Shazam

Last week while watching a movie, I loved a song I heard in the background, so my friend held up her iPhone for 10 seconds and the artist and song title was instantly presented to me. The application which was used is called Shazam. It can identify nearly any song within 10 seconds, no matter how obscure it may be, or even if it is a strange remix. It can be used anywhere, including a store or a restaurant with background noise.

This is an example of how technology is constantly making life easier and more convenient for us. In the past, if you wanted to know the name of a song you had to wait for it to be announced on the radio, now you can be anywhere in the world and the music can be identified within seconds. This application adds to the networked world by instantly connecting people with music found in all locations and exposing people to new artists they may have never been aware of before.

http://gizmodo.com/5647458/how-shazam-works-to-identify-nearly-every-song-you-throw-at-it

Networking Through Music

As we all know, Twitter is a newfound place in order to find out the latest and most up-to-date information. More and more people whether it is celebrities, athletes, companies or everyday people are joining and beginning to tweet. One of the main reasons why people enjoy Twitter so much is the fact that it allows you to stay connected to various different things that pertain to your interests.

This article that I’ve found below is interesting because this website called Blip.fm is essentially Twitter but all about music. This website is allowing users to be connected to others through the love and interest of music. A new way of networking through music seems to be the purpose of this website.

There are a lot of features on Blip that are different to Twitter in the sense that it all pertains to options that you can use with music. Once you create an account, in the search bar you can type any song or artist and a scrollable list of songs will come up. Once the list is generated, it allows the user to preview all the different songs by that artist, then you can click to “Blip” it.

I’ve attached the two websites below, when you get a chance definitely check the sites out and if it interests you enough perhaps you can all create a Blip account.

http://createbusinessgrowth.com/networking/networking-through-music

http://blip.fm/all

Western Classical Music in India

In the height of the British Empire, India was under British control, and many aspects of British culture seeped into Indian culture. Western music, however, did not make it, simply because British occupation did not foster an environment in which information on Western classical music could be spread across India's overwhelming population.

The most notable popular musical styles in India are Bollywood and vibrato-laden vocals. Western musical artists have tried to breach the barriers of Indian culture before, most notably and recently Lady Gaga, yet nothing seems to hook the audience. In a new attempt to start with the classics, Khushroo Suntook founded the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) in 2006.

"It's not that people are resistant to this music, they just don't know about it,” said Leanne Pereira, a Cellist with the SOI. For those who do know about the music, a lack of practice and rehearsal venues limits musical development. On another note, many Indians who know about classical music show a "huge lack of emotion" towards the genre. 

With only 16 of the 100 players in the SOI being Indian, Western classical music has a long way to go. It is an interesting culture clash that China has around 200 symphony orchestras, yet the SOI stands alone. Will India see an explosion of Western musical progression, or will traditional genre's stay strong? Time will tell!


Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15035703