Straight Answers

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Abhijit</span> Singer On the state of the Indian music industry:<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Is Indi-pop misunderstood?</span><br /><br />My music isn’t pop. In India, what we call pop is a very non-musical genre. Here, even folk music is called pop.If Ashaji has done a number with Leslie Lewis, then yes, it is pop. But in India, anything apart from film music is normally labelled as pop.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Which has been your most memorable performance ever?</span><br /><br />I am a concert man. My most memorable performance came when I sang live with Lataji at a concert in South Africa. I got the biggest compliments I have received from two of the biggest people in the Indian music industry — Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar. No award can ever match Kishoreda hugging me and saying, ‘Tum bahut sur mein gaate ho’. And I got to hear through Usha Mangeshkar that Lataji mentioned that I would be a long-term success story.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">As a singer, what is more exciting: a single or a duet?</span><br /><br />In a duet, it is good fun if there are two very good singers. There is healthy competition, and each singer tries to outdo the other. Nobody says anything, but since each singer wants to make sure that his or her performance is better than the other artiste, this brings out real talent and this is what makes a duet exciting.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Who are your favourite singers?</span><br /><br />I have to be very diplomatic on this one! I like to sing with certain artistes. On my ‘favourite’ list, I would say that the most polished singer is Sonu Nigam. Shaan, Babul Supriyo and Sonu are like my kid brothers —they are people I am very fond of.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Does film music face any problems in today’s time?</span><br /><br />Indian music directors have become favour-oriented. They tend to do personal favours for people and, consequently, the music of that particular film becomes a disaster. Nobody seems to realise that music is essential to a track, but it is not bigger than the voice. If music alone could make or break tracks, there would be no Lataji and Kishoreda.</div> </div>