Published in Vivek Saptahik, Divali issue 2006. फ्युजन म्युझिक – कनफ्युजन का संगीतसंगम? दोन किंवा त्याहूनही अधिक संगीत प्रकारांचे एकमेकांशी संभाषण आणि यातून झालेला आविषकार म्हणजेच ‘फ्युजन म्युझिक’. या प्रक्रीयेचा प्रदीर्घ इतिहास असला तरी फ्युजन म्युझिक हे नाव अलिकडेच म्हणजे गेल्या तीन-चार दशकातच प्रचलित झाले. सर्व प्रथम ही संज्ञा पाश्चात्य संगीत प्रकारांमधील देवाण-घेवाण दर्शवण्या करीता वापरण्यात आली. जॅझ-रॉक फ्युजन हे याचे एक उदाहरण. या संपूर्ण काळात, रसिकांचे कान वेधून घेण्यासाठी रेकॉर्ड कंपन्यांनीही या नावाचा उपयोग करून नवीन रेकॉर्डस बाजारात

Published in DNA April, 2007 One has noticed the odd article or news item in the recent past drawing the reader’s attention to musicians patenting their inventions. Some musicians have also made it a point to include such information in their bio-sketches, a move prompted more by the need to ‘safeguard’ against any contrary claims from others in the fraternity than by any business motives. While this may even be an inevitable ramification of the professionalism that a global

An Open Letter to the Outlook Magazine in response to its cover story for the September 25, 2006 issue. Congratulations on striking the death knell for Hindustani classical music! One can’t quite remember the last time that Outlook did a cover story or a feature on classical music, but I am happy that you have chosen to don the role of the ‘rudali’ in the absence of anything else. On a more serious note, Arindam Mukherjee’s article has left

It is well over a century since Maharashtra first saw the public celebration of the Ganesh festival or what is more commonly called Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav. The use of these public festivities as a political weapon by Lokmanya Tilak during the colonial period is a well-known fact. But it would be relevant to remember at this point that these celebrations always featured music performances and other events of a high intellectual order. Eminent vocalist Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale performed every year during

This is an unedited version of a piece that was published in the DNA, July 1, 2006 The need to articulate musical concepts related to technique, repertoire and more, has been an ongoing pursuit for many scholars of Hindustani music. The introduction of the print medium in India, enabled scholars, other intellectuals and musicians to communicate music-related material to the music loving public since the nineteenth century. But there has been a palpable divide between the scholastic and performing

This is an unedited version of an article that appeared in the Tehelka, October 9, 2004 Yesterday, we lost one of India’s finest voices. Yesterday, another window into the past was shut on us. Yesterday, I lost Shobhatai – more familiar to music lovers as Shobha Gurtu, the 79 year old thumri exponent who left an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of innumerable fans. As a child, I heard Shobha Gurtu on television, and found myself immediately

This is an unedited version of a piece that appeared in the Times of India, Mumbai, Februay 25, 2004 Renaming institutions to ostensibly bring back lost glory and to weed out foreign elements in Indian society has been a favourite pastime of the saffron brigade. The recent move to rechristen the Ustad Allauddin Khan Sangeet Academy, Bhopal, by Anup Mishra, Minister for Culture in the Madhya Pradesh BJP Government, therefore does not come as a complete surprise (TT 7/2/2004).

This is an unedited version of a piece that appeared in the DNA, Mumbai, February 18, 2006 Come January and arts’ circles are abuzz with rumours about possible Padma awardees.  Not before long, hopes and anxieties are met or put to rest, when the headlines carry the final list of awardees.  And the government makes its ‘commitment’ to the arts evident to the people of this country by way of yet another of these token gestures.  Looking back though,

This article was first published in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol XLI No.21, May 27-June 2, 2006  Lakshmi Subramanian’s article (EPW, April 8-14, 2006) on the role of the accompanist in the larger aesthetic of Indian music presented a fresh look at the issue, particularly so, after the now media-sensationlised and much-hyped ‘Shanmukhananda Hall’ episode.  Ironically, it took an episode of involving celebrity musicians to bring media attention to the role of the accompanist, and yet, the discussion that

This is an unpublished response to an article that appeared in the Times of India in March 2006 The Times of India, Mumbai, on April 3, 2006, carried a thought-provoking article by Bella Jaisinghani bringing into sharp focus the issue of work-related injuries that musicians could suffer from. However, Jaisinghani’s article published on March 26, 2006 appeared to lack the balanced approach that her writing otherwise displays. This article contained a description of the supposed misdemeanor of Indian musicians traveling