Hyderabad rock Scene

[Xandman]

ok....stop posting shit ppl.... poll lasts only a few more days...so vote.

[Rock Lover HP]

Kya bhai CAD and A2C? Yahaan pe bhi? One page full of spam and the original topic of the thread gets lost.....the bane of these DB's since time immemorial.



Back to the point....Xandman...I guess you forgot to add the option I'd have voted for in the poll. I feel the answer to your question lies in the fact that Hyderabad/Secundrabad is still a small town (socially....not in the geographic sense) thats just trying to go cosmo. And in the mad race to catch up with the "happening" places, its aping a lot of what you see elsewhere. For instance, you have pubs and toddy dens; malls and kirana shops all coexisting within striking distance of each other.



In short, Hyderabad is still a very fluid mix of the old and modern. Music other than Carnatic classical and Tollywood are still alien to the local culture and people are still dabbling in all kinds of music on an experimental basis. That makes it kind of difficult for a genre to have a strong presence. Further, inspite of the big influx of software, BPO & biochemistry professionals from all over the globe, Hyderabad has displayed a great inertia in becoming cosmopolitan. So, anything that's been part of Hyderabadi culture for a long time is seen as "ours" and everything else is bunched collectively under one label, "foreign".



This is also where the commercial aspect comes to the fore. We've had quite a few bands of international repute perform at different places in India but none in Hyderabad. A tour organiser like DNA will not see a place where one says he/she is a fan of Wastelife, .05 Cent and Dire Straits alike, as commercially viable. Contrary to what is generally believed, Hyderabadis are also not "into" other genres like hiphop or gloss pop.



IMO, for the rock scene or even the hiphop scene to be happening in Hyderabad, Hyderabad needs a major shift in attitude.



P.S. : I concur with whosoever mentioned Easy Rider as the place for rock fans. Although I don't drink, I never mind accompanying my friends to Easy Rider just for the music there. Go Easy Rider Go!!!

[Xandman]

Kya bhai CAD and A2C? Yahaan pe bhi? One page full of spam and the original topic of the thread gets lost.....the bane of these DB's since time immemorial.

Back to the point....Xandman...I guess you forgot to add the option I'd have voted for in the poll. I feel the answer to your question lies in the fact that Hyderabad/Secundrabad is still a small town (socially....not in the geographic sense) thats just trying to go cosmo. And in the mad race to catch up with the "happening" places, its aping a lot of what you see elsewhere. For instance, you have pubs and toddy dens; malls and kirana shops all coexisting within striking distance of each other.

In short, Hyderabad is still a very fluid mix of the old and modern. Music other than Carnatic classical and Tollywood are still alien to the local culture and people are still dabbling in all kinds of music on an experimental basis. That makes it kind of difficult for a genre to have a strong presence. Further, inspite of the big influx of software, BPO & biochemistry professionals from all over the globe, Hyderabad has displayed a great inertia in becoming cosmopolitan. So, anything that's been part of Hyderabadi culture for a long time is seen as "ours" and everything else is bunched collectively under one label, "foreign".

This is also where the commercial aspect comes to the fore. We've had quite a few bands of international repute perform at different places in India but none in Hyderabad. A tour organiser like DNA will not see a place where one says he/she is a fan of Wastelife, .05 Cent and Dire Straits alike, as commercially viable. Contrary to what is generally believed, Hyderabadis are also not "into" other genres like hiphop or gloss pop.

IMO, for the rock scene or even the hiphop scene to be happening in Hyderabad, Hyderabad needs a major shift in attitude.

P.S. : I concur with whosoever mentioned Easy Rider as the place for rock fans. Although I don't drink, I never mind accompanying my friends to Easy Rider just for the music there. Go Easy Rider Go!!!

After a long time.. a post that makes sense..







I totally agree that people in town are still experimenting with all kinds of music... but dont u think hyderabad is better off than say...pondicherry?

theres more awareness than befor... did u see all those fliers all over the place abt the thing thats happening in necklace road on November 5? It says Wreckage is performing and it mentions tham as a heavy metal band..along with some dj guy and some others...i wud say things look brighter... Hyderabad was the other venue for campus rock last year in south zone ..(there was bangalore of course)...AND DNA is organising it again this year.... its on 12th novmber gys!....



Yes hyderabad has shown inertia in going cosmo....but we aint doin TOO bad ...rite man?



and I dont think its goin too be long before dna networks gets hyderabad some international events....



I really appreciate ur post man.... ROCK ON!!



P.S. i tried coffee day for the wreckage show tickets (5th nov)....they dint hav em....anyone knows where to get em?...and someone.... PLZ get me some campus rock passes!!!!! thanx!

[Xandman]

AND DONT FORGET TO VOTE!

[*]

Like I once said in the past,



You can take the city out of the gutter but can you take the gutter out of the city.

[akhilis2cool]

And in the mad race to catch up with the "happening" places, its aping a lot of what you see elsewhere. For instance, you have pubs and toddy dens; malls and kirana shops all coexisting within striking distance of each other.

In short, Hyderabad is still a very fluid mix of the old and modern. Music other than Carnatic classical and Tollywood are still alien to the local culture and people are still dabbling in all kinds of music on an experimental basis. That makes it kind of difficult for a genre to have a strong presence. Further, inspite of the big influx of software, BPO & biochemistry professionals from all over the globe, Hyderabad has displayed a great inertia in becoming cosmopolitan. So, anything that's been part of Hyderabadi culture for a long time is seen as "ours" and everything else is bunched collectively under one label, "foreign".

I feel hyd has evolved faster than neother indian city in the last few years. and this applies to the field of music also. comparing it to cities like mumbai or bangalore rite now is unfair because even in these cities change didnt take place overnite. its only a matter of time before we will have happening rock scene here.

This is also where the commercial aspect comes to the fore. We've had quite a few bands of international repute perform at different places in India but none in Hyderabad. A tour organiser like DNA will not see a place where one says he/she is a fan of Wastelife, .05 Cent and Dire Straits alike, as commercially viable. Contrary to what is generally believed, Hyderabadis are also not "into" other genres like hiphop or gloss pop.

i feel people develop a liking/dislike for music only after they listen to it. we all knw hyd has a lot of music lovers yet the majority of ppl. prefer listening to crap like backwater boys and bhootni spears. this can be attributed to the fact that indian TV and Radio music channles hardly experiment with music. most of the time is devoted to these bands/singers becoz they are popular and have been here for the last several years now.



PS: Apologies for the spam!

[Rock Lover HP]

And in the mad race to catch up with the "happening" places, its aping a lot of what you see elsewhere. For instance, you have pubs and toddy dens; malls and kirana shops all coexisting within striking distance of each other.

What I meant was that people here are still unclear about what to inculcate in their culture and how to do it. For example, they've picked up the Maharashtra style Ganapati Utsavs but I found it funny that while the immersion processions were on, the music being played had a mishmash of bhajans praising everyone from Ganapati to Shiva to Krishna etc. And during the navratri/durga puja festival, the temple in my colony made me go through the travesty of listening to Anuradha Paudwal's Gayatri Mantra non-stop for 6 hours everyday.

When I talked about the paradox of pubs and toddy dens & malls and kirana shops coexisting, I meant that they've picked up the concepts of pubs and malls from the big cities but the so-called pubs & malls are so lacklustre that you've seen one and you've seen them all.

They've picked up the concept of foreign food but tell me one place that doesn't serve this non-andhra food with a touch of andhra (adding curry leaves, mustard seeds etc.). And this doesn't apply only to cuisine like oriental or continental; the phenomenon is seen even in Indian cuisines like Punjabi, Rajasthani etc.

In short, Hyderabad is still a very fluid mix of the old and modern. Music other than Carnatic classical and Tollywood are still alien to the local culture and people are still dabbling in all kinds of music on an experimental basis. That makes it kind of difficult for a genre to have a strong presence. Further, inspite of the big influx of software, BPO & biochemistry professionals from all over the globe, Hyderabad has displayed a great inertia in becoming cosmopolitan. So, anything that's been part of Hyderabadi culture for a long time is seen as "ours" and everything else is bunched collectively under one label, "foreign".

I feel hyd has evolved faster than neother indian city in the last few years. and this applies to the field of music also. comparing it to cities like mumbai or bangalore rite now is unfair because even in these cities change didnt take place overnite. its only a matter of time before we will have happening rock scene here.

Well....I wouldn't really call this evolving. Evolution is never half baked the way you see it in Hyd today. Now, I do not mean anything derogatory against Hyderabad here. But the point is that this is just the beginning and a majority of Hydis are already claiming to be catching up with other places. Catching up can happen only when people know what to catch up with and that's where Hyderabad is still lacking.

This is also where the commercial aspect comes to the fore. We've had quite a few bands of international repute perform at different places in India but none in Hyderabad. A tour organiser like DNA will not see a place where one says he/she is a fan of Wastelife, .05 Cent and Dire Straits alike, as commercially viable. Contrary to what is generally believed, Hyderabadis are also not "into" other genres like hiphop or gloss pop.

i feel people develop a liking/dislike for music only after they listen to it. we all knw hyd has a lot of music lovers yet the majority of ppl. prefer listening to crap like backwater boys and bhootni spears. this can be attributed to the fact that indian TV and Radio music channles hardly experiment with music. most of the time is devoted to these bands/singers becoz they are popular and have been here for the last several years now.

I beg to differ here. Laying the blame on radio and tv channels is not right IMO. Take the case of places in the north east for example. They had an extremely strong rock culture prevalent there long before we Indians even knew that anything beyond DD & AIR existed. I still blame the inertia of people and their "Us & Them" mentality for the current state of affairs.

A strong culture for something can be developed only when people display a passion for the subject in question. And this passion can never be present if people are okay with everything. When this "sab chalta hai" mood prevails, its only the pop (how many of us know that this is not a genre by itself but a short form of popular?) bands that find favour with the listeners. More than 80% of the self proclaimed rock fans I've met did not know S*H*I*T about Peter Frampton, Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull & The Yardbirds. For them, Pink Floyd is synonymous with The Wall. The worst tragedy of all this is that they rate Linkin Park & Korn as rock bands. How can a healthy rock culture exist here when people take anything with a guitar in it as rock?

PS: Apologies for the spam!

[Xandman]

Good going gys...



Yeah... rock fans dont know much really....but then, rock trivia wudnt really help the rock scene. i dont know much myself either. but not knowing whether to call korn rock or nu-metal or alternative metal or whatever never really stopped anyone from listening to or liking thier music. i have friends who wud talk of band names unheard of...but thier enthusiasm to attend local events n concerts or to form a band never really impressed.



just makin a point here.



we need mor ppl like RLHP on this discussion. gr8 goin man.

[Xandman]

N HAPPY DIWALI FOLKS!!

[SeH]

More than 80% of the self proclaimed rock fans I've met did not know S*H*I*T about Peter Frampton, Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull & The Yardbirds. For them, Pink Floyd is synonymous with The Wall. The worst tragedy of all this is that they rate Linkin Park & Korn as rock bands. How can a healthy rock culture exist here when people take anything with a guitar in it as rock?

Hello HP Saar,

Long time that i've seen u post. I was one of them self proclaimed fans earlier, but what difference does it make if they din know the name but there is still love for the music played by who so ever.

Its goes like you gotta watch cricket if you only know how to play, the fules and the players. Cant you watch or follow the cult if you are unaware of the above mentioned things. Its only my concern i did not in anyway mean to offend you view.



Chalo bhai ...got some field work to do.....over and out.....

[CtrlAltDel]

Kya bhai CAD and A2C? Yahaan pe bhi? One page full of spam and the original topic of the thread gets lost.....the bane of these DB's since time immemorial.

:oops: sorry yaar....guess we got carried away taking pot-shots at certain people....



on-topic, well, i dont claim to be a fan of rock..hell...i am not a hard core fan of any genre...hip hop or rock or whateva...



as i said elsewhere, i enjoy what sounds good to my ears - be it of any genre...



it so happens that more numbers in the hiphop, RnB, Blues, Jazz sound better to me than those of pop, rock, metal or other variants of either. in rock i prefer the classic oldies upto the 80s, tho i enjoy some metal and "pop" too.



do i sound confused and so small-town...?

[akhilis2cool]

I beg to differ here. Laying the blame on radio and tv channels is not right IMO. Take the case of places in the north east for example. They had an extremely strong rock culture prevalent there long before we Indians even knew that anything beyond DD & AIR existed. I still blame the inertia of people and their "Us & Them" mentality for the current state of affairs.

A strong culture for something can be developed only when people display a passion for the subject in question. And this passion can never be present if people are okay with everything. When this "sab chalta hai" mood prevails, its only the pop (how many of us know that this is not a genre by itself but a short form of popular?) bands that find favour with the listeners.

Well, I would attribute the Northeasts culture to the fact they arent really into hindi music/movies, may be there search for alternative music led them to english rock.



and who are 'the people' u r refering to? as far as i can guess they are the college going crowd and young BPO workers. Now, if you expect them to be INTO highend rock, then that wld only happen if they have been listening to it for a long time (say since there primary school days), but most of these guys have grown up listening to hindi movie music and english pop music on TV (yeah, I believe TV and radio are THE sources for music, atelast in the cities).

[Rock Lover HP]

A lot of people to reply to



First of all, a clarification though.

Take the case of places in the north east for example. They had an extremely strong rock culture prevalent there long before we Indians even knew that anything beyond DD & AIR existed.

I guess what I wrote above could have been easily misunderstood as me differentiating between the north-east and the rest of India. And I might have hurt some people's sentiments too. Well...nothing like that was intended and I sincerely apologise if anyone took it that way. When I said we Indians, I also included the north-east.



Akhil :



I didn't really have any age group in mind when I talked about the music tastes of people. It was a very generic reference. And talking of the people in their 20's and maybe even 30's, they've had the advantage of having been exposed to channels like MTV etc. Although MTV & Channel V have degenerated into remix channels over the past few years, they used to devote a considerable amount of time to rock/metal etc. I myself got into rock watching videos on MTV (in their earliest avatar on Indian TV). Talk of a generation before them and India itself had a big contribution to the Rock/Rock & Roll scene in the form of Freddie Mercury, Englebert Humperdink, Sir Cliff Richard etc. And the people of that generation still swear by the names mentioned above as well as The King, Neil Diamond etc. I do agree that TV & Radio are big contributors to spreading awareness about music but then there are more avenues too.



CAD :



There's nothing small town in listening to and enjoying a lot of genres. I myself listen to Indian classical, Fusion, retro bollywood, ghazals etc. apart from rock. As long as you know what you're listening, its okay. What I referred to as an outcome of the small-town tendencies of hydis was that most of them bunch all western music genres under one umbrella of angrezi music. That is a big roadblock when it comes to developing a strong culture for a particular genre.



SeH :



A slight difference of perspective here. Again, I don't see anything wrong in not knowing the names of bands but what I see as wrong is that people haven't been exposed to a lot of rock. We don't come into the world like Abhimanyu, knowing all. We get to know things only after being exposed to it. And how can rock flourish at a place where the rock bands people know can be counted on your fingers? Some time ago, I was at a pub with some friends where they were supposed to have been playing retro rock numbers. I was shocked when I heard the DJ dishing out random crap like Pet Shop Boys and Tarzan Boy. I requested for numbers like July Morning by Uriah Heep and Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull. Surprisingly (on hindsight, not that surprising), the DJ didn't have them. Howz that for a retro rock night?



Xandman :



I guess my response to SeH's post has answered your question about the relation awareness has with a strong culture. Culture takes ground only when the exposure is high and varied.

[CtrlAltDel]

...most of them bunch all western music genres under one umbrella of angrezi music...

thats absolutely true! they are just labeled "Western Music" or worse, simply as "pop". have u heard English Yuva Vani on All India Radio? they are the worst perpetrators of this nonsense!

...they were supposed to have been playing retro rock numbers. I was shocked when I heard the DJ dishing out random crap like Pet Shop Boys and Tarzan Boy...

:shock: OMG!!

[akhilis2cool]

I didn't really have any age group in mind when I talked about the music tastes of people. It was a very generic reference. And talking of the people in their 20's and maybe even 30's, they've had the advantage of having been exposed to channels like MTV etc. Although MTV & Channel V have degenerated into remix channels over the past few years, they used to devote a considerable amount of time to rock/metal etc. I myself got into rock watching videos on MTV (in their earliest avatar on Indian TV).

I too enjoyed watching Mtv when it used to be aired on DD and had developed a liking for rock music then, but this was a long time back...i doubt if many of the young college/school goers today get to listen to that genre of music on a regular basis...unless they make an effort to do so...

Talk of a generation before them and India itself had a big contribution to the Rock/Rock & Roll scene in the form of Freddie Mercury, Englebert Humperdink, Sir Cliff Richard etc. And the people of that generation still swear by the names mentioned above as well as The King, Neil Diamond etc.

never heard of them , thanks

I do agree that TV & Radio are big contributors to spreading awareness about music but then there are more avenues too.

but they arent being used, and thats the pblm. in schools mostly people learn a bit abt indian classical music, thats it! rest of the time they get to listen to the crap dished out on popular channels. Unless theres a rock music lover in the familly theres a little chance that they will even knw abt it at an early age...

We don't come into the world like Abhimanyu, knowing all. We get to know things only after being exposed to it.

my point exactly. but then who's responsibility is it neway?

[CtrlAltDel]

i too support akhil that media plays a gr8 role in guiding the taste of genre lovers. in this regard the media in india havent contributed much.



IMO, the confusion over genres HP talked abt is not just a problem in hydbad, but in almost all the cities. the niche audience that go for a particualr genre and understand what all it stands for is very less even in metros like bangalore or mumbai, tho i admit, the people there have more exposure to all the genres.



the faces u can see at a Deep Purple concert in bangalore wud most likely be seen cheering at a Metallica or Wastelife or a .05 Cents performance in the same city a week later. majority of the people even in musically aware cities go to a concert or listen to a genre to be a part of the in-crowd more than anything else.



as far as event managers not preferring hyderabad for live concerts is concerned, i think thats the problem of the image. till a few years ago, there were not many ppl in hydbad who wud splurge on an expensive concert tickets. now the scene is changing. i am sure any concert of an international performer in any genre wud be a sell out in hydbad too.



to illustrate my opinion abt the genre-litercy of mumbaikars or bangaloreans, lemme quote from the following article about the recent Joe Satriani concert in mumbai:

Well, if he is the God of Guitar, Mumbai is a land of pagans.
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While the guitar lovers in the crowd went into throes of pleasure, their number was too few and far between for the concert to feel right.
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I had a brilliant time at Satch's concert. I just don't think he did.
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What resulted was dismal: the crowd was unappreciative.
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Yes, let's not count the metalheads in front tossing up the headbanger's devil sign with their fingers while Satriani, by his own admission, tried to play "something spacey."

Some of these heavy music maniacs actually began filing out even before the show hit the half-way mark, and the unpacked ground never really behaved like a concert.
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That's what legends deserve: Respect.

If we can't assure them that much -- while it pains me to say this -- I suggest we don't invite them.

[Xandman]

Very good...very good..... dont forget to vote people!VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!

[spamtaneous]

can we vote multiple times

[Xandman]

No...but it wud b nice if ppl who r only just viewin would also vote....some 700 views yet...but less than 15 votes...thats not kool

[Rock Lover HP]

A shift in attitudes is what I would have voted for had hte option been there. But among the limited options available, I voted for the lack of FM coverage.

[Xandman]

Say ppl.... didya chkout wreckage at necklace road? good it was....but couldve been much better....the sound gys sukkd i must say... but no probs...we had fun in the mosh!

[akhilis2cool]

I voted for 'music isnt a career option' (wrt to the rock scene in hyd)

[Xandman]

GOOD! you voted!!....i wish the number of votes wud increase tho...700 views n 13 votes .... can definitely get better this.

[Xandman]

900* views..

[CtrlAltDel]

arre bhai...13 tho mila, khush raho!