if you are a graphic designer for celebrated metal band megadeth and you have been assigned to create their next album cover which colour would you think goes best with their music will that colour be the same that you would pick for an indian classical album by ustad zakir hussain probably not longtime research and studies suggest that theres an association between music and colour with holi around the corner what would be better than exploring this offbeat relationshipexperts suggest that emotion plays a crucial role in how we interpret and respond to any external stimuli including colours and songs music genres like jazz blues rap classical heavy metal pop and rock among others are based on emotions and have different expression styles hence they are broadly associated with certain coloursthe colours associated with genres largely come from the album art trends from when the genres got popular we can easily tell a pop album from a world music album and a jazz from a metal album even if we dont know the artiste imagery and colour are super important in the communication of genres as a soul and rnb singer i look at our soundscape in earthy tones says singer vasundhara vee according to a recent study conducted by an american university associating sounds with colours is a form of synaesthesia for some people sounds such as doors opening cars honking or even people talking can trigger seeing colours for others colours are triggered when musical notes or keys are played so whether you are listening to bach or blues your brain is wired to make musiccolour connections depending on how the melodies make you feelsince humans share a common emotional palette the colours that come to our minds when we listen to different styles of music are similar so while genres like jazz and blues are usually associated with yellow classical and slowpaced music is more likely to be teamed up with light bluer coloursmetal fans are mostly in black says subir malik founder organist and keyboardist of the musical outfit parikrama adding that colours have an impact and make a statement for artistes thats why besides the stage lighting they also keep colours in mind when it comes to deciding their attire for live shows we are known for performing a wide variety of music under the umbrella genre of rock thats why you always see me and most of my band mates in multicoloured tieanddye tees on stage he says composersinger shekhar ravjiani agrees that colour and music have a strong association which also reflects from the colour theme of his music projects music is a deeply sensorial experience and when you connect auditory concepts with visual stimuli the result can be quite spectacular sometimes when you listen to a piece of music and close your eyes certain colours appear in your mind that are somehow associated with what you are feeling for my rendition of the hanuman chalisa i chose a soothing turquoise blue