Folk and classical music is the soul of India and has been an evergreen favourite that fuels energy into celebrations, traditions and also makes for a welcome break from the prevailing trends in the Indian film industry, every time Bollywood does a take on a folk classic.

Leading label Universal Music India, in keeping with its resolve to foster and promote Independent music, recently launched Rangley Punjabis of the Peninsula Studios - 5^th album from the Peninsula series, on 20 November, 2014 at Lodi - The Garden Restaurant, New Delhi.

With a five-year long strategic alliance with The Peninsula Studios, Universal Music India explores new talent, while providing them the platform for performance, recording and promotion of their music. The aim of this album is to showcase the wonderful sounds of Malwa, Doaba, Manjha that make Punjab and curate them in a way that they appeal to wider audience beyond those who speak the language. These musicians come from different and distant corners of Punjab such as Badal, Naushera, Panchkula, Patiala, Verka and bring forth many beautiful facets of Punjabi folk music such as words of the great poets, forms popular and diverse such as the Boliyaan, Bhangra among others. The two companies came together to provide a holistic 360 degree support to the independent and lesser known artists in various genres and languages from the ‘peninsula’ (Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan) outside of Indian Film Music.

Ever since the advent of the internet, prevalence and growth of the Indies and rise of video sharing sites, a wonderful fresh amalgamation of folk classical strains with contemporary sounds has made its way into the hearts of many globally. With a vision to fill the classical, folk and language space by creating high quality content -that not only does justice to the large plethora of traditional music but also makes it more accessible and engaging to the young and old patrons alike, - Universal Music with The Peninsula Studios’ have carefully compiled 4 volumes of lost musical gems. The studio has won 2 National Awards from RAI - Recording Association of India.

Says Devraj Sanyal, Managing Director, Universal Music / EMI Music, South Asia, “We always believed in the concept of providing a robust platform for the immensely talented musicians that we have hidden across the length and breadth of our culture heavy nation and it’s been an incredible journey with The Peninsula Studios in discovering,  mentoring, recording and publishing this talent ever since our first release in 2012. On `Rangley Punjabis’ our latest offering from The Peninsula Studios, we once again delve, this time into the depths of Punjab to unearth some captivating sounds that will leave you spellbound. Our objective with this release is pretty clear – to take these vibrant sounds of Punjabi Folk (Malwa, Doaba, Manjha) and curate them in a way that they appeal to a much wider audience beyond those who speak the language. `Rangley Punjabis’ is a product put together after traveling thousands of miles into the Punjab, reaching out to hundreds of musicians and bringing the rustic sounds of Punjab into the studio… a collector’s album indeed!”

The Peninsula Studios is an old fashioned content creation house but the physical space is unique studio where over 200 aficionados can enjoy live performances while they are being recorded.TPS was created in 2010 by Subroto Chattopadhyay, Chairman and Co-Founder of The Peninsula Studios (Mr. Chattopadhyay’s executive career was with ITC Ltd., Pepsi Co and MD of HMV) along with Co-founder, Director Sita Raina, a well known actor, theater producer and director.

Sita Raina, Co Founder Director of The Peninsula Studios said, “In these times of aggressive business strategies, The Peninsula Studios as an idea is an oasis where singers, musicians, lyricists, poets, composers and technicians who are the soul of the creative process are given an environment that enables them to express their creativity. This has been the sole agenda behind all the work from The Peninsula Studios. Universal Music has been the best and most credible partner to take this project to world and it also understands and delivers a 360 platform for content. Devraj’s singular passion for the project has fuelled the program. We’ve handpicked a team of seasoned professionals to perfect the mould for productions and bring out music that stands true on grounds of purity and listening pleasure. Rangley Punjabis is the 5^th album by The Peninsula Studios and aims to capture wonderful sounds of Malwa, Doaba, Manjha that make Punjab and curate them in a way that they appeal to wider audience beyond those who speak the language. We present this as Nokia Music Theatre which Universal music takes to the world. There is significant dividend this program, “Nokia Music Theatre presented by us” , delivers in terms of improving the lives of all the musicians in Rajasthan and Punjab since they are now better known, have quality content to share and get more opportunities to perform and improve their livelihood, for this Universal plays an equally significant role ”

Sita Raina of TPS is supported by a handpicked team with Avinash Chordia, head of Studios (musician with the popular Kolkata based band The Supersonics), Ananya Rane Head of Films, (assistant director to Ang Lee and Chathryn Biglow in Life of Pi and Zero Dark Thirty, Narinder Twakley, Head of Events, Deepak Samson, an award winning recording engineer from New Delhi.

Great musicians like Anil Srinivasan from Columbia University a concert pianist who led the Live @ The Peninsula Studios series with Sikkil Gurucharan and Supratik Das outstanding young vocalists, Neel Adhikari (Neel & The Lightbulbs and Calcutta Collective) and Miti Adhikari(who’ s worked with legends like Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam among others) contributed significantly to both to Discovering the Peninsula Rajasthan and Punjab to bring the content to life. They provide the soul to the content with all the artists and musicians.

TPS started the Rangley Punjabis project in January 2014 after a workshop and touched over 438 musicians from various small towns and villages of Punjab. The recording started in mid June which was then converted into a 3-episode series on MTV called, Nokia Music Theatre – Rangley Punjabis of The Peninsula Studios, where over 23 musicians were mentored and the music they brought curated and recorded by them.