Hindustani Classical Music - my observations as a listener!

[hegdegana]

I have been a follower of Hindustani classical music since my childhood and I still have fond memories of many good albums I had in the cassette format.

Off late, I am finding it difficult to source good Hindustani classical albums both from online or local stores. Some of the albums listed online are never in stock and many albums never get listed (rhythmhouse still has some good titles though). Story of local music stores is no different. Hindustani classical section is never replenished in many local stores and many titles stay in the shelf for years. I still remember 'planet M' in Bangalore's brigade road had a separate section for indian classical music, but the new 'temptation M' is more interested in selling mobile phones than music. You hardly find any music in their stores now. Calypso in Jayanagar was a good place for indian classical music lovers but I surprised to see the diminished size of classical section, when I visited them a week back.

Couple of days back I was searching for few albums (CDs) of sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and finally I had to buy them from iTunes. Most of these albums are not physically available in India. Flipkart had a few with a hefty price tag of about 1.5k per album.

I am trying to list some of the things I observed.

1. 3-4 tracks from multiple old albums are combined and released as a new album.
2. Looks like big music labels are no more interested in this genre, hence new age artists need to rely on labels like Fountain, Sagar Music, Kosmic, rainbow, legendary legacy, meera music, ninaad etc.
3. Many good old live recordings are only available on international labels and its difficult to buy them here. Low quality recordings (most of the time taken from mobile camera) of live programmes are available on Youtube!
4. Labels like Music Today, HMV stopped releasing new titles.
5. Many new age artists are more into Fusion, Lounge Music, light classical compilations. ( Ex. Purbayan Chatarjee, Anoushka Shankar's flamenco, Rakesh Chaurasia, Rahul Sharma ).
6. Gandharv channel on worldspace was the one and only good quality broadcast service dedicated for Hindustani classical music, no other radio/TV channel is dedicated to this till now.
7. Finally, a new 24hours indian classical music TV channel 'InSync' is on its way! It may hit DTH platforms by next year.

So my questios to fellow members,
1. What do you think about the future of Hindustani classical music and its mediums?
2. Is the new generation too busy to understand the beauty of this genre?

This being the first lengthy post in this forum, I guess I conveyed my message appropriately. Please enlighten me with any facts which I may not be aware of.

Thanks,
-GH

 

[Rgn1]

6. Gandharv channel on worldspace was the one and only good quality broadcast service dedicated for Hindustani classical music, no other radio/TV channel is dedicated to this till now.
7. Finally, a new 24hours indian classical music TV channel 'InSync' is on its way! It may hit DTH platforms by next year.

For classical music on radio, you can also tune in to AIR Amrutha Varshini - 100.1 FM between 6AM to 10AM and 6PM to 10PM if you are in Bangalore. They play Hindustani and Carnatic, Vocal and Instrumental.

Cheers!

 

[raghumailbox]

Try in DVG Road (off Gandhi Bazzar).

 

[hegdegana]

For classical music on radio, you can also tune in to AIR Amrutha Varshini - 100.1 FM between 6AM to 10AM and 6PM to 10PM if you are in Bangalore. They play Hindustani and Carnatic, Vocal and Instrumental.

Cheers!

I do like 100.1 FM, but they are very selective when it comes to Hindustani. Also, They play more Carnatic music than Hindustani. Looks like the last 1 hour is reserved for Hindustani.

 

[Hiten]

So my questios to fellow members,
1. What do you think about the future of Hindustani classical music and its mediums?
2. Is the new generation too busy to understand the beauty of this genre?

I dont understand classical music, but I listen to it. My most of the vinyl collection is Indian classical. Recordings is comparatively excellent than CDs in my opinion. Indian classicals greatest singers and players used to do years of riyaz then they would give their first performance on stage. Where would we get artists like these. Time changes everything. People no longer have time. I may be wrong but future doesn't look good.

If you have access, do listen to Indian classical music on vinyl setup.
Regards

 

[vikoma]

These days, DD Bharti is good source of live Indian classical programs. And second source is Youtube itself: There are now many more long recordings (more than 45 min) than ever - from new and old masters alike.

But on the whole, I agree it is very depressing scene. When I go to home pages of many musical masters often don't have websites (e.g. Pt. Venkatesh Kumar) and even if they have the list of CDs published, there is no way to procure them (For e.g. Pt. Kaivalyakumar).

When Flyte was there, it was a great treasure, and single defining database of Indian classical music.

 

[navinsinha]

All India Radio has the real treasure, probably worth its weight in gold. They have all the original recordings of the Great Masters. They had sold quite a few CDs of the great masters, I don't know if they are still available. Old LPs are still available in the second hand market in Mumbai and many other places and generally the quality is good. I have over 100 LPs of Indian classical music.

As regards the popularity of Indian classical music, it is still very popular but the problem is that we don't have great artists like Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and many other gems now a days. Future does not appear to be rosy!

 

[abhicreative12]

As people say OLD is GOLD... Classical Music is best and it is the sign of rich culture in the world and India.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

As people say OLD is GOLD... Classical Music is best and it is the sign of rich culture in the world and India.

Classical music (classical anything for that matter) by definition does not get old. It‘s kind of erroneous to call it old.

 

[skroderider]

All India Radio has the real treasure, probably worth its weight in gold. They have all the original recordings of the Great Masters. They had sold quite a few CDs of the great masters, I don't know if they are still available. Old LPs are still available in the second hand market in Mumbai and many other places and generally the quality is good. I have over 100 LPs of Indian classical music.

As regards the popularity of Indian classical music, it is still very popular but the problem is that we don't have great artists like Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and many other gems now a days. Future does not appear to be rosy!

AIR sells some CDs on their website - https://archives.prasarbharati.org/

The website UI is nothing great, but their delivery service is very prompt.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

AIR sells some CDs on their website - https://archives.prasarbharati.org/

The website UI is nothing great, but their delivery service is very prompt.

How I wish Prasarbharati come up with a subscription based streaming app with all that marvellous content from AIR and DD! There is a YouTube channel though with some content.

Prasar Bharati Archives

Prasar Bharati Central Archives is a treasure trove comprising memorable performances of great artistes who have enriched India’s glorious music and dance he...

www.youtube.com

 

[arj]

I have been a follower of Hindustani classical music since my childhood and I still have fond memories of many good albums I had in the cassette format.

Off late, I am finding it difficult to source good Hindustani classical albums both from online or local stores. Some of the albums listed online are never in stock and many albums never get listed (rhythmhouse still has some good titles though). Story of local music stores is no different. Hindustani classical section is never replenished in many local stores and many titles stay in the shelf for years. I still remember 'planet M' in Bangalore's brigade road had a separate section for indian classical music, but the new 'temptation M' is more interested in selling mobile phones than music. You hardly find any music in their stores now. Calypso in Jayanagar was a good place for indian classical music lovers but I surprised to see the diminished size of classical section, when I visited them a week back.

Couple of days back I was searching for few albums (CDs) of sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and finally I had to buy them from iTunes. Most of these albums are not physically available in India. Flipkart had a few with a hefty price tag of about 1.5k per album.

I am trying to list some of the things I observed.

1. 3-4 tracks from multiple old albums are combined and released as a new album.
2. Looks like big music labels are no more interested in this genre, hence new age artists need to rely on labels like Fountain, Sagar Music, Kosmic, rainbow, legendary legacy, meera music, ninaad etc.
3. Many good old live recordings are only available on international labels and its difficult to buy them here. Low quality recordings (most of the time taken from mobile camera) of live programmes are available on Youtube!
4. Labels like Music Today, HMV stopped releasing new titles.
5. Many new age artists are more into Fusion, Lounge Music, light classical compilations. ( Ex. Purbayan Chatarjee, Anoushka Shankar's flamenco, Rakesh Chaurasia, Rahul Sharma ).
6. Gandharv channel on worldspace was the one and only good quality broadcast service dedicated for Hindustani classical music, no other radio/TV channel is dedicated to this till now.
7. Finally, a new 24hours indian classical music TV channel 'InSync' is on its way! It may hit DTH platforms by next year.

So my questios to fellow members,
1. What do you think about the future of Hindustani classical music and its mediums?
2. Is the new generation too busy to understand the beauty of this genre?

This being the first lengthy post in this forum, I guess I conveyed my message appropriately. Please enlighten me with any facts which I may not be aware of.

Thanks,
-GH

Thanks for a wonderful post which i missed 7 years back ! perhaps still relevant and I am trying to put my thoughts in the right perspective here buti I do believe there will always be enthusiasts for specific genres of music,

Lets take Carnatic/Hindustani. I believe the popularity of the music shows where classically trained singers far outperform those who do not, has actually given a fillip to this genre due to the exposure of training to the rest of the world. On the other hand, the ability to spend that time on training may have reduced due to so many reasons for the majority but there are still those who do it.

Again experimentation has always been part of music and folks like Ravi Shankar and Allah Rakha have also worked on fusion pieces with other global artists to explore the possibilities while also remaining true to their own roots and fundamentals and if that gives people an exposure to the artist and his/her craft all the better since that may bring in a few more people into the fold !

Even in the past, people who appreciated , loved and listened to classical ( whether is Hindustani or western) were a small niche group and I would believe this will continue in the future as well , but will exist none the less !

So hold on o your CDs/LPs