For the first time at International Kolkata Book Fair, now in its 49th edition, vinyl records and pen drives loaded with timeless classics are flying off the shelves, thanks to Hindusthan Music Publishing’s debut at the annual fair.
But what makes this stall, no. 134, particularly special is its rich legacy and place in Indian history.
Hindusthan Record was established in 1932 by Chandi Charan Saha as part of India’s Swadeshi struggle against British colonial rule even though the company was not at the forefront of the freedom struggle. Rabindranath Tagore himself inaugurated the record label and the company made its first recordings of Tagore's songs. Soon the logo with Shepherd boy playing the flute became synonymous with music in India.
Other great recordings by Atul Prasad Sen, Pankaj Kumar Mullick, Anupam Ghatak, K.L. Saigal, Renuka Sengupta, Amiya Thakur and Amita Sen followed.
In the ’30s and ’40s, Hindusthan Record’s releases, including the legendary hits of New Theatres, K.L. Saigal and Pahari Sanyal, were best-sellers. The label went on to collaborate with Pankaj Kumar Mullick, SD Burman, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan, and many others. As early as the 1940s, the company also began building a rich repertoire of Eastern and Northern Indian music, recording Bhojpuri, Uttar Pradesh folk, Chhattisgarhi folk, Qawwalis and devotional bhajans.
In 2020, the label expanded into publishing and has since brought out around 800 books. While most are in Bengali, they have also published a Tamil book (a biography of renowned playback singer T. M. Soundararajan) and an Assamese book (a biography of singer-politician Bhupen Hazarika). The catalogue includes music books and biographies of eminent figures such as Salil Chowdhury and SD Burman.
“It is to celebrate this milestone (expansion into publishing) that we have primarily participated in the book fair. We have been thinking of doing so for the past few years. But, this year we could successfully do it,” said Sutirtha Das, an employee of Hindusthan Record.
“The popularity of vinyl records has been rising in the last 10 years, especially among the youth. They are buying gramophones so that they can listen to these records. But, these records are not made in India. We get them curated from Germany and China,” Das added.
Sutirtha Das
At the fair, vinyl records of Kishore Kumar and Debabrata Biswas, pen drives featuring vintage Bengali classics, and CDs of Antara Chowdhury’s children’s songs have drawn music lovers from across generations.
“Durdanto (outstanding) collection,” said Asim Bose, a visitor at the stall.
Anandadhwani-Brindakanthe Rabindragaan, a Rabindrasangeet album featuring choral versions of Rabindranath Tagore's songs, also emerged as a crowd favourite.
“The book fair has many books on Tagore’s literary and musical contributions but to find an album of his choral versions is rather rare. So as a Rabindrasangeet singer, I am quite delighted with the collection here,” said Sayan Dutta, a Kolkata-based musician who visited the stall.
Among the best-selling books at the fair are Bangla Natoker Itihas: History of Bengali Theatre (Ancient time to Nineteenth Century) by Gautam Basumullick, Gaane Aru Sure: Dr. Bhupen Hazarika by Neha Garg, and Rabindra-Anushange Hindusthan Record: A Book on the History of Relation Between Rabindranath Tagore and Hindusthan Record by Amal Bandyopadhyay.
