Hybrid music drowning talent

Namita Shibad

He's not your typical pop singer who speaks with an accent, has his arms flying in all directions and dresses like a Christmas tree. Instead, Gary Lawyer, the doyen of Indian pop music is quite the staid old man who looks like your chartered accountant who's decided to grow his curly hair long.

Dressed in a light blue shirt and off-white jeans, Lawyer is in Pune as the chief guest of the launching do of the inaugural issue of Asia edition of Osho Times. Before speaking about his music and himself, Gary has an important thing to do. Heed to those hunger pangs. He digs into the tray of hot tea and his favourite biscuits that some Commune member has specially prepared. Between the sips of tea and the light drizzling rain, the deep baritone voice holds court.

Why is it that you have been lying low?
``Well, it's not as if I'm not singing. I still do shows that run to packed houses. But what upsets me is the way the focus has shifted to Hindi pop. Not that this is a bad thing by itself, but the way the music channels are deliberately pushing Hindi pop. As a result the small market for English pop is getting decimated. I am upset, but there's not much I can do.

Years ago choosing music as a career was unthinkable. Don't you think that music channels have changed all this and made it possible for fresh talent to choose music as a career?

``That may be true, but I don't think it's a great thing to happen. Frankly, I think it's a terrible thing to happen for music. This funny hybrid kind of mediocrity that poses as music is not at all encouraging. Because of this Hindi pop, just about anyone with a correct video image is allowed to sing. Does that make any sense? What happened to good music? This has worked to do just one thing, and that is drown the great musicians who do not have the right video image.

How is it that you have still to get down to playback singing?
``It's not as if I do not want to do playback singing, I am very open to it. Sometime back I did have an offer from Gulzar, but it did not work out at the last minute. Anyway if it comes back to me, then I surely will sing.

From commercials to pop music, what has this long journey been like?
``When I started out, I never, ever thought that I would be a singer. It is simply something that happened to me. I had lived in New York for 10 years and was back with no desire to be a singer. I think it was sometime in the mid-eighties, I was sitting at a friend's show and after the interval, he called me on stage to sing. It was all very casual and before I knew it I was flooded with offers to sing. The audience had a guy from HMV and that was it.

``But it's not as if I just began singing. I learnt Western classical music for five years after that, so in a way I have paid my dues. In those days I used to do anything at all. I remember, I used to do three to four jingles a day and after a while it got to me. I wanted to get out of it. Of course, there have been good moments too. Like when I did the anti- smoking campaign, I have had people come up to me to say that they gave up singing because they heard me sing. That really makes you feel good.

Which do you consider your best songs to date?
To me all my songs are my favourites, but if one were to go by numbers alone then Nights on Fire was the hottest selling number. I also liked doing the Indian Summer . If you ask me the reason I cannot tell you it's because of this or that. I just like the feel of that song.

Where do you plan to go from here?
I think an artist is never in a position to plan. Look at me, I began as Rohinton Lawyer, and my golf friends changed that to Gary. Today, if someone were to call me that I might not even respond easily. I believe in taking life as it comes. I plan to do a western album, but let's see what the future has in store for me.

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