Do the Nepalese Youth still listen to the classics?

From Travis Barker to Travis Scott, Bruno Major to Bruno Mars, John Lennon to John Legend, music changes through the ages, more so in the past couple of years. The drastic shift in preference of music is palpable.

Yes, one can categorize these eras with the music that defined them, the 60's were for rhythm & blues, the 80's saw the rise of Electronic Dance Music. Likewise, there have been many peaks and troughs for genres through the years; however, the classification of such eras to music that defines the time seems almost futile in this day and age.

Almost every other person across the block has a vibrant music palette that resonates with the person's being itself. It is not one particular music that defined this era, but music itself that benefits from the plethora of composition available to the people. Yet in this diverse array of mellifluous tunes, one still finds a distinct trend developing when it comes to people liking the music, the music's era and the person's age!

In a survey conducted by NepalNews, when asked what language and kind of music they listened to, results yielded an even split for the three main languages presented to them: English, Nepali and Hindi with a minor percentile opting for the other category of language, mentioning Japanese, Korean as other languages they listen to. Even though they agree in the category of language, the deciding split comes in the era of music they listen to.

More than 90 percent of the surveyed who were under the age of 18 said that they listen to more modern music, the tunes that are popular on the radio and that they seldom listened to any old songs. However the remainder of the 20-35 year old had to say the exact opposite, they preferred music from the 90’s, early 2000’s and had barely heard one if any modern 2020 songs.

The younger audience seem to prefer the likes of Sajjan Raj Vaidya, Arijit Singh, Ar Rahman, Adele, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift. While the middle aged sample preferred the likes of Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Queen and Bob Dylan. “They don't do music like they used to do back in the day, nowadays music is all about money, girls and crazy beats. I can understand the appeal but for me simple lyrics, simple melodies and awe-striking vocals were what defined my music era growing up so I've always had that love for older music.” says Krishna Pandey, an avid melomaniac.

For the modern generation the music they seem to prefer are more catchy, songs suitable for niche moods in nice moments. “Honestly the music I listen to are all friend recommendations; they sound good and have a catchy hook so I like to keep listening to them. Nowadays, there are TikTok dances attached to it, too, so that just makes it more addictive to listen to" says Asmi Shrestha, a 19-year-old college student.

Despite the preference of the modern generation to the more addictive hype songs, there are still some who prefer music to be simple and plain. “I look for minimalism. They use simple harmonic and melodic patterns in their highly repetitive music. Less is more." says Simrika Basnet, a 16-year-old in the 10th Grade.