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Earthquake relief links  New
Helpline numbers and links to sites bridging the disaster-hit and the anxious   More

Uncle sings an old story  New
The most expensive sets ever and a lavish orchestra, but Raju Chacha is an unspontaneous musical, a pale echo of The Sound of Music   More

Guddi and the baddies   Exclusive
Vani Jairam, who staked a claim to India's No 1 playback position with Bolere papi hara, talks about movies, gods, mean minds, and why Ilaiyaraja calls her a computer   More

Bharat Ratna for Bismillah Khan, Lata   New
Two of India's enduring music icons are nominated for the high honour, bringing the number of musician Bharat Ratnas to four   More

Bombay dreams, opera stylises   New
Since Andrew Lloyd Webber asked A R Rahman to compose for Bombay Dreams, everyone's talking about 'Broadway musicals'. What does 'musical' mean and how is it different from 'opera' or the Hindi movie?   More

Jazz round the clock -- and it's good!   New
For the first time in India, you can tune in to clear, non-stop jazz, thanks to digital satellite radio. World Space also broadcasts CD-quality music in Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and other languages   More

Thinking of a project in music?   New
The India Foundation for the Arts, which has funded a compilation of folk songs and a study on raga evolution, offers up to Rs 5 lakh   More

Clueless in Tiruvaiyaru   New
This year's Thyagaraja aradhana disturbs with its cacophony, confusion, politics and commerce, not to speak of Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan's mysterious amnesia. A special report from Ambujam Anantharaman    More

Shooting in silence   New
Arvind R Krishna talks about the magic of concert photography, and what makes him click. His Musicians and Dancers show is on in Chennai till Jan 31, and moves to other cities later   More

Americanised wish fulfilment and 'ethnic' yearning   New
Silk Route's Pehchan reveals the Janus face of Indian rock   More

Tender splendour   New
In Orchid, Shao Rong plays modern mood music on the pipa (Chinese lute) even as she preserves the tonal purity of her 2,000-year-old instrument   More

Ordinary score from S A Rajkumar   New
Ennavale stars the Alai Paayuthe hero Madhavan, and Sneha. Its songs show nothing very striking    More

A breakthrough in music research   New
Dr K Varadarangan says he has found mathematical evidence to settle an issue Indian musicologists have been debating for many centuries: how many srutis is an octave made up of?   More

A worthy successor to Miles shows his wares   New
Most of the ten pieces on No Room for Argument are trumpeter Wallace Roney's compositions, fast-paced and exciting, but not loud   More

Wiz with the expected fizz   New
Is the "now generation" colour-blind to many emotions? Is that why A R Rahman's new album One 2 ka 4 if full of nothing more than cola-fizz fun?   More

Sisters on stage   New
C Saroja and C Lalitha, better known as Bombay Sisters, look back at four decades of concert experience, and describe their days with the great Musiri Subramania Iyer and his star pupil T K Govinda Rao   More

Film on a great music educator   New
Basheer Ali, who shot Refugee, has completed a bio-pic on Pandit V D Paluskar, the pioneer who freed Hindustani music from gharana shackles and composed the classic Raghupati raghava raja ram    More

In a family of composers   New
Dheena comes from Yuvan Shankar Raja, who not only has to match up to competition but also live up to the legacy of his celebrity father, Ilaiyaraja    More

A sensitive story from the Kannada coast   New
Munnudi, based on a story by the award-winning Boluvaru Mohammed Kunhi, impresses with its simple lyricism, and qualifies for best Kannada film album of the year    More

When music speaks Esperanto   New
This is World Music features Enigma, Yanni and musicians from across the globe, and shows how the genre emerged as an answer to the straitjacket of modern merchandising    More

Oye Saapna, what's this?   New
The Oye oye girl teams up with 'Colonial Cousin' Leslie Lewis and Kaho Naa... Pyar Hai Rajesh Roshan for her album Yeh Mera Dil   More

The fall and rise of aradhana music   New
Dhrupad was neglected because of bad singers, says Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar, who has devoted his life to spreading the ancient art    More

Coasting along on hard bop rhythm   New
Art Blakey's drums permeate Coast to Coast and make their presence felt even when they're in the background    More

Santhanam sundal and Lalgudi laddu?  New
The canteen at the most prestigious sabha in Madras offers items named after the music maestros    More

Yawny?  New
If I Could Tell You is another commercially viable but artistically unambitious album from Yanni, the pianist of the flowing mane    More

Now it's Lahari and Akash versus World Space  Exclusive
Two Bangalore labels complain that World Space has violated copyright by broadcasting their songs. An interview with the cop in charge    More

Nightingale's last flight   Obit
Noorjehan, the voice behind hits like Awaaz de kahan hain and Jawan hai mohabbat, is no more    More

Shah Rukh's world also sells music   New
SRK World, Shah Rukh's new corporation, dreams of making a success of mega entertainment, a business Amitabh Bachchan's corporation tried and thoroughly messed up    More

What Semmangudi said  New
The grand old man of Karnatak music has been provoking much thought with his sharp remarks at sabha inaugurals    More

Silent night, virtual night   Christmas special
Carols resonate through the centuries with the colour and tone of the people who sing them. In our times, maybe computers will animate these songs of comfort and joy    More

Rocking in Malayalam, Sanskrit and English   New
A Kerala band releases its first album in Dubai, and says the "stiffness" of Malayalam is no barrier to experimentation    More

The musical burning bush   First person
"Listen, you twentysomethings who want instant recognition..." Sugandhi Ravindranathan describes how she discovered the intense, magnificent genius of Mallikarjun Mansur    More

Missing the drone acharyas   Happenings in Madras
Where have all the tamburas gone? And why are the stars unhappy with their slots? All the season's gratings   More

I sing the praises of a trumpet king   Birthday feature
Clark Terry's skills are such that he can play the trumpet holding it upside down! The jazz master turns 80 on December 14   More

Old man and the see   New
M F Husain saw Madhuri Dixit in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, and was hooked into making Gajagamini, a surreal film that journeys across several centuries. Its music, composed by Bhupen Hazarika, is not so daring    More

A phenomenal survivor from the age of swing   New
A Gentleman and His Music shows that Benny Carter was a true gentleman in his music, not just a gentleman who made music    More

Time for kutcheries and hot coffee   New
It's the mad season again. Interviews, features, specials from Madras    More

Women on stage: who's where  Madras season special
For decades it was MS. Now it's Sudha Raghunathan who commands star attention. Is this good music, or just good packaging? A look at the women singers on the Chennai music circuit   More

When a new composer strikes  New
Is he the next big name after A R Rahman? Harris Jeyaraj, Rahman's keyboardist, hits the Tamil music scene with Minnale, a debut album loaded with expectation   More

An old-worldly dignity  New
Namagiripettai Krishnan's mastery of the best traditions of the nadaswaram is evident in a tape that displays middle-of-the-20th-century taste in kritis   More

Sweet and sour soup  New
There's some vital ingredient missing from Anu Malik's serving for the Kajol double bill Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi    More

What's the other version?  New!
Indian copyright law provides for version recordings. A look at the rule book, and how the Lahari-Sony case could change the complexion of the version recording market    More

No Roja without thorns  Exclusive!
Lahari alleges Sony Music filched its tunes for the hit album A R Rahman Live in Dubai. In an interview, Manoharan Naidu of Lahari reveals why he set the cops on the global major, and why he feels 'hurt'    More

What's Lahari talking about?  Letters
Concert recordings are not cover versions, and Lahari has no case against Sony, writes Gopal Srinivasan    More

Love within flower brackets  New
Marriages may be made in heaven, as the posters of Kahin Pyar Na Ho Jaye claim, but albums like this are simply made on the assembly line    More

Unabashed purveyor of big band excitement  New
The title Louie Bellson: 150 mph is no hype. Bellson could indeed play at breakneck speed, as you'll see on this mid-career recording   More

A worthy album  New
Samarpanam is a useful collection of old and young stars singing the master composer Thyagaraja    More

Season opens with fresh seats  New
Many sabhas, including the hallowed Music Academy, open this year's Madras music season with newly done-up interiors    More

Power from the maestro  New
Milestone brings Symphony 2 and 5 from Beethoven, conducted by the legendary Béla Drahos with Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia. A treat for those who prefer complete orchestral works to snippets    More

Line art in pop singing  New
Not all of Lucky Ali's tunes in Aks are memorable, but he brings a welcome minimalist tradition to Indipop    More

A proud day for Indian music  New
Chitravina Ravikiran's collaboration with the BBC Philharmonic, a milestone in fusion, is adjudged the best among 2000 Millennium Festival events in the UK    More

An incongruous medley from a drum wiz  New
Danceability is a quality that remix albums force even on songs that were never meant to be danced to, you discover in Pravin Mani's Tehalka    More

What's DTS all about?  Special feature
Cinema theatres the world over are dancing to its tunes. DTS creates sound that sweeps across six speakers to give you the movement of galloping horses, flying gunshots and marauding dinosaurs    More

Multi-layering raga music   Exclusive interview
Raga artistes like Aruna Sayeeram and Shubha Mudgal singing together and creating multiple layers? Can raga music be sung as in a choir? Why not, says Aneesh Pradhan, Mumbai's star tabla player    More

Zubeida's from a quieter age   New
A R Rahman puts away his drum kit for Shyam Benegal's Zubeidaa, but the period film can't drag him away from his Bombay and Pukar orchestral style    More

Love in the time of hollering   New
The music of Mohabbatein, the Diwali release starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, is so cliched you'll want to holler the tunes along to prove that you've heard them all before   More

This Tenali is no Bruce Lee  New
Kamala Hassan plays a timid idiot in a film named after Krishnadevaraya's famous jester. A R Rahman's quickie score is unlikely to leave even his diehard fans happy   More

Guided tour into a fabulous world   
Alaap, Times Music and Aurobindo Society's 20 CD-project, can introduce the uninitiated and the hesitant into the emotionally nurturing world of Indian classical music    More

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Some recent stories		Interview

Track singers are the unsung heroes of the film music industry Great Guitars gives you lively jazz Aashiqui, Abhijeet's private album, features sepia-tinted tunes Nagendra of the Rajan-Nagendra team exits in pain and pride Marc Antony brings a ghazal-like pessimism to Latin Addicted to heroin, the brilliant sax player Charlie Parker died at 35 Actor Prashanth sings awfully in Parthen Rasithen Ghaath shows Anu Malik in reasonable form Hariharan's Kaash gives you at least three lovely numbers Kandukondain Kandukondain has more classical overtones than any previous Rahman score		'We looked for great music' It took 10 years to complete. Vijay of Sri Aurobindo Society, who co-ordinated the 20-CD introduction to Indian music, tells you the inside story of Alaap, the most comprehensive such effort to date More

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