Tag: pop culture
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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…
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India Losing Music Genres Due To Bollywood?
The title of this post is a direct quote from an interview with Shubha Mudgal. Many months ago, I made a similar observation is a post titled Is Bollywood Overdose Killing India Music?. There is no denying the fact that Bollywood music’s overwhelming popularity suppresses non-film music. But isn’t Bollywood itself a melting pot of…
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Nostalgic 90’s with Kumar Sanu
Writing about the Hindi film music of 90’s is like writing about one single man and that’s Kumar Sanu. If I say that the man ruled the Hindi cinema in that decade, it wont be wrong. What he gave to the listeners in 90’s with some brilliant music by the duo Nadeem-Shravan was magical. You…
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Thank You Steve Jobs
For opening up a whole new world of music to me. For giving me wonderful experiences through your magical products. For being a source of inspiration and teaching me important lessons. Through your Stanford commencement speech. Through your Thoughts on Music. Through your many keynotes. Most importantly, through the act of building a great company…
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Coke Studio India Must Be Cheered
Coke Studio debuted in India last Friday. Armchair critics did detailed analyses proving conclusively that the first episode sucked. “Loud and empty” said one post. Another post said it “veered dangerously close to cacophony at times.”. There were some voices that attempted to tone down things a bit including this post, this tweet and this…
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Popular Is Not Always Good
Stung by poor reviews of “Ready”, and outraged Salman Khan asked – “Are my fans stupid?”. My answer – Not all of them, but the truth is that there is no correlation between people’s intellect and their taste. As the saying goes, “There is no accounting for taste”. I haven’t seen “Ready” but a number of…
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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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Bangalore’s Live Music Scene Making A Comeback
Bengaluru will not let go of the Rock Capital tag easily! Despite all that transpired in the city potentially spelling doom for music lovers, it appears that there is enough and more support going around. Here ‘s a link to a blogpost belonging to a local rising artist, Fidel Dsouza, who he talks about the new…
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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…