After Pakistan, 'Coke Studio' to rock India

Mumbai, May 20 (IANS) After wooing music lovers in Pakistan, 'Coke Studio', a popular musical concept, now comes to India and it will bring together 45 musicians from different parts of the country who are experts in various genres such as folk, classical and qawwali.

The Indian version is called 'Coke Studio@MTV' and will be air on MTV next month.

'We have such a rich musical heritage that it's surprising that we don't have a platform to bring this heritage out and show it to the common man. Only film music has taken over completely,' Aditya Swamy, channel head, MTV India told IANS.

'The show aims to bring various cultures that the country has on one stage and mix up three very potent combinations. On one hand it will have well-known classically-trained singers. On the other hand we will have folk legends of the country, whether it's a Bihu singer or a qawwal. The third one will bring young and new talent. We will mixing all these three ingredients together and get something very explosive out of it,' he added.

The show, which first began in Brazil in 2007, will have 10-episodes. There won't be any judges or voting system. Every episode will feature one established musician, one up-and-rising artist and one folk legend.

Composer-singer Leslie Lewis will be the mentor and technical director of 'Coke Studio@MTV'.

'We have artists from Punjab, Gujarat, Rajasthan, the northeast, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, so we have broadly covered the main regions of the country so that we get the flavour of Indian music,' said Swamy.

'We have touched only a tip of the iceberg with 45 musicians who are a part of this season. But when we do multiple seasons, we will be able to go deeper and deeper and get more and more interesting and talented people to the platform. This is an opportunity to bring this music to the common man,' he added.

KK, Shaan, Shafqat Aamant Ali, Shankar Mahadevan and Sunidhi Chauhan will also participate.

The show has been produced by MTV India in partnership with Red Chillies Entertainment.

What about the TRPs?

'I don't think TRP is the only scale to measure success. I'm not doing this show to see whether it will do better than an 'Indian idol' or a 'Sa Re GA Ma'. The objective is to celebrate the music of India and build a community of people who want to hear alternative music,' explained Swamy.

'Having said that, I feel if you hunt for TRPs you never get that. You create something world class and the TRPs will come,' he added.