Sagar Sasmal, who will be tying the knot this month, had a tough time looking for a brass band to play at his wedding procession. He wants his family and friends to make a grand entry to the bride’s home, dancing to the pulsating tunes of a brass band. After scouting for days, Sagar managed to finalise a brass band and is happy that his friends will now be able to make the most of the occasion.
Music is an integral part of all Indian celebrations. Be it marriages, anniversary parties, religious events or social dos, music has always played an integral part in every Indian celebration. And in India, there is no bigger celebration in a family than a marriage.
Although marriages are completed in different parts of India following different rituals, the only thing that is common at all wedding celebrations across the country is music. And one of the show stealers at marriage parties is the music bands.
Till sometime back, brass bands were an inseparable part of the ‘Big Fat Indian Wedding’ but with the advancement of technology and pocket-friendly alternatives, performances by brass bands became passé at marriage ceremonies. The invasion of DJs hit the brass bands big time, with many struggling for survival.
However, both clients and wedding planners seem to be falling back on the age-old brass bands once again, not only to bring back the lost sheen of traditional Indian wedding but also to adhere to the norms set by the administration to reduce noise pollution. The scene isn’t any different in the state. DJs, who were posing a threat to music bands over the past few years, seem to be going out of favour, with an increasing number of people once again going back to brass bands. Given the approaching wedding season, Sunday POST tries to explore the age-old relationship of brass bands with Indian marriages and their remarkable comeback.
Sagar too had initially thought of roping in a DJ to play music at his wedding party. However, he changed his mind after discussing with his father. “My father was narrating an incident about his marriage. He told me how his friends and relatives felt so excited dancing to the tunes of a brass band during the wedding procession. He also told how this group of 20 odd men thanked him when he tipped them at the end of the performance. I was so thrilled that I too decided to settle for a brass band and a folk music band for my baraat,” says Sagar.
It isn’t too tough finding a brass band if you are in Bhubaneswar or Cuttack. Tinikonia Bagicha Street in Cuttack is the hub of brass bands. The area is queued up with shops displaying signboards like Hindustan Brass Band, Azad Band, Bharat Musical Band, Mehboob Band, Tirupati Band, Master Saleem Band, Noor Mohammad Band and many more.
There are more than 30 brass bands that are active in Cuttack. Each shop resembles a small cabin, with racks stacked with trumpets, clarinets, side drums, big drums, flutes and a complete set of uniform in royal red or a rich navy blue or a yellowing white embellished with golden trimmings and a peaked cap. In one corner, you will find one or two people sitting with a diary and a money receipt book.
That said, these dilapidated shops, the dingy rooms with patches of dampness on the wall give a clear picture of the sorry state of affairs. This, however, wasn’t the scene till a few years ago. Each band would boast more than 50 members that had the potential to become the show stealer at any wedding procession. But with the evolution of DJs and orchestra groups, bands slowly started losing their charm.
However, the scene seems to be changing for the good. Band members have once again started finding work, thanks to the fashion of playing brass bands making a comeback.
Master Gafoor, the 55-year-old chief of Master Saleem Brass Band, says, “My father started this band four decades ago and I am still running the shop. Few years back, when the fad of orchestra groups and DJs came to city, it became tough for us to survive in the market. We would struggle to make ends meet but thanks to the administration for making an effort to curb the usage of electronic instruments that create noise pollution, which has made people once again rely on brass bands like us.”
Sound boxes blurting loud music at social gatherings like wedding ceremonies and parties have become a cause of concern. Besides urging citizens to minimise the usage of sound-generating firecrackers on Diwali, the administration and environmentalists have been making efforts to put minimise noise pollution by urging people to avoid playing loud music for hours at a stretch.
This has come as a boon to the struggling brass bands. However, these bands no longer boast a mammoth contingent. Instead, the teams are now limited to 12 to 15 members on average.
Master Saleem Brass Band has 15 members and makes something between Rs8,000 and Rs16,000 per performance, depending on the scale of the event and the musical hierarchy (based on who plays which instrument).
M Balaji, one of the members of Tirupati Brass Band, says, “Today, bands come alive only in winter or during wedding months. Apart from the marriage procession, we manage to get business on only occasions like puja bhasani (idol immersion procession).”
These bands no longer have permanent members. During the peak business season, band owners source players from Berhampur, Kendrapara, Salipur and Rayagada. In winter, the peak business season, they work for the band, while for the rest of the year they either find employment somewhere else or manage their own businesses.
Balaji has two cycle rickshaws which he rents out throughout the year because the income from the brass band is not adequate to support his family. Some of the members of his group also hold day jobs as rickshaw pullers or daily labourers in different districts.
Trumpets, saxophones, trombones, tubas, clarinets along with cymbals comprise a brass band, which give its performance its characteristic harmony and vivacity. As the name suggests, the entire ensemble consists of brass instruments and sometimes there are lacquered and silver plated instruments as well. Mostly, the master of the band owns all the required instruments and ropes in people who know how to play them.
“Playing these instruments isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It needs rigorous practice and interest in music. We also have to keep a track of the new songs that release every day. We have to keep ourselves up to date for every occasion. So, every year before the start of the season, we all come together and select the hit songs that are high on demand and practice to get the perfection,” adds Balaji.
“The popularity of orchestra groups also saw many bands replacing brass instruments with electronic instruments. The talent, the hard work, the long hours of playing live music, has eventually been replaced by digital musical instruments,” says S Ravi, who owns a brass band in Bhubaneswar.
Needless to say, with digitisation, today fewer players are required in a band. “Noise pollution has become a major cause of concern. The good thing is that this has made these bands once again incorporate those brass instruments, as they don’t generate that much sound as digital instruments,” adds Ravi.
Ravi, who can play multiple instruments, says that the government’s decision to put a ban on playing loud music after 10 pm in cities like Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri and Rourkela has given the struggling brass bands a fresh lease of life. “It may be the beginning of good days once again. Many among us still prefer playing the evergreen marriage numbers and people still seem to enjoy them to the hilt,” he adds.
Ravi also says that the government is yet to implement the rules in many districts in the state. “I think it’s just a matter of time and once again our business will flourish. Our music is soothing as we don’t use digital instruments that produce loud sound. Moreover, we come with a lot of experience,” he adds.
Karma Mantry from Rayagada, who plays clarinet in Noor Mohammad Band, Cuttack, says, “This is not my real name. I used to play the song from Mera karma tu from the film Karma, which became very popular. My band members started addressing me as Karma and one day I decided to change my name.”
The song is still his favourite and Karma plays it during every performance even today. “During our hey days, we used to return to our office tired every day after our performance. However, the hard-earned money also used to bring a smile on our faces. We still come here every year to keep ourselves motivated. Although few members of our band have left, new artistes too have joined this profession. We have started performing again. Recently, I went to New Delhi to perform at a private party. People still enjoy our music. I hope we once again start getting good business from this year,” adds Karma.
THE BIG BAND THEORY
- In the mid-19th Century Europe, (especially Britain) and in the United States, the main exposure most people had to major musical works of the day (before recordings) was through performances by local or touring bands. Brass bands were a response to industrialisation, which produced a large working class population, and technological advances in instrument design and their mass production.
- Many of these bands were sponsored by various industrial concerns, especially in the coal mining areas of the UK. In the mid-1800’s there were over 750 brass bands in England and today number in the thousands.
- While today these processional brass bands are a staple in many Indian weddings, these bands are actually a remnant of British colonialism in India. These bands were brought to India by the British as military bands in the 1700’s.
- British military bands were a crucial apparatus through which Indian subjects could be impressed by. The Indian kings, seeing them as a status symbol of the British elite, started patronising them for their own ceremonies. But when India gained independence in 1947, these kings lost their kingdoms and these brass bands took on a new role as accompaniment for grooms in Indian weddings, as well as other South Asian countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
- Meerut has been in the music trade since 1885, when Nadir Ali, a musician in the British Army, got into the music business with a cousin to import brass instruments. Sometime in the 1920s, the company began to manufacture these instruments in India. It built a large factory in a neighbourhood known as Kothi Atanas, and over the decades, smaller competitors sprung up in the Jali Kothi lane behind Nadir Ali and Co.
- The way of playing brass instruments and the compositions performed have been strongly influenced by Indian folk, Hindi films and pop. Nowadays brass bands play Hindi film songs and traditional folk tunes as they feature almost in every North Indian wedding procession.
SOYONG, OP