Sharda Sinha has a new competitor in Khesari Lal. Till a few years ago, CDs of Sharda used to top the charts in the run-up to Chhath but going by last fortnight’s trend, Khesari has posed a fresh challenge to her with albums of devotional songs vanishing off the shelves in hours.

Shops at Bakerganj, the city wholesale market of CDs and DVDs, are flooded with new hit lists of Chhath songs. According to Pankaj Kumar Srivastva of Maharani Enterprises at Bakerganj, at least 2 lakh CDs and DVDs are sold ahead of Chhath. “However, if you count pirated CDs and DVDs, the business is much more,” Srivastva said.

Besides all-time Chhath favourites by Sharda, Anuradha Paudwal, Kavita Paudwal, albums by Khesari and Anu Dubey are much in demand.

Srivastva added: “Mostly people from rural areas ask for CDs and DVDs of the new singers. These low-priced albums mainly cater to the younger generation.”

For the past 15 days, music shops at Bakerganj are receiving several customers from districts who usually buy CDs in bulk. Some of them take away more than 100 discs at a time. As the festival draws near, the demand automatically grows and remains that way even a week after Chhath.

Another shopkeeper in Bakerganj said: “People who live outside Bihar buy Chhath CDs and DVDs when they return as these albums are difficult to get anywhere outside Patna.”

However, the pirated CD business has largely affected those who deal in original ones. At the Bakerganj market also, there are many shops selling pirated CDs. A shopkeeper at Bakerganj, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Any person with a duplicator/copier in a computer can easily prepare a CD of movies and songs.”

Against a piece of original CD and DVD, which costs Rs 18 and Rs 36 respectively, the pirated ones are easily available for Rs 10 and 20. Rajan Anand, who works at a multinational company in Mumbai and had come to purchase Chhath CDs, said: “I am in Patna on a 10-day vacation to celebrate Chhath and Diwali. Chhath is a big festival for people from Bihar; Chhath songs are equally important during the festivities.”

“I am buying 10 CDs of Sharda, Anuradha and new singers such as Pawan Singh and Nirahua as my friends in Mumbai have asked for new Chhath albums. The new Chhath song CD, Chhathi Mai Boli, by Khesari is priced at Rs 18 while the DVD costs Rs 36. However, despite new singers emerging every year, my all-time favourite is Sharda,” Anand added.

Sale of CDs has also gone up in the past seven days. “Over the past two days, we have sold about 2,000 CDs,” said Rahul Singh, another shopkeeper at Bakerganj.