Amabilis Insania is Latin for Pleasing Madness – which is what Music stands for. Music drives us to rapture or despair far greater than most of our own experiences are capable of – insanity, in other words. But it is an insanity which we crave, which pleases our senses, which makes life worth living. Music is such an abstract and subtle thing – a certain waveform of sound that finds resonance in us – tweak one note and it will be useless noise. Amabilis Insania is dedicated to that thing!
We are:
Suman Sinha
Anyone who knows me will tell you how big a part of my life Music is, even though I can’t create any. To say I love Music will be one of the understatements of this century and the last! Consider this – in the age of magnetic cassette tapes, I had around a thousand to a thousand and a half of them (which were ultimately given away for five Indian Rupees a kilogram by my parents when they sold the old apartment and moved!); the era of compact discs kind of passed me by and I could manage a meagre four hundred which I still possess; in this new millenium of the ubiquitous em-pee-three I already have almost thirteen thousand of them and that number keeps going northwards each passing month! Now that I have you convinced, let me move on…
My Insania started quite late, only in my teens actually. Though I was touched by Music probably since the day I was born – the melodies out of my mother’s sweet voice and the musical nursery rhymes tape that my father brought me from England included – I was totally unaware of the vast ocean of Music that existed across the seven seas. A friend of my adolescent years introduced me to some new forms for which I am forever in his debt. It was the spark that ignited this fire – the fire to listen and discover Music. And it’s still burning…
At this point I would like to confess an embarrassing secret! For all my love of Music, I can’t play any. I can tolerably sing and may even have been a self-professed karaoke king of Jakarta! But when it comes to plucking strings, banging skins, blowing wind or pressing ivories, I have no skills – zero, zilch, nada! People ask me, do I play any music? And my answer has always been, no, I listen!
Regarding my tastes in music, I love Rock, but I also love Blues and Jazz. Even though I do not understand much, there are a few Indian Classical Ragas and Western Classical pieces I hold dear. I discovered Indonesian Gamelan during my two year stint in Jakarta and it grew on me. I might even listen to some Electronic Music when I am in the mood. And I am not embarrassed to admit that there are even a few Pop or Bollywood tracks which I enjoy! For me, first and foremost, it is about the Music and how I react to it. I don’t care about the labels and the sophistication. It has to move me, up or down. Period!
Now to come to the raison d’etre of Amabilis Insania. Another friend long, long ago had remarked that I should make my career in Music – not really in playing Music, but something that revolves around it – a radio DJ for instance. Now, on the wrong side of thirty, I do not harbour such illusions any more – Life happened to me while I was still making plans. But recently I realised that I could at least share some of the wonderful Music that I know and some that I discover – some greater benefit from what is purely a private affair. If you hear something new here and it touches you in some way or if you hear a long-forgotten tune and it revives some dusty memory, I can be glad that, even though I did not create it, at least I helped someone find it and in some weird way we shared a moment.
(Find out what Suman is listening to on his last.fm profile page.)
Sandeep Prasad
Hi. My name is Sandeep. And I’ll be contributing articles to the site with my good friend, Suman, here. I really do not have much to say about myself, or where to begin except that I like music. And I believe the more you listen to it, the more it increases your intelligence. I listen to different kinds of music. In my teens, I was a regular rocker, long-haired, black t-shirt-wearing kind of guy—you know the typical kind you see standing outside the venue of a rock concert. But over time, I expanded my musical horizon and started listening to a lot of other forms of music. From rock to progressive rock and its various forms, from progressive rock to blues and jazz fusion, from jazz fusion to pure jazz, from jazz to folk music of different countries, and then back to rock. I also, from time to time, listen to Hindustani classical and Carnatic music, and I have a high regard for them. A great guitar player and a very senior musician once said that Carnatic music was as scientific and mathematical as music could get, but much of it was lost because it didn’t get recorded or written down properly.
Apart from that, I love reading what others mostly consider “unreadable novels”. I am a huge fan of Dostoevsky, Kafka, Hemingway, and García Márquez to name a few. And I also like to present myself as a fan of Nietzsche, though I do not understand much of what he said, but just to look cool and intellectual—if you know what I mean.
Copyright Issues – A Disclaimer
On Amabilis Insania, we try and cover upcoming artists/bands who give away at least some of their music for free (which helps us to listen to them and review them and then distribute their music if we like it). The other category that you will find on Amabilis Insania is music which falls under the umbrella of ‘rarities’ – stuff that was once commercially available but is not sold any more. We don’t give away for free, music that was not intended to be given away for free. Thus we don’t spoil the livelihood of some struggling artist/band.
All songs hosted on Amabilis Insania for free download do not violate copyrights, to the best of our knowledge and belief. They are mostly released under Creative Commons or similar licenses. For copyrighted material, only YouTube links or Grooveshark links are provided, and not download links.
But in case, due to an error of judgement on our part, you do find some copyrighted material in the available downloads and you as the copyright holder or a representative send us an email, the said material will be removed promptly.
