The Master of them all- the Reshmaiya factor

Have you ever tried switching the radio channel to check them all out?? uh stupid question... am sure you have. So well, what did ya find?? A melodiously nasal voice just reaches out to the very core of your heart! Shreya Ghoshal? No, its not her... its a male voice I'm talking about. Nah its niether Sonu Nigam nor its dear dear KK. It just sounds... very verrrry differrent... Yeah you guessed it right... am talking about The Rockstar of this age- Himesh Reshmaiya- the master of all!
You can't escape him, neither his voice. Whether you like it or not... you'd better learn to love him n his melodius voice... its the voice of our age!! wotsay???

Its perhaps a matter of shame that the kind of music our generation appreciates is either marketted by a raunchy n titillating sex- video accompanied by -'oooh aaah's as the background... or packages in this very crooning voice of the genius of our age. Genius i call him, not without reason for sure! Imagine yourself to be a singer who has dedicatedly learnt music for perhaps 4-5 years with rigorous practice so as to reach the very higher realm of music. You also happen to be an admirer of singers like Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal and Hariharan and don't mind the idea o entering the film industry considering that your talent has been appreciated not only in the layman's world but also the artistic one and you certainly know your worth. Here strides in a music director who gives music as pathetic as the sound-track of Tere Naam and to top it all decides to start singing himself. The whole affair does not end there. This man who certainly sings in a disgustingly gavvaar manner (offence meant to all those who appreciate his music) is appreciated by the Indian audiences and encouraged to come out with even more obnoxious albums! Its simply reflective of the degradation of the youth's aesthetic sensibility. They simply don't have too much to choose from. And what is actually melodious seems to be rather boring or perhaps belonging to an age much older than theirs! So what does it lead to?? That persevering individual who learns music either stoops to a level of singing in a weird manner so as to please the Indian audiences or simply renounces the world of light music. And yeah, if he happens to be a hardcore bhakt, he could perhaps start singing bhajans in kirtans or something of the sort.

The situation is quite pathetic and there is no one to blame but the audiences which have crossed the line between 'different' and 'bizarrely atrocious'! What sounds different does not necessarily sound pleasing. Moreover there is a difference between human voice and mechanical instruments. While artists take great pains to cultivate a beautiful voice, it should not be difficult for any lame person to produce a bizzarre sound or voice by contorting it. One should be able to appreciate the actual genius of people who can make their voices actually sound musical, sensitive and pliable as opposed to those many others who just try to produce a diffrent and unique sounding strain from their voice boxes!

When and how exactly do sounds become pleasant and unpleasant?? The answer simply lies in the kind of associations we form with those voices and sounds. Will you ever find the sound of splurging shit or muck pleasant?? or painful or anguished shrieks of children and animals for that matter?? The very imagery associated, the experiences associated with them is painful or unpleasant and its impossible for all but a sadist to appreciat such sounds. The sounds of gurgling water, raindrops, a lover singing a soft melody, or a person singing sensitively and in rythm in celebration of nature- these are sounds associated with pleasant situations or sensitive people and perhaps that is why they can evoke such strong emotions from one. Its the magic of music to recreate these 'magical moments', these lovely emotions and at times to empathise with situations you may have undergone, which actually increases the value of good music. And it is rather sad that the audience can empathise with a man who seems to sing as though he were weeping and whining away in order to irritate everyone. And to be sure... he quite manages to do that n my case!