So, I was at a Fest/Concert yesterday teeming with college-going chaps hosted by NSUT. The invited guests were the musician duo, Vishal and Shekhar. Everybody was reveling, mediated by their very locals. However, a few hours into the carouse, Vishal was asking the crowd which song do they want him to perform next. A paltry voice made its way to his ears saying ‘Madari’.
To this he replies and I paraphrase ‘ Oh people have listed to Madari over here! ‘. This posited itself as more of an exclamation than an assertion.
For the masses, I assume it wasn’t a stimulus for any thought but I am unfortunate enough to not have ducked it.
What could be the reason for this exclamation and what does it say about our disposition regarding music these days. Let’s analyze how the Gen-Z treats music or rather certain propensities.
The etymological breakdown of Madari
If you go through the lyrics which I won’t be bothering myself to jot down here, You will find out that the composition is an amalgamation of Urdu( For eg. Jamura) and Sanskrit terms ( For eg. Mayura) .
The song for the most is a praise of the anthropomorphic almighty and how ecstasy follows from ‘there’ various acts. How we are the subjects to ‘their’ objectiveness and how these acts work like our very impetuous to feel different things.
So, is it the devotional or theistic nature of the song which people may have not fathomed that made him leave the innuendo? Well, it could be, alas it is conjectural only.
The musical pleasure
Or is it the very surfaced musical aesthetic or genre that not everybody has a taste for? Well, I am of the opinion that the comprehension of the lyrics is one of the primary elements of musical pleasure. Perhaps Madari lacks in ‘beats’ that give rise to the influx of ecstasy inside us? But this particular song is groaning under the weight is such high beats that might make your muscles into moving.
So, is all of this an inkling of our changed consumption of music and in turn a different culture altogether? Or is the fact that this song was a Coke Studio production and therefore not a part of any film whatsoever the reason behind the incognizance? That is for you to decide.
The way Gen-Z treats music I therefore opine is another instance of the Heideggerian ‘throwness’. Situations define taste and settings define inclinations.
To read further about the Gen-Z and their tendencies, read: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26677366