Skip to main content

The signature tune of AIR

The signature tune for AIR (All India Radio) was composed and set to music by Thakur Balwant Singh in 1936. Still according to some others, in the year 1936, the signature tune was composed by Walter Kaufman, the director of western music programs in Bombay.That the antiquity of this tune is 1936, is certain.
Every morning since then, this otherworldly tune has been played at the beginning of the morning telecast of AIR, and with time has etched itself into the memories of everyone who listened to radio in India. Some brooding morning sounding: melancholic, and on some bright mornings sounding: still more melancholic.

-0-


Found it thanks to this wonderful site: Interval Signals
The site has an almost comprehensive collection of audio clips of foreign radio stations from all around the globe. It is a must for all those with an ear for the radio signals.
-0-
Read more about the Sound of AIR at Deccan Herald: The birth of Indian sound
-0-
You might also like to read this post:

Comments

  1. Thank you for re-kindling 34 yr old memories. My grandad used to listen to the news on radio and TV with me in his lap. Although I have left India over 28 years ago, the music montage preceding the neews programs is still fresh in my mind. Thanks to your web site I just found out what these music montages are!
    Thanks
    Kiran

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kiran,
    Thank you for the wonderful comment! Comment like yours make it all worthwhile.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I used to think about this so soothing and refreshing AIR signature tune in this time of TV and its useless contents. Radio is no more seen in my house. Then through internet I came to know that there are still many person who love this tune and live a past. Now I have downloaded this and hope to rekindle the old memories of a rising day.
    Narinder Singh
    Amritsar

    ReplyDelete
  4. Narinder,
    there are still some people of a certain generation who do remember the Radio. Nowadays, there is only white noise everywhere.
    Thanks for the comment! And glad to be of some help!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I had been looking for AIR signature tune for long and finally for your effort I have it and everyone in the family enjoys it and I also have it as ringtone on my iphone. Thank you so very much.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was just looking to download the AIR Signature Tune, got trapped in setting up profile, and it kept stretching like a rubber band. Sorry, I am not interested in metrimonial offers, or inquiries. I am too old for that. Just wanted to download that music.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Disappointed old anony clearly not looking for matrimonial offers,
    i think, unlike most others, you must have missed the download link and instead clicked on some ad. Anyway,copy-paste the following url in your browser and you shall have the music tune,enjoy:

    http://blip.tv/file/get/Vinayak8ate-AIRSIgnatureTune934.MP3

    ReplyDelete
  8. great to know the name of the composer of air sig. tune

    ReplyDelete
  9. thanks a lot Vinayak..I had been searching for this tune since so long..you are right, its very otherworldly tune and has a very soothing effect on mind..If I remember correctly, this tune used to be played at 6:00 am before the first programme at AIR..thanks again!

    Prashant

    ReplyDelete
  10. Prashant,
    I think it still is played in the morning around that time.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for posting precious tunes.

    ReplyDelete
  12. thanks...thanks a lot ...I was searching a lot for this tune... was tired and was going to quit.. but finally.. u gave me a gift.. that i will always remember...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Something never gets old....Still this sound comes as a fresh air in the morning...
    Thank you very much for this tune.

    ReplyDelete
  14. WOW!!! that was like revisiting the past!! thanks so much for the awesome memories again :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great help... thanks a lot for putting the tune on air... :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Simply super yar. How you managed this. You are a real Indian with no doubts.
    Blessings to you from my profound heart.
    Uma Mahesawr Nakka

    ReplyDelete
  17. I completely feel in heaven when i listen to the AIR tune, tune is only for a few seconds but all my stress brings down. Thanks to the composer, for making my day beautiful everyday. dasharath kamble+919742022437

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi, I just heard this theme while watching a music and browsed the net to get the full version. This music brings back memories of my childhood, when we used to be woken up by our mother for school. I love it...........

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thank you for the haunting signature tune of AIR. Thanks for giving the details of the composer also. May I know what are the musical instruments used in the composition? I thing just a single violin and a shruthi box! Please post the details. thankyou. Naren

    ReplyDelete
  20. AIR had an anti-Harmonium policy...I don't think they would have used a shruti box. The instruments used for creating the AIR signature tune were:
    Violin,Viola,Cello and Tanpura. Based on an article from magazine called Boys' Life, Nov 1953.

    ReplyDelete
  21. does anyone have the jaymala signature tune? this program still plays on AIR i am told...please post a link if possible

    ReplyDelete
  22. Sir, Many years ago I read in an article published in MADHURI cinemagazine of TIO group that the AIR signature tune was composed by Thakur Balwant Singh. However it is said that the AIR signature tune was composed by Walter Kaufman, the director of western music programs in Bombay, in 193. I am confused. I shall be greateful if you kindly clear what is the fact. Sincerely: Bhagyendra Patel, New Delhi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Bhagyendra. It is true that this SIG.tune of AIR was composed by my late father, actor singer composer Th. BALWANT SINGH IN 1936.

      Delete
    2. Kindly throw light on your father as there is debate going on in AIR about who composed its signature tune. Can you produce some evidence? I know its very difficult but it will prevent the credit going to some foreigner.

      Delete
  23. Thank you!!! This is going to be my mobile's ringtone, to remember the days when entertainment meant a transistor radio listening to vividh bharti programs!! Thanks indeed for this tone!!!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I do not know whether you all know this. THIS TUNE WAS THE FIRST SIGNATURE TUNE OF A GOVDT. ORGANISATION POST INDEPENDENCE.
    Thank you Kiran. This is going to be my ring tone now.

    ReplyDelete
  25. We are doing a play in New York City, where Walter Kaufmann is a character. Please see http://www.tamashanyc.org/themusicinmyblood

    ReplyDelete
  26. There is no debate - the composer IS Kauffman. Listen to the sophisticated musicality and sparse haunting interiority. I think the decision is automatic. Also the credit goes not go to ' some foreigner' but rightfully to a bona fide 'original' composer unless if course it's mentioned in the Vedas.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I always like to hear back :)
However, irrelevant comments and irrelevant links will not be published. Needless to say, same goes for abusive comment and spam. Leaving back links related to the topic is encouraged. I know it can be tempting but try not to leave your email ids, phone nos and CVs in the comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Famous Old Faces of Doordarshan

Some people recall the faces and some people recall the names. Here are images of some of the famous readers and presenters of Doordarshan down the years. If you recognize any of them, leave a comment. [ Update 1 : Most of the faces now have names thanks to helpful comments by olio-gallimaufry ] [ Update 2 : Included image of one of the earliest presenters, Gopal Kaul. Send in generously from personal collection by son, Ashutosh Kaul. Sept, 2010.] [ Major Update 3: Got a tip-off about a documentary about the famous faces of Doordarshan from the makers   of     “The Golden Trail , DD@50 :Special feature on Golden Jubilee of Doordarshan ” from which these caps were taken. I managed to catch the incredible documentary and am adding some more faces/name and part of the docu here. New ones can be found after the image of  Narotam Puri. 30th Oct, 2010]  Pratima Puri. Believed to be the first Doordarshan reader.

Indian Cigarette Vintage Ads

He put a cigarette in his mouth and, as a matter of silent routine, offered one to Gwyn, who said ‘No thanks.”Richard looked at him.”I packed it in.”"You what?”"I stopped. Three days ago. Cold. That’s it. You just make the life choice.” Richard looked up and inhaled needfully. He gazed at his cigarette. He didn’t really want to smoke it. He wanted to eat it. Almost the only thing that he still liked about Gwyn was that he still smoked…Paradoxically, he no longer wanted to give up smoking: what he wanted to do was take up smoking. Not so much to fill the little gaps between cigarettes with cigarettes (there wouldn’t be time, anyway) or to smoke two cigarettes at once. It was more that he felt the desire to smoke a cigarette even when he was smoking a cigarette. The need was and wasn’t being met… While it would always be true and fair to say that Richard felt like a cigarette, it would now be doubly true and fair to say it. He felt like a cigarette. And he felt like a cig

Kishore Kumar, Yodel-ay-ee-oooo Songs, A List

*Updated with corrections pointed out by Bart Plantenga , author of some incredible book on Yodeling including Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World. -0- Kishore Kumar 's brother Anoop Kumar, who we basically know for the line ' O manu tera toh hua ab mera kya hoga ', used to own lots of Austrian music records. And from these records, Kishore Kumar picked up the art of Yodel singing, an art perfected in bathroom and then introduced by him to the world of Hindi film music. According to his biography 'Kishore Kumar: method in madness‎ ' by Derek Bose, "Kishore was a fan of the Swiss singer Tex Norton [* Tex Morton, an Australian cowboy born in New Zealand who sang  in the gene autry / Jimmie Rodgers style ] and the Australian Jimmy Rogers [* Jimmie Rodgers , perhaps the most American and one of the most famous yodelers in the world, famous for his blue yodels ] as well." Although most of these songs by Kishore Kumar are t