The journey has never been easy for an independent musician or filmmaker in a country that celebrates the jhatkas of Bollywood at one end of the spectrum and reveres the puritan artistry of its classical arts, on the other. The money is never enough, the audience niche and the organisers often look at the logistics, making the challenges enough to deter anybody. But there is a band of independent artists across the country (and world) who have obstinately stuck to their artistic ideologies and pushed creative boundaries, creating films or music that are a reflection of their cultural beliefs. They have found their followers and finally, ‘indie’ as a genre has enough power to have its own say.
Playing a crucial role in promoting independent artists, EarthSync, a Chennai-based record label that produces high-end audio and visual content, has created IndiEarth XChange, a unique platform that brings together indie musicians, filmmakers, music lovers and professionals. The three-day event emphasises dialogue as much as it does performance. Starting December 6, there will be workshops during the day followed by an extensive lineup of acts, including Nucleya and Shaa’ir + Func.
Sonya Mazumdar, the organiser of IndiEarth XChange and one of the founders of EarthSync, says that creating dialogue is very important. “Indie acts have their own artistic expression, which I respect, but it is important for the artist and the audience to connect. That’s where the relationship is. That dialogue is critical and we have to acknowledge it. In terms of population, indie music is in a minority, but there is a large audience that wants to listen to this music, watch these films and read these journals. XChange brings the professionals of the industry — including sound editors, labels and organisers — together. There is no platform like this anywhere else in the country. It identifies what we, as independents, are trying to achieve and how we endure and nurture the industry and create a sustainable future,” explains Sonya.
Indie artists are not a new phenomenon. “EarthSync started off as an indie label and production house and we’ve been around for nine years. After much struggle as independents, we decided to start an infrastructure for them, it was a sort of a logical conclusion to what we had been doing. Indie artists have always been around. It is the nature of the arts to ensure independents exist since time immemorial,” she points out.
The numbers have grown — from a trickle to a gush. The ‘indie’ scene in the country has seen a massive surge. Yotam Agam, another founder of EarthSync, and a part of the indie band, Business Class Refugees, concurs, “There has been a massive change in indie music. The growing festival scene, though unstable at this moment, is still beautiful to see. The enthusiasm is amazing. The social media and the online platform have helped immensely. And India being India, the talent, especially in music, is amazing. There are a lot of cross genres these days,” says this musician who is also an organiser of IndiEarth XChange.
Along with his partner Patrick Sebag, Yotam has been working for the past two decades, developing indie music and music libraries across the world. “We have been working with what the West calls ‘ethnic’ instruments. How I hate that word! But that’s how the west relates to it,” regrets Yotam.
Into its second year, Yotam is happy with the response that IndiEarth XChange has garnered this year. “The response vis-a-vis last year’s edition is double in terms of delegates and music acts. It has been overwhelming. We have an extremely unique lineup. So, I really hope more people do drop by and be a part of this,” he says.
T.T Sriram, the frontman of the Chennai-based act, Skrat, which will also be a part of IndiEarth XChange, says that it is heartening to see that original music is finally getting its due. “I’ve only seen indie music go upwards. During the past decade, when I was just finishing school in 2004, people would go to concerts to listen to the covers and sit through the originals. Now, with festivals like NH7 and initiatives like IndiEarth, people come to concerts for original music — that decides what a band is,” he says.
Skrat’s progress was rough, says Sriram. “The amount of work in terms of the number of man hours it takes to be a band is so much. It took us nearly seven years to establish ourselves. So there have been constant changes and the sounds have evolved. Now, people would know that this is a Skrat song. But there is absolutely no money in it,” he stresses.
For Mahesh Vinayakram, who hails from an illustrious musical family, Carnatic music was a part of his DNA. But despite the traditional background, this musician often collaborates with musicians from other genres. “I didn’t want to be a purist. I wanted to learn and explore. I started collaborating with world-class musicians. This forum gives indie musicians an opportunity to exhibit their own ideas. India is known largely for either Bollywood or its classical music. But Chennai is progressing rapidly when it comes to the independent genre,” he says.
Mahesh is known for adding a digital touch to Carnatic music. “We are in a techno world — from records, cassettes and CDs, we are now exchanging our music in clouds. The reality is that we are living in a world dominated by technology, which is being used in a beautiful way. So, when we are enjoying the benefits of technology in all areas of our lives, why not accept it in music,” he points out. Mahesh will be unveiling Karnatech, which, according to him, “is the digital approach to Carnatic music. I will be debuting this show on IndiEarth for the first time.”
IndiEarth XChange 2013 will take place between December 6 to 8 at The Park Hotel, Chennai.
Indie filmmaker Aniket Dasgupta highlights the journey of Indie filmmakers in his documentary film The Other Way. All set to be a part of the IndiEarth XChange, Aniket opens up on his chef d’oeuvre. “The Other Way is a documentary on indie filmmakers. We profiled around 17 film directors, from all over and in fact, two of them are screening at this very festival,” he smiles, adding, “Kaushik Mukherjee and animator Gitanjali Rao, who are also exhibiting their work here were a part of my film.”
What started out as a college documentary project, soon snowballed into something bigger, reveals Aniket. “We began the project, in April last year and during the course of making this documentary, we realised that there is so much to talk about. We covered filmmakers belonging to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata,” he says.
Talking about the challenges that filmmakers like him face, he says, money is the biggest constraint. “There is absolutely no one to come forward and produce films by independent filmmakers. For The Other Way, we collected funds through crowd sourcing. Our initial expectations were very low — we set a budget of Rs 80,000. The response though exceeded our expectations — we sourced around a lakh. Once we had the money, there were a lot of other issues, and I am not talking about just me here. Another problem we face is that there is no distribution model in place, like there is in the west. There is little or no way to monetise our efforts,” he rues.
