Saturday, February 22, 2020

GRAMOPHONE MUSEUM OF MUHAMMED SHAFI


About 8 years back, on the 28th January 2012 to be exact, I had posted about
Sri Muhammed Shafi, The Gramophone Man, a collector, seller, and service technician of old Gramophones, Valve Radios, Gramophone records and other musical antiques. For your ready reference this is the link to that  post.
My blog page has been inactive for quite sometime since my 101st post ,i.e., on Music director Madan Mohan. What revived my interest in blogging and brought me back to pounding the keyboard of my laptop is a recent happy event when Sri Muhammed Shafi enhaced his stature to that of a Preserver and a Reference Centre for antique musical devices. Sri Muhammed Shafi has on the 26th January 2020 opened his GRAMOPHONE MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTRE  at  Lakkidi in Wayanad district of Kerala, a picturesque hill station and tourist centre.The museum is situated near the well known tourist spot, THE POOKODE LAKE.  His laudable effort is to bring under one roof  all his rare collections of the last 25years and to preserve them  for posterity and to kindle the interest, especially of the young generation, about our glorious musical  past. What sets this museum apart is the fact that it is probably THE ONLY LIVING MUSEUM OF OUR TIME in the sense that all the devices on display are alive and in perfect working condition. Kudos to Sri Shafi for his tremendous efforts to maintain them as they are now. The dynamism these devices impart and the sheer pleasure of witnessing their performance are unbelievable and a lifetime experience.

 He has been working on this project for the last four years using all the resources with him by purchasing a small plot of land and constructing a two level building to display his wonderful awe inspiring collection of antiques. This is the second of such museums  in Kerala, the first being the DISCS AND MACHINES museum at Plasenal,Pala, in Kottayam district of Kerala.  This is owned by Sri Sunny Mathew, a well known personality in the field.

While I was aware of Muhammed Shafi’s efforts and had seen his collections during the last 20 years,  what I saw at the Museum  was really mind blowing. A wonderful array of old valve radios of all brands including the Marconi, G.E.C, Grundig, Philips, and the favourite of our campus days , National-Echo  are there in all their glory in perfect working condition. Gramophones of all ages  and  varieties, hand wound  as well as power operated , are there to see and wonder. The Micky Phone, The Symphonian, The Gypsy Phone, The Sound Box , the  foot pedal Harmonium, Radiograms, The Magic Lamp and the ancient Fan working on kerosene are there to see. A huge collection of gramophone records also vets the appetite of enthusiasts. Yes, this museum is going to be an important and must visit spot in the tourist map of the state.

Pookode Lake
Shafi with his wonderful Radiogram