scorecardresearch
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
TopicClassical music

Topic: classical music

From religious meetings to music concerts, how ‘sabha’ culture changed in Madras

The book Music, Modernity, and Publicness in India edited by Tejaswini Niranjana explains how musicians moved to colonial cities and formed exciting spaces of listening and desire.

India’s ‘shy’ classical musicians made way for theatre’s entry into gramophone record books

The vast corpus of theatre recordings on gramophone from various languages provide a valuable glimpse into India’s social and cultural history.

From Mahatma Gandhi to Nehru, everyone was an MS Subbulakshmi fan

Inspired by the gramophone, Subbulakshmi would often sing into a rolled piece of paper, imagining it to be the recording horn.

Sundarabai, the versatile singer-actor who helped women musicians herself died unsung & poor

Sundarabai was witness to many changes in the world of music and entertainment, and helped several performers adapt to modern technology.

Coimbatore Thayi, the Carnatic singer who struck a chord in Paris but is unknown in India

Gramophone records were usually colour‐coded based on the artiste’s popularity. Thayi’s was coded violet, indicating she was among the most popular.

Ustad Bismillah Khan, a Muslim who reveled in the sound of shehnai in Varanasi

Ustad Bismillah Khan elevated the status of the shehnai, a wind instrument, in Indian classical music and took it to a global audience.

M.S. Subbulakshmi was born this day 102 years ago. Her life is a lesson for all

Subbulakshmi’s training in music began at a very early age under her mother Shanmukavadiver Ammal, a well-known veena player.

On Camera

Bihar mimics 19th-century American South. Citizenship is now weaponised to exclude voters

Disenfranchisement by institutional fiat is profoundly undemocratic. The effect of the ECI's new documentary process in Bihar will tilt the scales in favour of the BJP.

India-US set to ink mini trade deal soon, reach understanding on agricultural & dairy products

Mini deal will likely see no cut in 10% baseline tariff on Indian exports announced by Trump on 2 April, it is learnt, but additional 26% tariffs are set to be reduced.

Not just AK-203, India & Russia to jointly manufacture AK-19 and PPK-20 for domestic use and export 

India-Russia JV is also racing to deliver 7,000 more AK-203 assault rifles by 15 Aug. These are currently being made with 50% indigenisation and this will surge to 100% by 31 December.

Strategic partner one day, tactical nightmare the next: India’s learning Trumplomacy the hard way

Public, loud, upfront, filled with impropriety and high praise sometimes laced with insults. This is what we call Trumplomacy. But the larger objective is the same: American supremacy.