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Independent music has its roots in self-production and self-curation, and is embedded with an intrinsic grasp over distinct notions of individuality. The Indie Indian Pride is a wonderfully alchemic playlist on Spotify curated by Janvi Anand (Jay); a collection of songs created by queer singer-songwriters. Jay elaborated upon the need to create an Indie playlist including LGBTQ+ artists saying, “My partner Jesmin Ahmed and I couldn’t find any playlist specifically catering to the LGBTQ independent musicians in India. So, we decided to curate one and reached out to a few artists we knew of, the number is four including myself. [Later] We reached out to other people and extended ourselves to find more musicians.” Jay and Jesmin are also co-founders of The White Canvas, a platform to speak about various societal stigmas using art as an expressive medium.
On being asked what his prime motive was, he said, “To encourage [and showcase the LGBTQIA+] demographic within the music industry.” He added, “I hope this playlist would help with identification” in terms of confidence and helping artists publically coming out. Jay quipped, “Normalisation is the key here,” when mentioning a conversation he had with a friend who was justifiably nervous about publicly showcasing his identity through his music.
The playlist begins with Jay’s songs that weave melodic strums with distinctive lyrics about love and imperfect relationships.
Melding into tunes filled with cymbals, saxophonic joy and euphoric beats, John Oinam’s ‘You & I’ encapsulates the glee of love. In an interview with AIDIA, Oinam cites Kailash Kher as his influence and describes why “Kher’s singing has a different kind of power.” Oinam adds, “The way he has kept his culture intact with the Sufi singing makes me stick to my roots.”
Grape Guitar Box’s songs, which are next on the list, create a sombre nostalgic atmosphere. With lyrics, from the bridge, hinting at the perpetuity and dependency of longing and abuse, “Losing you / Is the hardest thing / I’ll ever do / It was so easy / To fall in love / With you.” In their own words, Teenasai Balamu also known as Grape Guitar Box says, “The song highlights the story of someone who is trapped in a toxic relationship. The complexity of abuse and such relationships is such that one can’t simply leave. ‘Run’ highlights that feeling of being stuck in a loop and always going back to the person who isn’t good for you, but you’re helpless.” The music video for ‘Run’ features wonderfully warm and poignant animation from Priya Dali.
‘A Misspelled Bananna’ by Prakti, who is from Delhi, highlights the textures in emotion and the lows of mental health by vocalising it in this song as well as in their wider music.
‘Head Held High’ by Friends of Linger is a lovely song about confidence and being true to your vibrant inner shades of colour. ‘April Rain’ by Krishna K and B Bhuyan is a dip into a magical landscape with flowers wafting through the petrichor drenched air. The song swirls and soars in a melodic ode to nature and love.
Next on the list, Vardaan Arora’s pop single ‘January’ takes us back to a nineteen-year-old Vardaan reminiscing about young love and the power of supportive warm relationships on cold and seemingly hopeless nights. In collaboration with Rainbow Voices Mumbai, Sushant Divgikar and Rainbow Riots India, their songs ‘Love is Love,’ ‘I’m coming out’, and ‘Be the change’ are all emphatic sonic anthems of queer pride and love.
Coup Jean’s hip-hop soul is a vibrant ecstatic experience. In coup’s words on OK Listen’s platform, “I came very late to the western music scene… while my sister would play 80s pop hits all the time, it wasn’t until college that I realised that my love for jazz, soul, funk, gospel, and western pop at large was not something I needed to hide or be ashamed of – just like I didn’t need to hide my sexual orientation or my higher than usual countertenor voice.” Coup further details how depression was a vital turning point, especially after the death of his sister. He continues, “I sing and write about my sorrow – not to stop feeling it, but to let others who know it well, figure out how to be friends with it.”
Seventeen-year-old Rudy Mukta’s music props an at-ease mood that intermixes with her voice to make firm declarations. Her song ‘Nobody Likes You’ in the chorus goes, “everybody loves you but nobody likes you”, detailing the cautious nature of being validated. Her EP Entropy reminds one of sounds from Troye Sivan, SZA, to Jorja Smith.
The Indian Indie Pride playlist is chock-full of wonderful voices with diverse experiences and is currently a growing list of music being curated by Jay.
You can listen to the entire playlist here.
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