Campaign: No film music on classical channel

Some classical connoisseurs are upset AIR 101.1 FM interviewed Raghu Dixit for New Year’s Day

Amruthavarshini, All India Radio’s classical music FM channel, should not play anything other than classical music, a campaign is urging.

Music lover S Keshava Murthy, former secretary of the Bangalore Gayana Samaja, has initiated the campaign. “We have so many channels playing film music. A channel dedicated to classical music should be kept that way,” he told Metrolife.

On January 1, the channel, transmitting on 100.1 FM, dedicated an hour to interview urban-rock singer Raghu Dixit. Murthy says “classical music connoisseurs do not relish” such diversions. He is against Amruthavarshini playing film songs, even if they are based on classical ragas. “The purity of classical music is lost then,” he says. An AIR artiste says the interview was only aired once to mark New Year’s Day. “Apart from that, the channel has not aired any non-classical music,” he told Metrolife.

AIR officials declined to comment.

What’s on air

Amruthavarshini is an FM radio channel broadcast by the Bengaluru station of All India Radio. It plays every day from 6 to 9.30 am and 6.30 to 11 pm. It showcases Indian classical music, both Hindustani and Carnatic, and also presents music classes in Kannada.