India's young musicians ignoring traditional music: Prasoon Joshi

Jun 3, 2012 Priyanka Sharma

New Delhi, June 4 (IANS) Lyricist Prasoon Joshi is impressed with the young crop of eager and innovative musicians but he feels that they are in too much of a hurry and that in the race to be in the reckoning they are ignoring traditional music.

"The young musicians today are very talented. They like to experiment with their music and are also technically well-versed. They are open to accepting what is right and what is wrong," Joshi told IANS in an interview on phone from Mumbai.

However, he rued that youngsters are less aware of traditional Indian music.

"Everything has its negatives and positives and something similar is happening here too. While youngsters are experimenting, they are less aware of the traditional part of the music culture, which is important for them to know," he said.

"It's good to see how technological advancements have helped, but one can't completely depend on technology. Youngsters today are in too much hurry," he added.

Joshi, who is associated with ad agency McCann-Erickson, has been behind various successful advertising campaigns including Coca-Cola, Cadbury and Close-up.

In 2001, he took up a parallel career as a lyricist with the song "Kaun dagar, kaun shaher" in "Lajja" and tried to break away from the cliched lyrics by penning songs like "Apni toh paathshala" and "Maa".

He has also been part of various non-film albums with numbers "Ab ke sawan" and "Mann ke manjeere".

Asked about the evolution of music, Joshi said: "Every era is different. People who are working in it - whether it was the time when Shailendra Singh created music or Kaifi Azmi wrote lyrics - create an era. An era gets defined with legends like these."

The 40-year-old, who is gearing up to conduct music workshops to be held at the forthcoming 13th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) weekend and awards in Singapore, feels it is important to have such a forum for discussions.

"It is important to have discussions with some legendary people who have given some of the great music of their times. There are less number of such forums to exchange ideas unlike earlier when a lot of interactions used to happen," said Joshi, who will also unveil an anthem celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema at the three-day cine event.

"And of course specialists are required, but they come with a certain understanding. Everybody was young at a time and have done some interesting work themselves, which if shared with youngsters can help them in a great way," he added.

Despite his experience, he doesn't shy away from following others' suggestions.

"I've been fortunate enough to have entered the industry at a time when veterans like Gulzar and Javed Akhtar, who are double my age, are still working. They have supported me and given me great confidence. Javedji often calls me up and tells me 'this is not right, you can change it' and then I change it. Such guidance really helps," he said.