Music Malt | culture, festivals and more

Spring Fest 2012, IIT Kharagpur Every year, in January, the students of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, organises a festival - the Spring Fest with 'Brobdingnagian' enthusiasm. The Spring Fest 2012, a four days event, was no different at all. Spectators of Spring Fest 2012 witnessed some of the biggest names of the music and theatre industry in the country. Started on Jan 20, the festival was managed by the students of IIT Kharagpur and held in the campus of the institute. With delegates and contestants coming from all over the country, Spring Fest is one of the biggest festival ever held in Kharagpur, West Bengal. The festival started with an inaugural ceremony followed by the events Sanskruti and Hasya Kavi Sammelan on Jan 20. Wildfire, one of the country's biggest college rock competitions, went nationwide with prelims in cities like Bangalore, Delhi and Guwahati. The semi-finals of the competition started on Jan 21. The Mumbai based band Blakc, apart from p

Thousands throng at the India Gate in Delhi to celebrate India’s 63rd Republic Day. Republic Day parade The customary Republic Parade, held every year, highlights the nation's achievements in various fields along with the military expertise, scintillating display of air power as also an assortment of the country's rich cultural heritage. This year the Agni-IV missile (3000 KMs Range) is the major highlight of the Republic Day Parade.The intermediate range surface-to-surface ballistic missile mounted on a road mobile launcher is being paraded by the Defence Research and Development Organization. The Air Force contingent comprising 144 men will be led by Flight Lieutenant Sneha Shekhawatthe first woman ever to lead an IAF contingent at the Parade. The Army's Mechanized Columns concludes with a flypast by the Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv of the Army Aviation Corps.C-130-J Super Hercules tactical aircraft, Indian Airforce’s latest also makes it debut at the parade as well

— by Parmita Borah | Bangalore The arid chill of the winter paves way for bright and brimming spring with the season of harvest at its threshold, giving people reasons to rejoice. Photo courtesy - Alfresco Grand / Archana Bora Magh Bihu or more appropriately Bhogali Bihu, one of the most important festivals of Assam,  is a paradigm of that spirit of festivity. The festival is known as 'Magh Bihu', since it marks the end of harvesting season in the month of 'Maagha', and 'Bhogali Bihu' for the fact that the celebration revolves around families getting together for a grand feast. Bhogali is derived from the Assamese word 'Bhog' which maybe interpreted as food and the name signifies that the stores and granaries in homes across the state are filled with the just harvested crop. A large bonfire, referred to as 'Meji', and a feast, are the cardinal focus of Magh Bihu, although there are other fascinating traditions associated with the celebrat

— by Parmita Borah | Bangalore A new feature on Facebook, is all set to ramp up the experience of listening to music online. ‘ Listen with Friends ’ as the feature has been christened, allows Facebook users to listen to music at the same time as their friends and discuss the tunes using Facebook Chat, with PC Mag reporting that up to 50 people will be able to listen and talk about the tracks at the same time. Facebook product designer Alexandre Roche, in a blog post dated January 13, 2012 mentioned that- You can listen to the same song, at the exact same time - so when your favorite vocal part comes in you can experience it together, just like when you're jamming out at a performance or dance club. ‘Listen with Friends’ being a part of Facebook Chat allows users to chat online about what they are listening to. Users can also listen in as a group while one friend acts as a deejay. Up to 50 friends can listen to the same song at the same time, and chat about it. Everytime a user

Published: Tuesday, Dec 15, 2011, Place: Bangalore | Agency: Manorama Online Photo - Jim Ankan Deka Bangalore: With foot-tapping music, drum beats, dance, wild cheering and a burst of crackers, as the clock struck 00.00 hours, Bangaloreans greeted 2012 in style. Like every year-eve the popular youth hangouts of M.G. Road and Brigade Road were swarming with hundreds of youngsters from 8 p.m. itself and cheering and whistling reached a crescendo as 2011 faded into history. Scores of foreign tourists also joined the crowd and tried to match the dancing steps to a cocktail of Kannada and Hindi movie songs played on hundreds of cell phones. Fortunately for the young crowd Cyclone Thane which had threatened to rain out the celebrations spared the city Saturday. Though it was cloudy throughout the day, there was not a drop of rain, unlike Friday when it drizzled the whole day and well into the night as well. The exuberance of entering the New Year was visible at po