Exclusive: Indian-origin Canadian singer Abby V opens up on how America is embracing South Asian music

In January 2020, a video featuring Abby V went viral, where he was seen singing 10-12 second snippets of 73 Indian classical ragas in amazingly quick succession

Indian music has always been popular beyond the borders of the country, including in America where Bollywood songs have become popular and Indian music festivals are occasionally organised. Reasons behind the popularity could be many – one of them perhaps being the raw purity in Bollywood love songs.

Abby V, an award-winning singer from Toronto, Canada, has opened up on how America perceives Indian classical music (Image provided by Abby V)

Indian classical music too, in recent times, is being appreciated by the youth outside of the country. It is perhaps easier for people growing up in typical Indian households to acquire a taste for such music, but not so much for those sitting in faraway lands, growing up in an environment and within a culture that is completely different. How, then, do people across the world, including in the United States, develop a fondness for Indian music? How do they perceive Indian music?

Abby V, an award-winning singer from Toronto, Canada, has the answer. In January 2020, a video featuring Abby went viral, where he was seen singing 10-12 second snippets of 73 Indian classical ragas in amazingly quick succession. The clip went on to garner millions of views. For today’s youth, especially musicians, Abby is an icon. He is as much a Justin Timberlake fan as he is an A.R. Rahman fan, and believes that any particular kind of music cannot be restricted within the borders of a country.

In a conversation with Hindustan Times, Abby said that he performed across various states in the US. “Because of the large Indian population in the US, Indians are a major part of the audience, but that is not to say that there are no Americans,” he said. “There are also Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans. The audience is diverse.”

Abby added, “I grew up in Toronto, and I have a lot of musician friends who are native North Americans and Canadians. What I have positively learned is that they perceive Indian classical music, or South Asian music to be specific, with a lot of respect. There’s so much reception, and so much effort goes into being correct and not saying anything wrong – it’s impressive.”

Indian music is loved, but is there familiarisation?

With hundreds of thousands of followers, Abby’s Instagram profile boasts a host of music videos where he is seen experimenting with ragas, adding Indian classical verses to popular Bollywood songs, singing interludes of famous songs or simply humming an old classic while walking along the streets of Europe. He thinks the Internet culture and the various social media platforms across the Internet have played a huge role in his success. The Internet is what he believes helped his music travel across the globe.

Abby, however, pointed out that despite the respect Indian classical music receives, there is a lack of familiarisation. “I believe that if people’s respect comes with familiarising themselves with the music, it would be really nice. If you talk to an Indian musician, like a violinist from Chennai, they would be respectful of Western classical music but at the same time, they would know a few things. They would know how chord systems work, or how harmonies work,” Abby said.

“In contrast, an American musician or an American audience would be receptive to Indian music, but on most occasions they wouldn’t know much about it, like what a raga is in South Asian classical music, or the fact that there are different types of rhythms and moods. Familiarisation is not there, but I hope we will get there,” he added.

According to indianclas sicalmusic.com, a raga “uniquely defines a set of musical notes and their allowed arrangements to form a melody to evoke a certain mood.”

“A lot of kids come to my shows in North America, and I try to make it educational, I try to make ragas appear cool, and I try to relate them to English pop songs,” Abby said.

Is the Internet helping?

Abby noted that the young generation is now gradually helping Indian classical music touch the masses. In fact, about a year ago, a TEDx Talks video featuring Abby surfaced, where he spoke about ragas in layman’s terms, breaking the facts down and making it simple for people to understand.

“At one of my concerts in North Carolina, a white North American man came up to me and said, “Man, I watched your TEDx Talks on ragas and I thought it was so cool.” He told me he had been watching my reels and wanted to know more about ragas, so he watched the TEDx Talks video. That was an achievement for me, and I realised how TEDx Talks, as well as social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram are helping,” said Abby.

The Internet is an important reason behind Abby’s massive success as an online sensation, he said. “I didn’t win a music show, and I don’t have family members who could have helped me become what I am. It was the Internet,” said Abby.

How easy is it for people growing up outside of India to develop a taste for South Asian music?

Although most of Abby's cousins grew up in India, he was brought up in Canada, somewhere where the culture is significantly different. But how did he start to love Indian music? How would anyone in his position develop an interest in Indian music?

“All my cousins grew up in India, but only I, who grew up outside, learned Indian music and took it up seriously. For people like me growing up in North America, our parents try to familiarise us with Indian culture as much as possible. They want their children to stay connected to the roots, so they enrol them in music classes, dance classes, tabla classes – all kinds of cultural activities,” Abby said, adding that a lot of popular singers singing Indian songs these days actually grew up outside of the country, including Jonita Gandhi and Sid Sriram.

“Growing up in North America, this kind of music may not be very easily accessible to learn, but now the Internet is there. One of my main gurus has been the Internet,” Abby said.

With a massive number of followers on social media, Abby’s music has taken the Internet by storm. Among many of his popular videos are those in which he sings with his father, sometimes before a microphone – and sometimes while simply washing dishes or cooking.

Abby and multiple Grammy Award winner composer-producer Ricky Kej have now come up with an album named Aarambh. Aarambh is a full-length album for the UK-based, South Asian-focused music media platform Sufiscore. It amalgamates various singing styles, and sounds, and brings together several musicians. The most recent song that dropped is 'Payoji,' featuring Abby and eminent singer KS Chithra.