2012: a year of tragedies and highs for Indian music

New Delhi : The Indian music scene was as diverse as ever in 2012 with Bollywood songs - from melodic to bucolic - dominating proceedings.Music lovers had both their share of joy and sorrow as the likes of Guns N' Roses, Carlos Santana and many more came calling but the year also saw the death of sitar god Ravi Shankar and ghazal legend Mehdi Hasan.Indian music had its brush with controversies this year too as there were plagiarism allegations and use of vulgar lyrics. Item songs and racy numbers topped the charts but melodious numbers and those with rustic flavour were the order the day.The year saw the sad demise of Pt Ravi Shankar, whose music propelled him to new heights, brought him close to The Beatles and legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin and took him to iconic events like Woodstock and Monterey Pop Fest, where he played alongside the likes of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.The Grammy awards, where he was nominated this year, is honouring Shankar with a posthumous lifetime achievement. India-born Hassan, who gave us melodies like ‘Patta patta, boota boota' and ‘Kab ke Bichhare', and Urdu poet and lyricist Shahryar, who wrote for the blockbuster “Umrao Jaan”, also passed away during the year.Actress Priyanka Chopra made her singing debut through the international music single ‘In My City' with American rapper Will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas fame. He also collaborated with American DJ duo, The Chainsmokers, for her second number, ‘Erase'.Anushka Manchanda, of ‘Viva' all-girl band fame, signed a pact with British recording artist Chicane for an exclusive track. The item songs list which started with Katrina Kaif's ‘Chikni Chameli', also saw ‘Anarkali Disco Chali' featuring Malaika Arora Khan, ‘Pritam Pyare' from “Rowdy Rathore” and Vidya Balan in ‘Mala jau de' but it was Kareena Kapoor who seemed to walk away with all the honours with her ‘Fevicol Se', ‘Halkat Jawani' and ‘Dil Mera Muft Ka'.The music of India's official Oscar entry “Barfi!” stood out. Composer Pritam was lauded for the simplicity and melody in the songs. Pritam has been hit with several allegations of plagiarism in recent times. The songs ‘Barfi' (Mohit Chauhan), another version ‘Ala Barfi!' (Swanand Kirkire), ‘Main kya karoon' (Nikhil Paul George) and ‘Kyon' (Angaraag ‘Papon' Mahanta and Sunidhi Chauhan) still figure in the chartbusters. The songs of Anurag Kashyap's “Gangs Of Wasseypur” had typical bucolic tunes and widely appreciated. Other songs that became quite popular were ‘Tumhi ho bandhu' and ‘Daaru Desi' (“Cocktail”), ‘Pani da rang' (“Vicky Donor”), ‘Pareshaan' (“Ishaqzaade”) and ‘Ishq Wala Love' (“Student of the Year”).Legendary composer Ilayaraja, Grammy-winning percussionist T H Vinayakram and a host of musicians were selected for the Sangeet Natak Akademi awards and fellowships.The year also saw international artistes like rock guitar legend Carlos Santana, Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias, Sean Paul, DJ Afrojack, Guns N Roses and Swedish House Mafia coming to India.The digital music sector pushed the limits of consumer choice, extending its business models and reaching out to consumers across the globe. Record companies increasingly focused on new developing markets where digital infrastructure is fast-evolving.According to the global Digital Music report 2012 by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), India has more than 40 million smartphone users and 14 million broadband connected households.