The world of music

The world of music and music itself has no boundaries, no limits. Each passing day, I discover new music that is just so wonderful and that every time I think that there can be nothing new - bam !!! theres more of new music and I am back on the road to discovery.

Whether it was in the days of my tryst with Indian classical (south indian carnatic mostly with the likes of L Vaidynathan or MS or Mandolin Srinivas or for that matter Shakti (fusion indian classical) and beyond) or the world of Gazals (jagjit singh, ghulam ali ...and beyond) or classic hindi music of the wonder years ...50's, 60's and 70's (SD, RD, Salil Chaudhary et al ) or ARR or Rock (from my hard metal days of Maiden to Experimental Rock such as TV on the Radio) or just World music (just too many of them to write about) ......all of it has just been such an amazing, pleasant and a eye-opening journey that I could (and probably will someday) write a book about it.

Anyway, being nostalgic and describing my journey was not the intent of this post .....The intent was to introduce everyone to some of the wonderful new music I have been listening to the past few weeks

First up

Amadou & Mariam - 

Amadou and Mariam are a musical duo from Mali, composed of the couple Mariam Doumbia and Amadou Bagayoko.  The pair, known as "the blind couple from Mali" met at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, and found they shared an interest in music. 

Listen to this for a little dose of their wonderful music

Anathallo

Anathallo is a Indie Rock ensemble originally from Michigan and now based in Chicago, Illinois. The band started practicing in the fall of 2000 and played their first show soon afterward. Their name is derived from a Greek word meaning "to renew, refresh or bloom again.

Try the song 'A Great Wind more Ash' from either of the sites below to hear their magic ....

http://www.purevolume.com/anathallo

or

http://www.myspace.com/anathallo

Frightened Rabbit

What a name an what an amazing group ....Frightened Rabbit are a Scottish indie rock band from Selkirk, Scotland. 

Get a dose of their magic ...here

And Last but not the least

TV on The Radio

TV on the Radio (often abbreviated to TVotR) is an American experimental rock band formed in 2001 in New York City. The band's music spans genres as diverse as post-punk, free jazz, a cappella, doo-wop, soul, shoegaze and electro.

This band has been named the best for the year 2008 by Rolling Stones ...what more can you ask.

And this is what they sound like .....

More new music to follow ....till then enjoy these groups. I request everyone to buy original CD's if you like all songs by

an artist. If not, please buy individual songs from ITunes or Rhapsody

-A

ARR - This is where he always belonged ......

A R Rahman amongst some other greats in Western/Hollywood music.

A.R. Rahman (Fox Searchlight's "Slumdog Millionaire"), Howard Shore (Miramax's "Doubt"), Danny Elfman (Focus Features' "Milk"), Alexandre Desplat (Paramount's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") and Jan Kaczmarek (Overture's "The Visitor")

This year, the western world seems to have finally woken up to this man's magic in the form of the magical score for Slumdog Millionaire. Though, Hollywood and the world outside India has seen glimpses of his works in the past - its this year that ARR finally gets his due.

To be honest, I don't believe that the Western world needed to recognize this man's genious and act as a stamp of approval to convince us Rahmaniacs - he is at a much higher altar already for the millions here - its just that I feel good, I feel proud and I feel really really happy for his success.

Cheers to ARR on his acheivements this year, for all the wonderful music he has given over the years and for being the humble and down-to-earth person that he is. 

-A