A profile piece I did for Radio Netherlands about Cinemawallah Salim - an icon in Kolkata who charges 1 Rupee for a a view of movie outtakes he splices together and then shows on his traveling 100-year-old Bioscope.

Cinemawallah Salim: A profile

A profile of a pair of brothers who roam the country to keep their genealogy books in order for a specific community of Rajasthan. They're the last in the line of traveling genealogists. Aired on PRI's The World in 2011

The traveling genealogists - Jagajis

an essay I did for Radio Netherlands on the topic of dirt - where I got on my soapbox and talked about allergies, oversanitization, and how dirt is not bad for you. 

Image courtesy of podpad at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

"Dirt" a commentary from 2011

Describe your sound: When I saw his photos, the last thing I expected was that the photographer was blind. This is a story about the photographer, Mahesh Umrania, and what he’s trying to communicate, reported from Mumbai, India by Chhavi Sachdev, Sonologue.

Collected sounds by Chhavi, sitar music by Mahesh Umrania.
Photo of Mahesh and his wife by Chhavi, August 18, 2013.

SONOLOGUE: Picturing beauty

Here's my piece that went on @PRI's The World.  A lot of songs sound like one another — sometimes, they’re nearly identical. There are only a finite number of notes, after all. And sometimes it’s easy to see where someone has been “influenced” or “inspired” by another melody. 

Ashok Krish is one of those who can not only spot similarities, but reshape an entire tune — across genres, styles and cultures.

I first heard of him when someone forwarded me his take on Adele’s 007 theme song, Skyfall. There are any number of cover versions of the song — from a rock take to the Russian Army Band’s interpretation and everything in between.

But Ashok Krish’s is likely the first that sets it to a classical Carnatic raga. 

A classical Indian musician is transforming hit songs into pop parodies

Sonologue is an independent radio production house run by chhavi, in Mumbai, India. We contribute stories on culture, gender, equality, music, and just plain old quirkiness to radio programs around the world. Our pieces have been broadcast on Radio Netherlands' Earthbeat, The State We're In, Newshour, South Asia Wired, as well as PRI's The World, Al Jazeera, and others. 

chhavi@sonologue