rockin’ all over the world

Do you think there are certain genres of music associated with different ethnicities? Rikki Mehta, the half-Indian lead guitarist from rock group Dogs, gives his opinion on the matter

When I was nine, I started listening to heavy music such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Black Sabbath and Guns n’ Roses. It was my friend Simon who introduced me to this kind of music, and he also started me off playing guitar.

Back then, my role models were James Hetfield from Metallica and Dave Murray from Iron Maiden. There were no black or Asian people involved in the rock music that I listened to, from what I can remember.

Over the years, my tastes have changed, and yet there still haven’t really been that many people from different ethnic origins involved in the music scene, apart from those genres that come under the ‘Urban’ umbrella.

Different ethnic groups tend to stick together, both as a way to preserve their own beliefs and traditions, and also because it’s where they feel most comfortable.
I come from Blackburn, where you have certain Asian areas of town. Consequently, people tend to stay within their own communities and don’t venture out to explore what’s beyond that.

Friends and family become your comfort zone, and therefore your musical culture can be kept within fairly strict confines. I see it with my family, especially the older generation. It’s a very tight-knit community.

I think it is difficult for people from different ethnicities to be accepted within their groups if they venture outside the accepted norm.

A lot of the Urban lyrical content from what I hear (although not all of it) is negative – a lot of gang stuff, and I guess that’s as a result of people feeling disenfranchised from society.

Listening to this kind of music isn’t a bad thing, it’s good to find stuff you can relate to. But it can’t be good for someone to listen to something which can have a repeatedly bad message over again.

To me, Indie music doesn’t seem as derogatory in its content. It’s about people going about their lives, and anyone can relate to it. There are a lot more love songs, the message is usually more positive. And it’s starting to move out from the realm of being listened to and participated in by mainly white people, although there’s many exceptions to this.

I went to see a rock gig recently, Oasis and Foo Fighters were playing, and I don’t think I saw one black person within a crowd of 65,000. There must have been some there, but I didn’t see anyone.

It’s the same with the gigs we play – we’ve had a few Asian people come, but I can’t remember seeing any black kids.

I think it’s weird that rock music has become so intrinsically ‘white’ over the decades, seeing as guitar music was born out the Blues, which was inherently black music. Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, the list of men who were at the forefront of the Blues movement were all black, and bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones took these influences to create pop songs which changed the face of popular music around the world.

I think it’s important for all kids to have role models from different ethnic backgrounds in every walk of life, because I think it encourages people to keep an open mind and experience a variety of things, rather than to have tunnel vision.

The recent appearance of people from different castes across different genres of music, such as Kele Okereke from Bloc Party, and a number of different musicians within other new bands across the country, can only be a good thing.
It’s another small step towards full integration, and it might encourage a black teenager to consider picking up a guitar or drum sticks in order to join a band.
Things are changing now, because the world’s moving on. People are learning to live with each other without prejudice. But it’s far from people seeing past the colour of your skin to what’s inside.

I think music can be a great unifier – it’s a universal language, and with more people from every walk of life getting involved, an increasing number of prejudices are broken down.

Dogs’ album Turn Against This Land is out now. Check the band out on www.dogsmusic.com