Contrary to the popular saying “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture,” I believe that writing about music and musicians is necessary and can be a rewarding experience for both the readers and the writer. This comes from personal experience. I can list out multiple instances where people have got back to me saying “I’ve never looked at it that way,” or “You’ve captured the listening experience using words I’ve never thought of, and I’m glad you did.” I might be a newbie in music journalism but I can safely say that I will be doing this for a long time.
For a long time in my life, I always wondered if the Indian music industry had more to offer than songs for movies. I remember listening to western bands and independent artists and thinking about how they had fans in every nook and corner of the world. At the same time, I felt icky that our artists did not get such a spotlight. Even today, a majority of them remain undiscovered or unheard. Writing about such artists who are insanely talented but don’t get enough traction, has made that little girl happy. Music journalism can be a fulfilling job if you put your heart into it. It’s as though you unpacked a treasure chest.
Writing about music comes with its own perks. I’ve visited all kinds of worlds where EDM met Indian classical music, the world of neoclassical symphonic mathcore, and many more. As a fellow artist, I also got a more holistic perspective of my development in the field. And of course, I got to live the aesthetic life I had always dreamed of. The portability of the job is an added plus!
Moreover, the profession puts you in the driver’s seat of life, demanding you to be active, and out there all the time. Structuring an article somehow pushed me to have a structure in my own life. It keeps my creative juices running while I learn how to manage my time. I became a child – a constant observer of life without letting the excitement wither away.
All in all, one of my biggest takeaways from writing about the Indian music scene is that it has a lot to offer. There are things in it that everybody should be aware of. You can count me in to forever be on my toes and looking for gigs to cover and new music to write about.
