Make Lotus an exception
DHAYALAN Moodley must understand that we are not ready for the 90% local music content that Hlaudi Motsoeneng has forced us to play. This was dictatorial, with no consultation.
There should be an exception made for Radio Lotus, purely because most of our music comes from overseas.
A more realistic local content would be 30%. This would give local musicians an opportunity to start organising themselves into different groups and aim for professionalism, as listeners will expect the music to be of the same international standard.
Indian movies and music are not just Bollywood, which is Hindi. There is Kollywood (Tamil) Lollywood (Pakistani) Tollywood (Telegu) Mollywood ( Malayalam) and Sandalwood (Kannada). We also have good Indian music in Canada, Mauritius and the UK, so the correct term should be international music rather than saying everything Indian is ‘’Bollywood’’.
If we commit ourselves to the 90% quota, the scope for growth will be seriously limited and local standards will deteriorate. Local singers idolise or have mentors such as Lata Mangeshkar, TMS, Alka Yagnik, SP Balasubrahmanyam, Sonu Nigam and Shankar Mahadevan etc. With a drastic limitation of international music, artists will lack growth and inspiration, and will not be aware of the latest music trends worldwide.
Why are we not ready? Do we have lyricists like Vaali, Vairamuthu, Javed Akhtar, PA Vijay or Gulzar? Or music directors like AR Rahman, the late RD Burman, Harris Jayaraj, MS Viswanathan, or Ilayaraja? No. We need these giants if we want our industry to climb to greater heights or our standard will be good only for shebeens, as Hlaudi proudly says: “Shebeen’s play 90% local”.
Knowing our Indian languages does not make us lyricists. One must have poetic flair and understand the concepts of beats, rhythms etc. Playing an instrument does not make an individual a music director, either. We have a lot to learn.
Can we really afford to be cut off from our international award-winning artists like the great AR Rahman, recipient of an Academy Award? He also bagged four National awards in India, 13 Film Fare awards, last month the government of Japan presented him with an award.
Mighty companies in the US, such as Warner Brothers and Twentieth Century Fox, are setting up offices in India because of the greatness of India’s entertainment industry, but Hlaudi wants us to divorce ourselves from India and overseas music.
This is cultural suicide. With just 10% international content, it is like been thrown from an ocean into a pond.
We are heirs to the greatest cultural teachings in the history of the human race. Let’s preserve and protect them for future generations. DEES PILLAY Queensburgh