With Hindi, these indie musicians fight stereotypes

The indie music scene now boasts of a number of singers-songwriters who perform in Hindi. On World Music Day, we speak to these frontmen -- Prateek Kuhad, IP Singh, Arijit Datta.

Till not very long ago, being a Hindi singer in the indie music circuit came with its own set of stereotypes. Surprisingly, although pop bands such as Euphoria and Indian Ocean — which wrote in the language too — were runaway successes back in the day, the 90s indie music circuit hardly boasted of any young musicians writing in Hindi.



Probably because doing so, automatically brought in comparisons with the uncool Bollywood music of that time.

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"Hindi songs were considered only to be about ‘pyaar’ (love) and ‘dard’ (pain)," says IP Singh, vocalist of Delhi-based band .



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We’ve come a long way since then. Language is neither a determinant of an artiste’s identity, nor a classifying category anymore. Case in point: singer-songwriter Ankur Tewari, who with his breezy melodies and Urdu-sprinkled lyrics, made an instant connect with the audience when he debuted on the indie music circuit a few years ago.



Here’s what other home-grown musicians, who also write in Hindi, have to say about this trend.



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