Indian Music

#Billboard2013: Justin Bieber took home The Milestone Award! Amazing accomplishment for a 19 year old, don't you think? Liked his performance with will.i.am? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuhYh9DPhyU&list=UU6rgK_WHZZQXUremFwPi6qw

Good morning friends! Let's start the morning with Dhingana exclusive Radio station - 'Big Bang Mornings' http://dhin.ag/13H5gdW! Tune in now!

#Billboard2013: Taylor Swift won a whopping 8 awards... including Best Artist & Top Billboard 200 Album. Here's her performance of '22'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqu53SUyQMo Available on: iTunes: http://bit.ly/15UIEJp Flyte: http://bit.ly/Y8CtyY Flipkart: http://bit.ly/14hZOka

An Ode To The Blues is an annual day-long blues festival. It was first held in Bangalore in 2011 to commemorate the centennial birth anniversary of blues legend Robert Johnson (check out pics from the inaugural edition). Now in its third year, the event, held in the backyard of Counter Culture, Bangalore, has evolved into one of the most anticipated events for blues lovers in the garden city. This year’s edition of An Ode To The Blues takes place at the Bangalore venue on June 8, celebrating the 102nd birth anniversary of Robert Johnson. While previous editions of the festival have featured veteran blues acts from over the country, including Chennai act Blues Conscience, Bangalore veterans Ministry Of Blues, and local act Blues Before Sunrise, the 2013 edition will see the festival host an international artist for the first time. The festival will feature young Norwegian blues musician Monica Heldal. The 21-year-old has been honing her skills at the guitar for about a decade, and has also featured on the title track of English singer-songwriter Ben Howard‘s 2012 EP, The Burgh Island. Heldal’s delicate melodies see influences of blues and folk music. You can stream a performance video of her track ‘I Don’t Mind’ below. Also playing the festival are some of India’s best blues and blues rock acts, at the foremost of which is Mumbai group Blackstratblues. The act, fronted by guitarist Warren Mendonsa, are currently readying an album, and you can check out a preview of ‘Folkish Three’, off the album, below (review here). Blackstratblues are also scheduled to play a set at the Escape Festival of Arts and Music in Naukuchiatal this weekend. The lineup for An Ode To The Blues also features Mumbai blues act Overdrive Trio, who are a regular fixture at blues festivals over the country, such as the Mahindra Blues Festival and the Indigo Blues festival (pics from the 2012 edition). Also playing at the festival are Bangalore electric blues act Hoodoo Gas, one of the newest blues act to hit the Bangalore circuit. Local blues veterans Ministry Of Blues have featured on the first edition of the festival, and they return this year with their high energy set. The final act on the lineup are Bangalore group The Chronic Blues Circus. The finale for the night features an all star jam. An Ode To The Blues takes place at Counter Culture, Bangalore, on June 8 from 5.30pm onward. Early bird tickets can be bought here and are priced at Rs 700 for regular tickets and Rs 3,500 for VIP tickets.

Version 2.0 of NH7 and Blue Frog’s The Scene is gonna take place at the Blue Frog, Mumbai, on May 29 , and will feature performances by ambient metal act Pangea, Delhi psychedelic rock band The Circus and Pune’s Drawing Short Straws (look out for features on all the bands in the upcoming NH7 Scene zine). Just like last time around, NH7 is holding a poster competition for The Scene where interested fans can send in their The Scene (v2.0) posters and possibly win a whole bunch of goodies courtesy NH7.in and the Blue Frog. Goodies include exclusive NH7 merch, Blue Frog discounts, and even your own poster print in A2 size, signed by all the bands at The Scene (v2.0). To participate, send in your poster designs to kvlt at nh7 dot in. And check out the first official NH7 & Blue Frog presents The Scene (v2.0) poster below.

Good evening friends! Listen to this week's Dhingana chartbusters http://dhin.ag/V3oMdM. 'Ramainya Vastavaiya' is leading the chart.

Naukuchiatal’s Escape Festival of Music and Arts returns to its hilly home this weekend, between May 24 and 26 at the Lake Resort in Naukuchiatal, Uttarakhand. Now in its fourth year, the three-stage festival has grown to be one of the most picturesque events of the festival circuit, and has previously seen performances by Skinny Alley, menwhopause, Scribe, Bhayanak Maut, Street Stories, Indigo Children, Teddy Boy Kill and more. This year’s edition of the annual camp-out festival sees a lineup comprising a bunch of great Indian indie bands, including Thermal And A Quarter, Blackstratblues, The Ska Vengers, and ToT (pics from their recent album launch gig here), as well electronica acts like FuzzCulture, EZ Riser, Tarqeeb, and Vachan Chinnappa. At Escape 2013, the Soul Garden stage at the festival will see a very special tribute to late Skinny Alley/PINKNOISE bassist Gyan Singh. Dubbed The Gyan Connection, the final set of the day on May 25 will see a performance by members of Kolkata alt-rock veterans Skinny Alley (read their story here) along with friends of the band and the Singh family, including TAAQ frontman Bruce Lee Mani, Warren “Blackstratblues” Mendonsa, bassist Lew Hilt and veteran Kolkata musician Bertie da Silva. The Kolkata rock veterans have been regular performers at the festival since its inception, and this time, their three-and-a-half-hour-long set, curated by frontwoman Jayashree Singh, essentially traces Gyan Singh’s musical journey from his beginnings as a singer-songwriter in the ’70s, right down to all the different kinds of music he loved and experimented with. “He was totally open to all kinds of music, so this will reflect his musical tastes,” Jayashree Singh told us. “The idea came when Mama (Lalrinawma Tochhawng, Festival Director) called and said he wanted us to come back to Escape, and he wanted to dedicate a day to Gyan and asked me to curate it. So, I thought about it and I came up with this idea.” Gyan Singh went from being a solo performer to playing with several Kolkata bands, and was deeply influenced by everything from ’80s rock and pop music, to more complex alt-rock music the ’90s, as well as experimental electronica, and the set by The Gyan Connection will reflect all of this. The night will see Skinny Alley members joined by musicians whose lives have been deeply intertwined with that of the band, the first of whom is veteran Kolkata musician Bertie da Silva. “Bertie and Gyan shared many stages back in the ’70s, at smaller singer-songwriter nights in Kolkata,” explained Jayashree. “Bertie actually stopped playing for 20 years, and only took up music again about three years ago. He’s going to open the night with a solo set.” The night will also see Lew Hilt, one of Gyan’s closest friends, on bass. “In that portion, we’re going to do the kind of music we did with Lew at that time. Then, Bruce Lee Mani will join us for a more ’80s oriented set.” Mani has performed with Skinny Alley on several occasions in Bangalore. The last portion of The Gyan Connection will see a Skinny Alley set that’s more in tune with their recent shows. The set will also see an appearance by Warren Mendonsa. “While Warren hasn’t really performed with Skinny Alley, he was one of the current guitarists that Gyan really liked.” Mendonsa also accompanied PINKNOISE at their beautiful set at the Bangalore edition of the Bacardi NH7 Weekender (report) last year. The Escape Festival of Arts and Music takes place at the Lake Resort, Naukuchiatal, from May 24 to 26. Tickets are priced at Rs 2,500 for a season ticket, and can be bought here.

#MarsMonday: Song we can't get enough of! Can you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9uSyICrtow Love Lust Faith + Dreams. Out now! Physical Pre-order available on Flipkart: http://bit.ly/143knAT Digitally available on iTunes: http://bit.ly/Y3WEhq

In our NH7 Big Issue on Radio, we’ve talked with label managers and programming heads about the business of FM radio, we’ve talked with independent and private radio stations about their slice of the radio pie, and we’ve put out a survey to look at the FM radio listening behaviors and preferences of today’s youth. In this last feature, we talk to one of Indian FM Radio’s most recognisable personalities, Radio One jockey Brian Tellis. Brian Tellis was fortunate enough to be on FM radio since its inception in Mumbai. The date was August 15, 1993 and as a local figurehead in Mumbai’s music scene, Brian found himself in front of the condenser mic at Times Radio basically talking about the music he loved. This was during Phase I of radio (there was only one frequency, 107.1, and broadcasters had an hour or more on that frequency). It’s 2013 now, it’s been 20 years, and after a long career in fields outside of radio, every Sunday night, you can tune in to Brian Tellis’ Blues Show on Radio One, where he still talks about the music he loves and spins it for the masses with the same enthusiasm he had 20 years ago. When I met with him at his Fountainhead Promotions & Events office in a Bandra bylane, it was his second day back at work since his return from Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in New York, and the New Orleans Jazz Festival, both, according to him, fantastic and personal musical experiences. I know I’m going to throw in sometime, maybe in the month of June, a Tab Benoit (who?) tune, and I know, that those who like that Southern blues -rock sound will like it, but it’s always with the consumer in mind. So I’m gonna throw some gyaan at you here – Radio is actually about the listener. It’s not about… me. And it’s a tough thing, ha. It’s easy for me to say but you don’t even realize that subconsciously you’re feeding your own taste, your own (snaps fingers, imitates voice inside his head) “I love Tad Benoit man… Abhimanyu will like it. If he doesn’t like it man…”, you know. You need to be aware of that all the time. You have to take a few risks. That bit was from the end of our conversation, when Brian talked about (and rejected) the tag of “local authority on blues music”, instead choosing to tell me about the kind of subliminal relationship he’s developed with his listeners. Tellis’ Blues Show is one of the very few especially-curated, genre-based shows on FM radio in the country. Here in Mumbai, the show’s a late night saviour for many avid listeners still holding onto a past of listening to tunes, radio, beats, and bars without the preceding “i”. It’s a one-of-a-kind show on Indian airwaves and it was a long time coming when it finally did come more than a year ago. Check out Tab Benoit’s ‘Muddy Water Blues’ below. But not everybody in radio takes those risks, the ones associated with taking creative liberties in curating shows, with pushing FM radio in India as a tool for music discovery. Radio One is just about catching up, and according to Tellis, it’s the way forward after a long time spent static (no pun intended). As an avid radio listener since childhood, and as one currently disillusioned with radio’s position or lack thereof as a way to find new music, I wondered if this music-discovery thing was even on the agenda for music managers, programmers and radio jockeys. “You know what? It’s like six-of-one or half-a-dozen of the other, because radio’s a tough business to justify commercially, especially in this country. So, there’s the common perception that if you have more listeners, you’ll get more paid advertisers. How do you do that? You play the popular stuff. What does popular stuff mean? The perception (what I’m talking about here), is that you don’t play new acts, you don’t break new acts. You play what is familiar

Out Of Toon is a webcomic created by Deepak ‘Chuck’ Gopalakrishnan. Check out previous editions of Out Of Toon here, and more Deepak ‘Chuck’ Gopalakrishnan’s doodles here.