Tag: India
-
Patriotic Songs In Hindi Films Before Independence
[This post originally appeared here.] Patriotism has always been an important theme in Hindi films. Films like Anand Math (1952), Haqeeqat (1964), Shaheed (1965), Upkar (1967), Kranti (1981), Prahaar (1991), Border (1997), The Legend Of Bhagat Singh (2002), Swades (2004) and Rang De Basanti (2006) had strong patriotic themes. There are many film songs capable…
-
1930s Hindi Film Music – Now Available on MySwar
We had promised in February to complete the task of cataloguing the first decade of Hindi film music, starting with “Alam Ara” (1931), by April. We’re happy to report that the task is done right on time. MySwar now lists all the films released between 1931 and 1940 and their songs. At this point, the data for film…
-
The Top 100 Hindi Film Songs Of 2015
As 2015 draws to a close, it is time to revisit the best songs of the year. This is the first draft of the year’s top 100 songs based on rankings on MySwar. We will finalize the rankings in a few weeks. This list excludes singles released recently for which the album will likely not…
-
The Top 100 Hindi Film Songs Of 2014
It is that time of the year again. The snobs may look down on it, but “best of” lists are a simple and effective way to record and revisit great music over time. We like to think that the lists on MySwar are a little different from the rest because they are based on ratings from many people…
-
Non-Film Albums Now Available On MySwar App
So far we had only Hindi film albums available on the MySwar app. Over the weekend, we rolled out an update that makes non-film albums also available. This means that the best works of artists like Jagjit Singh, Indian Ocean, Shubha Mudgal, Raghu Dixit, Swarathma and Vasuda Sharma are now available on our app. It also means…
-
iTunes Quietly Launches Music And Films In India (Links Available On MySwar)
Digital India was abuzz yesterday with news of iTunes launching its music and films stores in India. I particularly liked the following posts covering the launch: http://nh7.in/indiecision/2012/12/04/rip-and-run-itunes-india-store-is-finally-here http://www.medianama.com/2012/12/223-apple-finally-extends-itunes-store-to-india/ While the buzz is mostly positive: iTunes is so expensive. Bought a Radiohead album with 27 songs for Rs. 50 twitter.com/aneeshb/status… — Aneesh Bhasin (@aneeshb) December 5,…
-
Musicians Don’t Matter In India?
Shubha Mudgal posted the following series of tweets yesterday. Check ID tags for Pyar Ke Geet on emusic..com. Artistes are Malaika Arora & Arbaz Khan. No composer, no lyricist or singer. Shame ! — Shubha Mudgal (@smudgal) July 25, 2012 Reflects the status of composer, singer, lyricists in the producer’s scheme. Obviously we don’t matter…
-
Partners In Crime – Documentary Review
After my posts – Piracy is Mainstream and Why People Don’t Talk About Pirate Consumers – one of the readers of the blog recommended that I watch a documentary called Partners in Crime. I had heard about this documentary on Twitter but never got around to seeing it. I finally saw it last week and I…
-
Why People Don’t Talk About Pirate Consumers
I engaged in a long debate on Twitter yesterday with popular blogger, Karthik Srinivasan (entire conversation at the end of his post). To boil things down, I was asking why illegal downloaders don’t get called out for doing the wrong thing and his point was that it was not really going to make a difference.…
-
Piracy Is Mainstream
I’ve been an anti-piracy advocate in my friend circle for many years now. Over time though, I realized that people like me were rare and specially in India, we became outcasts. Friends and relatives look at me like I am nuts when I refuse to lend them my iPod so they can copy songs from…