Vulgarity sells like hot cakes!

Ramesh K Dhiman

Gone are the days when cultural soirees on the TV channels devoted a whale of a time to portray Punjabi folk culture in its true colours.

Glimpse of docile village damsels donning dazzling salwar-kameez ensemble, with their myriad-hued `dupattas’ fluttering in the air as they shook their legs to a haunting folk tune and peppy beats of ‘dhol’ was scene to cherish. The advent of harvesting season would turn out to be a fusion of colours for the spirited merry-makers to bathe in the melting pot of cultures. Now, it’s an era of racy, raunchy, rock-n-roll numbers, pushing the traditional folk music into suspended animation — courtesy: the zombie of wanton commercialisation of music and muse that have whetted the lure of lucre, a double whammy for hardcore music-lovers of Punjabi culture and folk traditions.

How can one forget those meaningful melodies immortalised by legends of the times? So lasting was the impact of the winsomely-woven into words bucolic verses immortalised by the nightingale of Punjab, Surinder Kaur and Parkash Kaur, and their contemporaries.

The oldies would vividly go back to the times gone by when they could sit glued to their TV sets and watch a slew of programmes. With time going for a vertical change, all those who matter are blatantly indulging in selling vulgarity without an iota of remorse, leaving viewer rue in resignation. Tune in any Punjabi channel randomly and be not surprised watching teen queens gyrating in their hep skimpies — unmindful of the disservice they are rendering to the robust cultural heritage of Punjab. You are left to sulk in silence watching their suggestive gestures live or going viral on the social media.

Spearheading the marathon to sell vulgarity, music composers, singers and Punjabi channels are in league with one another to lead the race, simply to spin money. They can vouchsafe for the fact that in the olden times, only those gifted with a ‘golden’ voice would pursue a career in singing. Now, it’s a free-for-all phenomenon, where even non-singing entities become singing ‘sensations’ overnight. A major chunk of the aspiring youth eying ‘lucrative’ singing profession have even ruined themselves financially for stardom overnight. The burgeoning number of outrageous ads on the TV, in print or on social media, powered by lurid pornographic details, is hardly frowned upon these days.

Renowned Punjabi folk singer and Director of Vishav Punjabi Virasat Kendra, Chandigarh, Sukhi Brar, says: “Time is now to rein in the rising cult of those serving vulgarity in the name of modernisation of ‘music’. Those behind the recurring onslaughts orchestrated on our ‘Maa boli’ and adorable folk traditions of Punjab should be taken to task. The government should form teams of intellectuals and send them to schools and other educational institutes across the state and sensitise the new-age generation about the rich cultural heritage of Punjab, fighting a grim battle for survival.”

The new crop of pop singers have stormed the folk-singing bastion that once mirrored the pulsating folk culture of the era gone by when the emotive bond between Punjabi folk music and muse was explicit. The maverick singers are dwelling more on gun, gore and glamour by way of selling vulgarity with impunity. They always hit the leader newspaper headlines for the wrong reasons. The million-dollar question today is “How many among the new-age generation music-lovers can dole out a composition immortalised by the legends of the times gone by and their contemporaries? Perhaps, none is the plausible answer. Incredible as it may sound, just buttonhole a school-going kid to hum a song sung by their heart throbs, like Honey Singh, Miss Pooja, Mika, Moosewala and so on, a majority of them would be excited to render any of their hit numbers. A birthday bash or wedding in a household, or other social or religious gatherings are dubbed as drab without their presence.

Shamsher Sandhu, a prominent Punjabi lyricist, holds the entire society responsible for the vertical decadence of the cultural values. “It sells, for there is a growing demand for steamy stuff. These days, music is scored and lyrics are composed simply to entice the most demanding audience. The typical Indian morality seems to have gone for a toss since the new trend caught our fancy. The print and electronic media are equally responsible for the rising cult of vulgarisation,” he says.