Indiantelevision.com Team

(20 June 2007 11:12 pm)

MUMBAI: On the occasion of World Music Day being celebrated on 21 June, private FM stations have lined up a programming in a mix of on-air talk shows, contests, call-ins, live performances and on-ground events surrounding music.

Radio stations have gone beyond the major centres of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore by penetrating into smaller towns. Radio City 91.1 FM Lucknow has planned to bring live acoustic radio for its listeners in Lucknow which is a first of its kind to be executed in the city.

Celebrated singers Hari Mohan, Kultar Singh, Anand Tripathi and Gagan Gurnani will perform on air alongside the city's RJs Vera, Fahad and Meenu on the show Joyride. The station has also acquired the exclusive radio rights of Lata Mangeshkar's new ghazal album Saadgi.

Radio City's Mumbai station will feature Salim Suleiman and table maestro Taufiq Qureshi along with sitar player Niladri on Breakfast Show. Listeners on City Spice will get introduced to upcoming musician Paroma Mukherjee who plays the guitar, harmonica and the flute. In Hum Tum, RJ Neha will chat with Sanket, a percussionist who works with Kailash Kher.

RJ Archana on Radio City Joyride will talk to Vivek Rajgopalan, a percussionist who recently launched an album Dances with Shiva. Joining RJ Manish Vallicha on City City Bang Bang are Dhruv Ghanekar, Ashutosh Pathak and Mahesh Mathai.The late-night show Jaagte Raho will feature the talents of Rohan, an upcoming santoor player.

At the Bangalore station, listeners of The Sound of Bangalore contest have to identify the recorded and packaged sounds from various locations in Bangalore. The station will also honour musicians and music venues in Bangalore by doing out-broadcasts from different locations in Bangalore. They will pay tribute to musicians Lalitha Vidya Mandir, Basavanagudi Nataraj (veteran violinist) and Ratna Subramaniam.

The live musicians will be on air from 5 am all the way up to midnight. These musicians include TAS Mani on Mridangam, Karthik Mani on the Ghatam, Prakash Sontakke on Hawaiian guitar, KP Prakash on bass, Sukanya Ramgopal on Ghatatarang (a collection of 6 ghatams), the IDL Band (a fun and popular group, consisting of visually-impaired musicians and singers) and Dhunn (Indipop band based in Bangalore).

At the other hand, Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM will have Khat Khat a series on world music day special all through the day.

In Hello Mumbai show, Indian idol judges will talk about world music, sing songs in other regional languages. In Dil khol ke gao, RJs will descend on the streets with a dhol and get people to sing. Khubsurat will host the contest Kaunsi baatein kaano ko music ki tarah lagti hain (which things seem music to ears). In Total Filmy show listeners will sing out the dialogues in their own respective tunes of whichever song the RJs asks.

Himesh Reshamiya will be interviewed in the Bumper 2 Bumper. Purani Jeans will talk of influence of world music on Indian films, trivia and research data on western classical, Spanish sounds and African beats.

Big 92.7 FM will try to reach the music live to the audience with both on-air and on-ground activities. In association with Zee TV's Sa Re Ga Ma Challenge, Big FM Mumbai will host a musical evening with the winners of the show, Little Champs and the current participants. The Mumbai station will have shows with Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan, Soumya Roy and interviews with Bappi Lahiri and Ismail Darbar.

Big FM Kolkata will see celebrity guests like Monomoy Bhattacharya, Haimanti Shukla, Sriradha Banerjee and Anindyo present in the studio throughout the day. Big Chumuk would feature Monomoy Bhattacharya. There will be a special episode of Tirishe Maat inviting listeners to showcase their singing or musical skills in 30 seconds, the winner would get an exclusive music training course sponsored by the station.

Radio One 94.3 FM Bangalore will play special music capsules which are a collage of all the music that the station plays. There will a special one-hour dedication show from 8pm to 9pm with the top eight songs in Bangalore.

Radio Indigo 91.9 FM Bangalore will celebrate with the 'Gift of Music' contest. The contest run on Big Breakfast, Day Trippin', Indigo Jukebox, Cruise Control and Big Couch will promote music and gift music to people who have really wanted to learn music but haven't gotten around in doing so.

The winners on Big Breakfast, Indigo Jukebox and Cruise Control will win free guitar lessons while Day Trippin' and Big Couch winners get free violin and piano lessons respectively.

In association with William Joseph International Academy for Performing Arts, Radio Indigo will give away 10 winners three-month free music lessons from the Academy. It will play tracks by Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Louis Armstrong, Madonna, Eminem amongst other artists who've defined music in an era.

93.5 SFM Hyderabad will see celebrations over a period of two days. On 20 June, folk singer Snehlata was the special guest in the show Kittyparty. Gadi No 935 was hosted from a music school. In Full Too Bindas, Jai Kumar Acharya, percussion expert played different kinds of instruments live on-air. Gazal singer Vittal Rao gazal singer was a special guest in Tara Rum Pum Pum.

On 21 June, two superhit songs from 1950s onwards will be played every hour. The station will also give away 21 CDs sponsored by Music world. At SFM Bangalore, musician RJ Rekha in Singing Star will talk about extensive use of Hindi and English words in Kannada songs.

On Worldspace, Radio Spandana will feature different aspects of Telugu film industry music and the non-film Telugu music. Suswaraalu will capture the evolution and genesis of 'swaras' with the musical sounds in nature. The show will be presented by RJ Sushma playing Telugu songs from all these genres.

Priya Raagalu presented by RJ Mrunalini and RJ Sushuman will discuss the 9 'rasas' that will be merged with wonderful songs depicting each 'rasa'. This will be based on the relationship between 'word' and 'sound' in music as well as the inter-relationship between 'music' and 'literature'.

On Non-stop Nani RJ Nani speak about the youthful insights of Telegu film industry and will also gives insights into film-making during the program.

Musical Shikaru, a selection of classic romantic songs from Telugu Films will present the best duets from all eras of Telugu film music, representing the best music directors, lyricists and singers.

Even mobile networks have special schemes lined up. Airtel will offer to all its users in Mumbai and Maharashtra and Goa circles a special offer on its Hello Tune service. Airtel will offer free 'Hello Tune' download from a choice of over 18000 songs in over 20 languages across India. Moreover, new subscribers of Hello Tune can subscribe to Hello Tune free of cost.