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Jazz in India and the Limits of Resistance

Jazz musician playing trumpet with musical notes in air, in front of an ornate building. Background features soft purple hues.
Illustration by Sanigdhaya Mahajan

In the 1920s, New Orleans saw the emergence of a new genre within its African-American communities. It was an expression of their musical culture and a form of resistance against classical styles. Using the rhythmic techniques of West African music and melodies from Western classical music, it developed through the years, going from blues to ragtime, until jazz was formed. Following its conception, it quickly spread across the globe, including to India. 


Moreover, Warren Pickney in ‘Jazz in India’ states that Black artists entered India to express their music and escape racial persecution. Under colonial rule, they were able to practice their genre of music in elite hotspots such as Bombay and Calcutta. 


Simultaneously, cultural sociologist Stéphane Dorin highlights in ‘Jazz and race colonial India’ that it also inspired Goan artists in the Portuguese sphere to start picking up Jazz. Their Western music training under the Portuguese education systems allowed them to easily get employment and mentorship with touring musicians. They came from working-class backgrounds, specifically entering British India, also in search of employment.


Naresh Fernandes, a journalist and expert on the jazz scene in Bombay, notes in ‘Taj Mahal Foxtrot’ how jazz in India further developed and entered the booming cinematic culture. Many credited composers started putting jazz pieces into their soundtracks to appeal to the younger popular audiences. Since the Goans had the training, they again filled the orchestra's instrumental sections.


While the music was received well for its aesthetic value, a question of whether it was a socially charged art form emerged. Since jazz in the U.S. was formed as a resistance against the oppression faced by the African-Americans, were these values retained in the Indian Jazz scene? Did it stay closely linked to the elite audiences who consumed it, or did it also culturally emancipate certain populations, like Goans or touring African Americans? 


Touring Black Artists and the Advent of Jazz in India


In an interview by Marlon Bishop, Naresh Fernandes narrates that in 1935, Leon Abbey introduced jazz to India. Abbey performed at the prestigious Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay, a center of the Indian jazz scene, and entranced the audience with his music. He was a Black artist coming from one of the two main groups who practiced jazz in India, the other being the Goans. Both of them were socially oppressed, African Americans through their history of racial oppression and Goans through their colonisation by the Portuguese and working-class backgrounds. 


Alongside him were artists like Roy Butler, Teddy Weatherford, and Crickett Smith, who found a comparatively more accepting social environment than the U.S. in India. Vijay Prashad, a columnist at the Frontline Magazine with articles around many world politics issues, describes instances where artists like Roy Butler bragged about having a servant and a butler. Dorin expands that most Black artists coming to India did indeed enjoy a luxurious life with excellent pay and unmatched glamour; many even stayed for those reasons. Their presence made cities like Calcutta and Bombay hubs for colonial elites, thereby contributing to their economic development. 


Thus, it becomes evident that although African-American musicians came from deeply racist environments, they found in India a relatively more tolerant society—one that, for a time, gave way to a more comfortable lifestyle. 


By also being Western artists in a country where the elite were Westernized, they were largely appreciated and celebrated. This complicates the idea that their music was a form of resistance, since their motives to resist were no longer pertinent. However, along with the artists, we must also look at the audience, the Indian elite, who sponsored their performances.


The Elite Audience’s Consumption and Control of Jazz in India


The elites of cities like Bombay thoroughly enjoyed Jazz. Pickney even argues that its introduction was owed to the economic efforts of Indian maharajas (great kings), whose discovery of this genre in Europe brought it to India. Prashad elaborates that the venues where jazz was performed quickly became hubs for the Indian elite to wind down, possibly due to the instability during the Indian independence movement. Needless to say, jazz’s popularity rapidly grew, and per Pickney, by the 1950s, jazz was closely linked with the Indian upper class as a status symbol.


These audiences also enjoyed swing, a type of dance music, played by big bands. Prashad posits that their socioeconomic power allowed them to have such music played everywhere, from hotels like the Taj Mahal Hotel, race courses like Mahalaxmi, and even prestigious clubs like the Bombay Swing Club. Their funding and demand fueled India’s jazz scene. Subsequently, they held a somewhat stronghold on its consumption, as an artform for the rich and famous.


Consequently, these audiences were often obliviously discourteous to their sociopolitical environments. According to journalist Dosoo Framjee Karaka, a journalist with works in the Bombay Chronicle and author of several books (whose reportings are widely cited by Prashad), during a performance by the Sonny Lobo Orchestra, amidst the naval mutiny protests in 1945, no one in the Taj Mahal Hotel was bothered by the firing in the city due to the normalcy of such skirmishes. Another incident describes the Governor of Bombay arriving in an ornate carriage to the race courses while “a beggar boy lay dead on the streets with ‘Jai Hind’ on his lips”, showing an overall apathy for the surrounding political environment.


This begs the question: how could jazz have been a form of resistance in India at all? It had close links to the Indian and European elite and was played in fancy venues while its elite audience was unfazed by all the oppression and atrocities unfolding around the anti-colonial environments. The elite classes themselves were responsible for the oppression of the larger Goan practitioners. The limitations they placed on the expression and consumption of jazz greatly restricted the possibility of resistance, with no one sponsoring the free expression of jazz. But what about the Goans? They were greatly oppressed by the British Indians and elites; could their work be classified as resistant?


Goan Artists and Their Disgruntled Subjugation


Prashad highlights that the Goans came from strong Western musical backgrounds, thanks to their Portuguese education, and socioeconomically humble backgrounds. In addition to their performances in elite venues, they also performed at ‘second-level’ joints. Soon, their skills and numbers grew, and they filled positions within jazz orchestras, like ones led by Roy Butler or Teddy Weatherford—and eventually even led them, like Chic Chocolate.


Fernandes also notes in the Taj Mahal Foxtrot that many who filled the ranks often cited their work within orchestras as merely a way to earn a living instead of performing what they wanted; restrained by the lack of economic avenues that supported their expression. Expanding on that, other band leaders and permanent members, like Chic Chocolate and Franz Fernand, earned a more comfortable living while enjoying the pop music they composed.


Per Dorin, despite the Goan’s skill, the Westernized elite still preferred hiring European or American bandleaders over Goan artists. Similarly, Prashad writes that many who owned venues also controlled the kind of music performed, sanctioning more of the dance music and music that they didn’t find ‘cacophonous’ to appeal to a larger audience.


Prashad thus argues that despite their desire to resist elitism and colonialism through their free expression of music, they were systematically coerced into playing for the elite while witnessing the independence movement and its violence unfold. As Goans who lived under Portuguese control, the circumstances were worsened by their need to go to British India to earn a living playing the instruments they had learnt in their former land. This suggests that their anti-colonial struggles were restrained by the complex colonial landscapes of India. 


Overall, as evidenced by Prashad, it becomes apparent that Goan musicians often faced comparatively more pronounced social and structural restraints within the music industry and broader society. As workers, many who filled the ranks played music that appealed to the elite in their hirings (as to the elite controlling the jazz played). Since they were unable to play their music, resistance was not possible.


Even the musicians who rose the ranks were treated inferiorly to the foreign musicians and their music, emancipating one group at the cost of another by the control of the colonial elite. Though some did rise and play what they wanted, their reach was restrained by the interests and demands of the larger postcolonial population. Thus, the extent to which it was a ‘resistance’ as compared to when earlier composers like Sonny Lobo played is lacking.


All in all, the jazz performed by the musicians was not a form of resistance primarily because of the musical control by the elite consumers and complex colonial landscapes, which did not let them publicly resist. One could argue that their disgruntled performances were resistant by virtue of their submission to it, yet their free artistic expression that projects dissatisfaction is lacking, even if due to systemic causes. 


However, the music soon shifted and became immersed in mainstream cinema music, primarily Bollywood. This brought fame to many composers but retained similar problems to the orchestral work by the Goans. 


The Dynamics of Jazz in Indian Cinema and the Role of Goan Artists 


By the 1950s, jazz had entered Bollywood popular music and Chic Chocolate is greatly credited for this stride. Fernandes’s research posits that Chocolate was interested in composing jazz and worked to spread it through the cinema culture, especially since India lacked the mainstream pop-music culture of the West. His most groundbreaking work was in the soundtrack of Albela (1951) with pieces like “Deewana Parwana” and “Shola Jo Bhadke” or “Gore Gore O Baanke Chhore” from Samadhi (1950); these brought him great fame in the jazz clubs.


Moreover, Fernandes also discusses the infamous composer Anthony Gonsalves. Known for his work in the movie Amar Akbar Anthony, immortalised by the iconic character played by Amitabh Bachchan and the hit song “My Name is Anthony Gonsalves.” Shockingly, he loved pop film music and wanted to compose Bollywood jazz music. He was unlike the other working-class Goan instrumentalists who played to earn a living and not for their true musical passions. Amalgamating two different musical cultures, Indian and Western, Gonsalves appealed to the masses, which in the postcolonial context was notable due to the nation’s striving to bolster Indian culture through the fusion of musical traditions. 


Goan instrumentalists were still essential to the cinema jazz scene, largely being the only ones trained in Western music, they were a majority among the saxophonists and clarinettists. While Hindustani and Carnatic music were often taught orally, Goan’s abilities to read and arrange written music allowed for faster production and smooth tinkering with compositions. Thus, Fernandes posits that people like Chocolate and Frank Fernand became essential as assistant music directors and playing assistants due to their technical abilities. They brought Bollywood its contemporary charm. Sadly, however, most of them remain unknown since films only credited the main composers, and orchestras remained anonymous or under broader titles like “Chorus.” Despite their huge role, Goans remain underappreciated for their involvement in the Indian cinema jazz.


Thus, the rise and importance of Goans within Indian cinema could, in a way, be seen as depicting signs of the genre becoming a form of resistance. They became successful owing to their efforts in popularising Jazz, despite opposition from the elite audiences that marginalised them. Yet, popularly, many Goan composers still lack accreditation, and the orchestral instrumentalists largely remain unknown. Despite their successes, their social anonymity hints at the failure of their efforts in resisting elite forces. Their music could thus be seen as an unsuccessful form of resistance due to the lack of awareness and accreditation of the people who made it. 


The Forces That Hindered Resistance


Circling back to the central question, the extent to which Jazz remained true to its nature of resistance upon its introduction in India, the evidence suggests that, to a great extent, jazz in India did not reflect a form of resistance.


African-American jazz in India did not reflect their same resistant ideals as their music in the West. They instead played for the elites as commercial practitioners to, in turn, enjoy luxurious lifestyles and success. Their music greatly lacked political undertones despite the ongoing anti-colonial movement, thus not being very resistant.


Additionally, the Goans' ability to resist oppression was further worsened due to their lack of recognition and awareness in the mainstream. Their disgruntled playing was further controlled and overshadowed by Western artists. Within cinema, even though they gained success against all odds, they were still unnoticed and later forgotten, casting a certain shadow of failure upon their efforts—all limiting the extent of their resistance through free expression.


Thus, disappointingly, this analysis leads us to the conclusion that jazz in India, from the 30s to the 60s, was not a form of resistance. Despite the fiery independence movements and fight for workers' rights, the subjugation of jazz musicians by the wealthy elite highlights the failure of the socioeconomic systems in freeing other oppressed groups, consequently pushing them into playing popular music. 


However, as globalisation increased, jazz fused into genres like Indo-Jazz. With increased interaction between Western Jazz and Indian classical, especially during the Hippie movement and the current digital age, new artists arose. Simultaneously, jazz also lingered and is recently gaining popularity in its true form. This brings to light a large historical narrative behind jazz and its interaction with the Indian sphere. 


Even though jazz couldn’t be a form of resistance in India during its anti-colonial/independence era, we must also question if it ever became a form of resistance. Or if perhaps the fused genre of Indo-Jazz is a form of resistance? This paves a path for further research, and we must thoroughly understand jazz’s interaction with India to get a cohesive answer on whether jazz in the Indian context is a form of resistance.


Edited by Anish Paranjape


Ganim Singh is an undergraduate History major and a writer at Political Pandora. An amateur saxophonist with a love for jazz and its theory, they have a deep appreciation for film, television, and other media. Their writing explores the historical and sociopolitical contexts of their subjects, drawing connections that illuminate broader cultural narratives.



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Keywords: Jazz In India, Jazz During British Rule, Bollywood Jazz Musicians, African American Jazz Artists In India, Goan Jazz History, Jazz And Colonialism, Jazz And Resistance, Indo Jazz Evolution, Indian Jazz Scene, Jazz In Indian Cinema, Goans In Bollywood Music, Jazz Musicians In Bombay, Jazz During Independence Movement, Jazz In Calcutta Clubs, Chic Chocolate Jazz India

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