Yesterday night, and the previous night, and the night before and so on, I turned on the radio to listen to fresh sounds. Perhaps something in a different language or a new soulful melody. A song that I would look up on the internet, even. However, songs with a different beat and a sound we can't quite place don't have a home on Bombay's radio networks. It is important to know what you're getting into when you turn on the radio.
This is what you won't hear: western classical, world music (broadly), Dave Matthews Band.
This is what you will hear: Meri beri ke ped mat todo (DJ Sami mix), Harry Anand's remixes, remixes with Rakhi (Rakhii? Rakkhee?) Sawant busting out of her school uniform in videos, and remixes of every old song T-Series has the rights to. And then, after they miraculously run out of remixes, you are thrown the original versions of the remixes.
So the teenyboppers have their Casio tunes, and our parents have Mohammad Rafi. Nothing for us. I think I belong to Bombay radio's forgotten generation.
6 comments:
This is why satellite radio has become so big in the US, with all its niche-market stations.
But Rahul, as long as you’ve got a good Internet connection, the (radio) world’s your oyster! While I’m at work I switch between Brazilian radio, when the Madrid bombing happened I tuned in Spanish stations, I listen to a morning drive time show from Dublin sometimes (funny guy called Gerry Ryan), while on business in Asia recently there was no radio in my room so I tuned in to some local stations over the tinny speaker on my laptop (not the best sound, but all that was available). There’s just such an amazing wealth of variety out there!
There's some fine music out there, no doubt. I listen to it at work. But since I usually drive around at night, it's the local radio that's always turned on. I forgot to mention, most stations also play tons of 80s rock.
I don't think we have any way of receiving music from a satellite. Was it XFM that was launched in the US in 2001? I wonder if they'll start in India.
Rahul, Worldspace is certainly available in India. I know plenty of people who get it. I can get you the name of a dealer here in Bombay, but until then you can look here and probably find one yourself faster.
You need a Worldspace radio.
What is our generation anyway? the '90s ding-chuk?
Tamil films, on the other hand, have had good music throughout -- from the MGR songs to Ilayaraja to AR Rahman. I dont know about what radio stations play though.
AR Rahman sounds a lot better in Tamil than Hindi. Haven't heard much of Ilayaraja.
But the issue was with what Bombay's music stations were playing. In any case, life is looking up musically. We've got itunes configured on our new macs and get all sorts of great music from everywhere. This happened the day after I put up this post.
(In response)
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