Colour me musical

My skin is brown. I have long, straight hair. I occasionally wear saris and quite enjoy Bollywood. I am of Indian descent. But does that mean I am limited to listening to Lotus FM?

I went to see Coldplay on Saturday and met a dude who was shocked by the number of Indian South Africans at the concert.

“But I didn’t realise Indian people knew what rock music is,” he said.

I was taken aback, but not entirely surprised.

It is widely seen that music appeal is divided along racial lines. Rock is for white people, RnB and Bollywood songs are for Indian people, Hip Hop is for black and coloured people. The hipster who listens to The Fleet Foxes is usually white and the Hip Hop head in the Fubu jacket is usually black.

However, there are plenty great artists out there that break the racial stereotypes. The likes of Eminem, TV on the Radio, Skunk Anansie, Counting Crows, Sum41 and Thin Lizzie break the mould.

We don’t even need to go that far to see racial barriers being broken. A metal band from Soweto called Ree-burth, which wowed at Oppikoppi 2009, are all black. Some of our greatest emcees are white.

There are countless artists waiting to prove musical racial profiling wrong, and I hate it when people look at my Indian friends in a mosh pit as if they don’t belong there.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying other races lump everyone else in these categories. People do it to themselves, too. The stereotypes are fuelled by acceptance within the specific groups.

When I told my friends at school that Kurt Cobain died, they laughed and asked why I listen to ‘honky’ music.

The answer to that is; it sounds best to my ears.

Sure, the reality is that upbringing, influences, lifestyle and location have a lot to do with one’s music taste, which is a small part of a larger problem of racial profiling.

Does that mean we have to stick within those boundaries?

No.

A lot of people alter their music tastes to suit others. Especially to look or seem cool. I saw many people at the concert on Saturday who I know don’t like the band, but are trying to fit in with their friends. Many people parade music they don’t like so that others will like them, come over to their houses and rip music from their hard drives.

I refuse.

I refuse to listen to Beyonce just because I grew up in an Indian suburb in Durban where most people haven’t heard of Queens of the Stone Age. I refuse to buy Hindi music just because it’s ‘my culture’. I do not want to play Rihanna on my car stereo just to fit in to what people expect of me.

I listen to what I like, regardless of people calling me a coconut.

So the next time I hear someone ask: “How do you know so much about Led Zeppelin? You’re Indian!” I will say (probably coupled with some expletives): “Music knows no colour.”

My skin is brown.

That’s as far as it goes.