BHUPINDER SINGH- HIS GUITAR, HIS SONGS

There is yet another singer in Hindi music world, in the Hemant Kumar-Subir Sen mould of singing, with a tinge of the voice of Kishor Kumar. In fact one can discern the nuances of the voice of several noted singers including the pathos typical of Mukesh in his voice. This talented singer is none other than Bhupinder Singh, the ace guitarist and the well known ghazal singer. Bhupinder's voice is considered to be unique and its originality will strike the listener the moment he hears it.

Hailing from Amritsar, he started his career as a guitarist at AIR, Delhi. It was the great music director Madan Mohan who recognised his talent for singing and brought him to Mumbai for a career in films. It was Madan Mohan again who gave him the break in films with the song, 'Hoke Majboor Mujhe usne bhulaya ho' in film Haqueeqat. It was a chorus with Rafi, Talat Mahmood and Balbir. Though the song was an instant hit and very popular, Bhupinder did not get any other offer. It was during this period that he started learning the guitar seriously and became a much sought after guitarist in the Hindi film world. His friendship with R.D.Burman and Gulzar also helped and Bhupinder played guitar in the background for the famous song,'Dum maro dum' in film Hare Rama Hare Krishna. This song became an important milestone of Hindi film music and is hummed by young and old even today. But can anyone think of the song without the unmistakable beats of Bhupinder's guitar in the beginning , in the interludes and in the background?

Soon he became an integral part of R.D.Burman's team. His guitar was prominently heard in the song, 'Churaliya hai tum ne', in film Yadon ki Baarat pictured on actor Tariq playing guitar in the scene. Again in film Sholay under the baton of R.D., Bhupinder's guitar created magic for the song,' Mehbooba Mehbooba'. Other music directors like Naushad, Lakshmikant Pyarelal, kalyanji Aanandji etc also used his guitar for their songs. In Pakheezah, there is the title music and the song 'Chalte Chalte' to show Bhupinder's prowess with the guitar.

But it was his voice that R.D.Burman wanted to immortalise and that he did with his film, Parichay with the duet with Lata, 'Betina bitai raina' (lyrics by Gulzar) and the song is still a rage for melody lovers. The song made listeners to sit up and listen to the rich, soulful voice of Bhupinder. In Gulzar's own production, Kinara, R.D.Burman tuned Gulazar's lyrics to give a few beautiful songs to Bhupinder, a solo,'Koi nahin hain kaha', a duet with Lata, 'Nam gum jayega' and a pleasant solo,'Ek hi khwab' with a few words and enchanting laugh by Hema Malini.

Other music directors also started using Bhupinder's voice the notable being Jaidev in film Gharonda. The haunting melody,'Ek Akele is shahar mein' and the duet with Runa Laila, 'Do diwane shahar mein' were beautiful for their originality. In film Baazar, the great Khaiyyam gave the melodious song ,'Karoage yaad ki' and in Akhri khat and Thodisi Bewafa he again gave two outstanding songs to Bhupinder. Again who can forget the pathos filled; 'Kisi nazar ko tera' for music director Bappi Lahri in film Aithbar? That also reminds me of the rare ghazal he rendered for M.T.Vasudevan Nair's Malayalam film, Manju. The song is 'Raziaman' penned by Gulzar and composed by the highly respected music director M.B.Sreenivasan

It was again Madan Mohan who brought the best out of Bhupinder in the duet with Lata, in film Mausam, 'Dil dhoondtha hai'. The unique quality and the originality of his voice are well revealed in the song.

By then the eclipse of music directors like Madan Mohan, Khaiyyam, Jaidev and a few others had started and RD himself, though the leading composer, appeared to be under compulsion to use the voice of Kishor. Bhupinder found himself being slowly alienated from the field of playback singing in spite of singing hit songs for leading music directors and he decided to fade away as the offers he still received were not to his satisfaction.

Faced with this unenviable situation, he turned his attention to singing ghazals composed by himself as well as others along with his singer wife Mithali. The loss to film music became the boon of ghazal lovers. He came out with several ghazal albums,viz., Mohabat, Ek Hasin Shaam, Kuch Intezar hai, Shabnam, From Bhupinder with Love etc. In the ghazals composed by himself he gave them a classical touch and deviating from tradition, used guitar also to complement his golden voice to make his ghazals unique and highly pleasing. The success he achieved continues to the delight of his innumerable fans.



Tail piece: There is again a rare Hindustani ghazal in a Malayalam film, MEGHA MALHAR. The song penned by Nazeem Akthar and composed by Anup Jhalota was sung by Jithesh, hailing from this place, Tellicherry(Kerala), and well known in the world of Hindustani ghazals.
"Rangath teri zulfon ki'Ps.Please click on he photos to zoom them.

K. RAGHAVAN-MUSIC DIRECTOR.

Veteran music director of Malayalam, Sri K. Raghavan,celebrated his 97th birthday at Tellicherry last week. He was also awarded the prestigious N.C.Sekhar Award for his outstanding contribution to Malayalam music on this occasion.

Sri Raghavan who started his illustrious career in film music with Ramu Karyat's film Neelakkuyil in the year 1954 went on to give beautiful songs in films like RARICHAN ENNA POURAN, UMMACHU, NAGARAME NANDI,KALLICHELLAMMA, AMMAYE KANAN, YUDHAKANTAM ....... .He formed a great combination with poet-lyricist P.Bhaskaran to give us some of the best ever malayalam songs. Music lovers are delighted to learn that he is to tune a song for the forthcoming film based on the novel BALYAKALASAKHI of the great writer Vaikom Muhammed Basheer.

I don't have many gramophone records of films with Sri Raghavan's music. But I have the record of Director Ramu Kariat's last and lesser known film, MALANKATTU released in 1980, presumably, after his death in 1979. It is poignant that the first film of Ramu Kariat, NEELAKKUYIL, also had music by Sri Raghavan. The film produced under the banner,'Universal Film India(P) Ltd., had Babu, Prathima and Shyamal Rao as artists. The record released by Polydor has two songs of Jesudas and chorus by Brahmanandan, Kalyani Menon. The lyrics are by Poovachal Khader.

Another record I have is that of the 1977 film YUDHAKANDAM. It has two beautiful songs by Jesudas,'Hriduraja Rathathil Sakhi' and 'Shyamsundara Pushpame' both penned by Sri O.N.V. Kurup. The regret is that I don't have the original dust cover of the record.




PS.Please click on the photos to zoom them

MALAYALAM FILM CHEMBARATHI.

In my collection of gramophone records a good portion consists of records purchased by me as and when they were released. Of course, the major portion is records collected by me later. But the memories connected with the former are sweeter than those associated with the later as the thrill I had experienced in buying them using the limited purchasing power on hand in those days are still fresh in mind. Like some of the songs from Hindi films .e.g.,'Hai Apna Dil' from film SOLVA SAAL (see my post on Hemant Kumar) there are several songs from Malayalam films also which evoked the same sort of sentiments and nostalgia even now.

The first of such films and songs coming to my mind is director P.N.Menon's film CHEMBARATHI and the song, 'Chakravarthini ninakku njan ente shilpagopuram thurannoo', penned by Vayalar and tuned by the maestro G.Devarajan, I am told, in Raag Kedar. The beautiful, meaningful, romantic lyrics soulfully sung by Jesudas was an instant hit when it was aired over All India Radio. It was in the year 1972 and the song even now ranks as one of the best ever in Malayalam film music.I purchased EP record ( an LP was not released,I think) from the shop 'Troica Musicana' at Tellicherry (Phone:627) in early 1973 along with a few other LP records including the LP ,' The Love Songs of Talat Mahmood'.The Chakravarthini EP record has in it four songs including the popular song,'Sharanamayyappa swamy' also in it.The composition 'Chakravarthini' has made such an instant imprint in me that this EP record has been one of the most heard records in my collection.


'The film 'Chembarathy' brought huge critical acclaim for its director, late P.N. Menon, winner of several National and State Awards . He is considered to be the flag bearer of parallel cinema in Malayalam and his films like OLAVUM THEERAVUM, GAYATHRI, ROSI, MALAMUKALILE DAIVAM, KUTTIYEDATHI, etc.,etc.are milestones in the history of Malayalam cinema. Film Chembarathi had Raghavan and Shobhana(Roja Ramani)in the lead with Kotttarakkara, Madhu, Pappu, Shankaradi etc.; indeed a film every Malayalee can be proud of.


P.S:Settling down at this place after about four decades I found that 'Troica Musicana' had downed its shutters long back.

SUBIR SEN- SOFT SWEET VOICE.

In my last post I was recalling the Music of Hemant Kumar, the great singer and music director from Bengal. Hindi film music had seen another highly talented singer from Bengal, Subir Sen, who burst into the scene with the the evergreen song, 'Manzil wohi hai pyar ki' from film 'Kath Putli' in the year 1957. The film with music by Shankar-Jaikishen had several lilting melodies including Lata's 'Bole re kathputli' in it; but the most popular at that time was "Manzil wohi' by Subir Sen. What caught the attention of the listeners was the fresh, soft, sweet voice of the singer which, to some extent, resembled that of Hemant Kumar whose several songs were very popular and frequently heard over the radio those days. Listeners found the voice and style of singing refreshingly different from the large number of songs(male voice) of Rafi, Mukesh and the rest. Subir Sen, I remember, had received a lot of critical acclaim for this song and pundits were predicting a bright future for him in the Hindi film industry.

He followed it up with several hit songs for Shankar-Jaikishen like, Aajare aaja' in Roop ki Raani Choron ka raja', 'Gagan ke chanda' with Lata in Apne hue Paraye,Dekho na jaao ae jaan-e-man' of film Boy Friend and the beautiful duet with Lata,viz., 'Main rangeela pyar ka rahi' from film Chhoti Bahen in which we could see the subdued but pleasant voice of Subir Sen gelling perfectly with the versatile voice of Lata to create a great duet sung in gay abandon. He also sang notable songs for several other leading Music directors during the period.For kalyanji Aanandji there is the song,'Sun ja dastan yan na sata' in film Passport. For Vasant Desai, he sang, ' Pyar ne Milna sanam' with Aarti Mukherjee in film Ardhangini. In film, Hum bhi Insaan hai', Hemant Kumar composed the popular duet of Subir sen with Geeta Dutt,viz., 'Gori tere natkat naina'. For lesser known music directors also he sang outstanding songs. For example, for Robin Bannerjee, he sang the soulful,'Humein un rahon pe chalna hein jahan girna aur sambhalna hai' in film Masoom(1960), along with Aarti Mukherjee. And there is the duet with Aasha in film Mehlon ki quaab',
'Gar tum bulana manon' composed by S. Mohinder.

But of all the music directors , Shankaer -Jaikishen gave the best solo songs to Subir Sen as again evidenced by the song,'Dil Mera ek Aas ka Panchi' in film Aas ka Panchi apart from a duet with Lata, Dheere Chalo zara''. The scene in the film, picturised on Rajinder Kumar as an Army cadet releasing a white dove in the sky is still fresh in my memory. This again was a song celebrated in the campuses in early 60s.

But inspite of several hit songs under the top composers, especialy ShankarJaikishen, Subir Sen could not scale the heights expected of him in Hindi film music. Music directors preferred to use him more to sing duets than solos, may be, because of the stranglehold of singers like Rafi, Mukesh, Talat and Kishor in the field of playback singing during the period. Subir Sen's, apparent, limited range also might have contributed to this. But more than these, the peculiar 'politics' of the industry which could easily sideline gifted singers like Jesudas and Vani Jairam might also have worked against Subir sen. Allegations were made that Mahendra kapur copied Rafi. Suman Kalyanpur was branded as poor people's Lata. The similarity of Subir Sen's voice to that of Hemant Kumar was held against him. These were the ways of the industry. In short, this gifted singer faded from the scene to become highly successful in Bengali music expecially Rabindra Sangeeth.

HEMANT KUMAR (1920-1989) - MUSIC DIRECTOR, CROONER ,BARITONE.....

There are a number of old Hindi film songs of the period from the late 40s to the early 80s which we had heard, hummed , lived and grown up with and which invoke fond memories of the years gone by. For me some of these songs are so unforgettable that not a day passes without my listening to at least a few of them.Songs like'SojaRajkumari'(Zindagi)'AyegaAaanewale'(Mahal),'Aaajare Pardesi'(Madhumathi), 'Chaudwin ka Chand ho'(Chaudwin ka chaand), Pyar kiya to darna kya'(Mughal-e-Azham), 'Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein'(Kabhi Kabhi), 'Tere pyare pyare soorat ko'(Sasural),'Jo wada kiya woh nibhana'(Taj Mahal), 'Suhani Raat(Dulari), and a large number of other equally haunting songs make one relive the golden memories of our school and college days and life thereafter.

The songs mentioned and many others are all by the stalwart singers of those days and tuned by the leading music directors. But there are a few songs, with similar impact even now, of less celebrated singers and music directors, even though their less than celebrity status do not take away even an iota of the nostalgic charm of the songs. In this category comes the songs of Hemant Kumar, the music director , crooner, baritone and whose voice had a special, deep, haunting quality that brings to our minds the feelings associated with natural elements like ' Bin, Badal, Barsat', 'Kohra' , twilight, moonlit night, blue sky, mystery and suspense. Probably he also had some affinity towards these themes that he gave music for such films like Nagin, Bees saal Baad, Kohraa, Bin Badal Barsat etc where he used his own voice with great effect

Hemant Kumar was, like Kishor Kumar and C. Ramachandra, one of the very few singer -cum- music directors of Hindi cinema . He had composed music for only about 50 films in Hindi and about 130 films in Bengali.He had sung under the baton of all noted music directors including S.D.Burman, Shankar Jaikishen, Kalyanji Anandji, Naushad, C.Ramachandra and Kishor Kumar.

It was S.D.Burman who had, in the 50s, used Hemant kumar's voice for a number of films , one of the best being the song from Pyasa,"Jane woh kaise log the'. Again there is the song 'Sun ja dil ki daastan' and also another song,' the duet with Lata, 'Chandni raaten pyar ki baten' from film Jaal.There is another duet with Sandhya Mukherjee ,'AA gupchup gupchup pyar karen' from film Sazaa. It fact during the heydays of Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rahman, Dev Anand, Geeta Dutt etc., S.D. Burman was using the voice of Hemant Kumar extensively before he switched his attention to Kishore and Rafi. In film Baadsha (Shankar-Jaikishen) Hemant Kumar had two songs, Aa Neele Gagan tale Pyar' and the grief filled 'Rulakar chal Diye ek din' and in Patita(S&J) there is the melodious duet with Lata,'Yaad kiya dil ne'. For Naushad, there is the song in Ganga Jamuna,'Insaf ki dagar pe' and in Shabab, the duet with Lata,'Chandan ka palna'. For C.Ramachandra, there are two songs in that immortal film Anaarkali,viz., Zindagi Pyar ke do char ghadi' and 'Jaag dard E-ishq jaag', the exclusive warmth of the voice gelling with the mood of the song. For Kishore Kumar, two songs of H.K. come readily to my mind. First, the haunting melody, 'Door ka raahi' from the film with the same name and 'Rahi ko ruk mat jana' from film Door Gagan ki Chaon Mein' which are evergreen melodies. And for Kalyanji Aanandji the song , 'Ai dil Kahi leja' from film 'Bluff Master' and the song, 'Tumhen jo bhi dekh lega' from film Majboor come readily to my mind.

A notable contibution of Hemant Kumar is his beautiful duets with Lata Mangeshkar, Asha. Geeta and Suman Kalyanpur.Apart from those duets mentioned above, the duet with Lata from film, Post Box 999 (Kalyanji Anandji),'Oh neend na mujhko aaye', is an outstanding one. In fact Hemant Kumar's voice is tailormade for lullabies and songs relating to 'neend' as shown by the song, 'Jab jaag uthe arman to kaise neend aaye' from Bin Badal Barsaat'. In film, 'Baat Ek Raat ki' there is the song, Na tum hamen jaano' with Suman Kalyanpur and , of course, the tonga beats song from film 'Tangawali' with Lata,' Halke halke chalo saavare' under the baton of Salil Choudhury.

The best of Hemant kumar as a composer and singer has always been in films for which he had himself composed music. Songs from films like, Bees saal baad, Kohraa, Bin Baadal Barsat, Anupama, Nagin, Shart, Ek Jhalak, Khamoshi, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam, etc.The success of these films depended, to a large extent, on the music of H.K. The haunting song, 'Kahi deep chale kahi dil' of Bees saal baad continues to be an alltime great. Yes the song gave Lata the Filmfare award for the best female playback singer in 1962. Our childhood favourites , 'Man dole' and Jadugar saiyaan' from Nagin' with the 'bean music' still captivate music lovers.No wonder H.K. got the Filmfare award for the best music director in the year 1955 for his songs in Nagin. 'Man dole mera tan ' was again the number one song in the Binaca Geetmala Programme for the year 1954. The two songs, 'Zara nazron se kahdo ji' and Beqrar karke hamen', both from Bees saal baaad, crooned by Hemant kumar were hugely popular in those days for the beauty of his voice and the hummability,which, of course, is the hallmark of H.K.s songs. 'Zindagi kitni khoobsurat hai' and 'Ek baar zara phir kehdo(duet with Lata), both from film Bin Badal barsat are also in the same category. There are two great typical haunting melodies of Lata in film Kohraa,viz., 'Jhoom Jhoom Dhalti Raat' and 'O Bequarar dil' apart from the 'Rah bani khud manzil' which brings out the crooner in H.K. to the utter delight of listeners.In fact can anyone imagine these four films having similar themes without Hemant Kumar's music?

In film,'Saheb Bibi our Ghulam', H.K. had used the voice of Asha and Geeta Dutt to create the musical mood of the film. 'Bhanwara bada naadan', 'Meri baat rahi mere man mein' and the typical chorus,'Sakhiya aaj mujhe neend nahi aayegi' all bring out the best in Asha. ' Piya aiso jiya mein', ' Na jao saiyan chhoda ke baiyan' and 'Chale aao' brings out the pathos of the theme through the inimitable voice of Geeta. These songs also show the uncanny knack of H.K. in selecting 'singers for the songs'. In film Anupama his own song,'Dil ke suno duniyawalo' is an out and out H.K. song and Lata's,'Dheere dheere machal ae dile bekrar' is melody at its best. And what about H.K.'s own 'Tum pukar lo' in Khamoshi?

When I started I wanted to write about only two specific songs of H.K.. But, faced with an array of wonderful songs composed as well as sung by him, I was compelled to dwell on others also. It also gave me an opportunity to hear a large number of his songs at a stretch. In the beginning I had said that there are a few songs which retained a lasting imprint in our hearts mainly because they were intimately linked to our childhood memories. One such song is S.D.Burman's,' Hai apna dil, to awaara', from the film, SOLVA SAAL. The film was released in the year 1958 when I was an under graduate. The young lead pair Dev Aanand and the new heroine Waheeda Rahman, the simplicity of the tune composed by S.D.Burman, the soft inimitable style of singing of H.K. in his unique voice, the No.I status of the song week after week culminating in its becoming the top song of 1958 in the popular Binanca Geetmala programme, the huge success of the film among the college students all made it the campus song of those days! Yes, the song and memories connected with it are still refreshingly fresh in the heart.

The second song is from the 1957 film, MISS MARY, a Gemini Ganeshan-Meena Kumari starrer with music composed by H.K. All the ten songs in the film sung mainly by Lata and Rafi were big hits. 'Oh raat ke Musafir'(Lata),'Brindaban ka Krishna kanhaiya'(Lata-Rafi),'Sakhiri sun bole'(Lata-Asha) were the better known and more popular of the ten. But to me the the best is the soft romantic song. 'Sogaya Saara Zamana, Neend kyoom Aati Nahin' crooned beautifully by Lata at her softest best bringing out every nuance intented by the music director. The moment one hears it he will be compelled to hum it ! Not only then, but even now, I prefer to enjoy the song late at night!


It is sad that these songs are becoming rarer over the radio even at places where AIR is airing Vividh Bharati and even over the DTH radio of Prasar Bharati.

A LICENCE FOR A DOMESTIC RADIO SET.

I wonder how many people will now be remembering that, a few years back, one had to obtain a licence from the Indian Post and Telegraphs Department to own an ordinary domestic radio set in India !! The young generation of today , I am afraid, would not have even seen a licence taken in those days for a radio. The fact is that till the year 1985 one had to pay Rs. 15/- (the amount was less in the earlier years) in the Post Office and obtain a licence at the time of purchase of a radio and had to renew it every year by paying Rs.15/- under Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.

I had in one of my earlier posts mentioned about a HMV Tuner SONIC IV purchased by me in the year 1978. While searching for some old documents I was delighted to see the licence of the set among the old papers. The blue book is in tact showing the picture of a transmission tower on the front and an advertisement of "EVEREADY' Battery on the back cover. This indicates that by then AIR and P&T Dept. had gone commercial. . The first two pages show the details of the owner( this humble self) and the details of places the owner had taken it. The inside pages show that the licence was renewed only upto 31st December 1984 probably because, by then, the Govt. had abolished this licence with the aim of popularising the Radio in rural areas and also, may be, due to the impracticality of ensuring that every radio has a licence renewed up to date.

The inside pages also show the stringent conditions for owning a radio. It stipulates that the set should be used only at the address given and not even in a building or residence partly used for business purposes! Change in address had to be informed to the Post Office in which the set stood registered. Any alteration to the location of the set should be informed to the licencing authority! The set should not be used by anybody other than the licensee or the members of his household residing at the location! In the event of sale of the set, the matter should be informed to the Post Office and the licence transferred to the buyer! The confusion such a licence regime could now create with millions of sets in operation can well be imagined.

The pages also reveal an interesting piece of information. Till 1980 the licence fee was Rs.3/- There was a 500% increase in 1981 when the fee was increased to Rs.15/-






P.S. Please click on the photos for details.

OLD IS STILL GOLDEN - BATTING FOR AUDIO CASSETTES.

Sitting in front of my several old music players and the collection of gramophone records, I used to wonder about the vast changes that has taken place in listening to music since the invention of Phonograph by Edison and, especially for me, since my father purchased a U.M.S. Radio in 1960 and I purchased a Philips transistor radio (VICTOR) in 1970. The hand wound gramophones of Victor, Columbia, HMV and other brands, the common music players of my childhood days, were replaced by the electrically operated record players, mainly of HMV and Philips. The picture of the lovable dog, Nipper by name, peering into the horn of the hand winding gramophone was one of the most familiar( now nostalgic) and famous logo of all time for music lovers. In fact, for many including the not so old, the word gramophone instantly brings this picture in their mind. Many old timers will also remember the small tin container with the needles of the gramophone.

The electrically operated record players like HMV Fiesta (combo) and several other Philips players were followed by Stereo Systems in the early 70s. Stereo players, Amplifiers and speakers were flooding the market for about two decades. Again Philips and HMV were dominating the local markets for players and speakers and Cosmic, Sonodyne, Panatronic, Murphy, Bush etc., for amplifiers. HMV's Super Stereo with separate amplifier and speakers and Philips' Hi-Q International were very popular in those days.

At the beginning of the 70s Compact Cassette players started arriving with brands like Sharp and Bush making them in India. Cassette players of Sony, National Panasonic, Hitachi, Akai were also available in grey markets. Cassette players, became hugely popular with its cost effectiveness and easiness to handle.I first bought a 'Sharp brand' cassette player and was thrilled at the easiness with which I could record songs with it. Later I got a similar National Panasonic set . While this set is still with me in good working condition, I don't know where the 'Sharp' set is at present. At first Indian made Cassette tapes were not available. Cassettes
of Sony, BASF, TDK, Hitachi, Philips etc., were the ones available. But much later Indian Cassette tapes like T-Series, Meltrack, Coney etc also arrived bringing down the cost down. Two-in One sets (Radio with Cassette player) of Sony, Panasonic , Akai etc were also a rage in those days. NRIs arriving with impressive foreign made sets was a common sight and such sets were on proud display in drawing rooms like a status symbol. Radiograms (Radio cum record Player) from HMV, Philips, UMS etc were also available in many drawing rooms. There were even Three-in One sets (Radio, Cassette player, Record player combo set) available. A friend of mine from my school days, Mr. Damodaran to be exact, had purchased such a set in the 70s and we used to listen to it for long hours in those days. A couple of months back, i.e.,after about four decades, he brought it to me in a state of disrepair with major parts missing . It was lying with him all these years uncared for as his efforts to get it repaired were in vain. He told me that he had lost his old radio, HMV radiogram and other musical gadgets which were familiar to me also. Well, the Three-in-one set has now been brought back to good working condition, of course, after a lot of efforts and expenditure. This portable Radiogram is cute and looks like a briefcase when closed.

By the middle of the 90s CD players and CDs arrived in the market in a big way and we have since seen rapid changes in equipments and listening tastes. Big music systems, Home Theatre Systems, DVD players, portable music gadgets like MP3, MP4,Mp5 players and mobile phones with music players have come to stay. USB flash drives and MM/SD Cards loaded with music are also there. Naturally Cassette players have almost vanished from the scene like its forerunner, the record players.

Like some of us who are still nostalgically bound with old valve radios and gramophones, I am sure there will be several music enthusiasts who still love their cassette players and would prefer to listen to music on them and to record their favourite songs from the radio directly on tapes. It is true, tapes may get caught in the pinch rollers, old tapes may produce hissing noise and tapes may get affected by moisture in the air etc. But , to them, the music coming through them will still be heart warming and true. Besides, for recording purposes, the Compact Cassette player is still the easiest. Original casssetts released by HMV,Music India, Music Today, Tharangini etc., offered a store house of authentic information about the song, its composer, lyricist and singer on their inlay cards. Apart from listening to them once in a way, it is precisely for this reason that I preserve my audio cassettes. For the real cassette lovers this is the time to get their old equipments repaired/serviced and kept in good condition as more and more repairers are becoming indifferent to repairing them eventhough spare parts are still available. They will also do well to buy and keep on stock a few blank cassettes before they vanish from the markets.

Well, happy listening with cassete players!!!



P.S.Please click on the photos for details.