Now, India's largest music company, Saregama (earlier HMV), is launching a first-of-its-kind classical music app, which will feature 50 radio stations, 400-plus artistes and over 8,000 compositions across Hindustani, Carnatic and fusion genres on Tuesday.
There are apps and then are apps. While some promise everything -- from watching your weight and even chasing mosquitoes -- others score relatively higher on the utility scale by teaching you how to drape a dhoti/sari, chop veggies and even make your own Ganesha.
Now, India's largest music company, Saregama (earlier HMV), is launching a first-of-its-kind classical music app, which will feature 50 radio stations, 400-plus artistes and over 8,000 compositions across Hindustani, Carnatic and fusion genres on Tuesday.
As a custodian of over half of all the music ever recorded in India, Saregama has the largest music archive and catalogue in India. "In fact, in the classical genre, Saregama has over 90% of the music archive. It is great to be able to share this rich musical legacy with audiences," said Saregama India managing director Vikram Mehra.
The discerning world of classical music is more than happy with this development. dna spoke to several legends who felt it was a brilliant idea. "Jai Ho!" began the Mewati maestro vocalist Pt Jasraj, "What could be better? Our scriptures tell us change is the only constant. We need to keep up with times or get left behind. Such an app will help in keeping classical music accessible to all whenever they feel like."
Pointing out how many had frowned upon the introduction of ideas like the electronic tanpura and now the tanpura app, he said: "I've always felt it necessary to understand and accept new things. I was among the first few to begin using the electronic tanpura," reminded the legend.
Others like Dr Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, too, echoed him. "Every new thing will have its pluses and minuses. It's up to us to take the positive and optimise it further for our classical performing art. In this app, I see a lot of potential."
Mehra, who took over the reins of Saregama last October, began by launching a music purchase store. The store allowed customers to listen to and purchase over 1,10,000 songs in 14 different languages, a song selector, and a B2B tool that allowed users to search the appropriate song.
The store was the precursor to the app. According to Mehra, it was while doing during research for this project that he realised the great demand for classical music.
In keeping with the demography of the classically inclined, the music on the app does not require you to be a geek. "I told the team developing the app that it shouldn't at all be technical – even when they told me it'll mean reducing its potential to do a lot more."
Octogenarian Carnatic maestro M Balamuralikrishna observed: "It is not possible for a niche genre like classical music to find its space on platforms with all kinds of music. These platforms generally show you content based on popularity. This means film music ends up largely monopolising that space," and said: "Wonder why no one thought of it before?"
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 "Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, Pandit Jasraj, M Balamuralikrishna")
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