's more to language-play than 'translato-punning'. I prefer to do it with the syntax; the structure of the dialogues, rather than individual words, whose flash-value, frankly, I think is slightly overrated. I like to play around with the language so that the narratives bend a little. Sometimes of course it can go terribly wrong - that's when it's called clunky!
Rock-Shock: All girls who write don’t have moustaches. How rude.
Indrajit Hazra: I meant: there were girls out there when I used to play for a band and unlike some of my luckier bandmates I always pulled out the shortest straw: moustachioed women!
creativeguy55: Indian Rock?
Indrajit Hazra: Yes honey?
Silvester: What do u think about Hindi songs where the actor’s playing a guitar, his hand is all over the place (even the silver surfer wouldn’t know which part of the galaxy those chords originated from). How about some attention to detail, even Aamir Khan does those chords (and he s a "method actor"). Its really annoying. Do u think once we rectify that we’ll get an Oscar?
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Indrajit Hazra: I think we should get an Oscar if we don't rectify it and pass it off as some kind of Marquezian magic realism. The unhooked electric guitar as a phallen phallic symbol.
Rockstar: Music, journalism or music writer - what do u prefer to be?
Indrajit Hazra: Writer actually, the stuff with lots pages. 'Author of slim but engaging novels' I'd like that sign on my door.
Prerna C: You seem to have quite a big fan following when it comes to women. How do you mange them all?
Indrajit Hazra: I feed them every day a special mix and then make them run around the mountain till he comes.
craig: Hey Indrajit. Why is it that really talented Indian rock bands like the Malayalam Rock band Avial are so grossly underrepresented? Have you heard of them?
Indrajit Hazra: Afraid not. Where are they from?
Rock-Shock: Please don’t insult Bollywood. Think Karz and Rishi Kapoor with those tubelights on his shirt. Do you think it mattered where his hands were? Ufff! Its the sliding motion people!
Indrajit Hazra: Okay, boys and girls. It’s time for me to go. It was great yapping. But sleeping pills have side-effects. :)
IBNlive Chat Moderator: Ok folks, this is it, thanks to Indrajit for extending the chat time; we got him for an extra half hour. Thanks for your time Indrajit and thanks to you all too.
Do log on tomorrow at 3 pm to chat with tarot reader Mita Bhan on what the cards say for India. See you again!
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