During the last one year a few music producers have been cutting new Long Play gramophone records reviving the golden days when gramophones/record payers/radios were the only/trusted means of listening to music for the lovers of music. Companies like T Series and Gramophone Company of India have come out with records of Hindi films like ' Dilwale Dulhania Ley jayaengi', 'Tees Mar Khan', 'Dil to Pagal Hai', '1942 A Love Story', and Mohabatten etc. Though these releases have not been able to create significant ripples in the listening world in general, lovers of gramophone music have been going after these LPs being brought out in limited quantities in the market. Lack of sufficient publicity and the rather high price being charged(though the quality is good) are standing in the way of these LPs becoming popular even among the enthusiasts.
In one of my earlier posts I had talked about the difficulty in collecting Malayalam LP records. http://jaysworldofmusic.blogspot.com/2010/04/gramophone-records-malayalam-lps.html Several readers were also expressing similar sentiment
s. Well, there is good news for those who want to listen to Malayalam film songs on gramophone records. M/s. Satyam Audios, Cochin, seeing the renewed interest for gramophone records among listeners, have entered the field of producing LP records. They have released their first album titled 'Timeless Melodies-Yesudas' in July 2011. The album contains 8 beautiful, but not so old film melodies of Yesudas, three of them duets with Chitra. Side one has ' Pachapanam thathe' and the Ravindran hit 'Etho nidrathan' by Yesudas. Side two begins with the immortal Girish Puthencheri-Vidyasagar melody 'Pinneyum pinneyum etho kinavinte' by yesudas. Besides, the melodious 'Manasse padoo nee' by yesudas from film Paranju theeratha visheshangal and the duet 'Parayathe ariyathe' from film Udayananu Tharam are on side two.
Apart from the richness of the selected songs what makes the album outstanding is the high quality of the recording. Played on a turntable(Techinics) with
magnetic cartridge and stylus and a Techinics amplifier with matching speakers it gave near digital playback pleasure. The album comes in an aesthetically designed jacket with a painted profile of the singer Yesudas. The title of the album is in projected letters. The two-fold jacket also offers, on the inside layout, a thumb nail bio data of Yesudas.The usual round label at the centre of the discis refreshing. Altogether it is an outstanding effort and a 'must buy'record for gramophone lovers. The only deterrent is the price (Rs.650/-) which, of course, is matched by the quality. I understand that Sathyam Audios is coming out with more Malayalam LPs and one can hope that they will pass on the advantages of the future large scale production and sales to the customers
This album took my mind back to one of the earliest and much sought after
Jesudas albums released by Gramophone Company of India in the year 1968.It was titled 'The Best Film Songs of K.J.Jesudas'.This album, in those days, used to adorn the music shelf of all Malayalee households having record players!The album contained some of the best ever Malayalam film songs like,'Nee Madhu Pakaroo', 'Shanku Pushpam kannezhuthumbol','Manikkya Veenayumayen', Oru Pushpam Mathramen' etc. The paper jacket of the album also has a picture of a young Jesudas sans the beard! Yes, a must possess record for collectors.
It is nice to see that Sathyam Audios have made a good beginning by releasing a good collection of songs by Yesudas and Chitra.
Hi Jayasankerji,
ReplyDeleteLanded on your post on the Malayalam LP brought out by Satyam Audios, through a referral backlink from my blog,http://oldmalayalamcinema.wordpress.com/, where I write about the movies of my growing years :) as and when I get time. An ardent lover of LP's and EP's( though mostly classic rock and Jazz), am always envious and proud of those Vinyls and the people who still consider it a part of their lives ..Incidently, I too had written about the release of the LP, though I guess we differ on the perspectives of the enterprise. You can read it here.
http://oldmalayalamcinema.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/satyam-audio-brings-back-the-lp-record-but-to-what-effect/
Please keep writing about your collection. You have a faithful reader here. Onaashamsakal .:)
Hi jaya
ReplyDeletewhere have all the old vinyl records gone? As someone who has spent a lot of time and effort collecting vinyl, i always took Malayalm releases for granted, figuring i could get them later. But I have now realized that there is no 'later' because there are no old LP's to be had! Is there a place in Kochi or trivandrum to soruce them. I agree with you that once upon a time, all households with a record player would have had a few LP's and singles to play. So what has happened to them once people packed up their record players in the 1980's. i suspect they are in the attics of households across the land! Anyway, if there is someone who has been collecting malayalam LP's and have a good collection- they need to put a discograpy out on the web with LP no, make, title and song listing. At least it will be a service of love for the rest of us who dont even know which titles to look out for. The new issues are well and good, but for vinyl fans 'old is always gold'. Thanks for the post!