1.
Guitar
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The guitar is a musical instrument classified as a fretted string instrument with anywhere from four to 18 strings, usually having six. The sound is projected either acoustically, using a wooden or plastic and wood box, or through electrical amplifier. It is typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers, the guitar is a type of chordophone, traditionally constructed from wood and strung with either gut, nylon or steel strings and distinguished from other chordophones by its construction and tuning. There are three types of modern acoustic guitar, the classical guitar, the steel-string acoustic guitar, and the archtop guitar. The tone of a guitar is produced by the strings vibration, amplified by the hollow body of the guitar. The term finger-picking can also refer to a tradition of folk, blues, bluegrass. The acoustic bass guitar is an instrument that is one octave below a regular guitar. Early amplified guitars employed a body, but a solid wood body was eventually found more suitable during the 1960s and 1970s. As with acoustic guitars, there are a number of types of guitars, including hollowbody guitars, archtop guitars and solid-body guitars. The electric guitar has had a influence on popular culture. The guitar is used in a variety of musical genres worldwide. It is recognized as an instrument in genres such as blues, bluegrass, country, flamenco, folk, jazz, jota, mariachi, metal, punk, reggae, rock, soul. The term is used to refer to a number of chordophones that were developed and used across Europe, beginning in the 12th century and, later, in the Americas. The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, has applied to a wide variety of chordophones since classical times. Many influences are cited as antecedents to the modern guitar, at least two instruments called guitars were in use in Spain by 1200, the guitarra latina and the so-called guitarra morisca. The guitarra morisca had a back, wide fingerboard. The guitarra Latina had a sound hole and a narrower neck. By the 14th century the qualifiers moresca or morisca and latina had been dropped, and it had six courses, lute-like tuning in fourths and a guitar-like body, although early representations reveal an instrument with a sharply cut waist
2.
Saxophone
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The saxophone is a family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet, the saxophone family was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1840. He patented the saxophone on June 28,1846, in two groups of seven instruments each, each series consisted of instruments of various sizes in alternating transposition. The series pitched in B♭ and E♭, designed for bands, have proved extremely popular. The saxophone is used in music, military bands, marching bands. The saxophone was developed in 1846 by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian instrument maker, flautist, born in Dinant and originally based in Brussels, he moved to Paris in 1842 to establish his musical instrument business. Prior to his work on the saxophone, he had several improvements to the bass clarinet by improving its keywork and acoustics. Sax was also a maker of the ophicleide, a large conical brass instrument in the bass register with keys similar to a woodwind instrument. His experience with two instruments allowed him to develop the skills and technologies needed to make the first saxophones. As an outgrowth of his work improving the bass clarinet, Sax began developing an instrument with the projection of a brass instrument and he wanted it to overblow at the octave, unlike the clarinet, which rises in pitch by a twelfth when overblown. An instrument that overblows at the octave has identical fingering for both registers, Sax created an instrument with a single-reed mouthpiece like a clarinet, conical brass body like an ophicleide, and some acoustic properties of both the horn and the clarinet. Having constructed saxophones in several sizes in the early 1840s, Sax applied for, and received, the patent encompassed 14 versions of the fundamental design, split into two categories of seven instruments each, and ranging from sopranino to contrabass. Although the instruments transposed at either F or C have been considered orchestral, the C soprano saxophone was the only instrument to sound at concert pitch. Saxs patent expired in 1866, thereafter, numerous saxophonists and instrument manufacturers implemented their own improvements to the design, the first substantial modification was by a French manufacturer who extended the bell slightly and added an extra key to extend the range downwards by one semitone to B♭. It is suspected that Sax himself may have attempted this modification and this extension is now commonplace in almost all modern designs, along with other minor changes such as added keys for alternate fingerings. Using alternate fingerings allows a player to play faster and more easily, a player may also use alternate fingerings to bend the pitch. Some of the alternate fingerings are good for trilling, scales, a substantial advancement in saxophone keywork was the development of a method by which the left thumb operates both tone holes with a single octave key, which is now universal on modern saxophones. This enables a chromatic scale to be played two octaves simply by playing the diatonic scale combined with alternately raising and lowering this one digit
3.
Kolkata
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Kolkata /koʊlˈkɑːtɑː/ is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. In 2011, the city had a population of 4.5 million, while the population of the city and its suburbs was 14.1 million, making it the third-most populous metropolitan area in India. Recent estimates of Kolkata Metropolitan Areas economy have ranged from $60 to $150 billion making it third most-productive metropolitan area in India, after Mumbai, in the late 17th century, the three villages that predated Calcutta were ruled by the Nawab of Bengal under Mughal suzerainty. After the Nawab granted the East India Company a trading licence in 1690, Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah occupied Calcutta in 1756, and the East India Company retook it the following year. In 1793 the East India company was enough to abolish Nizamat. Calcutta was the centre for the Indian independence movement, it remains a hotbed of contemporary state politics, following Indian independence in 1947, Kolkata, which was once the centre of modern Indian education, science, culture, and politics, suffered several decades of economic stagnation. Many people from Kolkata—among them several Nobel laureates—have contributed to the arts, the sciences, Kolkata culture features idiosyncrasies that include distinctively close-knit neighbourhoods and freestyle intellectual exchanges. Though home to major cricketing venues and franchises, Kolkata differs from other Indian cities by giving importance to association football, there are several explanations about the etymology of this name, The term Kolikata is thought to be a variation of Kalikkhetrô, meaning Field of Kali. Similarly, it can be a variation of Kalikshetra, alternatively, the name may have been derived from the Bengali term kilkila, or flat area. The name may have its origin in the words khal meaning canal, followed by kaṭa, according to another theory, the area specialised in the production of quicklime or koli chun and coir or kata, hence, it was called Kolikata. The discovery and archaeological study of Chandraketugarh,35 kilometres north of Kolkata, Kolkatas recorded history began in 1690 with the arrival of the English East India Company, which was consolidating its trade business in Bengal. The area occupied by the city encompassed three villages, Kalikata, Gobindapur, and Sutanuti. Kalikata was a village, Sutanuti was a riverside weavers village. They were part of an estate belonging to the Mughal emperor and these rights were transferred to the East India Company in 1698. In 1712, the British completed the construction of Fort William, facing frequent skirmishes with French forces, the British began to upgrade their fortifications in 1756. The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, condemned the militarisation and his warning went unheeded, and the Nawab attacked, he captured Fort William which led to the killings of several East India company officials in the Black Hole of Calcutta. A force of Company soldiers and British troops led by Robert Clive recaptured the city the following year, declared a presidency city, Calcutta became the headquarters of the East India Company by 1772. In 1793, ruling power of the Nawabs were abolished and East India company took control of the city
4.
Presidency University, Kolkata
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Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal. The college was established in 1817 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Radhakanta Deb, David Hare, Justice Sir Edward Hyde East, Baidyanath Mukhopadhya, with the creation of the Supreme Court of Calcutta in 1773 many Hindus of Bengal showed eagerness to learn the English language. David Hare, in collaboration with Raja Radhakanta Deb had already taken steps to introduce English education in Bengal, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the proposal to establish an institution for giving a liberal education to the children of the members of the Hindu Community. The proposal was received with unanimous approbation and a donation of over Rs,100,000 was promised for the setting up of the new college. The College was formally opened on Monday,20 January 1817 with 20 scholars, the foundation committee of the college, which oversaw its establishment, was headed by Raja Rammohan Roy. The control of the institution was vested in a body of two Governors and four Directors, the first Governors of the college were Maharaja Tejchandra Bahadur of Burdwan and Babu Gopee Mohan Thakoor. The first Directors were Babu Gopi Mohun Deb of Sobhabazar, Babu Joykissen Sinha, Babu Radha Madhab Banerjee, Babu Buddinath Mukherjee was appointed as the first Secretary of the college. The newly established college mostly admitted Hindu students from affluent and progressive families, at first the classes were held in a house belonging to Gorachand Bysack of Garanhatta, which was rented by the college. In January 1818 the college moved to Feringhi Kamal Boses house which was located nearby in Chitpore, from Chitpore, the college moved to Bowbazar and later to the building that now houses the Sanskrit College on College Street. In 1972, an article was released by the faculty members of the college demanding that the college be given full university status. It is a secret that the author of the article was Prof. Dipak Banerjee. The other members of the committee included Prof, ashes Prasad Mitra, Prof. Barun De, Dr. Bimal Jalan and Prof. Subimal Sen, to look into the possibility of upgrading the status of the college. In 2009, the Governing Body of the college adopted the proposal that the college should be given full university status. The bill stated that once the college becomes a full state-aided university it will be renamed Presidency University, the new logo of the Presidency University has been created by Sabyasachi Dutta as reported in a letter to the Editor of Anandabazar Patrika on 1 April 2013. On 19 March 2010, the West Bengal Government passed the Presidency University Bill,2009 in the State Legislative Assembly, on 7 July 2010, the governor of West Bengal, M K Narayanan gave his assent to the Presidency University Bill. On 23 July 2010, the Government of West Bengal published the gazette notification completing all the formalities for Presidency to become a full university. Prof. Amiya Bagchi was given the responsibility of chairing a committee set up to select, Prof. Amita Chatterjee, a retired professor of philosophy at Jadavpur University, was appointed as the first vice-chancellor of Presidency University on 5 October 2010. In 2011, Higher Education Minister Bratya Basu suggested that a group, along the lines of the Nalanda mentor group
5.
Baul
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The Baul are a group of mystic minstrels from Bengal which includes Indian State of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh. Bauls constitute both a religious sect and a musical tradition. Bauls are a heterogeneous group, with many sects, but their membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindus. They can often be identified by their clothes and musical instruments. Not much is known of their origin, Lalon Fokir is regarded as the most important poet-practitioner of the Baul tradition. Baul music had a influence on Rabindranath Tagores poetry and on his music. Though Bauls comprise only a fraction of the Bengali population. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral, the word Baul has its etymological origin in the Sanskrit word Vātūla and is used for someone who is possessed or crazy. Bauls are an extension of the Sahajiya philosophy, which in turn derives from the Nath tradition and they believe in living the world as a half-sanyasi. The origin of the word Baul is debated, the origin of Bauls is not known exactly, but the word Baul has appeared in Bengali texts as old as the 15th century. The word is found in the Chaitanya Bhagavata of Vrindavana Dasa Thakura as well as in the Chaitanya Charitamrita of Krishnadasa Kaviraja, some scholars maintain that it is not clear when the word took its sectarian significance, as opposed to being a synonym for the word madcap, agitated. The beginning of the Baul movement was attributed to Birbhadra, the son of the Vaishnavite saint Nityananda, Bauls are a part of the culture of rural Bengal. Whatever their origin, Baul thought has mixed elements of Tantra, Sufi Islam and they are thought to have been influenced by the Hindu tantric sect of the Kartabhajas, as well as Tantric Vaishnava schools like the Vaishnava-Sahajiya. Some scholars find traces of these thoughts in the ancient practices of Yoga as well as the Charyapadas, the Bauls themselves attribute their lack of historical records to their reluctance to leave traces behind. Dr. Jeanne Openshaw writes that the music of the Bauls appears to have passed down entirely in oral form until the end of the 19th century. The Bauls were recorded as a sect as early as mid 18th century. Regarding the origins of the sect, one recent theory suggests that Bauls are descendants of a branch of Sufism called baal, votaries of this sect of Sufism in Iran, dating back to the 8th-9th centuries, were fond of music and participated in secret devotional practices. They used to roam about the desert singing, like other Sufis, they also entered the South Asian subcontinent and spread out in various directions
6.
Jazz
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Jazz is a music genre that originated amongst African Americans in New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in Blues and Ragtime. Since the 1920s jazz age, jazz has become recognized as a form of musical expression. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms, Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Although the foundation of jazz is deeply rooted within the Black experience of the United States, different cultures have contributed their own experience, intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as one of Americas original art forms. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on different national, regional, and local musical cultures, New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging musicians music which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed in the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments. In the early 1980s, a form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful. Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such as Latin, the question of the origin of the word jazz has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented. It is believed to be related to jasm, a term dating back to 1860 meaning pep. The use of the word in a context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its first documented use in a context in New Orleans was in a November 14,1916 Times-Picayune article about jas bands. In an interview with NPR, musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of the slang connotations of the term, saying, When Broadway picked it up. That was dirty, and if you knew what it was, the American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century. Jazz has proved to be difficult to define, since it encompasses such a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years. Attempts have been made to define jazz from the perspective of other musical traditions, in the opinion of Robert Christgau, most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz. As Duke Ellington, one of jazzs most famous figures, said, although jazz is considered highly difficult to define, at least in part because it contains so many varied subgenres, improvisation is consistently regarded as being one of its key elements
7.
Drum kit
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A drum kit consists of a mix of drums and idiophones most significantly cymbals but also including the woodblock and cowbell. In the 2000s, some also include electronic instruments and both hybrid and entirely electronic kits are used. If some or all of them are replaced by electronic drums, the drum kit is usually played while seated on a drum stool or throne. The drum kit differs from instruments that can be used to produce pitched melodies or chords, even though drums are often placed musically alongside others that do, such as the piano or guitar. The drum kit is part of the rhythm section used in many types of popular and traditional music styles ranging from rock and pop to blues. Other standard instruments used in the section include the electric bass, electric guitar. Many drummers extend their kits from this pattern, adding more drums, more cymbals. Some performers, such as some rockabilly drummers, use small kits that omit elements from the basic setup, some drum kit players may have other roles in the band, such as providing backup vocals, or less commonly, lead vocals. Thus, in an early 1800s orchestra piece, if the called for bass drum, triangle and cymbals. In the 1840s, percussionists began to experiment with foot pedals as a way to them to play more than one instrument. In the 1860s, percussionists started combining multiple drums into a set, the bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, and other percussion instruments were all played using hand-held drum sticks. Double-drumming was developed to one person to play the bass and snare with sticks. With this approach, the drum was usually played on beats one. This resulted in a swing and dance feel. The drum set was referred to as a trap set. By the 1870s, drummers were using an overhang pedal, most drummers in the 1870s preferred to do double drumming without any pedal to play multiple drums, rather than use an overhang pedal. Companies patented their pedal systems such as Dee Dee Chandler of New Orleans 1904–05, liberating the hands for the first time, this evolution saw the bass drum played with the foot of a standing percussionist. The bass drum became the central piece around which every other percussion instrument would later revolve and it was the golden age of drum building for many famous drum companies, with Ludwig introducing
8.
Ranjon Ghoshal
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Ranjon Ghoshal is a founder member of the Bengali band Moheener Ghoraguli, and runs an advertising agency, Mareech Advertising in Banglore, apart from Forum Three, a theatre group. Born in a town named Memari, District, Burdwan, West Bengal to Leela and late Tarapada Ghoshal. Tarapada retired from a Govt. of Indias political intelligence bureau posting equivalent of an additional Superintendent of Police in 1973, Leela has always been a homemaker. Ranjon has three brothers, Tapan, Swapan and Chandan, one Sister, Mala and a younger brother. On the 27th of April,1980, Ranjon was married to Sangeeta and he used to handle all the media interaction, artwork of the records, cover designing and publicity material. An electrical engineer from Jadavpur University and PGD in Industrial Management, NITIE, Mumbai and he currently resides in Bangalore, India with his wife Sangeeta and two sons, Indrayudh and Abhimanyu. Ranjons home in Bangalore, The Yellow Submarine, is a point for a number of intellectuals. He is a member of the Bangalore theatre scene, directing and performing plays in English with the group Forum Three. Ranjon has been instrumental in keeping alive the spirit of Moheen songs, as a part of this effort he has organized the very successful First Rock Concert in Bagalore and Abar Bochhor Tirish Pore in Kolkata. Ranjon has been writing poetry and fiction in both Bengali and English and he scripts for films and stage plays. Ranjon has started nurturing and grooming brands under a nascent venture, Mind It
9.
Dhaki
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Dhakis are traditional drummers who play the dhak during Hindu festivals, primarily in Bengal. Drum beats are a part of the five-day-long annual festivities associated with Durga Puja but dhakis are losing out to pre-recorded CDs. Dhakis perform mostly in pandals of barowari pujas, starting from Viswakarma Puja till Kali Puja, for the latter festival Kolkata has over 2,000 pandals, with numerous more in the districts. Even a small pandal without the beat of dhaks is unimaginable, every makeshift tent has a dhak. Those enchanting beats are enough to conjure up the sights and smells of Durga Puja, the nuances of playing the instrument are handed down from generation to generation, but the old rhythms are undergoing changes. The rhythm is no longer as slow as in earlier generations, nowadays, dhakis opt for faster rhythms. Earlier, different beats were used for aspects of Durga Puja, as for example chokhhu daan, patha bali, bisarjan, sandhya arati, sandhipuja. Dhakis who cannot learn within the family typically take training under a guru to become a good dhaki, some take six months to become mature players, while others do not even learn after three or four years. Many young dhakis nowadays are moving towards modern rhythms, bikram Ghosh, a renowned tabla player and a patron of dhakis in Bengal, opines, some dhakis do go the commercial way out of necessity. But most know the basic rhythms that have taught to them by their ancestors. The occasions when the dhak was played are changing, apart from pujas or religious festivities, dhakis are also called to play in markets before Durga Puja when people crowd in large numbers. Sometimes, they are called for store inaugurations, bengali communities outside Bengal get dhakis from Bengal for Durga Puja. In Delhi around 400 Durga Pujas are organised, many of the older and established pujas have their fixed dhakis, but others engage free-lancers who arrive on their own in Delhi just before the pujas. Some 100 dhakis travel to Delhi from Malda and Medinipur, not all of them are engaged and some return empty handed. Durga Puja is the time for the dhakis to earn some money and they are generally landless farmers and play the dhak in their villages when they have time to spare. The cost of a dhaki in Delhi is a more than it is in Kolkata. It costs around Rs.3,000 to 4,000 per dhaki plus Rs.2,000 for the accompaniments, the dhakis routinely brave police harassment to reach the capital with their large dhaks. With terrorism in the air, the harassment has increased, even after checking with metal detectors for guns and bombs, the police do not allow them to go unless they pay
10.
Moheener Ghoraguli
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Moheener Ghoraguli was a Bengali independent music group from Kolkata, established in 1975. They were Indias first rock band and it is difficult to classify them into a musical genre, as their music drew from wide variety of influences, including the Baul and folk traditions of Bengali music and rock. Their style of music can be loosely called folk rock, established in the 1970s during a period of stagnation in Bengali music, when commercial film songs were the dominant market force, the lyrics of leader Gautam Chattopadhyay were radically new. They were of a personal or social nature, similar to the urban folk movement led by Bob Dylan in the 60s. Though they were almost unknown in their time, in recent years they have undergone a critical re-evaluation much like the Velvet Underground, in recognition of this renewed interest, Gautam released a compilation of Mohiner Ghoraguli covers by contemporary artists, Aabaar Bochhor Kuri Pore in 1995. They have since come to be considered an unrecognised pioneers of the style and ethics. They are sometimes credited as the pioneers of the flourishing of Bengali bands in the new millennium. This is debatable as their songwriting was strongly rooted in Bengali folk and also American urban folk, while modern Bengali bands like Fossils and their signature song is Prithibita Naki, a reflection on how television creates urban alienation. It has been covered by many artists, the group played together until 1981 and was then dissolved. In the late 80s Subrata Ghosh a student of Presidency College, Calcutta, immediately he became a die-hard fan of Monida and excavated information about him. In a few days, Subrata reached Monidas residence at Naktala, after a few days of jamming with Subrata, the 2nd innings of Monida started. This was the time when the most revolutionary compositions like Prithibi, telephone, in 1994 Gautam was awarded with an assignment from Kolkata Doordarshan to make 1st ever Bengali Music Video and a budget was allocated to him. The first album in this phase issued by the new-look Moheener Ghoraguli was a compilation called Abar Bochhor Kuri Porey and it included a number of original Moheener Ghoraguli classics from the 1970s, as well as songs recorded by select music makers of the 90s. Although listeners were initially slow to catch on, the proved to be a hit. Gautam Chattopadhyay finally saw Moheener Ghoraguli music gaining the popularity and critical recognition that had eluded their band in the 1970s, several other successful compilations have followed since the first one. Both in their native West Bengal and in Bangladesh, Moheener Ghoraguli is now a much-admired movement, gautams death in 1999 was sudden. In December 2007, ABP organised a concert Abar Bochhor kuri Porey ensemlbing all associates of Mohiner Ghoraguli, singers, the 3-hour concert was held at Nicco Park and went on to be one of the biggest concert of recent times. Ranjan Ghoshal was the man behind the show and the music arrangement was done
11.
Pradip Chatterjee
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Pradip Chatterjee is a founder member of the Bengali band Moheener Ghoraguli. He is the brother of Gautam Chatterjee. He was also a person, filmmaker and ethnographer. Also known as Bula, Pradip is a flautist and vocalist. N, dastur & Company Ltd, after the break-up of Moheener Ghoraguli. During the course of his service with the company, he travelled many places from Orissa to Libya, Abu Dhabi, but his quest for world-music was never deterred, but enriched by this varied experiences. Currently, he resides in Kolkata, with his wife Sharmistha and daughter Anka and son Ritoban
