One of India's top music composers, directors and producers, Jawahar Wattal is best known for being a pioneer in the Indian Non-Filmi music field and for shifting the focus of the industry to Delhi.
Right from the beginning of his career, the magician of Indi-pop has worked as a revolutionary musician. The '90s ushered in the Indi-pop revolution and that's when he ventured into the genre that has won him maximum acclaim to date.
His uncanny ability to predict what will be popular with the masses tomorrow, his professional attitude combined with his constant quest for excellence, originality and perfection have spelt success for him. Firm in the belief that music as a language has no barriers, he is constantly experimenting and reinventing the idiom by never allowing anything to limit the scope of his work and thus bringing a fresh new energy to each project. In about 16 years he comes up with a record 73 albums in which 15 goes platinum. In his illustrious career he also provided the opportunity to singers like Baba Sehgal, Daler Mehandi, Shubha Mudgal amongst many others who have their own respective place in the industry today.
Although the Indi-pop of 90's decade was dedicated to Jawahar Wattal but today the scene is far different from what we have in 90's. At that time soulful & heart touching music was in demand but now western culture has taken over and the listener's choice has changed as well, today they want hip-hop, rocking, peppy & fast music. But JW's priority is always being the nice, soulful & heart touching music that remains for long time and for today's music he's not ready to give up his style and choice, the same can be seen in his albums released in recent while.
The man who has a record of producing not only quality music but also one star after another now weaves his magic once again as he waves his magic wand once again and this time the result is a fresh sound of a hot new singer, Arjun from Delhi, the latest discovery of JW who found in him a perfect vehicle for his music. After years of hard work and regular riyaaz later, Arjun has now produced his private album titled 'Rang De' with JW as the music director. Recently we got the opportunity to meet with the magician of music with midas touch and the proud Delhiitee Jawahar Wattal.
About his latest discovery Arjun and the album Rang De, JW says Arjun is not only a good singer but is a complete musician himself. He has been gifted with a good voice and extra-ordinary musical talent who is aware of his music and knows what he has to do. According to him the album is a melody based and has a flavor of various forms of music from Ballads to Sufi music to contemporary pop and even Bhangra music albelt in a new avtaar and sound. The songs are different and original unlike the remix culture of today and have soulful melodies with catchy grooves. The album has lyrics penned by names like Shyam Banerjee, Vikki Nagar and Rahul Seth that touch the heart, in this album we have experimented with new sounds and have tried to blend the lounge music of today with a classical touch.
JW is disappointed with today music he says that today the entire definition of music has been changed because of western culture which captures the attraction of youths and due to same it's getting popular day by day. Earlier we always try to give original composition that was soulful and heart touching one but today it's all about remixes and today we are short of original composition. I'm not saying that we don't have talents but what we need from them is the traditional music that's good for ears and can be remembered for long time. Due to western culture our golden era is loosing its identity which is sad.
About the various talent hunts JW says it's great for future as it gives the opportunity to those who don't have any godfather who can support them or those who have talent but didn't get the platform to show case their talent and skills. They have proved that they deserve the place in industry and can give voices to superstars Kunal Ganjawala and Shreya Ghoshal is the perfect examples of it and today everyone know them very well. The other singers who came to scene through these talent hunts are also good and they will prove their worth in near future.
Remembering the past he says whether it's classical music or the music from golden era i.e. from 50-90's decade, that was the greatest ever time. At that time also we have the peppy numbers but they got the unique quality of being the soft one at same time which makes them awesome. I always enjoyed my work whether it was with Baba Sehgal or with Daler Mehndi, Shubha Mudal, Illa Arun, Hema Sardesaid, Hansraj Hans or with Shankar Shawney because they were ambitious to do something new which provided me the new excitement and energy to work. He further adds that working with Shubha Mudgal was one of the best experiences during his career, we were friends for a long time and we thought we would compose something which goes down well with a bigger audience. It had folk and classical strains mixed together and was something for everyone to sit back and enjoy.
On asking that after being in the industry for more than a decade he has only one film to his credit whereas everyone wants to be the part of Bollywood, he said I always like to work with complete freedom as I can't create music within any limitations. My priority is the best soulful and heart touching music that can be enjoyed for long time but right now its not possible I'm happy with Indi-pop but I don't mind doing great projects with my kind of music.