Facing a different sort of music altogether

What does a person really mean when he says, " This is my kind of music?"

I've heard of different genres — pop, rock folk, jazz, classical and many more; but I don't think that there's something called "my kind of music" that is listed there.

Is it just because a song has made it to the top of the recent chart and the whole nation — including your group of best buddies — like it, that a song becomes a favourite? Or does a certain kind of music have to meet your taste to become a music that one likes?

A little while ago, the annual fest of our school, Cognizance '06, was on. I was sitting at the Request Corner with some of my friends when someone played a fast (read pacy) remix. I noticed that one of my companions hooted loudly in the microphone and started to tap his feet and shake his head rather...err...vigorously! He seemed to be enjoying himself quite immensely. I asked him if he liked the song and he replied with a "Yo!"

"So, you like this singer ?" I enquired.

"Naaah!"

"The music and the beats then?" (my second attempt to grasp the situation.

"Not really"...hmmm...tricky, this.

Surprised as I was, I went on: "Then you like the actor in the song, ha?"

"No," he answered with a frown!

"So what do you like in this song?" I gave up. And all he said was:"Oh, it's such a big hit!" Surprised?

And this reminds me of something else that had happened with the same boy a few days after the incident of the vigorous dancing-cum-shaking. We were all in the computer lab at our school and I played a Jagjit Singh's song to tease the fellow. "Hey, isn't this one of your 'favourites'?"

I had expected a mocking or a sarcastic reply in turn. But much to my (pleasant) surprise, he said: "Yes, it is one of my favourites," and he started singing the song! And then he told me how he "actually" liked the slow melodious ghazals and how "one has to like the faster 'numbers' nowadays." But why? Only because others like it?

I posed this question to my schoolmates. They all seemed to have varied tastes in music — personally. Some of them even liked the "old" Rafi songs and the "melodious and moving" Kishore Kumar wonders. But once out of their personal lives, they all willingly bent their preferences at the cost of others' choices! So, why not have the courage to like one's favourite songs once in public, too? I am not trying to say that one has to declare one's choice screaming in public and want the others to like it, too.

But what if they already like it? Why put on the "I-hate-Elton John-act" when one simply doesn't?

That day at the Request Corner, most of the songs that we played may not have been the actual preferences of the people, for whom we had requested them. In fact I also noticed that there were this whole group that only preferred English songs. I know that some of them are not really fond of Western music. So does that mean they wanted those songs to be played only because that would project an image of them (as hip or cool). I, too, love Western music but I don't expect everyone to like them.

Granted there are people, who love (adore and die over) GeneratioNext remixes and those who prefer English tracks. But then why does everyone have to declare their love for the two? Does that mean that earning brownie points from the peer group is more important than being true to what one really prefers? For a change can't we redefine "my kind of music"!