Rotations

Early morning in the hills belongs to the devta. Jagar, mangal geet, the Nanda Devi songs — the music that gets played while the kitchen fire is still being coaxed awake.

17 songs

The working hours. Shared Sumo grinding up a ghat road, twelve people inside, stereo louder than the engine. Gajendra Rana, Meena Rana, Kishan Mahipal — the songs everyone knows the second verse of.

108 songs

When the light goes off the ridge. Negi's slow ones, the songs about leaving the village and not coming back. Best listened to by somebody currently in Delhi.

57 songs

Night driving music. The stretch between Srinagar and Rudraprayag with nothing on the road, the driver's phone plugged into the aux, everyone else asleep.

10 songs

Uttarakhand gave him the title and never took it back. A thousand songs, sixty years, and most of what anyone from Garhwal can sing from memory. Not on the clock — every Negi song on the station, gathered in one place.

92 songs

Dhol-damau, chhopati, the songs that get sung badly by relatives and are better for it. Not on the clock — put it on when you want it.

17 songs