This blog has been initiated to have healthy and constructive discussions on all genres of music. As I belong to Mumbai, India, there would be an emphasis on music available and admired in this part of the world. But it would be wonderful to know about sounds from across the globe—whether they are artistically appealing or commercially successful. Known stars, unknown names, all have a place here.
For those unfamiliar with Indian music, a large section of listeners is tuned in to Hindi film music, which comprises almost 75 per cent of total music sales in India. The other genres include Indian pop, classical, ghazal (slower songs which concentrate on the use of rich poetry), regional music (derived from various geographical regions within India) and devotional music.
Among the international forms, pop and rock are the most popular, though jazz and blues have followers in the larger cities. Western classical music has a limited audience, but electronic dance music is becoming increasingly popular.
That much for the basics. Looking forward to some wonderful interactions …
Kaansen Kalling 
Comments on: "About this blog" (25)
Sir,
Your statement even “unknown names have a place here” has encouraged me to write this . This is regarding an unknown master of the Agra gharana ,who never sang in public and passed away in 1982. Some of his songs recorded at home have recently been made public through a non-commercial website named http://www.alaap-agragharana.com and have drawn huge appreciation from connoisseurs across the world . Some have gone as far to say that he has no equals where alaap is concerned .
That is a personal view and we leave it that .However , we assure you that the music is not run of the mill. May we request you to kindly visit the site and , if you think the music deserves attention ,kindly share it with like minded people .
We would also like to assure you that ,we have no commercial interest and all the songs are available for free download .
It would be a pleasure to hear from you
Dear Mr Sengupta
I was on leave and didn’t get a chance to see your mail earlier. Will take me a couple of days to get back with routine work and shall properly go through the website after that and revert. Do keep in touch
Regards
Naren
Dear Sir,
I am a j mithra, working as a music teacher in MCC Campus school, East Tambaram, Chennai. Composing music using natural birds and animal sounds is my passion. And i use this music to create awareness on ecological issues among students. Cornell lab of ornithology has created a webpage in one of their web portals for a few of my music that i had composed using natural birds sounds. Recently the Limca Book of records has included my work and has recognised me as the first zoomusicologist of India to compose music using natural birds and animal sounds.
In fact i am the only person in the world to compose music exclusively using natural birds animals and insect sounds. Jim Fassett had composed music using natural birds ounds in 1955. But he had tampered with the bird sounds. He had speeded up the audio file to raise the pitch and clowed it down to lower the pitch. But i compose music using the natural sounds of birds and animals without tampering. Would you mind commenting on this music please..
The links for my works are as follows.
http://www.ecowalkthetalk.com/blog/2012/10/17/a-j-mithra-zoomusic-as-a-barometer-to-determine-the-ecological-status-of-a-given-environment/
Music composed using natural tiger sounds
Music composed using natural frog sounds
Music composed using natural bird sounds
Regards,
a j mithra
Hi Naren,
Stumbled across this blog while checking out blogs that review the Indian Indie scene albums. Wanted to check with you if you’d be open to having a CD sent across to you for review. One of the bands I work with, Antariksh from New Delhi are releasing their debut album in a couple of weeks time. Would be great to have you review it 🙂
Thanks!
Ashima
Hi Ashima
Sure you can send me the CD. Shall send my address in a separate mail.
All the best
Naren
Hi Naren ji,
Thanks for your blogs! I must say that I’m a regular reader. I’ve ecently found my fascination and love for the Indian Classical music. Could you please recommend Top 10 Indian Classical Albums? Or perhaps do a blog on that?
Regards,
Vishal
Thanks for your mail Vishal.
I’ll try and do a blog some time or the other but in case I delay that can send you a list sooner. Are you looking for vocal, instrumental or both? Which are the musicians you like?
Regards
Naren
HI Naren Ji, I don’t live in India so won’t have access to CDs. Although I’ll try and get it from iTunes / download them.
A couple of years ago I heard A R Rahman’s album WATER and kind of realised the effect of Indian Classical music on our minds, And then my friends recommended me to listen to Madan Mohan’s music. And it is slowly growing on me now. So in a very neophyte/introductory stage of Classical music.
Although I’m a keyboardist myself, so something with piano perhaps? Or it could be Pt Ravi Shankar or Ustd Sultan Khan.. but it might be too high level for me.
Thanks, I really appreciate your reply and your blogs that I receive via emails 🙂
Vishal
Dear Vishal
You could begin with any album featuring Shivkumar Sharma on santoor and Hariprasad on flute, ideally having both of them (one such album is The Valley Recalls’). Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on modified guitar is another good starting point. Abhijit Pohankar plays classical music on keyboards.. he has released albums like Piya Bawri, Ghazal Lounge and Thumri Funk, mixing classical and light classical styles. These are good to begin with.
Naren
Dear Sir,
My self ..Reshma Khan iam from middile class family .I am a lyric writer & i have written more then 200 lyrics in all topics but the thing is i never submit because i want to write in movies,pop albums .so i will send you the some sample of my own lyrics if it is unique then get back to me please replay to my personal e.mail i.d sweetjasmine446@gmail.com inshallaha
Reshma khan
Sunheri si dhoob
chandan si shaam,
dhadkanein yeh mehsoos kar rahe hai
shayad jannat ki KHIDKIYAN khuli hue hain
,mousam ki khubsurti iss liye badh rahe hai
neela se ambar ,gulabi se yeh safar,
pooch thi hai yeh fiza, Ab tak tujhe pyar kyun nahe huva
My name is Erika Budai, i’m the int. coordinator of the Artofonic music Production. I’m happy to announce that we finally released the Sentimental Piano concert Album of Levente Egry Composer featuring the Artofonic Chamber Orchestra. The album is avaliable for digital Download on itune, Amazon and many other site.
Please listen to the samples and let me know if you can help us out by writing a review. Thank you for your time.
Best Regards,
Erika Budai
http://www.leventeegry.com
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sentimental…/id875160238
http://www.reverbnation.com/leventeegry/bio#!/leventeegry
http://www.twitter.com/leventeegry
I happened to come across your blog about Begum Akhtar and was immensely touched by it. Growing up in Lucknow I was exposed to all kinds of ghazal singers and while during my teenage years I too found BA’s voice not very appeasing, I have now in my later years fallen in love with it.
Thanks for your mail Surbhi. Yes Begum Akhtar’s voice simply grows
Hello, Do you still do book reviews?
Hi Pooja
I have only reviewed books related to music, and still write them for different publications
Naren
Hi Naren,
Got your reference from Keith Viegas & Zameer.
I play the bass along with Keith and am a singer-songwriter too.
Would be extremely grateful if you could review a couple of songs,
https://soundcloud.com/vivek-date/2-an-artist
https://soundcloud.com/vivek-date/green-fairy-tale
Looking forward 🙂
Thanks,
Vivek
Sorry for the late response Vivek. Will surely check them out
Sir,
I am 19 and have recently started listening to ghazals, mostly by ghulam ali and mehdi hassan. I generally google the meaning of words that i dont understand. Could you please refer me books or websites to refer which would make it easier for me to learn urdu for the sake of understanding ghazals.
Thank you,
Rahul
Dear Naren, Kaansen Kalling continues to whet everybody’s musical appetite, delighted to see…wanted to tell about some old old unpublished Hindustani Masters’ works discovered on my in-laws’ Rama temple premises…they are from the likes of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and were put by us on YouTube, got rave responses. Can be heard by typing my wife’s ID yamini kalyani in YT search box. The story is on http://www.indrayanikaathi.com/2015/04/rare-recordings.html…..
Regards…
Thanks for the link and the article. Really interesting reading
Hi, Naren,
I have read your article “the reluctant pop star” published in Hindu on Nov 3. I liked the article very much. However, I have some points to make in this section. First, the review that you wrote for KALH could have been a little more gentle. I love “ek pal main hai zindagi”, “tanhai main basi hai zindagi”, and like the remaining songs. Second, the fourth story on my blog (here is the link: sauravrayblog.wordpress.com/blog/) will answer your last question.
Regards,
Saurav
Thanks Saurav
Reviews are all subjective, and in many cases honest attempts. I don’t remember what I wrote but do know I felt his sound was getting repetitive then, Yes I did praise ‘Ek Pal Main Zindagi’, but overall I felt it came short of expectations. Also, after Sony Music, the sound in the Zee and T-=Series albums didn’t match. And Lucky himself agreed.
Thanks for your feedback. Lucky is a dear friend.
Naren
Liked your blog 🙂
Thank you, Naren.