For Celeste Cordo, growing up in Bandra was a lot about figuring out the right harmonies and vocal arrangements in her choir. But, when the neighbourhood children's choir became defunct about a decade ago, Celeste, now 60, decided to start her own music education avenue with Gleehive, spearheaded by a children's choir. "She wanted to start her own choir for the neighbourhood kids to learn and appreciate music," says Dawn Cordo, her 30-year-old daughter. And they will be bringing some of the magic and sense of belonging that comes with being part of a choir to Mumbaikars at their annual concert, The Gleehive Buzz, tomorrow.

It's their teaching style that makes this concert a tad different from others. "Our classes are not academically driven and we don't have any certification. So, it's not just meant for people who can sing, but anyone who appreciates music," says Dawn, who completed her degree in music education from Berkley College of Music and decided to come back to start an education programme, besides singing backing vocals in studios and doing vocal arrangements for artistic projects.

Dawn Cordo

The evening will go on to show their growth from being just a choir, as there will also be small instrumental ensembles with students playing string and woodwind instruments. The kids, aged between five and 15, will show their dancing skills as well as play different characters on stage. "The music won't just be classical or jazz, but also include songs from musicals like The Ugly Duckling. The theme is markets from around the world because we wanted to show that life is like a marketplace where you meet people from varied cultures, you get things and you lose things, and even when there's a disagreement, we always approach one another with kindness and love," adds Dawn.

The performers also include kids with autism and ADHD, who, Dawn says, have only benefited from pursuing their musical interests. "Music is therapeutic. There's a student who communicates better because of the feeling of being included. It's also important for kids who aren't exposed to those with special needs to mingle with them," shares Dawn.

ON March 20, 7 pm to 8.30 pm
AT St Andrew's Auditorium, St Dominic Road, Bandra West 
CALL 26410926 (for passes)

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Accepting the futility of genres, of boxing songs into different compartments like stacked products in supermarket shelves, seems to be at the forefront of Rafiq Bhatia's musical endeavour. The 30-year-old American of Indian descent is the guitarist for a New York-based indie outfit called Son Lux. But it's his recent solo album, Breaking English, which makes the listener really question the need for musical boundaries, of sticking labels to a composition as if it's packaged meat.

The title track of the album, for instance, is not jazz, is not electronica, is not lounge, but all of these generic classifications rolled into one lush sound with a coherent narrative, where Bhatia's melancholic guitar plays the role of the protagonist. Each sonic detail in the track is well-defined, to the point where even though fellow Son Lux member Ian Chang's drum beats seem dissonant, they fit like a glove into the overall musical fabric. Bhatia describes this sensibility when he tells us over the phone from Berlin, where he's on tour, "Ryan (Lott, the vocalist for Son Lux) would say that instead of building a house, designing a room and then placing a chair in it, why don't we start with the chair first, and then design the room around it before building the house. There is a theory in poetry called organicism, where the poet lets each individual verse define the form that the poem will take. That is kind of similar to what I'm trying to do with my music."

He further explains his musical process when he narrates a story about one of his influences, Sam Rivers, the late American jazz great. "I've read that he would attend the concerts of all his peers, and purposely study their music to understand what they were trying to do. But this wasn't to replicate what they were playing. Instead, it was to consciously avoid it. Similarly, John Coltrane took the music of his predecessors and retooled the entire musical vocabulary keeping a similar underlying foundation, but with new pathways built on top of it," he says, giving us an indication of how he doesn't hesitate to flush rule books down the toilet.

Hybridity, in fact, lies at the core of Bhatia's creative evolution. The basis for this, he says, might well be his mixed identity. Born in North Carolina, he has never really fit in to any particular community. For, even though his parents are of Gujarati origin, they grew up in Tanzania, before moving to London and then finally to the US. So, while his brown skin stood out among the white kids in his school, he didn't feel completely at home among the Indian community either. "Everybody thinks that I am something else. So, my music is a result of a need to express my identity. It's a form of therapy at some level, because it's also a way of accepting who I am," he says.

He adds that this therapy started early. When he was about eight or nine, the older desi kids in Bhatia's neighbourhood would pick him up in a car and stop at a parking lot, listening to the hip-hop albums that became one of his earliest influences. Was he drawn to them because of the political overtones that such songs often embody? "Not really," he answers, adding, "I was only in the third grade at the time, and I couldn't even understand the words. So it was the musicality that I fell for. But the deeper question is, why were a bunch of brown kids sitting in a car in a parking lot and empathising with hip-hop music? What is it that was drawing them to the words? So you see, it's difficult to disentangle the politics from the music."

It follows thus that an intertwining of politics and music sometimes features in his own compositions. For example, Hoods Up, a complex instrumental piece, drew its inspiration from Trayvon Martin, a black teenager who was cruelly shot down because of a case of mistaken identity. The guitarist says, "I feel some amount of compulsion to express my [political] ideas. But sometimes, it's easy to get carried away with being overtly political because there is so much to be angry about, and often the responsibility falls on artistes to emphasise it. So I would say that politics is a general part of what inspires my music, because there are so many other facets of my personality that also make their way in."

Essentially, then, what Bhatia wants to keep doing is create genre-defying tracks where attention to detail is of paramount importance. "When you take the details and all the generalities of music for granted, that's when your songs start sounding more like other people's music. That doesn't mean you can't make great tracks. It's just that the less you consider those things, the less is the chance that you will make music that departs from convention. The flip side is that when you think actively about each decision, and each one comes from a place of individuality, it becomes hard to find a coherent logic that ties all those things together. And that ends up being the riddle that I am constantly trying to solve with my music."

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Several television celebrities will get together in a virtual music concert to pay a tribute to Rishi Kapoor and Irrfan Khan, who passed away last week. Titled Dard-e-Dil, the concert includes artistes like Bharati Singh, Maniesh Paul, Hina Khan, Arjun Bijlani, Devoleena Bhattacharjee, Sukhwinder Singh and Aditya Narayan among others.

"This tribute is a great chance for us to pay respects to these two legends of Bollywood. Both Rishi Kapoor ji and Irrfan Khan have given so much joy to us fans through their work. The last week was indeed the worst week for Indian Cinema as we lost two legends one after the other. They may have gone from the world but they will live in our hearts forever through the work they have done. I am honoured beyond words that I have been chosen to give them tribute to them through this concert. We will celebrate their unforgettable contribution to Bollywood and pay the tribute," Bharati said.

Irrfan breathed his last on April 29 at the age of 54. He was admitted to Mumbai's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital with a colon infection. However, unfortunately he succumbed to his ailment. Rishi Kapoor passed away a day later at Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital on April 30. He had been battling leukemia for the past two years.

The concert will be aired on Colors channel on Sunday, May 10.

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After sharing an interactive doodle featuring the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and honouring celebrated pharmacist and researcher Wilbur Scoville, Google on Thursday shared a throwback game from 2017 thereby urging people to play musical games at home amid lockdown.

It’s day 9 of our throwback #GoogleDoodle series...

Today, boogie down with legendary beats & take our 2017 Doodle game celebrating the birth of Hip Hop for a spin! 🎚ï¸ÂðŸŽ¶#GoogleDoodle → https://t.co/sM4kky8Opq pic.twitter.com/Dct0hGa1ON

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) May 7, 2020

The latest doodle animation is part of Google's series that the giant search engine launched last week urging people to stay home and play games amid the COVID-19 crisis. A treat for music and especially hip hop fans, the 2017 game lets users mix music samples from legendary tracks on their interactive turntables.

While sharing the animated doodle with their followers on Twitter, Googel Doodle tweeted, "Today, boogie down with legendary beats & take our 2017 Doodle game celebrating the birth of Hip Hop for a spin!"

In order to play the game, one has to mix the beats with the help of the crossfader which can be operated with the help of the mouse. Once clicked on the animation, google plays a short animated film showcasing the history of Hip Hop music featuring the voiceover of Hip Hop icon Fab 5 Freddy.

A screengrab of the Hip Hop musicla game

Google also narrates the story of Jamaican-American DJ Kool Herc, who played an instrumental role in the birth of Hip Hop music. Since the last one week, Google has been sharing throwback pictures including Halloween, Loteria, Scoville and Fischinger among others. When one hovers over the final doodle, it shows the message, "Stay and play at home with popular past Google Doodles: Hip Hop (2017).

While launching the interactive series last week, Google said, "As Covid-19 continues to impact communities around the world, people and families everywhere are spending more time at home. In light of this, we're launching a throwback doodle series looking back at some of our popular interactive Google Doodle games!"

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The current lockdown has seen people restricted indoors and many are picking up new hobbies. Energetic India opener Shikhar Dhawan on Tuesday revealed he is trying his hand at playing a flute and honing his overall musical skills.

"Playing a musical instrument, the vibrations you can feel inside your body. Music gives you peace and everybody should try to learn how to play a musical instrument now especially because we have so much time to spend at home due to the lockdown," Dhawan said while chatting with India middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer on Instagram Live.

The dashing southpaw also played the flute on Iyer's request.

Dhawan picked Dale Steyn as the most difficult bowler he has faced along with off-spinners on turning wickets.

Asked to pick his most special knock, Dhawan chose the match-winning hundred against Australia in the 2019 World Cup.

"Mardo walli feeling aayi (it was a big daddy innings)," Dhawan said.

Dhawan had slammed 117 off 109 balls against the defending champions at The Oval on June 10 as India won by 36 runs. That turned out to be the final tie he played as he was ruled out with a thumb fracture for the remainder of he competition.

India crashed out in the semi-finals, losing to New Zealand.

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

Imports Intra Eu - Musical Instruments & Related Accessories in the United Kingdom decreased to 9.57 GBP Million in February from 10.59 GBP Million in January of 2020. Imports Intra Eu - Musical Instruments & Related A in the United Kingdom averaged 5.43 GBP Million from 1996 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 14.11 GBP Million in April of 2013 and a record low of 1.03 GBP Million in July of 1996. This page includes a chart with historical data for the United Kingdom Imports of Intra EU - Musical Instruments & Relat.

There are a lot of musicals moving into London's West End right now – including "Shoes", "Million Dollar Quartet", "Betty Blue Eyes" and "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" - and rumbling in the background is the hoo-ha in New York over "Spiderman". What is the enduring appeal of the musical? Is it more diverse than its critics imagine? And, are musicals a good thing for the theatrical landscape? Jan Dalley talks to Jamie Lloyd, director of the Donmar's "Spelling Bee", and FT theatre critics Ian Shuttleworth and Sarah Hemming. Produced by Griselda Murray Brown  

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Lee Ryan, Melody Thornton, 34, Louis Smith, 30 and Rachel Stevens, 41, revealed why they jumped at the opportunity to take part in Rip It Up The 70s at The London Palladium.

The singer, 28, surprisingly struggled to learn a selection of musical instruments during his childhood as he reflected on his rise to fame in his new documentary, In My Own Words.

The singer songwriter, 29, was spotted in the stands at Portman Road on Saturday.

As if this international film star didn't have enough legal troubles on his plate already, he's taking on the legacy of a particularly embattled music legend with an unauthorized new project.

The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor has been named as one of the acts that will perform for the annual MusiCares Person Of The Year Tribute honoring Aerosmith.

WILL KELLEHER: The 25-year-old is suspended for three weeks, so will miss matches against Wales, Uruguay and Georgia, but can appeal - and Australia may pursue that option.

The former X Factor judge, 67, celebrated her theatre stint for Nativity! The Musical with her daughter Kelly, 35, during a gala night, held at Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London, on Thursday.

Jasmin Walia looked as though she had well and truly bounced back as she filmed the music video for her upcoming song Bom Diggy.

The bird was spotted performing a variety of musical notes and mimicking other bird sounds in Black Hill, Victoria on January 17.

The Good Morning Britain presenter, 54, responded to the pop star's video by suggesting she use her platform to promote healthcare workers battling the coronavirus pandemic.

BRIAN VINER: There's no snobbery quite like music snobbery. Dare to profess an admiration for the work of Phil Collins or Bono and in some circles you will be treated like a guttersnipe.

BAZ BAMIGBOYE: The big screen version of Take That musical The Band is being actively developed during the lockdown, with 'high calibre' film stars being sought to appear in it.

'You ain't never had a friend like me,' is probably what James Corden was thinking to himself when he and Will Smith took to the streets on Monday.

Country superstar Keith Urban has cut a casual figure while signing autographs at MusiCares Person of the Year Award on Thursday.

The Mail sent a panel of 10 to review the new movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical Cats. Top writers give their verdict - is it the cat's whiskers or a cat o'nine tails?

Taylor Swift has no regrets about her part in the box-office flop Cats.

She may have ended her feud with Andrew Lloyd Webber. But Patti LuPone did not mince words when discussing his smash hit musical Cats on Watch What Happens Live this Monday.

The X Factor: Celebrity judge, 41, continued to fuel rumours she's dating Thom, 34, as he supported the singer at her musical show on Sunday, held at the Boulevard Theatre in west London.

Upbeat employees were seen playing tambourines and singing 'Stand by Me' by John Lennon as tourists boarded a rescue flight home. It was taken by couple Joel Nantel and Millie Sandy, 24.

Gary Barlow's BBC talent series about music act The Band made it's West End debut on Tuesday night - with Gary's Take That co-stars Howard Donald, Robbie Williams and Mark Owen all performing.

If you've ever wondered how the 1990 movie Pretty Woman, which made a fairytale romcom out of a rich-man-meets-prostitute premise, would fare in the age of #MeToo - well, this production won't help.

BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Kate Fleetwood has scooped the role of Cruella de Vil in the new musical based on Dodie Smith's classic 101 Dalmatians. 'Puppies,' said Fleetwood down the phone from Prague.

BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Singing legend Tom Jones is on the brink of joining the team of producers behind a new show featuring songs the hip-swivelling Welshman made famous, that's what.

BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Elton John (pictured) has accelerated plans for his latest musical by collaborating with one of the UK's top directors on a show about televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.

BAZ BAMIGBOYE: The BAFTA and Olivier award-winning entertainer said when she and partner Jamie Horn attended musical shows, pre-lockdown, the baby would 'kick like mad'.

BAZ BAMIGBOYE: The big screen version of Take That musical The Band is being actively developed during the lockdown, with 'high calibre' film stars being sought to appear in it.

Half a century ago Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz had a hit with Godspell . Then, in 1991, he begat an Old Testament stinker called Children Of Eden .

Biblical musical The Prince Of Egypt, opened at  London's Dominion Theatre last week winning high praise. Luke Brady discusses his first West End leading role as Moses.