Janapriyan Levine lauds how Indian audience is moving beyond Bollywood music

American music producer Janapriyan Levine loves collaborating with Indian artistes, something that he has done for nearly two decades.

The New York-born composer recently released his latest Hindi-Pop love song Dil Mera featuring singer-songwriter Shweta Subram and says he feels a deep connect with India and Indian music.

“Classical Indian music is the Mount Everest of improvisational music. As someone who likes to explore and collaborate at the edge of my creative comfort zone, I have made a spot for myself in this hybrid space,” he tells us.

Levine previously released a Punjabi folk song Mai Teri Tu Mera with Gurgulshan Singh, a Hindi song Tera Hua with Vikalp Sharma and Bajre Da Sitta with Meenal Jain.

Talking about Indian music and if it will ever move beyond Bollywood, the musician says, “I think Indian audiences have been very juiced up for music and brands that are not originating in Bollywood for over a decade or so. Def Jam (music company) just signed two Indian hip hop artists. Gully Boy has turned on the next generation of hip hop enthusiasts in India. Coldplay, Justin Beiber and even Skrillex have performed in India. Globalization has levelled the playing field for emerging artists and audiences but has also saturated the markets with mediocrity. Standing out is harder than ever, but the game is entirely global, any can play it.”

Levine also feels that in the global space Indian music has a magical place in the heart of listeners.

“From collaborations in the ‘50s with Buddy Rich and Allah Rakha to the ‘60s with the Beatles and Ravi Shankar and all the way to present pop music from Method Man to Jay Z to Katy Perry… Jalebi Baby is also a great example of how a sexy Hinglish song can be eaten up by anyone on Earth. The Indian sound is there,” he ends.