A musical journey from CDs to PDs

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Over the years, I have grown to enjoy listening to retro Hindi film songs while going on long rides in my car. My coveted possessions are the numerous CDs containing songs of singers K L Saigal, Rafi, Mukesh, Talat, Hemanth, Mannadey, Lata, Geeta Dutt and more. It is a great feeling to imagine that these singers are accompanying you with a full orchestra on your journey just to entertain you. Long dreary rides come alive with melodious music when legendary singers belt out one masterpiece after another. On such family trips, my children who prefer modern music, pretend to enjoy these songs, composed even before they were born.

In a recent musical journey, my wife complained that she was tired of listening to the same songs for years. That prompted me to venture out to buy some new CDs of songs missing in my collection. I was surprised to find out that most shops selling CDs had closed down. On continuing my hunt in a gift shop, the salesgirl gave a wry smile and told me that they are now selling pen drives of songs instead of CDs.

We grew up in the 1960s which I consider the golden era of Hindi film music, during which time we heard these gems on the radio. The drawback, apart from the poor reception of Radio Ceylon, was that we could not play or replay the song of our choice.

In the 1970s, with the arrival of tape recorders, we could not only play the song of our choice but could record and replay it from the cassettes. Anyone flying in from another country would bring a tape recorder with cassettes. Imported goods shops in the bylanes of cities were able to capitalise on this demand surreptitiously.

This phase lasted for quite a long time until CDs arrived. Their sound quality was better, there were no messy and tangled tapes and you could skip a song you didn’t want to listen and move to the next without the nuisance of forwarding and rewinding the tapes.

The era of the CDs too ended when pen drives made an impactful entry. The luxury of downloading either audio or video of any song of your choice from the computer is easy and economical. The internet is flooded with music and songs that suit all tastes. Your mobile phone or iPad can also give access to all that.

Amidst all this plethora of musical sources, the rarity of the song has been lost. There is a surfeit of songs at this age which takes away the feel of what I like to call ‘evergreen songs’. I still miss the days when my favourite song would air on the Radio, and how I used to listen to it in rapt attention since I did not know when I would be able to hear it again!