Indian Music

Hands in the air, mobile phones, camera, and action! As Pakistan-based folk musician, Arif Lohar, arrived at Paara, a night club in Chandigarh, to perform, the audience that kept waiting for three hours pulled their Smartphones out and clicked selfies and videos with Arif in the backdrop! What followed later was a Friday night drunk on the beats of dhol …

Internationally acclaimed sitarist Anoushka Shankar says Indian classical music has a strong following abroad, but it’s “such a shame” that the genre’s popularity hasn’t translated in the country of its origin. The daughter of late sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar earned her fifth Grammy nomination this week for her album “Home”, which reaffirms Indian classical music’s hold in the West. …

A heady mix of rustic and contemporary notes and global rhythms — Rajasthan folk festival encourages and promotes people’s music Jodhpur RIFF (Rajasthan International Folk Festival) is different. It is music from dawn to midnight and beyond. It coincides with Sharad purnima — the brightest full moon each year. From finding one’s way in the dark before dawn, to get …

Renowned musician Ravindra Jain, who overcame his blindness to chart a stellar career in Bollywood, died at private hospital here on 9 October 2015 following prolonged illness, an aide said. He was 71. He is survived by his wife Divya and a son Arush. Jain, who breathed his last at Lilavati Hospital in Bandra, Mumbai around 4.15 p.m. following multi-organ …

Presenting a platform for the folk and root musicians of Rajasthan with international music collaborations, Jodhpur RIFF, which will present its ninth edition during October 23-27, has been creating new music for not just audiences but to the country, festival director Divya Bhatia said. Jodhpur’s Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF), with its Rajasthani folk musicians and international artists, has been …

Mirza Ghalib once said this about Meer Taqi Meer, another renowned poet of his time: “Reekhta kay tumhi ustaad nahi ho Ghalib, Kehte hain agle zamane me koi Mir bhi tha. “(You are not the only master of Urdu, Ghalib. They say there used to be a Mir in the past).” Born in Agra on September 20, 1723, Meer is …

Huge solitaire studs in both ears, hair sticking up stylishly, kadak moochen and a groomed beard, as Navraj Hans walks in to announce his next single in Maverick, Piccadily Square on Tuesday, everyone present can’t help but notice. In tow, is his ‘veer’ Dil Sandhu, who has rapped for the song. A typical Punjabi number set in a wedding backdrop, …

Bollywood singer Richa Sharma has not had success served on a platter. She has struggled for it and is proud of having made a mark in the world of music In absolute absence of restrictions lies the beauty of independent music. Bollywood playback singer Richa Sharma is absolutely in love with the platform where nothing needs be planned and yet …

Communal harmony has been a natural way of life with Indian musicians throughout the ages. Uniting people and finding the underlying binding thread between them was a part of their innate thought process The world of Indian classical music has been an age-old treasure house of unpolitised unity and pluralism. As stated by vocalist late Ustad Amir Khan, “one may …

Legendary sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s bonding with Punjab spans over 50 years and now he makes this bond stronger by playing for an album—Gurbani: Songs of Divine Wisdom It was in 1964, more than 50 years back, that Ustad Amjad Ali Khan stepped on the Punjab soil for his first-ever concert, a relationship that only grew with each …