The Melody, the beloved music store on Rashbehari crossing, was established in 1938 by Sushil Kumar Chakraborty. The Melody houses two shops. While one sells LP records, CDs and cassettes, the other shop offers a collection of musical instruments
Photos by Amit DattaThe Melody sells instruments like the guitar, electronic tanpura, electronic tabla, keyboards. But it is the harmonium that has earned the shop a name in the music industry
A worker crafts a harmonium. Debanjan Chakraborty, the third generation owner of The Melody, says that the shop has been a manufacturer of harmoniums since its inception and is its main source of income
The Melody had customers from all over the country. Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and Manna Dey, among others, have all been their patrons
Their LPs are among the reasons why The Melody has survived in the age of Spotify and YouTube
Shelves filled with hard-to-find cassettes and CDs
Chakraborty said the demand for LP records and vinyls went up after the pandemic as more listeners sought the intimate listening experience of the bygone era, which is difficult to find in the digital age