Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Music entertainment |
Founded | 1989 |
Defunct | 2003 |
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Shashi Gopal, chief managing director Kalpana Gopal, director Madhav Das, director |
Magnasound was an Indian record company that specialized in Indian classical music, Indian rock and Indipop. It was distributed by OMI Music Inc. Shashi Gopal was the managing director of Magnasound.
Shashi Gopal founded Magnasound in 1989 with his wife Kalpana and brother-in-law Madhav Das. [1] The three launched the company with their life savings, which totaled Rs 6 lakhs. In the early 1990s, the company gained a reputation for signing young artists like Daler Mehndi, Baba Sehgal, and Alisha Chinai, as well as acclaimed rock bands Rock Machine and 13AD [2] Already established artists like A. R. Rahman and Asha Bhosle also released albums for the label. Magnasound began to concentrate more on classical artists. Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri became its flagship classical artist when she signed with Magnasound in 1994. Magnasound was also one of the first Indian labels to concentrate on music videos, taking advantage of the new MTV India channel.
In 2003, the company was declared bankrupt and was defunct.
After Magnasound wound up in 2003, Madhav launched another label called Bayshore Music before he moved to print and edited a film magazine called South Side, for GV Films. [1]
This is the incomplete list
Year | Album | Artists | Notes/Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1990 | Dilruba | Baba Sehgal | |
1992 | Thanda Thanda Pani | First Indian rap album [3] | |
The Chronic | Dr. Dre | ||
1993 | Johnny Jokers | Shweta Shetty | |
Doggy Style | Snoop Doggy Dogg | ||
1994 | Style Bhai | Style Bhai | |
Dr. Dhingra | Baba Sehgal | ||
Bombay Girl | Alisha Chinai | ||
Mix Masala | Various | ||
1995 | The New Album | Shweta Shetty, Shaan | |
Made in India | Alisha Chinai | ||
Dole Dole | Suchitra Krishnamoorthy | ||
Bolo Ta Ra Ra | Daler Mehndi | ||
Oorja | Various | Remix album | |
Roop Inka Mastana | Shaan, Stylebhai, Sagarika, Suchitra Krishnamoorthy, Kaushal | Remix album | |
1996 | Zubeenor Gaan | Zubeen Garg, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Hema Sardesai | CD issues only |
Naujawan | Shaan, Sagarika | First Indian siblings album | |
Dardi Rab Rab | Daler Mehndi | ||
Dum Tara | Suchitra Krishnamoorthy | ||
Channel Hits | Various | Complication album | |
Colonial Cousins | Colonial Cousins | ||
Janna Hai Bollywood | Models | ||
1997 | Ho Jayengi Bale Bale | Daler Mehndi | |
Love-Ology | Shaan | ||
Chand Sa Mukhda | Ali Haider | ||
A-Ha | Suchitra Krishnamoorthy | ||
Colgate - A Reason to Smile | Various | ||
1998 | Deewane To Deewane Hai | Shweta Shetty | |
Tu | Sonu Nigam | ||
Maa | Sagarika | ||
Tunak Tunak Tun | Daler Mehndi | ||
Lolipop | Bina Mistry | ||
The Best of Biddu | Biddu | Complication album | |
1999 | Hunaru '99 | Zubeen Garg, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Bhitali Das | Bihu album |
Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk, rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed over several geo-locations spanning the sub-continent. Music in India began as an integral part of socio-religious life.
Alisha Chinai is an Indian pop singer known for her Indi-pop albums as well as playback singing in Hindi cinema. She began her singing career with the album Jadoo in 1985, and by the 1990s she had become known as the 'Queen of Indipop'. Her best known songs were with producers Anu Malik and Biddu during the 1990s. Her best known song is Made in India.
Jawahar Wattal is an Indian cultural entrepreneur, music director and producer, best known for being a pioneer in the Indian non-filmi music field and for shifting the focus of the industry to Delhi. He has worked with singers Baba Sehgal and Daler Mehndi in the 1990s. Over the years he has composed 3,000 jingles, given music for television series like, The World This Week, Himalaya Darshan and Ru Ba Ru, besides he has composed 73 music albums out of which 19 have gone multi-platinum.
Prithvi Theatre is a theatre located in the upscale neighbourhood of Juhu, Mumbai. Prithviraj Kapoor the spearhead of one of the most influential actor and director families in Bollywood, the Kapoor family, founded the travelling theatre company 'Prithvi Theatres' in 1944 and the company ran for sixteen years. The theatre was built by Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer in memory of Prithviraj, Shashi's father, who had dreamt of having a "home" for his repertory theatre company. It was designed by architect Ved Segan and opened in 1978. The building and running of the theatre was supervised by Jennifer until her death in 1984. Shashi Kapoor was the theatre's Managing Trustee and the daily affairs were looked after by trustee Kunal Kapoor with a small but efficient team.
Biddu Appaiah is a British-Indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer who composed and produced many worldwide hit records during a career spanning five decades. Considered one of the pioneers of disco, Euro disco, and Indian pop, he has sold millions of records worldwide, and has received an Ivor Novello award for his work. He has been ranked at number 34 on NME's "The 50 Greatest Producers Ever" list.
Sehgal, also spelled Segal, Saigol or Saigal, is a Punjabi Khatri surname, originating from Punjab in India and Pakistan.
Sharon Prabhakar is an Indian pop singer, theatre personality and public speaker.
Sophie Choudry is a British singer and actress based in India. She has been active primarily in Hindi-language films and is also a former MTV India VJ and occasional model, and television presenter.
"Bombay" Jayashri Ramnath is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer, and musician. She has sung songs in multiple languages, including for Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi movies. Born into a family of musicians, Jayashri represents the fourth generation of music practitioners in her family. Trained by Lalgudi Jayaraman and T.R. Balamani. She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, in 2021. In December 2023, she was awarded the most prestigious award in the Carnatic music field, the Sangeetha Kalanidhi, by the Madras Music Academy. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song (Oscar) for Pi's Lullaby from Life of Pi movie. She has become one of the most sought-after Carnatic musicians today.
Zohra Mumtaz Sehgal was an Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer. Having begun her career as a member of a contemporary dance troupe, she transitioned into acting roles beginning in the 1940s. Sehgal appeared in several British films, television shows, and Bollywood productions in a career that spanned over eight decades.
Leslee Peter Lewis, popularly known as Lezz Lewis, is an Indian singer and composer known for his work with Hariharan as the duo Colonial Cousins. They won the MTV Asia Viewer's Choice Award and then the U.S. Billboard Viewer's Choice Award for 'Colonial Cousins', their debut album. He conceived and created all the music for Coke Studio, MTV India debut season.
Gundaraj is a 1995 Indian Hindi-language action crime film directed by Guddu Dhanoa. It stars Ajay Devgn, Kajol and Amrish Puri. The film premiered on 8 September 1995 in Mumbai. The movie became a commercial failure at the box office.
Shweta Mohan is an Indian playback singer. She has recorded songs for films and albums in all the four south Indian cinema namely Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, besides few Hindi films and has established herself as a leading playback singer of South Indian cinema.
Harjeet Singh "Baba" Sehgal, is an Indian rapper. He is widely acclaimed to be the first Indian rapper. He is also involved in various other areas of the entertainment industry, and works in several different languages' media. He was a contestant in the reality show Bigg Boss in 2006.
The Tamil Filmfare Best Female Playback Award is given by Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Tamil films. The first Tamil award was given in 2006. However, since 1997 till 2005, a common award for playback was available for both male and female singers of all the four South Indian languages.
Dama Dam Mast Qalandar is a spiritual Sufi qawwali written in the honour of the most revered Sufi saint of Sindh, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177–1274) of Sehwan Sharif. The origins of the poem is unknown, since no recordings or written documents exist mentioning it prior to the 1950s. However, legends around the Shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan suggest that the original poem was initially written by the 13th-century Sufi poet Amir Khusrow, then further modified by Bulleh Shah in the 18th century. The poem includes a reference to the town of Sehwan, and the word "Lal" can refer to Lal Shahbaz Qalandar as a young man, his legendary ruby glow, or his red dress. Bulleh Shah gave an entirely different color to the qawwali, adding verses in praises of Shahbaz Qalandar and giving it a large tint of Sindhi culture. It also venerates Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad.
Made in India is an Indi-pop album by Alisha Chinai, with production by Biddu, released in 1995. It was the first album by an Indian pop (Indipop) artist to be sold on a scale comparable to Hindi film music albums, with over five million copies sold in India. The album established Indipop as a discrete genre and its singer Chinai became the genre's main proponent.
Madonna is a 1989 Hindi-language platinum-selling pop album by Indipop star Alisha Chinai.