The Palace was built between 1743 and 1746 under the Maharana Jagat Singh II on the Jag Niwas island in Lake Pichola as his Summer Palace to escape the fierce heat of Rajasthan. The Palace has a fountain garden, courtyards lined with columns, pillared terraces, marble walls adorned by semi-precious stones, and ornamented niches. During the bloody Indian Sepoy Mutiny in 1857, Maharana Swaroop Singh gave asylum on the island to several European families. And to protect his guests, he ordered the destruction of all the town's boats so that the rebels could not cross over to the island.

The Context

Set in one of the world’s most romantic medieval settings, the legendary Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur is the epitome of luxury and Eastern splendor. In an ethereal, enchanting apparition, the Palace seems to float on the island’s 4 acres (16,500 m2).

Staying and dining at the Palace is an experience of entering a time machine and stepping into an entirely different era. The “Royal Butlers” in the hotel are descendants of the original palace retainers.

The Music:

A spectacular array of medieval palaces reflect in the lake as if magically wrapped around the white Palace in a swan-like posture.

While standing on the open-air terraces during the daytime, one feels a long horizontal continuity of serenity, the lake’s ripples, and bells from distant temples.
In tune with these atmospheric acoustic sound textures, we added delicate string arrangements and the most profound Dhrupad vocals as a tribute to the former Dagar court musicians.
At sunset, grand orchestral majestic strings inspire a moment of catharsis.

As the night falls, a low mist forms on the lake and sets the vibe to an orientalized spiritual Jazz while the impressive medieval panorama lights up as the ultimate enchanting oriental dream.

We approached every venue in symmetry, enhancing the texture with contemporary zest and emotional load at open-air venues.

In contrast, we refined chamber music art at indoor Lounges and Restaurants with seamless eclecticism between East and West.

Royal Enfield “Made like a gun” is a legendary brand name that has among the fiercest, most passionate, and most loyal customers among bikers the world over. Building on this community, the company decided to create a network of Garage Cafés where clients can experience the Royal Enfield experience. The pilot project opened in Goa on 23 December 2017. Every Garage Café will comprise a garage, a showroom, a restaurant, and an open-air lounge. Music Curator was called to design the soundtrack of this experience.

The Context

Rock’n’roll music has an enormous influence on motorbike culture, which is committed to a way of leisure rather than life. Bikers disdain the commercial function of music and search for original artists. For them, genuine performances hold the ultimate musical value. Bikers value the freshness, authenticity, and conviction of personal delivery by the artists: music that is, in a sense, answerable to the restlessness and adventure of their personal lives.

The Music

The freedom metaphor associated with the Enfield ride kicks in from the word go. The selection genuinely reflects the biker culture genealogy from the origins in the ‘60s to the budding artists of tomorrow while avoiding the pitfalls of niche, mainstream clichés, and other overheard pieces. The mix also features unexpected international evocations of imaginary landscapes (Mexico desert, Ocean drives, dusty roads of Iran, the Himalayas…), along with occasional pop-ups of tracks reflecting the broad geographic origin of Royal Enfield enthusiasts (Israel, French, Latin American…), with some rare gems from the global underground rock movement (Angola, India, Philippines, etc.).

The lobby of Thane One Corporate IT Park, a new building for R&D in pharma and IT. The building won the Asia-Pacific Green Building Award in 2013-14.

The context

No longer merely passthrough spaces, lobbies have become destinations in their own right.

Following the completion of the 16-storey high building, winner of the “Green Office Architecture” at the Asia Pacific Property Awards in 2013-14, the owners determined the need to enlighten the common areas with settings suitable for an impromptu meeting and the simplicity of creating spaces where people can relax while awaiting clearance to enter the building.

The music

A continuum of contemplative spaciousness acts like a counterpoint to the glass walls and high ceilings. This space is decorated with an agreeable flow of sonic textures floating in the air without melody or rhythmic features. This discreet yet inspiring and relaxing atmosphere is as ignorable as it is complex to an attentive ear.

The Mecca of Chinese cuisine in India, interpreted by the centuries-old Chinese settlers in this major city of the Silk Road and former capital of Imperial British India.

The Context

In the first half of the 20th century, Calcutta was a famed residence for European musical misfits and American black jazzmen who found work and social acceptance that was denied to them back home. The city is also home to Chinese and Armenian traders along the Silk Road who settled here centuries ago. Chinoiserie was the occasion to evoke this unique multicultural history.

The Music

Ethnic themes of ancient China revisited by contemporary Western composers with a classical and jazz background, using a variety of traditional Chinese instruments along with classical guitar and orchestral piano.

This selection cares about delivering a seamless, pleasant experience while avoiding the clichéd sound of ethnic Chinese music.

Established by René Lalique in 1888, the brand seamlessly combines refined craftsmanship with artistic expression, crafting timeless pieces ranging from perfume bottles to jewelry and decorative objects that are the epitome of style, sophistication, and luxury. Swiss art investor Silvio Denz brilliantly revitalized the brand and expanded it into interior design and hospitality, ensuring that it continues to captivate collectors and connoisseurs throughout the world. Château Hochberg is located in northern Alsace, next to the Verrerie d’Alsace glassworks — built by René Lalique in 1922 and remains the world’s sole Lalique factory — and the Lalique Museum. The region has a rich and ancient glassmaking history.

The Context

The former Hochberg glassworks now serve as the picturesque setting for the romantic Château Hochberg, which sits within lush parkland. The magnificent sandstone structure dates back to 1863 and was transformed into a four-star hotel in 2016. Its fifteen rooms and suites provide exquisite comfort and tranquility, and it is also a protected historical monument.

The Bar

Guests entering the Château are drawn to the custom-designed single block of white quartz bar, topped by a glass panel decorated with seven Dahlia designs dominating the lobby. The suspended crystals and glass cabinets surrounding the bar give a modern touch, providing guests with a glimpse of the extensive display of wine decanters and bottles and the garden.

The Restaurant

The restaurant is divided into three dining rooms – Dahlia, Ombelle, and Venise – creating convivial, welcoming spaces for guests to feel at ease. The ensemble is elegantly set off by Lalique pieces, notably the Eternal Crystal panels, a collaboration between Lalique and the world-renowned British artist Damien Hirst.

This was the first assignment of Music Curator. For the re-opening of the Taj Exotica in the Maldives in 2007, the management thought of developing a marketing premium by giving offering a memento to their first guests.

The Context

The Maldives are a luxury destination, so guests are expectedly sophisticated. They fly in from all over the world into these confetti spread in the vast Indian Ocean to sunbathe, snorkel, eat and drink, and then fly out again – not suspecting that they vacationed in the ‘Mediterranean of the East’, surrounded by ancient cultures with a very rich history.

The Music

We curated a deluxe compact disc – ear-picked compositions, sourced through hard to find specialists, that took the listener on a wonderful 70 minutes musical voyage around the Indian Ocean, along the fabled Spice Route of the Dhow Countries: from Madagascar to Zanzibar, Somalia, Yemen, Iran, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Western Java. The CD had liner notes, one page per track, describing in detail the cultural context of every track.

The guests discovered that this cluster of tiny islands in the Indian Ocean isn’t just ‘the acme of exoticism’ but are contained in and surrounded by ancient cultures, fabulous wealth and absolutely magnificent musical traditions. As a companion to this compact disc, we suggested that guests read Richard Hall’s unrivalled and instructive epic “Empires of the Monsoon”, a first-class, gripping panoramic study of the history of the Indian Ocean.

It is at that time also that we settled on the two axioms that would govern our work: “A Higher Experience” and “There is no luxury without culture”.

One of the most opulent palaces in India, the Falaknuma – Mirror of the sky – Palace represents the apogee of luxury, an example of the staggering level of expenditure and unrestrained extravagant lifestyle that made the rulers of Hyderabad a proverbial name, the oriental figures of the myth of Croesus. The Taj Group has magnificently restored the building. For the opening ceremony, the Taj hosted a lavish open-air dinner for 300 crowned heads from around the world. A concert specially produced by Music Curator graced the evening: a trio consisting of a European harpist, a Turkish ney player, and an Indian sitarist.

The Context

Music Curator was commissioned to illustrate musically the complex cultural warp and woof of this marquee destination, one of the ‘Jewels’ of the Taj Group.

Palace clientèle expect an immersive experience. Music Curator created the soundtrack of this luxurious world by connecting the eclectic cultural inspirations that were woven into the architecture and décor of the palace.

The music helps guests experience the nostalgia of a bygone era and feel a kinship with the lifestyle of Hyderabad’s rulers within this fabled display of Oriental extravaganza.

The Music

In the Venetian-esque Lobby and attached Museum, we staged the acoustic strains of an imaginary ‘composer in residence’, where graceful piano motifs are heard in the distance, exploring the works of Venetian composers like Claudio Monteverdi and Antonio Vivaldi who composed concertos for oriental lute with lyrical motifs in minor mode, revealing a Levantine influence.

The sunset at Gol Bungalow, an open-air lounge, is an invitation to an Istanbul-themed lounge in India. This is the sound of a new generation of composers who re-invent and re-orient the vibrant ancestral sound of their city. The playlist contextually matches the live performance of the Sufi musicians.

The evening at Gol Bungalow is a romantic love cocktail, where every night is Valentine for ever and for everyone in a number of languages such as English, Italian, Japanese… along with instrumental interludes of the deepest velvety smooth jazz. Each track is carefully ear-picked.

Adaa restaurant has a fine selection of classical and semi-classical instrumental Hindustani music, an anthology of beautiful bandishes from the last fifty years performed on a wide variety of instruments. It also includes the occasional Ottoman Court Music and Indian fusion.

In 2016, this fine dining Hyderabadi cuisine restaurant was included for the second year in a row among the ‘Top 100 Best Restaurants in the World’ by ‘Elite Traveler’, the only restaurant from South Asia in that list.

The Falaknuma Palace was built in Palladian style blending Tudor, Venetian, Ottoman, and Mughal elements by a British architect in 1884-93 for a legendary Prime Minister of the erstwhile Hyderabad State: Vikar ul-Umra. His wife’s family traced its lineage to Istanbul and Hungary, hence the Turkish features that make this Palace the Easternmost outpost of Ottoman architecture.

The Context

We sound-designed the lifestyle of Hyderabad’s rulers as an ‘Orientalised’ allegory of the Ottoman Dynasty. This unique musical trajectory between Hungary (the prime minister’s grand mother-in-law was Hungarian), Turkey and Hyderabad highlights a hitherto little known or neglected musical field within the study of Ottoman court music.

The Music

The Celeste restaurant:  a ‘celeste’ is a 3 octaves metallophone keyboard of the 19th century. It’s soft and subtle timbre gave the instrument its name, meaning “heavenly” in French, which is the perfect adjective to the breakfast soundtrack.

The Continental menu at lunch is an opportunity to underline the western territories of the Ottoman Empire that stretched until Eger, Hungary. The soundtrack tackles the imagination of early 20th century ‘new folklores’ as many composers drew their inspiration from national folklore, often borrowing from Roma musicians to create their own vision of an exotic and largely imaginary Orient.

Dinner at the Celeste is a musical masquerade in grand palatial style. It is not easy to decide who is wearing the mask: is it a vintage American jazz band playing a Strauss waltz? Or a western European orchestra playing an Oriental Gypsy swing?

The last palace to be built in India, circa 1929-1943, this colossal yellow sandstone Indian Art Déco building, managed by the Taj Group, sits atop a hill amidst 26 acres of manicured gardens. It has been named the “Best Hotel in the World” multiple times.

The Context

Four public spaces that share a royal constant are encased in a martial and heroic architecture accentuated by trophies of wild animals and ancient weapons. The acoustics are exceptional.

The Music

We created multiple day parts and dedicated musical atmosphere for each venue and paid tribute to the original Palace Musician, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (1922-2009), and his rich international musical legacy.

We softened the deep resonance in the majestic 105-foot high dome with a feminine breeze of heavenly harp and Indian flute.

On the Pillars Terrace overlooking the royal gardens, we used elegant strings of panoramic proportion to soundtrack the beauty of roaming peacocks.

At the Trophy Bar, we launched a musical ‘time travel machine’ to the quaintness of an early 20th-century salon.

Adorned by royal portraits, the Risala restaurant fine dines an imaginary dinner for royal guests of the last Empire to the sound of Victorian-era Pastoral music with echoes of Indian strains.

The Context

Encased in the majestic Umaid Palace, the Trophy Bar offers a visually immersive cultural experience that serves as a comfy reading salon during the daytime, when most guests are away sightseeing but gets busy from the evening onwards.

The Music

We created a sonic ‘time machine’ to transport the listener to the final splendors of Imperial British India, using textures – discrete, periodic crackling sounds of old radio and vinyl records -ear-picked historical recordings and contemporary works that honestly revisit the era or unearthing very rare, contextual recordings – such as a Hindi song praising the Viceroy and recordings of early Jazz in India.

To this ever-evolving music library, we are adding works that illustrate the early age of aviation in India, of which the Maharaja was a pioneer, with masterpieces from the large semi-arid zone that stretches from Jodhpur to Nouachkott.

Guest flow, too, influenced our musical selections. The afternoon music is at once artful and poetic to create a witty storyline punctuated by quirky and beautiful elements, yet has an easy-listening quality to avoid demanding too much attention from the guests. The sequencing production enhances this easy-listening quality, each track length ranging from 30 seconds to less than 4 minutes, to ensure a fast sequenced continuity of eclectic moments so that a non-musical guest is never trapped in a difficult moment.

In the evening, the Music Curator player changes to the Sunset mood, also called ‘The GM’s Drink’, customized to delay the guests’ flow to the restaurants Pillars and Risala. Later at night, it moves to a more mainstream vintage Jazz selection that imperceptibly raises the energy level for post-dinner drinks.

The richness and the very uniqueness of this selection make it a museum of aural curiosities and memorabilia, which is a pleasing invitation to engage and be inspired while being absolutely in tune with the room decor and the fantasy of its history.

The Jewel of Jaipur is set in a 47-acres of landscaped garden, a pastoral retreat from the hurly-burly of a congested city. Its subtle connection to the city’s regal history is visible in the lavish details of marbled corridors, carved pillars and soaring domes.

The Context

Music Curator contemplated the sound design of the five public venues from the role the hotel plays in the city of Jaipur in the context of its Taj Group lineage.

The Music

In the Lobby and marble verandah looking out to the garden, we produced a soundtrack of shimmering lightness, inspired by the pastel of the walls and the dance of the garden’s butterflies.

In the Suvarna Mahal, a grand palatial venue of Royal Gastronomy, we created a unique masterpiece of prestigious orchestral strings for dignified Indian classical music.

The Rajput Room, decorated as a tribute to the Maharani Gayatri Devi, was the natural recipient to graceful and romantic musical selections of the numerous Indophile, and Indian, jazz musicians, such as the late Amancio D’Silva, whom the Princess patronized. She bought him his first professional guitar, a Gibson. As a tribute to the artist and his patron, the Rajput Room is the only place on earth where Amancio’s works are performed daily.

The Polo Bar soundtrack revives at night a Belle Epoque quaintness of a fantasied aristocratic socialite life.

On the outskirt of the Palace, a colonial train station has been turned into The Steam Bar, whose entertaining soundtrack of Jazz and Soul music with a contemporary retro touch, offers to locals and guests the genuine edge of an urban bar.

Upscale urban business hotel with grand open spaces, contemporary décor and creative lighting, the Novotel has established itself as a feel good, high-energy destination for the global professionals of this vast IT and automobile hub.

The Context

Music Curator was commissioned to craft a music programing for the three major public zones of the hotel, with a focus on Millennials. Whereas creative programing in similar settings is often used to stylize a discreet atmospheric background, here we have created a self-assured, expressive soundtrack.

The Music

The Lobby is a typical ‘front desk-lounge-bar-restaurant’ open area where ear-picked, weightless, Indo-international pop music is performed from a glimmering utopic future, in a savant scheduling of intensities across the day and night.

The Square, the Accor-signature All-day Dinning restaurant, celebrates, from a French point of view, Pune’s newfound status as a Global Citizen Hub where music translates the Millenials’ aspirations to “Make the Planet Great Again”. The soundtrack is day-parted with specific intensities and colors under the Indian Standard Time.

Soak, the Accor-signature Pool Bar, rises from horizontality to verticality in three scheduled steps of musical intensity, building up through patterned contrasts and delivered through seamlessly mixed edits of impeccable aesthetics, fueled by a true taste-maker approach, towards a near-ritual of spiritual communion, a metaphor of a Millennial lifestyle.

The first international venture by the upmarket London restaurant.

The Context

A cosy room of 50 covers, with a low ceiling, offers all focus on the haute gastronomy, while a bar space adds an element of distraction with a roster of flying mixologists.

The elements include bright marble and fine white wooden planks, reminiscent of beach installation, enhanced by colourful art from Portofino on the Bar side and vintage photography from the Ligurian Coast/Gulf of Poets on the restaurant side.

The Music

The creation of three day-parts were commissioned: Lunch, Bar time and Dinner.

We created a soundtrack for A sunny terrace in a black & white Italian movie to achieve an effect of Riviera hedonism.

A fashion statement is made by today’s exciting Italian music producers, who created an innovative style of Jazz that incorporates sounds from Italian soundtracks of the 1960′s with other evocative, easy listening themes.

A fine balance had to be found to leave room to the Gastronomy experience while keeping the intensity of the atmosphere fluctuating between perfect invisibility and subtly progressive moments of higher spirits.

Facing the Lake Palace floating on Lake Pichola as the sun sets over the Aravalli mountains in the backdrop, Taj Fateh Prakash Palace offers India's most glorious postcard vision.

The Context

Taj Fateh Prakash is part of the iconic City Palace complex. It was built in the 20th century by Maharana Fateh Singh as a venue for royal events. Present-day guests are welcomed like princely dignitaries from another era.

The Music

The original palace décor has been meticulously maintained. From miniature paintings and armory to royal heirlooms and furniture straight off toshakhanas (royal storerooms), Fateh Prakash is alive with stories of Rajput valor and adventure.

In the marble Lobby overlooking Pichola Lake, we produced a soundtrack of ethereal Indian strains, inspired by the endless stories of the rich Rajput memorabilia and immersed in the ever-changing light of the City of Sunrise.

The soundtrack of Sunset Terrace, the royal restaurant skirting the shimmering waters of the lake, sets the perfect mood for daydreaming your time away.

Loudness is achieved by increasing the volume of sound. On the other hand, intensity is the level of tension in the production of a composition. This distinction is very important when curating sound recordings.

Check out the example given here. From 00:00 to 01:15 – the original recording is easy-pop tempo (125 bpm) of medium intensity, smooth, and not heavy.

In the remix, from 01:15 to 02:21, the production is raised to high-intensity; the tempo is the same (125 bpm), the volume is the same, but it sounds louder. It is perfect for bars.

In a typical ‘front desk + lounge-bar + restaurant’ open area, the medium-intensity sound will enable a conversation in the restaurant while keeping up the bar’s atmosphere, without disturbing the front desk area.

Pumping up the volume of a low-intensity recording will disturb the conversation in the restaurant and affect the front desk.