The
Evolution of Music
As a child I grew up listening to various
kinds of music: let’s cut to the 70’s with the Hindi film songs, commencing
with the era of Rajesh Khanna commencing with Aradhana (romantic musical) where
music played a very pivotal role in the success of the film, this is just an
example I am quoting as this was what fuelled my interest in music.
This was also the era of the “Spool’ era
(dominated by Philips of Holland and Grundig of Germany) as well as the
transistor (radio) before the record players which was catching on fast and by
the mid 70’s the record player was a necessity in every middle class household
to listen to music after a hard day’s work. The vinyl records ranging from HMV
/ ODEON / EMI etc were expensive and you would have to wait for the new
arrivals. The LP’s (long playing records) were expensive and would cost up to
Rs.75/- depending on the artiste / group / singer etc. I still remember that
one of the first records that we heard at home were The Ventures who were reining
the music world in the West with their popular instrumental and then came the
disco revolution with the bands like ABBA / Boney M with their immensely
popular hits!!
By then the 80’s had arrived with the
record players being slowly eased out with the 2 in 1 Radio Cassette players.
Our country was yet to manufacture them and the only source to get them was
from abroad which was through relatives especially in the Gulf who would bring
them on their visits / annual vacations. The popular brands then were National
Panasonic / Akai / Toshiba which dominated the scene as there was a huge demand
for these Japanese brands. It would either be a mono as it was easy to carry
around. The stereo was also coming in vogue which by then had completely
obliterated the record players (or rather turntable) and it had become extinct.
In case there were a few die hard fans who still swore by their vinyl
collection or turn tables they were ridiculed as “someone who is not ready for
a change”.
The early 90’s bought in the Compact Disc
revolution (CD for short) and it was really a matter of prestige if you had a
CD player at that time as the CD’s itself were very expensive ( minimum
Rs.750/- and above especially International Artistes) and also they used to be
directly imported and distributed through the outlets and retail music mart.
Today you see a very few shops like Planet M who are fighting for survival
because nobody buys CD’s anymore because of the digital revolution on the
Internet. There was a time when recording and music companies had their own
brands and labels and outlets as well to distribute their products. Today in
Planet M it is the other paraphernalia like T-Shirts , gift items like Coffee
Mugs, Gents accessories like belts etc that is more on display and sold while
the sale of CD’s has declined drastically.
Today’s generation at the click of a mouse
can download music at their whims and fancies and can have instant
gratification by watching videos of live concerts of their favorites groups via
the YouTube. The same goes for the movies as well. Any cult movie which is not
easily available across the counter can be downloaded from “The Net’. As a
music lover from my childhood I have seen the entire evolution what I have
written about and am lucky that I have been a witness to the above!! I consider
myself lucky to have been born in the late 60’s and going through the 70’s ,
80’s and 90’s were the best part of my musical journey I must say.
A couple of years ago I just happened to
visit the music section of a mall and I was shocked to see the Vinyl Records
(read LP’s) back in vogue with a turntable and the works!! I was dumbstruck and
shocked. The price of 1 LP was Rs.999/- and the LP’s that I saw were some of my
favourites of the 60’s /70’s like The Eagles / The Rolling Stones / Credence
Clearwater Revival, Pink Floyd among the notables. Who would have ever thought
that today these records were worth this amount of money!!! I will term this as
priceless. Alas when the 2 in 1 revolution was coming my father sold his record
player / tuner amplifier and around almost 600-700 records (LP’s / EP’s) for a
princely sum of Rs.7500/- in 1982 .
These records included the Classic collection of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi / Bal
Gandharva / English Collection / Hindi
film collection including the original soundtrack of Sholay with dialogs and
the Nasir Hussain musical combo of Yaadon Ki Baraat / Hum Kissise Kum Nahin
back to back on the same LP!! I am sure that the person who bought it is
sitting on a treasure right now!!
I am sure that if you are of the same
generation that I am you would also have gone through the changing phases in
the evolution of music!!
