Calcutta, Nov. 26 :    Calcutta, Nov. 26:  We've all heard them croon - at puja pandals, para functions and paan shops, in autos, taxis and 'night' buses. Favourite songs, familiar voices - Kishore minus the yodel, Asha sans the silkenness, Hemanta without the depth. Whether it's Abhijeet's Best of Kishore, Mita Chatterjee's E Madhu Raate or Indraneel Sen's Sagar Parey, the old rendered anew is clearly the flavour in favour. Neither Chatterjee nor Sen renders original numbers. They both bask in reflected glory, belting out 'covers' of renowned artistes. The reason they do this: that's just the way 'they' (read: the paying public) seem to want it these days. Copy-singing and remakes are the order of the day. Fresh renditions of old hits and sleek re-packaging of past singers are raking in the moolah as record labels, big and small, stick to the tried-and-tested formula. Asha-konthi Chatterjee's new superhit album E Madhu Raate, released this year, is following in the footsteps of last year's Katha Hoechhilo, having already sold more than a lakh units till now, giving Atlantis two rare Gold Discs (sales of 60,000 units) and much more. While Chatterjee has carved a niche for herself copying the inimitable voice of Asha Bhonsle, Indraneel has recreated classic Bengali songs, packaging the old numbers in his own distinctive way. Technology edge But why would Asha fans accept Mita Chatterjee singing their favourite Asha numbers, or for that matter Kishore fans take to Goutam Ghosh? 'It's a combination of factors,' says Anupam Gan of Sagarika. 'The quality of software is a major contributor to the craze for copy-singing and remakes. The old labels didn't often preserve the old numbers well and frayed software doesn't sound good in these days of sound perfection. Improvisation and better packaging also contribute to the success of remakes.' New renditions can use sophisticated studio techniques to make those familiar songs sound even better on today's state-of-the-art systems and better software. 'Every artiste has a distinctive style. But, when I am singing Asha Bhonsle numbers, I try to be as accurate as possible without really trying to change anything or experiment too much. I am glad that people have accepted me and my rendition of the great artiste's immortal songs,' says Mita Chatterjee who had burst on the scene in 1991-92 with her Non-Stop Hits of Asha under the Gathani label. Indraneel's Sagar Parey has given Sagarika another winner this year. All five albums by the Bengali remake king - Tomar Akash Tomar Batash, Durer Balaka (volume 1-4) and now Sagar Parey - have reached Gold Disc. 'The best-selling albums these days are mostly remakes and I have a feeling this trend will continue for quite some time,' says the singer, who, along with Srikanta Acharya, has been striking gold regularly for Sagarika. Copy-singing and remakes are hardly new phenomena, though. The concept was borrowed by HMV from its then global parent EMI almost half a century ago. Thus, from the mid-50s, 78 rpm film superhits on the HMV label, which sold at around Rs 4-5, had cheaper remakes made by lesser-known singers. The cheaper discs were priced around Rs 2 each and were targeted primarily at the rural audience. Ambar Kumar was among the first batch of copy-singers promoted by HMV who found his way into village homes, singing popular Mohammed Rafi numbers. Enthused by the success of this novel project, HMV launched copy-singing in Bengali, albeit borrowing from the immense popularity of Hindi movies. Mrinal Chakraborty and Ila Bose were commissioned to sing Hindi filmi hits translated into Bengali. The tune remained the same as did the orchestration. But the 60s and 70s were dominated by the 'real' thing - Rafi, Mukesh, Manna, Hemanta, Kishore, Lata, Asha, Geeta making it the golden era of playback singing in both Hindi and Bengali movies. 'People stuck to the originals not only because the artistes were so gifted, but also for the fact that these great singers were all supported by a band of equally formidable stars,' opines Debraj Dutta, for long associated with HMV and currently merchandiser, MusicWorld. Like-singers made a comeback in the 80s. 'We lost so many big names during this period, like Hemanta, Kishore, Shyamal Mitra, Dhananjoy and also Uttam Kumar, whose romantic smile alone launched a thousand songs,' points out Indraneel. There was a surge in the demand for songs by these stars. The record labels and producers were quick to cash in, commissioning 'duplicate' voices to immortalise popular numbers. Thus, Kumar Sanu started singing Kishore Kumar songs and Anwar and Sabbir Kumar began parroting Rafi even when the master was still on song. After Rafi's death, Mohammed Aziz, a city singer, was picked up from Ghalib restaurant and introduced to the likes of Anu Malik, Usha Khanna and Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Aziz went on to become a super-hit Rafi-kantho. Prasun Mukherjee of Delhi and Shibaji Chatterjee also started their careers copying Hemanta and have now come into their own. Remakes are basically of two types. One, where the singer copies the voice, tonal quality and style of the original singer and the second, where the new singer records old numbers in his/her own style. Copy-singing through the years has not been about filmi songs alone. As Debraj Dutta points out: 'Almost 40 years ago in Kancher Sarga, Dwijen Mukhopadhyay rendered Din Guli Mor... which had been originally sung by Pankaj Mullick at least 20 years before that. Rabindrasangeet remakes remain popular even today with a number of releases every year.' And who can forget Reba Muhuri's rendering of Begum Akhtar's thumri in Ray films? 'It's rather unfortunate that artistes singing Rabindrasangeet are always treated as holy cows, while others who recreate songs of popular singers, are barracked as 'copycats',' laments Indraneel. 'Sixty per cent of my remakes are not popular numbers but songs which got lost in a bouquet of bigger hits.' For your ears only After RD's death, Sony came out with remakes of RD hits originally sung by Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhonsle and others recreated by S.P. Balasubramaniam and Chitra. Abhijeet too has recorded remakes of Kishore. Lata herself came out with the hugely-successful Shraddhanjali and then captured Bengali classics like Hemanta's Runner in an album called Abak Rater Tarara with Salil Chowdhury. This year has seen Anuradha Paudwal and Abhijeet cutting two albums, both remakes of Bengali hits. 'I am a paid entertainer and I must give the audience what they want,' is how Indraneel sees the remake business. 'And our contribution should be viewed in the backdrop of a Bengali music industry that is still completely disorganised. We don't have any music bank or archives even in this age of the Internet. Thus, our efforts to revive old music through remakes shouldn't be belittled. If anything, we are enriching the industry.' The men who matter are convinced that the sound of remake music is here to stay. 'We will continue to make remakes of old hits and encourage talented artistes to come forward to sing Asha, Lata, Hemanta and Kishore numbers. It's good for the young singers and, of course, the listeners,' says Gan.