Musical Aestheticism and the South-Asian Diaspora
- Malisha
- Nov 23, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 4, 2024
It’s the mid 70s and as the world witnesses a transition from rigid political manoeuvres to soda-pop and disco zeitgeist, human kind experiences a movement of culture, traditions and identity. That doesn’t mean there was an atmosphere without any political upheavals, riots, inflations, Watergate, Vietnam, Gay Rights, Bangladesh Liberation, Ted Bundy, Death of Elvis and Beatles break-up, to name a few. In that matter, the 70s was the Golden Age that saw the test of time and turbulence like any other. While there is an extensive available literature about the geo-politics of the 70s, there isn’t much about people’s increasing fondness for music, cinema, art and fashion. It was the first time in centuries, mankind had learned to realise what a ‘content’ is and what ‘kind of content’ they prefer, and if they are actually ‘content-ed’.
Aestheticism in music
The 70s can be widely characterized by the diversification of music that happened all across the world. Musicians gained the license to experiment with the choice of harmony they want to present, whether it’s the youthful pacing of R.D. Burman’s singles or sing-along chants of ABBA, they had rightly learned the art of swooning the mass. A very popular theme that emerged from such experiments is one of sci-fi pop, seasoned with traditional jazz. The use of saxophone, trumpet and drums invaded the soft humming, leading to a more frenetic spirit. Music was no longer a cadence restricted to four walls. It was also for the mass, to feel, to dance and to grove.
On the launch of iPhone 13, Apple used a remix tune inspired by the popular hit ‘Dum Maro Dum’ after 40 years of its release; a song that transcended the Indian audience to the hippie culture and Woodstock Festival energy for the first time. Since then, countless Western Pop Stars have been attracted to this psychedelic aura of music, that is an intermediate between soul and classical. It has been incorporated into visuals, graphics and montages and has developed into a variety of trends; gospel R&B, funk & soul, baroque pop and most importantly raga rock. Artists such as The Beatles, Britney Spears, The Byrds etc. took creative liberty to a new level by amalgamating Indian classical notes with their individual style, creating a new genre.
In the words of George Harrison, on his meditation training and musical journey with the Sitar Maestro Ravi Shankar, “I went and bought a Ravi record; I put it on and it hit a certain spot in me that I can’t explain, but it seemed very familiar to me. The only way I could describe it was: my intellect didn’t know what was going on and yet this other part of me identified with it”.
During the same wake of raga-sufi-rock in the West, a surge in the East is also regarded to be remarkable i.e., the incorporation of Jazz largely, in Film Music. There was a sudden emergence of individual pop stars that catered initially to the youth with their electronic music and soon to the rest of the Indian audience. The Nazia Hassan track ‘Aap jaisa koi’ and later ‘Disco Deewane’ embezzled with its bling elements, laid the foundation for a new era in Indian Musical History. Little did the audience know what the 80s awaited for them.
Rise of the South Asian pop-stars
In the crowd of plentiful musical personalities one name plays an insignificant part unlike any other. Back in the 70s, not many brown singers were launching their careers at Columbia Record Label but one artist definitely did and succeeded in Western Pop. Asha Puthli.
Asha was born and raised in Bombay and was professionally trained in Indian classical music and opera from a little age. Like any other traditional Indian household, she would have never thought to become a sensational pop icon in the west, celebrated for her melodramatic fusion style of music and extraordinary dance skills. She was an artist of countless cultures, an artist presenting best of both the worlds. She was one of the first Global persona who embodied cross-culture art for the Indian GenX.
The introduction of Retro Sci-Fi as a lifestyle swayed the US in the late 70s and ultimately influenced Puthli to reinvent her sense of aesthetics in the same direction. “Space Talk” came out in 1976 and was instantly called out as a classic by The New York Times and was heavily sampled by numerous hip hop artists in the future. Unlike Mercury who chose to passively ‘break free’ from his Indian roots by changing his name from Faroukh to Freddie, Asha Puthli retained the name and the heritage.
Asha Puthli’s legacy will outnumber her years in life as it has continued touching the emerging Indian diasporic popstars. One such instance is the story of the blooming expatriate singer Raveena Aurora. Raveena is a budding experimental pop singer of Punjabi-American origins, born and brought up in New York City. She began experimenting with her style of music from a very young age. Growing up she is known to have auditioned many times for broadway roles or record labels to release her music but faced discrimination on the grounds of being ‘too brown’. But that didn’t stop her from growing. She built her entire infrastructure from scratch. Her 2019 debut album, Lucid, showcased this fusion, with tracks like Honey and Petal blending lush, cinematic instrumentals with lyrics exploring identity, love, and healing. Raveena’s music videos often draw inspiration from Indian culture, with vivid imagery, traditional costumes, and references to Hindu mythology, creating a rich tapestry of sound and vision. She has spoken openly about the influence of artists like Asha Puthli on her work, crediting them for paving the way for South Asian artists to express themselves authentically in a global context. Her journey reflects the ongoing struggle and triumphs of artists of colour in carving out a space for themselves in industries historically dominated by Western ideals of beauty and artistry.
The obsession with Disco
The term "disco" is derived from the word discothèque, a French word for "library of phonograph records" similar to the word of library of books : "bibliothèque". According to Wikipedia, its earliest example is use as the name of a particular venue in 1952, and other examples date from 1960 onwards.
When one side of the world was waging a geopolitical tension and a threat of global conflict, the other was engrossed on cultural liberation and social change. It's as if the escapism of disco played out as a response to the stress and limitations of Cold War era. A political nuclear annihilation and a countercultural movement celebrating inclusivity, freedom, and individual expression on the dance floor. Sounds weird right? But guess what-- they did go hand in. Resistance and Hedonism became the antidotes to the rigid structures and political control of the 70s. And Disco felt like a celebration.
While the US and Soviet vied for ideological supremacy, its apolitical counterpart-disco preferred life and unity and euphoria over ideology and confrontation. While the Cuban Missile Crisis created an atmosphere of fear and paranoia, disco balls and strobe lights symbolized freedom. While the arms race dominated global discourse, Studio 54 and Donna Summer dominated the heart. While Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev created deep political division among people, Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta and Karen Gorney united them. Disco's legacy spread far and wide to every corner of the world and influenced the regional musical genres as well.
South Asian films underwent its own transformation. The larger-than life melodramas coupled with the global disco wave was a fascinating cultural phenomenon. And much of its credit goes to increased globalization and the rise of satellite television. And soon the mass was grooving to Bappi Lahiri's composition Jimmy Jimmy not just in India but in Soviet Russia too. According to India Today, during Covid Lockdown, Chinese citizens protested in TikTok with this track in its Mandarin wordplay 'Jie mi, jie mi', which loosely translates to 'Give me rice, give me rice'. Iconic! Add some synthesizes, catchy beats and a hint of Indian melody and you have the perfect recipe for a disco number. Although the advent of nightclubs in Mumbai, Karachi and Colombo was still miles away, the populace was enticed by the meagre potential of dancing together. Play Biddu Appaiah's album Eastern Man and you have the atmosphere set.
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