To understand Indian Pop music first we need to understand, what is pop music? Till the 1960s pop music was related to rock music but after that, it became related to music that is more commercial and accessible. It lasts for a very shorter period. Many define pop music as folk music and fine arts music. Others also stated pop music is a genre of music that is different from classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs.
In India, Indian pop
music which is also known as Indi – pop is known as music that is separated
from filmi soundtracks in Indian cinema, like music in Bollywood, Tamil music,
Telugu music.
ORIGIN
The origin of pop music
in India happened back in the 1960s in the South Asian region. The popularity
of pop music began in the early 1980s in the Indian subcontinent. The popularity
was brought by the Indian producer Biddu and the Pakistani sibling singers
Nazia Hassan and Zohaib Hassan. Their songs sold over 60 million copies. Biddu
was very famous in the western world, among disco producers in the early 1970s.
The term Indi-pop was originated by a British-Indian fusion band named Monsoon.
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The boom period in
Indi-pop was in1990s. In the late 2000s, Indi-pop started experiencing tough
competition from the music used in Indian films. Many singers who were major
pop singers started singing for movies and stopped releasing albums.
Presently, there can be
seen a drastic change in the situation, when the remix concept came into
practice. The old songs from Indian movies are remixed with the new beats. And
it started gaining popularity as the public showed extensive interest in those
songs.
LEGENDS
The journey started by
the Hassan Brothers was carried by a lot of people. Singers and bands like
Colonial Cousins, Lucky Ali, Alisha Chinai, Euphoria band, Usha Uthup brought pop
music in India to another level. Even after facing tough competition, some
singers fought hard for Indi-pop.
Usha Uthup was a singer
who turned out to be a legend in pop music. She was born in Mumbai in a Tamil
Brahmin family. She had a very unique voice and her style which very few
musicians have been able to achieve. She started with singing at night bars and
then came into playback singing.
Many other pop artists carried
this legacy on. Hirdesh Singh also known as Honey Singh also became very famous
through his RAP. Benny Dayal, Sonu Nigam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Mika Singh,
Neha Kakkar, Shaan, Shirley Setia, Monali Thakur, etc. are some other artists
who contributed to this journey.
Arijit Singh is another
name that does not need an introduction. He is one of the best singers in the
country. He is also called the “king of playback singing” in our country. He has
received National Award and six Filmfare Awards. He started his career with
reality shows as a contestant and then came to playback singing. In 2020 and
2021, he was declared the most-streamed artist on Spotify.
FUTURE
After facing a strong
setback from the filmi music, Indi-pop is standing strong. In the past couple
of years, it has again gained a lot of interest and attention. One big reason
is the huge trend among urban India. Also, now Indi-pop is not limited to
Bollywood, the rise in regional music culture and underground music movement
has contributed a lot.
Today’s social media has played
a vital role. It has increased public engagement and also the Indi-pop artist’s
popularity to a very high extent. Also, it has increased the platform opportunities
for the artists.
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The future seems to be
very bright with the artists and the public interest. And not to forget,
Indi-pop has made a strong foothold in the people’s hearts and it is not going
to vanish any time sooner.