Stay in touch with culture to discover music: Folk singers in Noida show

A radio station ‘Salaam Namaste’ invited amateur singers to perform ‘forgotten’ folk songs.

Listeners of radio station ‘Salaam Namaste’ in Noida were treated to beautiful compositions on Tuesday morning as classical singers of Brij Bhasha, Bengali, Punjabi and Awadhi came together to deliver an enchanting session of music.

Radio station ‘Salaam Namaste’ held a programme bringing together classical singers of Brij Bhasha, Bengali, Punjabi and Awadhi.(HT Photo)

The programme titled, ‘Maati ke geet’ (songs of the earth) invited amateur singers to perform ‘forgotten’ folk songs and woo listeners with nostalgia.

“We do not promote Bollywood music through our station, our intent is to give more space to regional music and rediscover the lost art of gharana music,” said Barsha Chabaria, station head, Salaam Namaste.

Four singers Aprajita, Shashi Yadav, Santosh Sharma and Suman Sehgal presented folk compositions in Bengali, Awadhi, Brij Bhasha and Punjabi, respectively, to the listeners.

While Aprajita runs a music school, Shashi is a government school teacher and Santosh and Suman are homemakers.

Speaking to HT, the singers lamented the fate of folk music and said the ‘khichdi’ (remix) music is spoiling the rich musical culture of the country.

“I am stating with great pain that today folk music is neglected and treated as something inferior to mainstream Bollywood songs. Many might not know, but many Bollywood numbers originated from folk numbers,” Yadav said.

“The current “khichdi” of English and Hindi speaking generation is slowly erasing the charms of indigenous music to which generations have grooved during marriage ceremonies and other social functions. Today, we have the DJ culture,” Sharma said.

Asking the current generation to not to forget their roots, Sehgal said, “It’s not as if the current lot of singers is not good. But they need to realise that it is important to stay connected with one’s roots. Music is an integral part of our culture and if we forget our culture, then how are we supposed to create quality music.”

Founded in 2009, Salaam Namaste is a radio station of IMS institute that was developed to discover local talent and provide them a platform.

“We also intend to promote indigenous language and folk music through our station. Very soon, we will also be inviting Maithili and Sindhi musicians,” Chabaria said.