Lost Empire of Music

Asoke K. Laha
President & MD, Interra IT

A few days back Prabodh Chandra Dey, popularly known as Manna Dey passed away at the age of 95, leaving behind him a rich musical legacy. He had a voice that could mesmerize people. But not many know, outside Bengal, that he was a wrestler of sort to begin and later became passionate about music.  He learnt his first lessons in music from his uncle and later was trained under Hindustani musicians. He sang mostly in Hindi and Bangla but also made his mark in Malayalam film songs and had given that language some immortal hits, which are played often even now in social functions.

 Manna Dey, like his great contemporaries - Kishore da and Muhammad Rafi -belonged to a different generation.  Music was a passion and a way of life for them. They did not get the support of the sound systems and equipment, which later became a part and parcel of film songs either to enhance the quality of the sound or to improve the rendition. Neither did they have the support of mass media to ride into fame. They were known by the quality of their sound and rendition and hardly did they get the support of media when they were trying their luck in the music industry. It was a different matter that they attracted media when they had become famous.

That time the strength of a musician was adjudged on the basis of his rendition, finesse of his vocal cord, lyrics and how his or her voice jelled with the accompanying orchestra. Little support did they get from the digital equipment that are used now to embellish songs. They used to complete film songs through numerous takes in sound studios, unlike now. But these people had become living legends at their time when there were no cassettes CDs, internet and social sites to promote them and their creations. The available to them were radios, which used to air film songs at times, theatres and of course films, which drafted people as play back singers only when they became famous. Yet, these men became household names in India, cutting across the language barriers, races and cultures they belonged to.

All India Radio also played a significant role in popularizing music and musicians. Popularity of the songs was not confined to city alone. Hardly was there any place in rural India untouched by the music mania of the yester years. How did this mania come about? I do not know has alone attempted to trace the history of film songs in India. If there is any, I should admit that I am not aware of it. I strongly believe that it is the information technology, which made the musicians popular and for that matter every artist owe their fame and popularity to the information technology, which made communications swifter and faster. Undoubtedly, radio is a major link of the information technology and the role it has played in diffusing news and a source of entertainment cannot be underestimated.

Theatre artists are another lot of people who were bypassed by the development in the information technology. How many of us could recall the name of a theatre personality who lived large in the stage. Their names were easily forgotten. Luckily, a good many of theatre personalities made into films and there they have become very famous. They would often hark back to their theatre days and vouch for the creative appeal of the theatre. But the fact remains that they have become big and are commanding huge fees only after their advent into films, which is the popular segment of the mass media.

I often wonder, if singers like Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey or Kishore Kumar were alive and were in the age group of 30-50, what they would have been.  Undoubtedly, they would have maintained their iconic status. More than that they would have become part of a multi-billion dollar music industry. Business opportunities in the music business have grown in many-fold in the recent days. As on 2011, the world - wide revenue from industry was close to US $ 68 billion. Of that, world-wide recorded music revenue was at US$ 35 billion. Music publishing revenue was pegged at US$ 9.4 billion and revenue from live music concert was US$ 23.5 billion. It is important to know who the major players in the field are. The US tops the list with a turnover close to US$ 24 billion in 2011, followed by Japan, the UK, Germany, France, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Italy and the Netherlands. Compared to this Indian music industry, despite its variety and rich history is small. 

The Indian music industry has made steady progress in the recent years. It is expected to grow at CAGR of 10.1 per cent to touch US$ 2.63 billion by 2016. The industry estimated to have garnered revenue of US$ 1.63 billion in 2011, growing at 11.5 per cent. Is this growth adequate? I believe it is far below the potential. Then the pertinent point is how the segment can grow? I have a few suggestions. We have commercialized only a few segments of music like the film songs. But there are vast segment of music still waiting to be tapped commercially. Music concerts have not picked up in India. Except in Tamil Nadu, music concerts have not picked up. These concerts are conducted by famous vocalists. During the season, these singers are heavily booked and the concerts are sponsored by corporations and cultural organizations. During the off-season, these artists should be encouraged to give performance abroad and also to make digital copies of their performances to market abroad.