Harshi's stream of consciousness
 
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Here is a record from the hair-dresser turned drummer, French record producer Jean-Marc Cerrone. Now this guy has his own story. It was the year 1975 (France) when Cerrone finally quit his day-job of a hairdresser to do something he had a strong passion for - Music. He was earlier associated with a band called Kongas which was a pretty impressive lot. Try getting your hands on Kongas - Anikana-O album which is magnificent. After meeting Alec R. Costandinos, the Costandinos-Cerrone due produced their very first album Love In C-Minor which was an immediate hit in the New York City clubs and Paris. Costandinos was furious when Cerrone did not credit him for any work on the album and they departed for good. 
The early albums by Cerrone have massively orchestrated Disco music with mind blowing violin ensemble and great basslines. Courtesy of Alec Costandinos. 
With his album Supernature that came out in 1977 and proved to be his most successful opus, Cerrone went totally electronic. We can hear a bunch of synths and other electronica playing. Courtesy of Alan Hawkshaw and Don Ray. We move to 1980s when Cerrone came out with "Cerrone IX : Your Love Survived" which featured a couple of great grooves. The rest was the cliche 1980s style stuff. Take a listen !
I specially like "Look for Love" and "Give Me Love". The track "Back To Champs Elysées" has some more of the 1980s essence to it. 
Here's a decent vinyl rip. :)

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Kalyanji-Anandji were better known as the Funk brothers of India. Having a completely different approach in music direction, they composed some of the best Spy music/Funk scores during the 1970s and 1980s for Hindi Cinema. They were heavily influenced by Lalo Schifrin. Here's an example of Sleaze Funk from the movie Bombay 405 Miles. The single was published on a rare 45 with Side-B containing a really funky groove or I must say Turkish Funk groove from around 1979-80 by an artist called Baris Manckow. Never heard of that guy before. However, the track seems to be really rare since I did not find much information on Google. Also, the artist seems to be gone from people's minds too. No info on him either. Here we are, with my very first vinyl rip. 
Currently I am using Audacity and Sony Sound Forge to rip and edit the records. If you have any suggestions regarding the quality of the sound or anything related, please let me know. I am still learning. Thanks!

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Even before I could understand what music is, I was already listening to it. I am talking about the time around the end of 1980s when vinyl was dying and making way for audio cassettes and compact discs to come in. People started trashing their old turntables and records, some went on the walls as souvenirs some to the child to play some for the dog to chew and the rest, to the trash can. However, there were people who cherished their collections and have held on to it till date. I'm glad my Dad did not trash his treasure. Somehow, I had this keen inclination toward listening to music on the turntable. Of course, analog quality is un-beatable. :)


It was my teen-age when I started paying serious attention to the old vinyl treasure lying in my own room and that gave birth to a passion which was never to be defied. Fifteen years after record production stopped in India, I hit the stores that once sold records in city. I started calling the stores asking them for "records" (if any). The kind of responses I got were indeed interesting. Like, "Hi, Kohinoor Stores, do you still have any records left in the store?" The response would not be a Yes or No but would be something like "Huh ! May I know with whom I am speaking??" I also once over-heard a faint voice in the background saying "Some wacko wants records. Is he new to the town or something? What do you want me to tell him?" Well, anyway, they did have some stock left. All I did was, "weigh" the records and bought the entire stock by weight. Paid Rs 2000 for like 1500 records (Over 50 kilograms). I did that with 4 other stores and soon had a room full of records. Due to the random stock buying adventure, I also ended up having over 10 copies of the same record. I ended up keeping them.


The picture changed when I left home to study in California, USA and the story remained back there. The passion never died and so I started collecting all over again right here. Sometimes spending half of my pay checks on rare records and sometimes just grabbing some great ones at local record stores at Haight-Ashbury and Berkeley areas, there was just no stopping. 

I discovered some people ripping their old vinyls and putting them to blogs. What specially took my attention was a blog called "The Third Floor Music" blog by a person from Norway who collects, rips and posts records in a language totally unknown to him. Just for the sake of good music! Now that was impressive. Gaining inspiration, I decided to do the same thing to my blog. So here I am with  my very first attempt at digitalizing my old vinyl records - EPs, 78s and LPs. Have fun listening to them. :)
 
 

Every person who grew up in INDIA definitely knows what Vividhbharati is and also has some nostalgic connections of some sort with those songs which he/she listened to as a child and even as an adult. Those melodies of childhood have a deep impact over our mind forever and listening to them completely freshens the mind. A new zeal indeed arises inside the mind. Of course, it has something to do with the sub-conscious too. Today when millions of Indians are out in various parts of the world right from United States to Australia, they do want to have that scent of the homeland as close to them as possible. Eating food of the native land gives immense pleasure and so does listening to songs from home. To cater to the love of all the millions of Indians around the globe and away from home, I have this simple homely dish. It can be relished anywhere and anytime just as soon as the heart wishes.
Our very own Vividhbharati is now online. Since past month I have been constantly striving hard to create this wonderful tool which can be reached by everyone and wonderful melodies as well as nostalgia remain just a click away.
A wonderful collection of diligently hand picked and painstakingly re-mastered Indian melodies along with some rarities like old LP record rip offs as well as movie themes has been created at Vividhbharati Online .

Just click and enjoy...........


http://anywhere.fm/vividhbharati


 
DEEWAAR! 10/27/2007
 

The first english song to be ever composed by an Indian composer R D BURMAN! Back in action again! The coolest hippest and grooviest always amazing and numero uno hitmaker from India does it again hereby creating history and sets a new milestone in Hindi cinema. Enjoy this rarity.

Movie ~ Deewaar
Year ~ 1975
Music ~ R D BURMAN
Track ~ Falling In Love With A Stranger....... ( UNRELEASED )
Singer ~ Ursula Vaz


 
 

Music holds its own sweet place in every human being's heart. It has proved to have remarkable results on trees and animals as well. Music heals, it soothes, it elevates.
All of us hold a little or huge collection of melodies that we simply love listening to. We listen to music on-the-go! In the car, while working, while reading, while exercising or while walking. This all requires some medium to carry the music say an iPOD, portable cd/cassette player
 etc. It is not possible to carry such commodities everywhere. We may tend to forget too! Here is a wonderful solution.
The very new ANYWHERE.FM is an online personal radio service that provides a user with UNLIMITED storage space to store his/her music. Now you can listen to your music on any computer in any part of the planet. Just go to your online station and the melodies will flow
and soothe your senses. Try it! It is wonderful. Make your friends listen to what you listen to. It is YOUR SPACE, YOUR MUSIC which is played YOUR STYLE!
Check out my personal radio station at www.anywhere.fm/harshilan

Coming up soon- Vividh Bharati @ www.anywhere.fm/vividhbharati


 
 

Time for the music revolution. Ever wondered why iPOD got so popular? It's excellent battery life, high storage capacity and ease of use but most importantly, the ease of getting MP3s is what made it so popular. Where do you go for MP3s? Google? Nope! Solution? Peer 2 Peer softwares! Yay! But wait, you still need to pay for the software! Here is the solution that I came up with.
I am sure people know about LimeWire, but the truth about LimeWire is that it does not give search results to the older versions. Older the version, less are the search results. You need to keep paying for the updates. But still, there exists a beautiful and brand new solution. THE FROSTWIRE!
A brand new in its type, it is FREE and an Open Source Application which looks and works exactly like LimeWire. Also, it contains no trojans and ipod advertisements that LimeWire offers for download.
Please welcome, THE FROSTWIRE . Download your copy now and get set for the world of MUSIC! Its fun, its fast and its easy! Let me know how you like it.
Adios! =)


 
 

This is about my new found love. EUROPEAN DISCO MUSIC!

Disco emerged from Jazz music in the early 1970s and to be more precise, the year 1974. The early artists who had a Disco sound were Issac Hayes and James Brown. From there, DISCO went on to be one of the greatest genres to be known to the art of Music. In the year 1977 the sensational SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER movie captured all hearts and made the world boogie and grease up the dancefloors to the grooves of Disco Music. Not to forget, the 17 track soundtrack which was composed of great songs such as STAYIN ALIVE' , NIGHT FEVER and MORE THAN A WOMAN were the brainchild of the great BEE GEES. Other artists included the KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND, YVONNE ELLIMAN and KOOL & THE GANG. Disco evolved in the USA but the effects were seen all around the world. A new type of genre emerged in the EUROPE, France to be more specific, known as EURO-DISCO. Such type of music was experienced for the first time by mankind. There was really some music now to which one could dance to with freestyle steps. That is DISCO!

Now, DISCO & ME. It all started with the record SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER which my brother gave me to listen to. I fell in love with those lovely songs and then I never returned the record. Recently, I remembered that I had a LP record in my father's collection from an artist called CERRONE. I went on searching for his songs and what happened next is a beautiful history.  I fell in love with DISCO MUSIC and my search for more artists and songs grew extensive.  I then discovered ALEC COSTANDINOS, one of the greatest artists in the world of music. Imagine what happens when a person with music in the blood and genes, learns music at a professionals school and sets his career to create something that the world is most demanding for. That is exactly what happened in the case of Alec. He started his career in Paris with a group of singers called LOVE & KISSES, SPHINX, PARIS CONNECTION and SUMERIA. His songs spent weeks on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in the late 1970s. Alec stopped producing records after the year 1981 ever since Disco died but ,thank God we have his legacy to ponder.
Even today, I keep hunting for more rare disco grooves and enjoy playing them in the car, computer and my ipod. Lord Keep The Disco Alive! =)
Enjoy the track I posted below.

Some cool link to check out:~ www.SuperSeventies.com
                                           www.DiscoMuseum.com
                                           www.Warr.org
My Online Music Folder:~  http://www.esnips.com/web/virginharrysOtherStuff


 
Music for Life 06/22/2007
 

Music is my greatest passion. I can say it is my religion. It all started when I was just born. As an infant I used to listen to ghazals and go to sleep. When I was 2 years old, I listened to music on my Dad's Gramophone Record player. In the age of Cassettes and CDs too I had a strong love for the Long Playing records. My father's collection, an ecstacy.......consisted of everything right from The Beatles to CERRONE and of course Indian Film Music and Classical Music. Those were the early times and in such ways, I went on going deeper into listening until the summer of 1994. when I was sent to a piano class for better utilization of my vacation which I was otherwise wasting in unfruitful activities. There......it all began. My new found love - The Piano! I was at a supersonic pace and my fingers commanded those keys in black & white making the piano sing. From that moment, there was no looking back. I took up to the guitar at the dawn of my teenage. Without any formal coaching, I mastered it. It was then the Fall of the year 2003, I decided to form a band. My search for the band mates began and ultimately resulted in the birth of my band "NECROPOLIS" - a Classic Rock Connoisseur. The 3 guitarists I found were amazingly brilliant and I was definitely not as good as they were and hence I decided to take up the DRUMS. Yes!  A brand new beginning. A new kit was bought and I began practicing from scratch without knowing ABCs of Drumming. But I had this strong interest, deep passion and burning desire to perform and let the world experience blissful music. I began working hard non-stop for the next 4 months and then....January 17th 2004, the band's first concert at one of the Big events in the city. Nervous mind, trembling hands and itching desires........the SHOW WAS A HUGE SUCCESS! No looking back from that moment on. August 2004, we were on MTV CAMPUS IDOLS ( competition) and emerged as the winners in the third place. Hearts filled with pride and satisfaction.....It felt so good!
That is the story with me and music.
I listen to entirely different melodies from what the common crowds listen to. I absolutely loathe Rap music and Remixes. They have no ART.
I listen to everything from Classical to Rock and from Raaga to Reggae. But it is all standard music.
I would be writing more about my musical journeys. Stay tuned!