In my 15th of August note, I mentioned how serious of an issue India is facing when it comes to uplifting rural farmers at large.  To that end, please make sure to check out a heart wrenching documentary titled "The Dying Fields" on Wide Angle segment on PBS tonight. The documentary focuses on Vidharba region which used to be known as cotton belt. Now, it has turned into a suicide belt. If 2006 records are to go by, Vidharba saw 1044 suicides in total, which if you do the math - is one suicide every eight hours. "This is human rights violation", says a social activist Kishore Tiwari. 

Hariharan released a new album named 'Waqt Par Bolna' in a star studded launch on August 22nd. Music maestro A.R. Rahman launched the album with Hariharan. Obviously, Hariharan delighted all present with an exhilarating performance from his new album. 'Waqt Par Bolna' is a synthesis of rhythm & blues fused with Indian gayaki in contemporary style. Hariharan calls it 'Urdu Blues'. Tune in here at mastradio.com to check out the tracks. Those familiar with Hariharan's previous work with Leslie Lewis on 'Colonial Cousins' are in for a treat. It is really a well done album with all ten tracks enfused with different scores. 

“This album contains emotions, harmony and music that I believe every individual will cherish. The album has been created by musicians from various backgrounds. It is creative, different and a mix of East and West,” says Hariharan.

Anu Malik is flying high these days. We mean - literally! If the plan sticks, he should be flying into Istanbul next month for a new project to score a Turkish-Hindi fusion song. The Turkish rock singer Petek Dincoz has invited Anu Malik to record a fusion track in Hindi and Turkish. Petek is known as Britney Spears of Turkey and is a quite a sensation with few chart busting numbers to her credit.

India's megastar Amitabh Bachchan along with his family attended an event honoring his father, Late Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan at Lincoln Center in New York yesterday. The event was organized by Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan in celebration of India's 60th Independence day as well as birth centenary of Late Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan.

If you’re one of those movie buffs who went to watch the phenomenal Rajni in full form in Sivaji despite not understanding a single dialogue, its time to rejoice. For the Boss is back and he’s speaking your language.

The process of dubbing for the Hindi version of Sivaji has begun. Confirms S C Babu, CEO, AVM Productions, the studio that hold the rights of the film’s negative, ‘‘Yes, Rajni will dub for himself. AR Rahman will re-record the music, which will be mixed for the Hindi version.

Indie Hindi, socaton, skurban. You may feel like you need a dictionary the next time you go shopping for music.

The music world is getting thick with hybrids, or cryptically named blends of established styles. Indie Hindi, for example, is traditional Indian vocals tinged with edgy American-style rock. Socaton is dance music that has elements of rap, calypso and reggae. The number of genres is up more than 40% over the past four years, by one measure -- Gracenote, which maintains the music-classification system used by major sites like Yahoo and iTunes, now recognizes more than 1,800 genres. It recently added "hyphy," a jittery form of hip-hop from the San Francisco area.