Still passionate? Guitar gurus ask GenNext

Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you'll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you're gonna be rewarded". That was Jimi Hendrix, talking about what drove him to greater heights of excellence. Four decades after the guitar god's death,his words still ring true, especially for the guitar-crazy GenNext. But the bigquestion is: what does the guitar signify for today's youth? Has the instrumentbecome just a "chick magnet" to pep up cool quotient? Or does the wind blow innew directions these days? Three decades have passed since the rock movement arrived in Kolkata with bands like High and Great Bear. Though the guitar has played a lead, the passion for the instrument seems to have undergone a sea change with the passage of time. Forget the days when budding guitarists used to emulate musicians like Slash, Mark Knopfler and David Gilmour, rue old-timers. "Times' are achangin". Guitar, it seems, is only an instrument to get certificates. No doubt that guitar is becoming increasingly popular. And it's a very positive trend...but all this is happening after some box office hits," says musician Amyt Dutt, referring to the post-Rock On scene. "The issue calls for a consensus. Even parents want kids to take upguitar nowadays, but not for the art. The positivity is somehow shallow andlacks depth," feels Dutt.For veteran Nondon Bagchi, Rock On is notthe cause of change. "The film actually captures some changes in social values,"he says. Whenever a change takes place, Bagchi says, there will be those who aregenuine and those who pretend to be genuine. "But change has to come. And thatis what is happening now." A tour of non-descript Paschimpara inBelur will tell you how popular the guitar is among today's youth. Essentially aresidential area, the colony has all of a sudden become an "industrial hub" ofguitar manufacturers. Locals say in the last couple of years, guitar shops andfactories have mushroomed in the area. "There's an unprecedenteddemand. It seems everybody wants a guitar these days. I am in the trade foralmost 40 years, but have never seen this before," says Mukunda Biswas, the manbehind the M Biswas brand. "A couple of months ago, I used to make about 70guitars a week. Now it's nearly 100, sometimes more," he says.Butthis story has its flip side, too. "It's wonderful that the music movement hasgot fresh wind. But don't you think that it's a bit misdirected? Most of thebuyers, it seems, are not much bothered about the quality of the sound. All theywant is the look of the instrument," Biswas says, fixing the bass string of arosewood guitar. Subhashish Biswas, manufacturer of Signatureguitars from the same area, has his order books full. "We make 600-700 guitars amonth. The demand is growing. By May, I have to make 1,000 guitars. It stillseems like the other day when I had set up my own business with four labourers.Today, 42 help me in running the show," he does not seem tocomplain.Guitar has travelled a long way in the city. And it holdstruth if one really takes into account its journey from the lanes of Kolkata 16in the 70s, when, to put it in Dutt's words, "the beauty of difference wasshared between the natives and the Anglo-Indians", to this day when theinstrument has made its way into every household. "But why thissudden craze? Isn't it commercialisation of the instrument?" Dutt isworried.Lou Majaw, the "Bob Dylan of Meghalaya", has a differenttake. "Every individual has his or her own way of looking at things. And I haveno grudge against this. But the fact remains that a true musician will alwayshave oneness with the instrument. He will never run after brand, look and money.No matter if a guitar is from an ordinary company... Lou will still performsongs with the instrument," he says."Dedication is a point that hasto be raised. But even in midst of this sudden craze, we are getting qualitymusicians," says Ayan Banerjee, a guitarist who was formerly associated withBangla bands like Abhilasha and Marudyan.