Artist Aloud Music Awards 2015: Hungama Maangta Hai!

Music they say transcends beyond boundaries, compartments and horizons. India is renowned worldwide not only for the diversity in its languages, customs and cultures but also the immense plethora of talent you’ll find in India. And not just in its roots, but Indians have performed exemplarily in the various forms of associations and fusions too.

In order to celebrate this community especially the independent and underground artists, Artistaloud.com initiated the Artist Aloud Music Awards in 2010. Interestingly, it is an online voting forum where listeners can log in and then listen to their favourite artists as well as explore new artists not only Indian but artists from the global platform.

This year will see the fourth edition of the Artist Aloud Music Awards sponsored by Hungama and public voting is on till the 6^th of May, 2015 respectively at the website itself. It is interesting to see the likes of popular artists such as Shreya Ghoshal, Shankar Mahadevan, Honey Singh and Raghav Sachar alongside superbly talented artists.

There are various genres of music such as Pop, Rock, Fusion and Global Music. Further, there are various sub-categories for each such as Best Song, Best Female artist, Best Male artist and Best Group respectively. 

In the Pop category, my favourite artists are Shankar Mahadevan, Raghav Sachar, Sayani Palit, Bharat Leppard, Itida, Ninad Mulaokar,  Ranajoy and Soulsmiths. You’ll be amused to note, television actors like Rajev Paul and Veena Malik have also been nominated in the categories.

In the Rock category, I liked Wine Stains ( love the name as well as the name of their song, Kiss My Ass and say Goodbye :P ), John Mpamei, Sheldon Pereira and Parikrama among others.

Fusion is my most favourite category and I personally feel that fusion represents talent in the most extraordinaire manner. Shruti Pathak, Viraj Bahri, Lalitya Munshaw, Rimita (love the folk fusion) are some awesome artists in this category. The semi-classical and South Indian tracks are quite transient too! The international artists have conjured up some interesting fusion tracks too! Do have a look for sure!

Last but not the least is the Global music. The mixes and globalised conceptions are out of this world! Tagore Trance, Helge Krabye, Abiogenesis, Ed Degenario, Utsav Dan and Topshe are some of my favorites from this category!

Call me biased but I am suppressing this proud smile of witnessing such awesome Bengali music being created and felicitated.  I am one of those few people who manage to hum along music and one of the rare Bengalis who isn’t trained in music but have a knack for music.

I think Artist Aloud is a wonderful platform. I wish more and more people listen to these amazing artists! I have voted for my favourite artists. Hop in to artistaloud.com/aama now and vote!

 May the best rhythm win and let music take over! Make music quit war!

When There's Music, There's A Way!

I will tell you a story, but before that

Promise me, once it is over, you'll fall asleep?

The little girl nodded, and I smiled at her

Once, not very long ago

there was a little girl, just like you

her frock was pink and so were her cheeks

and yet the skies were the same blue.

Her mother by her side, swept her bangs behind

as she hum, Edelweiss Edelweiss..

Every morning you greet me..

And the little girl, crawled in and shut her eyes.

And on her last day in the fifth grade, her favorite English teacher

Ms.Saha, pinched her cheek lightly and sang for her,

Maine tere liye hi saat rang ke sapne chune, Sapne

sureele sapne..

She would miss Ms. Saha but she was excited about Senior school.

and she hugged her friends as they imitated Sheryl Crow in Soak Up the Sun

while learning dance moves from Kajra Mohabbat wala

Her first tryst with adolescence acquainted her to Bryan Adams and Celion Dion

Shania Twain with Britney's Oops I did it again featured in her walkman,

a priceless gift from her mother dear.

Cassettes became her favorite birthday gift

she collected them, while others collected

stamps, toys and pens.

She loved pens too, she dreamed of buying

a Watermann when she grew

and lusting for a gramophone,

with embedded gemstones and an autograph of Bob Marley.

Some fantasies never turn into reality.

Learning music with Do Re Mi from the Sound of Music

to the Ave Maria and 'O Sol-e-mio

She learned of love and the mysteries that came along,

her first love and the next heartbreak

and the ones that were to follow,
left her tattered and almost broken

she gave up on so many, and so many simply left
the steel carriage simply kept moving.

And then she learned that it all happened
for a reason greater than her individual existence
And it was amidst all the chaos of women being

mutilated raped burned and beaten to death
songs such as Girl on Fire and Loved a Woman, comforted her.

Zzzzz...Zzzzz.. Layla's soft snore interrupted Jhilmil. She smiled at the sleeping child.. Truly, music had been that one strong wall on to which she clung on to like a creeper, whether she wanted to dance or cry, live or die..fly or crawl..Music was one lover that never betrayed her, even when there were no reasons to stay.. Layla would also learn the art of clinging on to music, which would become her only secret abode, her friend philosopher and guide...lover and companion throughout her life, just as it was for Jhilmil. She turned to sleep in her cocooned bed and plugged on her headphones,

I wish to thank  HPConnectedMusic for being the best news that's come along in a long time considering I am looking for a new laptop and I NEED music to breathe! I knew, as soon as I registered for the meet that I would not be disappointed and so it turned out to be! A bunch of friends, a new dress and a theme of Music, well there was no chance of disappointment!

 

We look no less glamorous don't we! :)

Here's us with Team Indi at the HP INDIBLOGGER CONNECTED MUSIC MEET ! 

While meeting your dear friends is always a bonus for us, it was a great experience learning about the HP CONNECTED MUSIC that gives you an access to a huge database of online music and unlimited downloads for an entire year at you HP PC and Ultrabooks with Windows 8. The concept is powered by Universal and Hungama and allows service such as

- Unlimited downloading for a year from the time of registration

- One can download songs and save them in their HP PCs and enjoy them offline as well

- There are more than a million songs in their database, you'll get tired searching, but not disappointed!

- They have internet radio as well, which has channels divided, genre wise as well as era-wise..So you'll find Pop as well as 70's music there too.

- Their Search feature is sleek and very useful, with the categories that open up as you keep typing and I am sure you won't have finished typing by the time you've got your result already!

MUSICALLY YOURS! THE 70's~

I think the ‘70s was a watershed era for music and music lovers because of the sheer volume and quality of music produced in the period. Music that was not just enjoyed then, but that is still thoroughly enjoyed. Music that people call “classic” and attach adjectives such as “evergreen”, “timeless” and so on.

If I were to pick my top 20 choices of the lot, they’d be

English 

Johny and June Carter Cash- If I were a Carpenter (1970)

Simon and Garfunkel- Bridge Over Troubled Waters (1970)

James Taylor- Fire and Rain(1970)

The Carpenters- Close To You (1970)

George Harrison- What Is Life (1970)

John Lennon- Imagine (1971)
Beatles- Let It Be (1971)

Don McLean- American Pie (1971)

Led Zeppelin- Stairway To Heaven (1971)

Carole King- It’s Too Late (1971)

Marvin Gaye- Mercy, Mercy Me (1971) 

T.Rex- Bang A Gong (1971)

Randy Newman- Political Science (1972)

Billy Preston- Nothing from Nothing (1974)

 Big Star- September Gurls (1974)

 Pink Floyd- Wish You Were Here (1975)

Bruce Springsteen- Born To Run (1975)

 Bob Dylan- Tangled Up In Blue (1976)

 ABBA- Dancing Queen (1977)

Billy Joel- She’s Always A Woman (1977)

Bee Gees- Stayin’ Alive (1977)

Had a great time compiling the songs, and am sure you'll have a wonderful time listening to them..

Hindi

Kishore Kumar- Ae Bhai, Zara Dekh ke

Lata Mangeshkar- Baahon Me Chale Aa

Lata Mangeshkar- Bhore Bhaye Panghat Pe

Bhupinder, Lata Mangeshkar- Dil Dhundta Hai

Mohammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar- Teri Bindiya Re

Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar, Amitabh Bachchan- Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Me

Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar- Salaam-e-Ishq

Asha Bhosle- Koi Shehri Babu

Kishore Kumar- Ek Ajnabee Haseena Se

Kishore Kumar, Mohd. Rafi- Saamne Yeh Kaun Aaya

Asha Bhosle- O Meri Jaan

 Kishore Kumar- O Mere Dil Ke Chaen

 Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar- Tere Bina Zindagi Se

Moh.d Rafi, Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar- Humko Tumse

Kishore Kumar- Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai

Lata Mangeshkar- Dafli Wale Dafli Baja

Mukesh, Kanchan- Kya Khoob Lagti Ho

Asha Bhosle, Mohd. Rafi- Chura Liya Hai Tumne

Mukesh- Maine Tere Liye Hi

Kishore Kumar- Chingaari koi Bhadke

C

ar

This is a special playlist because it has more songs than the ones I've mentioned above. Put the playlist on Shuffle and sit back and enjoy!

Of course Bollywood experienced more of a spurt in terms of the kind of films that were made, which was further stimulated by the music that was a flux of both Indian as well as western music, that was blended beautifully by music directors such as Kalyan-Anand, Ravindar Jain, Mohammad Rafi, S.D.Burman and R.D.Burman amongst others while this era saw the rise of the ultimate singing pair, Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar, the 1970s and the ‘80s saw the rise of Asha Bhosle who was a beautiful conduit of both Indian and western styles of music.

Films such as

MERA NAAM JOKER (1970)

ANAND (1971)

PAKEEZAH (1972)

BOBBY (1973)

GARAM HAWA (1973)

ANKUR (1974)

ROTI, KAPDA AUR MAKAAN (1974)

SHOLAY (1975)

NISHANT (1975)

DEEWAR (1975)

KABHI KABHIE (1976)

AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY (1977)

MUQADDAR KA SIKANDAR (1978)

Were revolutionary in terms of their concepts, themes, quality of production and the magnum opus film-making that Indian film industry  achieved can be credited to this period. 

Posted as an entry to The HP Indiblogger Connected Music Meet Experience, powered by HP Connected Music