JBS Vol 26. Num 2. 2024. Article 3 - Adhunikata - Musical or Aural - The Case of ‘Modern Bengali Song’

This article attempts to understand how, with technology-based music production, a new approach to Bengali song-making gains prominence. Departing from the notion that the hybrid aesthetic of modern song is merely an experiment in blending distinct genres of music, this article theorizes a ‘synthetic ontology’ of song. Superficial genre-blending, I show, fails to account for the composite aesthetic character of modern song. There is a transition from ‘musicality’ to ‘aurality’, I propose, in listening as well as production practice. Looking for genre-blends is replaced by the experience of listening to the entire song rather than looking for (a) distinct genre(s) within song. This becomes important in negotiating popular taste as song enters the erratic energies of the recording studio from the confines of the high-end salon.