Leslee Lewis on the current state of Indian music: They're not doing music, they’re doing dhandha

Hariharan and Leslee Lewis made for the famous 90s pop duo Colonial Cousins and they had a resurgence recently when Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a vinyl of their music to the Australian Prime Minister as a gift last month. Ecstatic about the gesture, Leslie Lewis tells us, “There's a magical period that happened in the '90s for Indian music. That magic has gone through 30 years and has now exploded with our PM gifting our music to the Australian PM.”

While their music still resonates with the listeners, the current music scenario is quite different where the shelf life of a song is quite limited. With the music now being governed by algorithms and not creativity, Leslee Lewis asserts that they lack individuality because of that. He adds, “I've sat and listened to the top 50 of a lot of streaming charts and it all sounds the same. Each one is trying to do what everyone else is doing because the algorithm won't take it otherwise. So they're not making music, they’re doing dhandha.”

Leslee insists that because of the lack of originality, the longevity suffers and that is why many listeners are going back to the music from olden times. He says, “The melodies are not holding on, that is why people are still listening to the Lag Jaa Gales and all, and these songs and singers have outlived their time into another generation.”

The rise of streaming services has made the music more convenient, but Leslee feels it has taken away from the experience of living the music as one used to in earlier times. And that in turn, effects the creative hunger of artistes too. “If everyone has to listen to music on those small speakers on phones, why would even the artistes put effort into recording in high quality,” he says, adding, “With so much convenience, you don’t know what to do with it sometimes. You are disappointed with some of the music, so you don’t listen to the other good ones too. The ‘90s artistes are struggling because they have talents, but they don’t fit in today’s moulds.”

But with this resurgence of their music, Leslee is reuniting with Hariharan for their 41st song together. Ask him why it took so much time for the reunion to happen, he says, “We’ve always been together musically. It’s just for a Colonial Cousins concert, our dates have to match and it has to be for something special.”