MUMBAI: Sony BMG Music’s Indian classical label Sony Nad and WorldSpace Satellite Radio’s Hindustani classical music channel Radio Gandharv have tied up to launch Radio Gandharv Collector’s Choice Albums.
The two companies will be launching a joint marketing campaign for this album series. Radio Gandharv will run on-air promos to inform its listeners about this series. The albums will be available at leading music stores across the country, as well as at WorldSpace stores in Bangalore and Chennai, and are priced at Rs 75 for cassettes and Rs 299 for CDs.
The series will have five albums featuring seven maestros of Hindustani classical music including Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Veena Sahasrabuddhe, Ustad Allah Rakha with Ustad Zakir Hussain and in a single album, the rare combination of Dr. L. Subramaniam and Pandit Jasraj.
The series features a recording of sitarist par excellence- the Late Ustad Vilayat Khan’s concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London, (Raga Jhinjhoti), renowned vocalist Veena Sahasrabuddhe’s Raga Sawani, Ragmala and Raga Hamsadhwani and ‘Shared Moments’ of the legendary father-son duo of the late Ustad Allah Rakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain on the tabla accompanied by the inimitable Ustad Sultan Khan on the Sarangi. Also included in the series is the recording of Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s live performance at the Symphony Centre, Chicago, in 2003, featuring ‘music of the 13th century’.
A brilliant collaboration between violin virtuoso Dr. L. Subramaniam and celebrated vocalist Pandit Jasraj, recorded live at the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival, 2004 is also included in the series, informs an official release.
Says Worldspace India Private Ltd. Program director R Mahadevan, “After receiving encouragement from prominent artists on the launch of Gandharv, we are happy that a leading record label like Sony BMG Music has recognized the innate strength of our channel in the field of Indian Classical Music, and has joined hands with us to promote Radio Gandharv Collectors’ Choice Albums.”
“The albums are a great collection of artistes, that appeal to a wide cross section of people. We are confident that this series and promotion will be very succesful among the lovers of classical music,” offers Sony BMG Music MD Shridhar Subramaniam.