Indian Musical Landscape

Contemporary music videos are a global/glocal phenomenon and a part of contemporary youth culture, pervading almost all the continents that air music channels. Music videos can be defined as short multi-media creations, of four to five minutes' duration, where song, dance, music and visuals are usually combined to enact performance, celebration or protest; .... The work tries to explore the genesis of Indian music videos, their relation to Indian film music and music programmes telecast on Indian TV. Then it analyses some of the categories which have manifested themselves in the Indian context; and how, along with the forces of Indian culture popular, folk and elitist they define Indian music videos over the last one decade. In the final count, it tries to find out if the interaction of postmodern and local forces has given a distinctive identity to Indian music videos. Unlike the counterparts in the West where wide academic interest has been generated, in India the virtual absence of any work has made this a pioneer in the field of media and culture studies and can be more relevant to the contemporary youth culture.