Tag: India
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3G Cost In India Will Burst Music Cloud Bubble
Even though Google and Amazon have not yet released their cloud music service in India, the excitement around it is palpable in cities where 3G has been rolled out. One of our team members, Rakshith, can’t wait for Google Music to come to India because he wants access to music anywhere, anytime. To quote him…
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A.R. Rahman – The Spirit Of Music – Book Review
Conversations, Not Biography “The Spirit of Music” sets the readers’ expectation right on the cover by declaring “Conversations with Nasreen Munni Kabir”. Unfortunately, a lot of people have been referring to it as ARR’s biography. It is not. It is just a very long interview. It makes for a light and entertaining read but it…
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Why Streaming Music Is Not The Same As Owning It
An acquaintance of mine asked me why anyone would ever buy music when there are multiple on-demand streaming services available in India for free. I can answer the question from my perspective: Quality – I am yet to see any form of streamed music that matches the quality of CD music. In India, internet service…
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Music Wants To Be Free
Pirates (distributors and consumers) often invoke Stewart Brands’ iconic phrase “Information wants to be free” to justify piracy. In a recent discussion with a friend, I argued that Brand used this powerful phrase to suggest that information should be easily available to everybody, not that it should be available free of cost. My friend’s counter-argument…
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5 Songs For Women (And An Update)
God made man first, and decided he could do better. Here are my top 5 songs dedicated to the women in my life: Kabhi Kabhi (Mukesh) Nee Kaatru, Naan Maram (Hariharan) Amma Endru (Yesudas) Phoolon Ka Taaron Ka (Kishore Kumar) Daughters (John Mayer) What’s your favorite song about women? A cool announcement on Women’s Day…
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The Fascination For High-Pitched Vocals
There is an awesome thread in RMIM in which a few people have asserted that music directors did a disservice to Lata and music lovers by making her sing at a pitch higher than what was necessary or pleasing. Just because she could. One guy actually edited a song and tweaked it to a pitch…
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Solar Punch – NY based Eco-Rock Band Live in Bangalore
I’m writing this post about the band Solar Punch just because I loved their attempt of rendering Yun Hi Chala from Swades. Solar Punch is a solar-powered band that uses music to educate people about the environment and climate change. Their sound system is powered by a small PV array mounted atop band mate Alan…
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Objective Fans – An Oxymoron
In the last couple of days, our blog got a nice spike in traffic. A quick peek at Google Analytics showed that most of the new hits were for a recent post regarding A.R. Rahman. Almost all the hits for this post came from a Yahoo Group and good ol’ Google helped me figure out…
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People – Please Get Off A.R. Rahman’s Back
For some reason, a Facebook status update from me about 127 Hours elicited some negative comments against A.R. Rahman. This is not the first time I have heard such comments. I am intrigued by generalizations that A.R. Rahman is overrated. Why would people say something like that despite the brilliant work he has produced over…
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Coke Studio In India?! Fingers Crossed
Anyone who has seen the delectable live show program from across the border will understand why I am so excited about the news that Coke Studio may come to India! Like most Indians, I have many misgivings about Pakistan and it’s attitude towards India but I can’t help admiring, even envying, their music scene. What…