The Amaya Playlist

Mountain Air

Clink your friend’s glass, sit back, close your eyes and take a sip. Cool umeshu plum wine on a warm afternoon. Our pool is stretched out in front of you, its surface a still mirror. ‘Daydream’ is an eclectic, modern selection of low-key dance, R&B, afro-soul and jazz. Refined but relaxed, lively but gentle, complex and varied in character but singular in purpose: this playlist is Amaya in a nutshell.

It’s a listening experience that brings a little of everything to the table. The husky tones of Durand Jones meet jazz-inspired numbers by Waaju and berioz, while the duo Nu Genea inject some lovely Neapolitan heart and humour into the mix. Soulful tracks by Khruangbin and the signature soothing sounds of Bonobo help keep the pace in check, and there’s even a touch of tasteful summer nostalgia, courtesy of Leon Bridges.

This is the playlist to put on when you’ve caught yourself staring wistfully out of the window, wishing you were here on the terraces with us

Sunset Serenade

If ‘Mountain Air’ is a taste of Amaya by day, ‘Sunset Serenade is Amaya by night. Light laughter carried on the breeze. Fragrant gardens illuminated by the amber glow of the marble windows. You’re winding down after dinner with your favourite cocktail, mixed precisely to your liking. Includes jazz and soul classics by legends like Herbie Hancock and Dusty Springfield – ‘Take Five’ by The Dave Brubeck Quartet is a must – alongside a wide array of contemporary icons of the genre, like Robert Glasper, Tom Misch, and the sensational British afrobeat band, Kokoroko.

We’ve chosen music that we think best reflects evening life at Amaya: warm and intimate and mellow, but also elegant, understated, graceful.

Starlit Nights

You’re walking amidst the tea stalls and restaurants in Kasauli, when all of a sudden your attention is captured by a strain of music coming from a record player in a nearby market. You find yourself drawn closer. Perhaps you’ve recalled an old love story, or an image has come to mind from a half-remembered film. Maybe there’s just something in the softness of the singer’s voice. It’s a ghazal by Kaifi Amizi – Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho – being sung by Jagjit Singh. The lyrics transport you back to a different time, a different place.

‘Vinyl Days’ is our nostalgia playlist. It features many of India’s greatest playback singers, from Lata Mangeshkar and Geeta Dutt to Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar. Listen to their warbling voices cut through the years, singing poems of love and longing and loss. Let the simple, beautiful harmonies and modest instrumentation call to mind the unspoken beauty and tranquillity of our mountain retreat.