Punjab setting up music academy in singer Ishmeet’s memory

November 7th, 2009 A music festival has been held to honour musician Philip V Francis, who passed away last year after he met with an accident. Inaugurated by music directors Ignatious and Benny, the three day festival has been organized in Thrissur by Piano.

October 27th, 2009 LONDON - After complaining about the music industry, British singer Lily Allen is setting up her own record label. Despite two hit albums and several singles that topped UK top 10, Allen has been hinting at her dissatisfaction with the industry, reported mirror.co.uk.

October 25th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Sunday urged the youngsters to say good-bye to fast food culture of pizza, burgers and pastas, and eat traditional food that has a more nutritional value. Now it is high time to revive the culture of traditional food - 'the wisdom of our grandmothers'.

October 15th, 2009 Veteran Carnatic singer Parasala Ponnammal will be awarded the Chembai Memorial musical award this year. She has been chosen for her contribution to Carnatic music.

October 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In the fields of Punjab where he grew up, farmers would sing Sufi songs - even his family sang. That is how popular singer Hans Raj Hans learnt his music.

October 9th, 2009 MUMBAI - Singer Jermaine Jackson has fallen in love with Mumbai city and says he's planning a concert in his late brother Michael Jackson's memory here. "We'll do concerts in Michael's memory in various parts of the world, including Mumbai which is now one of my favourite cities," Jermaine, who's just had a taste of Mumbai and Bollywood and loved every bit of it, told IANS.

September 24th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - The Indian Music Industry (IMI), an association of 142 music companies, Thursday launched Music Mobile Exchange (MMX), a mobile licensing scheme, to curb music piracy on mobile chip in Punjab. Under this initiative, mobile stores and outlets offering mobile music services can operate legitimately by opting for an MMX licence from rights holders and sell music without violating the Copyright Act.

September 22nd, 2009 CHANDIGARH - In the backdrop of skewed sex ratio in Punjab, a filmmaker here is ready with a Punjabi movie "Akhiyan Udeekdian" that takes a hard look at female foeticide prevailing in the state. The problem of female foeticide still haunts our society.

September 11th, 2009 LONDON - English director Guy Ritchie has confessed that he suffers from short-term memory so much so that he even finds it hard to recall that a film is his own, if ever he's watching one. The 41-year-old has directed a number of pictures, including gangster movies like "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", "Snatch" and "RocknRolla" but constantly working on films has affected Ritchie's memory so much that he often has to re-acquaint himself with his ventures, reports imdb.com.

August 13th, 2009 MUMBAI - So overwhelming is the response to "Love Aaj Kal" in Punjab that Imtiaz Ali is now taking time off from his schedule in Mumbai to be in Chandigarh for a while this week, on heavy demand from the Punjabi audience. Imtiaz said: "Punjabiyat and the Punjabi culture were very much a part of both 'Jab We Met' and 'Love Aaj Kal'.

July 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited India's music maestro A.R. Rahman and four other Oscar winners associated with the Academy award sweeper "Slumdog Millionaire" to join its roster of voting members.

July 1st, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - The Kerala film industry has lots more to cheer about - it is set to get a film institute, a film park and an archives centre, state Culture Minister M.A. Baby announced in the assembly Wednesday.

June 25th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Having seen the glamour of the tinsel town, the harsh existence behind prison walls and the 'make-believe' world of reality shows, former starlet Monica Bedi is all set to don a new role - that of a devotional singer. Bedi, whose family originally hails from Chhabewal village near Hoshiarpur town in Punjab, 130 km from here, chose this place Wednesday to announce the release of her first album of Sikh devotional music.

June 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Arjun Rampal's wife Mehr Jessia says it is not easy to please the actor when it comes to clothes. "He puts no thought into his clothes.

May 14th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - India's first Olympics gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra's father A.S. Bindra was arrested by a Delhi Police team from his farmhouse near here Thursday evening for defrauding nationalised and private banks of millions of rupees.