All Entries Tagged With: "Music"

Ghar is what the Gulzar-RD Burman-Kishore magic is all about. I have always wondered whether this is a film one should watch because it shows the transition of Rekha as an actress or just listen to the music. I think I’ll vote for the music.

Sona has a degree in Engineering and an MBA in Marketing. She had a plum job as a Brand Manager in a consumer goods company. She quit that to take up singing. That’s not all. At 5’8″, this MTV Style Icon 2006 trained as a classical singer for 10 years. Her debut video Bolo Na बोलो ना (Translation: Tell me naa …) made people sit up and take notice. The song was about drifting relationships. She still bristles when someone describes her music as ‘unusual’. She would rather describe it as a “unique sound” and not unusual. Her debut album “SONA is a blend of contemporary and ethnic sounds with nuances of Romanian gypsy music, R&B, East Indian baul, Flamenco and North Indian folk rhythms.”

Hindustani Classical music was traditionally passed down from the maestro to the disciple. This tradition known as the guru-shishya parampara helped nurture some of the greatest artistes. “Baba” Allauddin Khan (1862-1972) court musician of the princely state of Maihar, was the guru whose disciples themselves went on to become musical legends in their own right. “Baba” taught his disciples of the Maihar Band the nuances of Hindustani Classical music as well as Western music tunes. The Maihar Band lost yet another musician yesterday. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, the sarod player who popularized the complex instrument among Western listeners died on 18 June 2009 at age 87 in California.

My kids have known this always. My wife always sides with them. So she does too. I denied it for a long time and pretended to love it. But today I am announcing it. I do not understand rap.

“Rap is a way of life bro’. Wanna rap? You gotcha live like us – the ghetto clothes. You gotta dress right … like a gangsta. Give attitoood and you’ll get it.”, the guy offered me the first AHA experience about Rap. He should know. He was the young 20 something who was being interviewed as he stepped off his stretch limo. I had gone to drop off a hysterical gang of teenagers at this Rap Concert. (Is that an oxymoron?)