4 Great Artists you should know as a Hindustani Vocal Student

As a musician, everyone should look up to an idol. Take inspiration and ideas from them to grow as a musician. In this blog, we will learn about some Hindustani Greats and why you should look them up especially if you are a Hindustani Vocal Student.

1. Bhimshen Joshi

A legend in the field of Hindustani classical music, he has earned the respect and admiration not just of his fans but that of his critics as well. He is well known for his work in Khayal, a form of Hindustani classical. His ‘bhajans’, which were usually sung in Kannada, Hindi and Marathi languages. Bhimsen Joshi was known for his presentation of devotional music. He was adored by his fans for his amazing renditions, intelligent improvisations and for his unique onstage presence where he captures his audience with some magical show of his vocal skills. His most memorable performance that is recalled by his fans even today is the song ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’.Joshi provided vocals for several movies. In 2008, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna (India’s highest civilian honour).

2. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

He is a very well-known musician around the world, primarily a singer of Qawwali, a form of Sufi Islamic devotional music. He is widely considered as one of the greatest voices ever recorded. He possessed an extraordinary range of vocal abilities and an extraordinary stage presence that has the capability to lift your hearts. He could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours and a master of improvisation. Due to his dedication and passion for music, Khan was also known as the ‘Shahanshah-e-Qawwali’, meaning ‘The King of Kings of Qawwali’. Some of his memorable works are ‘‘Mere Rashke Kamar’’, ‘‘Mere Piya Ghar Aaya’’, ‘‘Afreen Afreen’’.

3. Shankar Mahadevan

Shankar Mahadevan is a Tamil-Indian singer and music composer. He gained fame for his album entitled Breathless. An accomplished musician in Tamil cinema, he is a part of the Shankar Ehsaan Loy trio team that provides music to Bollywood films. He learned Hindustani classical and Carnatic music as a child, and began playing the Veena at the age of five. He has contributed a lot in the Bollywood and his genius use of Hindustani classical nuances along with modern elements, he is certainly unique as an artist. Some of his famous works ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, ‘ Mitwa’, ‘Aasman ke Paar’.

4. Javed Bashir

He is a talented vocalist from Pakistan who is known as master of Hindustani Classical Music. His official training for the singing form Qawwali began from 1992 with his father Ustaad Bashir Ahmed Khan, who himself a well-known Qawwal. He entered the Bollywood through A.R. Rahman’s scored movie Yuva. He was heard in Background Score where he sang Alaaps and Sargams. His lucky break came when Mekaal Hasan of the Mekaal Hasan Band called him on board to join his band. The band's world over famous song "Chal Bulleya" happened in 2009 from the album Saptak in collaboration with the band. He has also worked on a musical project for Indo-Pak peace in collaboration with Shankar Mahadevan.

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and  Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. 

The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.

3 tricks to start playing the guitar quickly

Everyone wants to play a music instrument and one of the popular choice is the guitar because it is easily portable and looks so damn cool! It is the perfect instrument for entertainment. Now, as a beginner, especially if you have started taking classes, you must have realised there are a lot of components involved in playing the instrument and you may feel like it might take years before you can start playing something complex. However, that is not the case. You can start off with the notion of just having fun with the instrument and not approaching it as some kind of duty that you have to do. So, here we will discuss few tricks and easier ways to start playing songs on guitar quickly.

1. Learn only chords

Chords are one of the quintessential element of music and is such a powerful tool if you know how to play two chords, you can probably sing a whole song over it. Learn the basic open chords. You don't have to understand the theory in the beginning, just get used to the shape and practice coordinating both your hands while shifting the chord. After a few weeks when you are comfortable shifting, start picking up simple sing along songs and in no time you will be every party's favourite entertainer.

2. Riffs

There are many songs that gets stuck to people's head because of a constant melody or a riff that keeps repeating. For eg; Anyone will recognise 'Smoke on the water' when you hear that iconic riff. Try picking those. You will get tabs for it on the internet. Of course, you have to know how to read tabs which is pretty easy and you must have already been taught if you are going to any half-decent music school. Pick up the riffs, it will get your hand moving and you will benefit further from it when you actually learn deeper into the theory and technique.

3. Find peers to play with or ‘jam’ with

It has been observed that people learn faster if they have a friend playing with them. Not just because of the competitive dynamics, but it is easier for them to keep up than trying to figure something out of their own. The visual and auditory environment helps you learn in a better rate. It also motivates them as it is a teamwork to make a song sound right and no one wants to disappoint the other. So exchange playlists and some jam time, you will learn faster than you ever thought.

Having discussed all of the above, it is important to understand that these are just a few ways you can grow faster as a guitarist but at the end of the day it is important that you still put time for practicing them daily for an hour to get the best result. All instruments can only be mastered through repetition and commitment towards it. No one is born a genius, everybody has to polish their talent, so it is upto you how much of your talent you want to extract and show it to the world.

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and  Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. 

The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.