India Music Week is an online effort to identify and catalog all the recordings of Asian Indian Music throughout the world, and introduce you to ideas and music from this vibrant culture. It will remain active as an online resource to make this culturally significant body of work readily available to people around the globe for study and enjoyment. read more

The ARChive presents:
a free, permanently available, online database of Asian Indian recordings and their locations around the world.

go to Collection Database

ARC's Launch Event was a great success as we set the Guinness Record for Largest Bhangra Dance!

rekha Thousand's of dancing New Yorkers were part of the crowd that broke the Guinness World Record for Largest Bhangra Dance on Sunday at the South Street Seaport, as part of the NY Diawli Festival. We should have a final, exact count in a few days.

Here's a joyous DJ Rekha in front of the crowd. (photo:Nisha Sondhe) Thanks to all that made it all a happening event - AIA, Molecule Communications, percussionist Dave Sharma, choreographer Achinta S. McDaniel + Blue 13, photographers Ed Steinberg/Rockamedia and Richard Ledes, and of course, DJ Rekha . MORE about our Bhangra Dance DJ Rekha video

Highlights

IMPposter

The BIG Picture Picture

Graphic designer Pratyush Gupta's "The Colours of Indian Classical Music" presents a poster-sized chart to help you better understand this vast musical system. poster + info

 

The BIG Picture Tutorial

The good folks @ Swar Systems sent along this handy tutorial on understanding Hindustani music. software tutorial

Compilation Corner

rwrindia

Realworld Compilation<

Realworld Records- UK + USA – streaming compilation from Peter Gabriel’s label have a listen

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Times Music - Streaming Album

Compilation posted on Gaana.Com and iTunes and the Nokia mobile store
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Amarrass Free Song + Contest

Amarrass Records offers the lively 'Raichand' by the Barmer Boys, a Rajasthani quartet, as a gift or a stream. 1) Click buy link on the song 2) Enter value '0' 3) Enter email. Enjoy. They are also offering a CD giveaway, every day of India Music Week. Just 'Like' their Facebook page, say 'why' you like or just e-mail them. Nice. get download

see their catalog


see over 100 videos from the label

baby

CD Baby - Top Picks

CD Baby, Portland, OR – special selection of Indian albums, highlighted for the week. see their pop picks


see their classical picks

MORE Highlights

Bollywood Academia

bolly Bridging cultural + musical differences students in “The Music of Bollywood” course, Chinese University of Hong Kong, taught by Prof. Victor A. Vicente arranged, performed + recorded some of the best-known Bollywood songs of the past decade - their contribution to India Music Week + to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Indian film industry. hear the student's music

Cassette Culture

banana Peter Manuel, ethnomusicology professor at the CUNY Graduate Center in NY and author of 1993's "Cassette Culture: Popular Music and Technology in North India" offers a graphic gallery of a few of his favorite cassettes. PLUS...

Tibetan Audio In India

Dharamsala has become the major repository for much of Tibetian history. I met Karma Khedup, the AV Archivist at The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA) in India last Oct, and he has shared this list of 333 audio and video recordings from their library. The list represents more than 31,500 hours of recordings related to the religious and secular life of Tibetan people. Here is the audio and music related metadata available for the first time.

Tibetan audio catalog

365 Seventy-eights

sunny Sunny Mathew, India – 365 seventy-eight rpm recordings – one for every day of the year – on a specially created India Week YouTube channel. have a listen

Radio program -WNYC - Madhuban

In honor of India Week archivist Marcos Sueiro Bal has posted an episode of “Madhuban”, WNYC’s 1980s show of Indian music + talk hosted by Clyfee Madhu (1930-2008). "Sound quality is poor (from cassette walkman against speaker, I would guess) but a slice of NY cultural life." Note the disclaimer. link + listen

HarmoNYom

harmonyom HarmoNYom was the essential element in making India Music Week happen. Founder Veronique Lerebours brought in many of the live acts to fulfill her mission - to serve as a “Voice” and platform for the world-renowned South Asian Classical Maestros and emerging talents. Visit the HarmoNYom site

Video Lecture - Columbia U. "Some Principles of Hindustani Music A lecture by Yogendra Trivedi

All day - Yogendra ("Yogi") Trivedi is a Asian Music Humanities Teaching Assistant @ Columbia University + a khyal singer. This video was created for the "Musics of India and West Asia." course at Columbia's Center for Ethnomusicology. Discussing basic musical concepts of raga and tala as well as broader cultural frameworks for Hindustani music from a beginner's perspective. see/hear the lecture

synthx

Concert - SYNTH City

6-9pm, Mumbai. An investigation of computer music, sonic space and generative art - 5 music producers create personal soundscapes of Mumbai neighborhoods. Presented by Studio-X, a Columbia University initiative and the Berlin based Agora Collective. Party afterwards. info

Lounging on the Cosmic Ocean

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or B. George Goes Cratedigging In India

On the hunt for vinyl treasure in India and an elusive Beatles 78.

Events - Ongoing

Broadcasts - IMCRadio.Net + IMC OnAir

Hosted by ElJay Arem this on-air and online syndicated program out of Hamburg, Germany will present 6 hrs of programing with a focus on "sound" (Sanskrit:Nad(a) = flow), on three topics (2 hrs each) • Energy of SOUND – Raga Chikitsa • NADA – Concept of SOUND“ and •  Music, Sound (Nada) & Language.“ Shows broadcast in Germany + Switzerland beginning on the 7th through the 13th.


BEST page for ALL SHOW INFO visit their site

Next - Scandinavian Music Week - Spring 2015

Learning from and building upon India Music Week, as well as our last two efforts, Brazilian Music Day, and Muslim World Music Day, our next stop is all of Scandinavia. We're thinking to have it overlap Mayday for the maximum number of events, and perhaps rename 'Nordic.' Sunday April 26 - Sunday May 3. We welcome your comments and ideas. Director B.George will be visiting Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland to talk with as many Universities, Archives + Libraries as he can manage; with a little luck pick up a few recordings along the way. So start planning now and get in touch if you would like to be a part of Scandinavian Music Week, Spring 2015, our 30th anniversary year. Future Weeks include Cuba (2016), Louisiana (2017), China (2018) and …
beatles
ARC is seeking partnerships for our Music Weeks - wouldn't it be nice if we could buy this 78 for the library? click to contribute to ARC

+ Music Week Projects

To get the ball rolling

Letter of support from Nirupama Rao, India's Ambassador to the US.

Special Event
Mira Nair - Oct 10

nair Acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair will discuss the key role of music in her films. This is a benefit for our pals @ the World Music Institute. learn about this unique event here

Events - Sunday Oct 6

Largest Bhangra Dance to set the Guinness World Record, South Street Seaport, NYC

Look to your left <-- or go here for more info!

Diwali Festival - South Street Seaport, NYC

Noon - 9pm, NYC. Celebrate the Festival of Lights in NYC with music, dance, food, fireworks and family fun. Organized by The Association of Indians in America (AIA) who provided the space + timeslot to create the Word's Largest Bhangra Dance event. info

Concert - Pandit Yogesh Samsi

7pm. Master tabla player @ Baruch Performing Arts Center (BPAC), NYC info

Concert - Vijay Siva

7pm. Carnatic vocalist Siva with RK Shriramkumar + J Vaidhyanathan. Presented by Raga-Mala, Royal Albert Museum, Edmonton, Canada. info

Events - MONDAY OCT 7

Concert - Oded Tzur Quartet

9:30pm. ShapeShifter Lab, Brooklyn. Elegant saxophone raga. artist site club info

Concert - Rajeev Taranath

7:30pm. Metro State University- Denver. CO. Sarod master. artist site click + scroll for concert info

Class - Sandip Bhattacharjee

6pm. AAICM, Manhattan. Pandit Sandip Bhattacharjee offers vocal music instruction, a master of Hindustani Kirana Gharana. fee. class info AAICM site

Class - Samita Sinha

6pm. Space on White, Manhattan. Open Voice is the first of an 8-session singing course drawing on a variety of Indian traditions. contact Samita for details

Events - TUESDAY OCT 8

Class - Sandip Bhattacharjee

7pm. AAICM, Brooklyn. Pandit Sandip Bhattacharjee offers vocal music instruction, a master of Hindustani Kirana Gharana. fee. class info AAICM site

Lecture - Jostine Loubser

University of Salford, Manchester, UK, Centre for Popular Music Research, Centenary Bldg, Lecture Hall HT109. Covering styles, ideas, timbres, instruments + musical organisation. visit Salford U.

Events - Weds. Oct 9

Lecture

Alberta, Canada. Jonathan M. Kertzer, Director folkwaysAlive! + University of Alberta. info

Radio - Surtarang

6 - 7 pm GMT, UK. Surtarang Broadcasting - show dedicated to the late Pt Manas Chakraborty, 101.8 WCRFM, Wolverhampton, UK. info

Radio – Sound of Folkways

Canada. “Sound of Folkways” Radio Show, CJSR, 9-10PM, featuring Smithsonian Folkways UNESCO re-issue of Indian music. info

lecture-recital - T M Hoffman

Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. Musician/ethnomusicologist Hoffman is Director of the Indo-Japanese Music Exchange Assoc. Concert is Hindustani ragadhari sangeet on Japanese traditional instruments. Japan tour begins Oct 15. website

Events - THURSDAY Oct 10

Concert - Rajeev Taranath

Oct 10, AZ. Sarod master, Musical Instrument Museum. Phoenix, AZ. AZ concert info artists website

Concert - Arnab Chakrabarty - Sandip Bhattacharjee

Tea Lounge, Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY. Two young maestros: 8pm. Chakrabarty - sarod, UK, Shahjahanpur Gharana and 9:30pm. Bhattacharjee - India, vocal, Kirana Gharana. Nice event by HarmoNYom and Brooklyn Raga Massive. Suggested Donation: $15. club's website concert info

Music + Lecture - Alif Laila

12:30pm. Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville MD.

Major sitarist in an intimate setting. She plays Kennedy Center in DC on the 16th. artist website

Concert - Red Baraat

11:30pm. This great Brooklyn based Bhangra group is on the Southern swing of their latest tour. Tonight in Baton Rouge @ Chelseas Cafe. artist website Louisiana club info

Events - FRIDAY Oct 11

Concert - Soumya Chakraverty

 8pm. Bloombars, Washington, DC. Sarod. Craig Phillips-sitar, Sebu Nayak-tabla. info go to event

Concert - Ehren Hanson + Camila Celin

 6:30pm. Yoga Soundscape/Kula Yoga Project, Tribeca, NYC. Sarod + tabla, ragas and healing vibes. info go to event

Film -SAMA, Muslim Mystic Music of India

 6 pm. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi. Directed by Shazia Khan go to event

Concert - Red Baraat

9:30pm. Tonight in New Orleans @ Tipitina's. artist website club info

Concert - Veena Chandra

9:30pm. Arthur Zankel Music Center Presented by Skidmore College Music Dept., Saratoga Springs, NY. FREE event. FREE Livestream info

New Jersey Durga Puja

8pm. Rupankar Bagchi performs modern Bengali songs at this all-day, largely Bengali cultural festival. artist info Festival

Events - SATURDAY Oct 12

Concert - Tripti Mukherjee

2pm. NYC. Pandita Mukherjee sings Indian Classical (Hindustani) Music at Hunter College's Ida Lang Auditorium, E.69th and Lexington, NYC; $25, $40 - Organized by Pandit Jasraj Institute for Music Research. info

Concert - Bala Radu, A.R. Balaskandan, Y.T. Shenthuraan

 2:30pm. Saraswati Hall, Flushing, NYC. Sarod + tabla, ragas and healing vibes. Take the # 7 train to 45-57 Bowne St., Murray Hill, Flushing, Queens. - 718-460-8484 ext 112. FREE Event. info

Concert - Suchita Rao and Aparna Balaji / Pushkar Lele

4:30pm. Mass. Hindustani-Carnatic vocal. 7:30 Vocal Recital by Pushkar Lele and Santoor recital by Pandit Satish Vyas. Learnquest Baithak (Academy), Framingham, Mass. Tkts at door : $25 venue site

Concert - M. S. Sheela

5pm. Carnatic vocalist, Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, Washington DC. DC info

House Concert - Apratim Majumdar, Amit Chatterjee

6pm. Bronx, NYC. Intimate performance by Kolkata musicians Shri Apratim Majumdar on Sarod and Sri Amit Chatterjee on Tabla at a residence in the Bronx. NY House concert info

Lecture with music

6-7pm. NYC. Dibyarka Chatterjee - talk illustrated with live music, "Understanding Indian Music" at Chhandayan, NYC, FREE - 4 West 43rd St, Room # 618 - tel: 212 302 0720. STAY for the concert after! website

New Jersey Durga Puja

6pm. Separate performances by vocalists: Sandipan Samajpati; Suchi; Nirmalya Roy. + Dance Performance by Sunrita Mitra + Drama "Raja Rani" at this all-day, largely Bengali cultural festival. Sandipan Suchi Nirmalya festival

Concert - Parthasarathi Chatterjee, Samar Saha

7pm. Ravi Shankar tribute with Sri Parthasarathi Chatterjee on sitar and Pandit Samar Saha on tabla. Vanguard Music Studio, Denville, NJ. $20, $15 Taalsadhana + VMS students. info Vanguard Studio

Concert - Baluji Shrivastav + the Inner Vision Orchestra

7pm. Plymouth University, UK, part of the Respect Festival featuring blind or partially sighted musicians led by master sitarist Baluji. UK info

Concert - Ruchira Panda

7:30pm. NYC. Hindustani vocalist, upholder of Kotali Gharana, at Chhandayan center for Indian Music, NYC. website info watch LIVE stream for fee

Concert - Tribute to Sakar Khan

8pm. New Delhi, India. Amarrass Records presents /Amarrass Nights @ Lodi. Tribute concert commemorating the music of Padma Shri Sakar Khan (1939-2013), grandmaster of the kamaicha. Featuring three (of many) bands influenced by his music - his sons GFD (Ghewar Firoze and Dara), Menwhopause (Anup Kutty, IP Singh) and Suhail Yusuf Khan. info

Concert - Red Baraat

9:30pm. Austin @ Stubbs BBQ. artist website club info

Events - Sunday Oct 13

Concert - Pushkar Lele

5pm - NYC. Vocalist Pushkar Lele at Chhandayan Center for Indian Music. info watch LIVE stream for fee

Concert - Sweden: Johansson, Fröberg + Lindh

3pm, Nordic Watercolor Museum in Skärhamn, Tjörn, Sweden by Jerry Johansson (sitar), and multi-instrmentalists Dan Fröberg + Alexandra E. Lindh concert + artist info quick info

Concert - Red Baraat

9:30pm. Tonight @ Austin Austin City Limits Festival. artist website

New Jersey Durga Puja

6pm. Sufi + Hindi modern songster Jasraj Joshi backed by Lambada at this all-day, largely Bengali cultural festival. artists info festival

Concert - Flood Relief - Mantra Festival

7-11pm. Boulder, CO. Artists Deva Premal and Miten + GuruGanesha Band. festival info

The Gypsy Allstars

Jodhpur. Members of Gypsy Kings working with Rajasthani artists in a talk/workshop as part of Bamboleo Meets Bollywood and Return to Rajasthan concert.

Recent Blog Post

          Multimedia tutorial on North Indian classical music!

From our youtube channel go to channel

ARC gathered together thousands of Indian music videos.

For the real aficionados you can click to David Courtney's spectacular page highlighting selected Indian Film videos from the 1930s, 1940s and beginning in the 1950s year-by-year. To put them in context David has paired the videos with a chronicle of important events from around the world, South Asia and the Indian film industry.

EAST > WEST < EAST
Co-operation, theft, appropriation, homage, fusion and geeze, why didn't I think of that...

Asia Over America - Syncretic Uses of Eastern Instruments in Western Pop and Rock

For centuries now Dr. Silver and I (B. George) have been drawn to a vaguely Asian sound. Maybe it started with that sitar at the opening of "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder. Incredible String band? Who knows, but despite our best efforts we managed to accumulate a great many recordings on this side of the ocean featuring Indian instrumentation, musical appropriation and outright cultural theft. Here's the low-down on some favorites.

compare

Who Sampled Who?

The team at WhoSampled.com have spent years sussing out audio appropriation worldwide. It is a remarkable effort by the folks whose mission is to "Explore the DNA of music.".

Top 10 Bollywood samples used in Western music
Top 10 Western used by Bollywood listen to above samples

The Loneliness of Indo-Western Fusion

Scott Groffman, ARC intern and NYU student, explores the friction that can occur as the ability for different cultures to communicate musically increases. He speaks with two young musicians with an allegiance to both Western and Indian music, perhaps caught in the middle.

Go to essay

ESSAYS + EXCERPTS + EXTRAS

B.George – film: Indian cardboard gramophone

combustSML

Dr. Suresh Chandvankar - The Record News

That's Suresh giving me the guided tour of the 78 player above. He is a gifted scholar and one of the principlas behind The Record News 78rpm journal. Here's one of their earlier covers and a link to issues preserved by the Digital South Asian Library, U. of Chicago.

Here's an interesting piece by Suresh suggesting Gandhi as lyricist! and one profiling the first 100 years of India's record sound.

South Asian Studies Library, Columbia University, NYC,

Gary J. Hausman has created a Research Guide to Indian music and book holdings at Columbia University. Page is being built now, and you can see it go up brick x brick @ Indian Music Research Guide

Library DisplayWiener Music & Arts Library

Elizabeth Davis up @ Columbia have put together a display case of Indian materials in their collection. Drop by and see.

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Lecture excerpts - Edgard Varèse - Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives, NY Public Library . Avant-garde composer, Edgard Varèse delivered the lecture, "A Note on Contemporary North Indian Music" as part of his summer course, "Twentieth-Century Tendencies in Music" at Columbia University.

This 1948 lecture includes 16 musical examples from Varèse's 78 collection, each bearing a corresponding number in Varèse's own hand. The lecture stands as an early example of a western experimental composer's interest in the music of India and provides fascinating insight into musical hybridity. Beginning Tuesday, Oct 8th, the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives will feature a different excerpt from the lecture via its website as they celebrate India Music Week.

Nisha Sahai Achuthan – essay - "Folk Songs of Uttar Pradesh"

Mr. Achuthan offers this reprint of his article first published in Ethnomusicology Vol. 31, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 395-406. University of Illinois Press. go to PDF

imc

IMC Onair and IMC Radio Net out of Germany along with SABN (South Asian Broadcasting Network) are our world-wide media partner. Organizer ElJay Arem is devoted to Indian Classical music and has organized a host of radio broadcast over a variety of channels in Germany + Switzerland, Oct 7- 13.

BEST page for ALL SHOW INFO visit their site

SABN
IMCOnAir
IMC - India meets Classic
Indian E-music

Artistik License - Manojna Yeluri - essay - “Independent Artist Concern in the Indian Music Industry”

Artistik is a legal education initiative for artists working in India. Founder Manojna is an entertainment, media and IPR legal consultant. She manages an online repository of legal information vital to artists and conducts legal workshops for creative artists in India. Next musician's rights workshop, Bangalore, Oct 20.     Important + necessary work! visit the website read the essay

The Combustibles + Indian Rock

combustSML

The Combustibles managed to perfect garage rock and prefigure punk in their one and only release, “Watch Her” from 1971. A recent re-release out of the UK on Harkit Records this July, and a incredibly complete website has finally given them their long overdue, due.

Exclusive commentary by Combustible Nissim Ezekiel “Classic Rock and India – Many Connections”

Sidharth Bhatia – Indian Rock

The author offers a brief introduction to his upcoming book on South Asian Rock’n'Roll, India's Rocking 60s and 70s

ListDose recommends India's 10 best rock bands
Shaw Music Center posts three pages of Beatles 78s just for fun...and for sale!

robot

Victor A. Vicente - essay - Strange New Worlds? Musical Instruments and Cultural and Temporal Coding in Indian and Turkish Science-Fiction Film.

Victor teaches @ the Chinese University of Hong Kong and this was first published in Musica Humana 3, No. 1 (2011):41-59.

I found the poster in India. He says, "Rocket Tarzan has become somewhat of an internet meme lately." Tying it all together is this clip I made at Carnival in Rio a few years back - 600 Gandhis + Robot. go to PDF

Rolf Killius – Traditional Music Videos + Music

Rolf is a prolific, dedicated recordist/producer who has done amazing work in folk music research. Highly recommended are these 14 Exhibition Films on Indian traditional music and musical instruments created for the Utsavam, Horniman Museum, London view films

Snippets from his Smithsonian Folkways recordings. listen

Link to his field Recordings at the British Library listen

Tons of other great material on his website have a look

Carl Clements - article - John Coltrane and the Integration of Indian Concepts in Jazz Improvisation

Carl is a visiting professor, music, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA. Thanks to Tony Whyton at the Jazz Research Journal who originally published the article. go to article

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Naresh Fernandes – Indian Jazz

Naresh is a journalist and author of Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age. His website explores a wide range of jazz and music issues, while the book is a revelation - offering a new perspective on a music we all thought we knew. interview on Afropop radio show

info on the book

website

Finding Carlton - Jazz in India Film

Fascinating film by Susheel J. Kurien on the history of jazz in India. info on the film see the trailer

Afropop Worldwide, USA – Syndicated Radio Program website focus on the music of India

Afropop + ARC have been longtime mutual supporters. This year they offer some unique items with a focus on the Indian-African cultural mix. The highlight is an entire program : African Sounds of the Indian Subcontinent. radio program

article Sri Lankas Afro-Portuguese pop Fernandes Indian jazz radio interview

Turbans

chuck

The turban is said to have been introduced by Sir Sayyid Ahmad, the Indian born Mohammedan educator and reformer, into India in the nineteenth century, and in America during the Rock & Roll era. Here are few of our own, enamored by the tulip-like folds of this iconic headgear.

Why not join Chuck Willis, the King of the Stroll, and visit our homage to the rockin' turban.

Dr. Brian Q. Silver, USA – essay: Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam

Brian is our DC connection for India Music Week. This is a paper he wrote for The University of California Press, 1984. read here

Essays - Eljay Arem

Two essays by Indian sound enthusiast and radio host, Eljay Arem, exploring Indian/Eruopean electronic musical crosfertilizations. read Ladies spinning (the turn tables)–Women in Indian Electronic Music.

read Indian Electronic Music on the European Continent

Story of Sruti: A Leading Magazine Devoted to Indian Performing Arts by Shuchita Rao

An overview on the history of the leading South Asian cultural magazine. read here

THIS is the END

guitar
Post-party deflated guitar, Santa Cruz District, Mumbai, India, Oct 2012

Record Companies + Collectors - Please Donate Your Indian Recordings!
Help build a permanent Asian Indian music library here in New York