Can music change how we feel, think and heal?

Can music really be medicine?

In this episode, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi explores the extraordinary relationship between music, the mind and the body, and why sound can affect us far more deeply than we realise.

From shifting our moods and awakening memories to calming the nervous system and changing the way we feel in our bodies, music has an extraordinary ability to reach places that words sometimes cannot.

Drawing on her own life and experience with music, Suchitra looks at how we can listen more consciously and use music not simply as entertainment, but as a powerful everyday tool for emotional balance, connection and wellbeing.

Put on your headphones. Your medicine may already be playing.

If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On…

What happens when music meets food? From gloriously cheesy Bollywood lyrics about samosas, jalebis and nimboos to the strange science of how sound can actually change the way food tastes, this episode serves up a delicious mix of music, memory and appetite.

Suchitra explores why certain songs instantly make us crave the food of our childhood, how restaurants use music to influence the way we eat, and why musicians and kitchens may have more in common than we think. There are detours through Asha Bhosle’s cooking, A.R. Rahman’s recording diet, jazz and wine, Bollywood and spicy food, and that unbeatable combination: ice cream and breakup songs.

Funny, nostalgic and occasionally ridiculous, it’s a sensory feast for your ears. Press play. Preferably with snacks.

For centuries, women have made music, shaped sound and pushed artistic boundaries, yet history has often remembered their bodies, relationships and reputations more readily than their genius.

From India’s tawaifs and pioneers such as Jaddan Bai and Gauhar Jaan to Clara Schumann, Sylvia Robinson and the women transforming music production today, this episode explores how female creativity has been marginalized, appropriated and erased.

Why is genius so easily attributed to men while women are still judged by what they wear, who they love and how they look?

A journey through music, misogyny, power and reclamation, and a reminder that women weren't merely asking for a seat at music’s table. They helped build it.

Antakshari is more than a musical game. It’s a piece of India’s collective memory.

From long train journeys and family weddings to power cuts, school picnics and living-room battles, generations of Indians have sung their way through this wonderfully simple game where one song leads to another.

In this episode of The Music Stories with Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, we explore how Antakshari became a cultural phenomenon, conquered Indian television, crossed generations and languages, and somehow survived Spotify, AirPods and the smartphone.

Because sometimes music isn't something you listen to. It's something you share.

ABBA changed the sound of popular music forever. More than just a chart-topping pop group, they combined impeccable songwriting, lush harmonies, and groundbreaking production to create songs that continue to resonate across generations. From their Eurovision-winning breakthrough with Waterloo to timeless classics like Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, and The Winner Takes It All, ABBA proved that great pop music can be both commercially successful and artistically sophisticated. This episode explores their rise from Sweden to global superstardom, the personal relationships that shaped their music, their enduring cultural impact, and the remarkable legacy that continues through Mamma Mia! and their innovative ABBA Voyage comeback

The incredible true story of Charanjit Singh—the Indian musician who unknowingly created acid house music years before the world gave it a name. From his roots in a family of instrument makers in Bombay to shaping the sound of Bollywood as a pioneering session musician, Charanjit Singh was always ahead of his time.

In 1982, he released Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat—an experimental album blending Indian classical ragas with electronic sounds from the Roland TB-303 and TR-808. At the time, it went unnoticed. But decades later, a chance discovery by a Dutch DJ brought it back into the spotlight, shaking the global music scene and rewriting the origins of acid house—long believed to have begun in Chicago in the late ’80s.

This episode traces his journey—from innovation and anonymity to global recognition in his final years—and reflects on the many artists who create quietly, far ahead of their time. A story of genius, timing, and the strange ways the world eventually catches up.

Playback singing — a uniquely Indian phenomenon — has shaped the soul of our cinema for over a century.

From the musical roots of Nautanki to the first talkie Alam Ara, this episode traces how actors went from singing their own songs to giving way to legendary voices like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, and Kishore Kumar.

A quick, fascinating look at how playback singing began, evolved, and why it still defines Indian storytelling today.

Music Stories welcomes one of the architects of India’s iconic 90s pop era. From discovering and nurturing stars like Baba Sehgal, Shaan, Shweta Shetty, and Adnan Sami to shaping a golden age of storytelling through music, this episode dives deep into how pop music was created, why it faded, and what today’s artists can learn from it.

We unpack what “good music” really means, the myth of independent music in India, how streaming and digital platforms reshaped the industry (and mostly didn’t help artists), and why creators earn a fraction of what labels and publishers do. The conversation also explores publishing vs distribution, metadata, copyright, virality versus quality, marketing strategies for indie artists, and the future challenges facing the music business.

A must-listen for musicians, creators, and anyone serious about understanding how music actually works—behind the scenes.

Music makes billions. Artists make peanuts.

Who really makes money from music—and who doesn’t?

Streaming, Royalties & Digital Rights: The Contracts That Keep Artists Poor

In Part 2 of this series on music copyright, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi is in conversation with Sanjay Tandon, a leading advocate for performers’ rights in the Indian music industry.

Sanjay Tandon played a key role in shaping the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) into a government-recognised copyright body and later went on to found ISAMRA—the Indian Singers and Musicians Rights Association. In this episode, he breaks down how copyright laws, royalty structures, and industry practices have historically failed singers and musicians, and what has changed—and still needs to change—in the digital era.

Together, they explore who really earns from music, why performers were left out of the system for decades, and what fair compensation should actually look like in today’s music economy.

Music makes billions. Artists stay broke.

In Part 1 of this two-part series, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi pulls apart the uncomfortable truth behind music copyright—who controls it, who profits from it, and why the people who actually create the music are often left with nothing. From outdated laws and one-sided contracts to the quiet transfer of artists’ rights to corporations, this episode exposes how a system designed to protect creativity ended up monetising it for everyone except the creators.

This is not a rant. It’s a reality check.