Amitava Sanyal

To claim that Jamphel Yeshi’s immolation was instigated by the Dalai Lama is absurd and paranoid. Amitava Sanyal writes.

Ask a Kishore Kumar fan about the singer's first song and chances are you will get 'Marne ki duayein kyun mangoon' in reply. At least that's what I knew till I came across A Musical Journey with Kishore Kumar, a three-CD collection published last fortnight.

Three new non-film albums have it in them to be regarded as classics a few bridges down the stream. One is a promising solo debut, another is a unique East-West discourse, and the third one rises above the din in India's most clamourous folk market. Amitava Sanyal writes.

As India slips into the new decade, a number of dance floors across the country’s north reverberated to words that would have baffled northerners even a few months ago: Kolaveri di.

More than two decades after founding the band Indian Ocean and a decade after seeding the material for a solo album, Susmit Sen has come out on his own. It's a rare solo debut worth the long wait. Amitava Sanyal writes.

It was inevitable and it’s welcome. We finally have some Hindi/Hinglish films scored not by our usual Ram-Shyam composers or their hatke singleton followers. Instead, a couple of new films have their sounds composed or produced by electronica bands and DJs. So far, so fresh. How’s the music?

We can blame this week's departure from music to the spoken word on the electricity crackling in the air. First came August 15; then the Anna Hazare show. Amitava Sanyal writes.

You will have to bear with a few brackets this week because we will be talking about The Other Country Whose Independence Day is Coming Up (Pakistan).

If there's one thing Coke Studio has taught us it's that the right kind of treatment can make all the difference in music. We didn't have to wait for the television phenomenon to get this blast of wisdom. Amitava Sanyal writes.

If you have a kid at home, you would have noticed his or her preferential attention towards television ads featuring other kids. Amitava Sanyal writes.

Kavi 'Das Narayan' Agrawal has hit one of the sweetest spots in the Indian music industry. By placing himself on the hyphen between the Nathpanth-influenced Kabir and the Nathpanth-inspired Sufis, the poet has claimed prime property in what's perhaps the industry's fastest growing sector. Amitava Sanyal writes.

There seems to be a Lounge revival on in this part of the world. And much like the way the genre was reinvented in the 1980s and 90s, it's claiming shelf space in a chilled-out, down-beat, spaced-out manner. Amitava Sanyal writes.

It can be debated whether Maqbool Fida Husain was the greatest artist India ever produced. But what’s beyond pale is that he was the most successful one.  Amitava Sanyal writes.

DK Bose has stirred a debate, and rightly so. But worryingly, the reaction is more on the hand-wringing side. Several people are holding forth on how 'degrading' such lyrics are to the considerable legacy of Sahir, Gulzar and Javed Akhtar. How absurd! Amitava Sanyal writes.