Indie and English music in India need to be helped, nurtured says A.R. Rahman

Mumbai, Jan 16 (IANS) Veteran music composer A.R. Rahman has said that Indie and English music have always been like an underdog in India but it needs to be helped and nurtured in coming years.

Rahman was interacting with the media at a press conference of Nexa Music launch along with artists Uday Benegal, Clinton Cerejo, Anushka Manchanda, Nikhil D'souza and R S Kalsi, senior executive director-marketing and sales Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday in Mumbai.

The initiative by NEXA is curated to provide aspiring Indian musicians a platform to compose original lyrics. NEXA Music invites entries from budding musicians across the country to participate in it.

The participants will be mentored by famous music composers and global music icon A R Rahman, supported by singer Clinton Cerejo.

When asked if he feels that English and Indie music in India is going to capture the market, he said, "It needs to be helped and it needs to be nurtured. I think nothing is wrong with film music. It's beautiful but it has been commissioned like, there you have to write for a situation and those are limited but I think here whole universe is your imagination."

"Sometimes Indie music actually inspires movies and I want that to happen. I want a song from Indie music to go in film music. It is not a compulsion but I feel people's mind should never be closed."

When asked what benefit singers and musicians are going to get through Nexa Music, he said, "They are mainly going to get exposure from this venture. We are not telling many things because we don't want to promise too much and not deliver. This is just the first step and second step is something on which we are working on."

NEXA Music will kick off with the launch of four original tracks sung by acclaimed celebrity artists Rahman, Anushka Manchanda, Nikhil D'souza and Uday Benegal.