Audio companies do brisk business selling devotional songs

God is handling our devotional department," Bhushan Kumar, the cherubic 20-year-old son of the late T-Series mogul Gulshan Kumar, says in all seriousness. And like papa - after just four months at the helm - his day is sprinkled with temple visits and listening to the Shiv Amritvani, which he's heard "over a 1,000 times". "It is automatically controlled."It must be. Because every day someone, somewhere in T-Series' seven studios is recording devotional music. The company releases 150 to 200 devotional titles every year, often notching up more than one release a week. And not one title, claims Bhushan, has lost money. Celestially guided or not, India's devotional music market is flourishing. T-Series opened up the bhajan market and other companies - even with less devout owners - have followed suit. Films and pop music with their high-glam appeal may occupy centrestage, but devotionals are doing brisk business too. The Indian music industry put the pre-recorded cassette market at 505 million units in 1996. Industry sources say that devotional music accounts for approximately 5 per cent of this. And it's a growing segment. With its calendar art-style videos and soothing, but often generic, tunes, devotional music may not be hip, but it's absolutely happening.Bitten by the Devotional BugHari Om Sharan and Nandini Sharan: Hari Om Sharan, lyricist, singer and composer, cut his first bhajan album in the early '60s. His Pushpanjali and Premanjali are best-sellers. It is his simple and moving lyrics like Maili chadar odh ke kaise, that still have people flocking to his concerts.Anup Jalota: Son of bhajan singer Purshottam Das Jalota, Anup started singing when he was seven years old and has been professionally recording since 1975. He has over 150 albums to his credit and is often called Bhajan Samrat.Narendra Chanchal: His 15 minutes of fame came with Bobby, but Chanchal's distinctive voice didn't suit any of the heroes. He then switched to devotionals. Today, about six of his albums are released every year. He says he stopped counting after reaching 100. He is best known for his Mata bhajans and aartirelated music.Anuradha Paudwal: Ever since she joined T-Series in 1986, Paudwal has sung over a 1,000 bhajans. After the success of film tracks like Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin and Sadak, Paudwal, along with T-Series, devoted her energy and talent completely to devotional music. She records daily, sometimes completing an entire album in a day.Though none of the other music companies matches the T-Series' assembly line, they have a steady output. Tips releases 30 to 40 titles a year and Venus around 10. Newer companies like Plus Music and Baba Audio, which aren't players in the high-stakes film music game, stay in circulation with devotional releases. While Plus does 10 titles a year, Baba has churned out a 100 titles since its inception in 1995.Rhythm House, Mumbai's leading music retail store, currently stocks over 800 devotional titles - a fourfold increase over the past five years. Rhythm Corner in Delhi's upmarket South Extension has 60-odd titles and sells 20 to 30 cassettes every day. Gods, myths, folklore, festivals, legends ... they are all grist for the music mill. Titles range from the ever-popular Ramayana and Bhagvad Gita to local festivals like Orissa's Rath Yatra and occasions like Satyanarayan Katha. Nothing is too small or too obscure to merit its own cassette. So T-Series has a Tararani ki Katha and Dashrath ke 760 Vivah. "Every month there is a puja," says T-Series' Ajeet Kohli, "everywhere there is a mela or a festival. We cover everything."For the music companies, devotion-als are sound business strategy. The average production cost is Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh - peanuts compared to the crore plus investment in film music rights and the Rs 25 lakh-Rs 30 lakh it costs to produce and market a pop album. Besides, pop albums are unpredictable sellers and have short shelf lives. Religious music, however, is an evergreen seller - in India and abroad. In fact, homesick NRIs comprise a major market. Narendra Chanchal, star of Mata bhajans, has travelled abroad extensively, singing not only for NRIs but also for foreigners. "They listen to it even though they may not understand the language," he says. With an eye on the international market, bhajan king Anup Jalota is working on a 22-24 set Bhagvad Gita, with original Sanskrit shlokas and explanations in Indian as well as foreign languages.As more companies jump into the fray, overlapping is inevitable. This Navratri, Chanchal had simultaneous releases for T-Series, Venus, Tips and Tarana. "We are all fighting for a handful of stars," says Venus' Champak Jain. Unlike the pop music field, contracts are rare. So top artistes often end up having simultaneous releases with rival companies. "Earlier, I used to have one release in three months," says Jalota, "but now it's almost a release every month." Chanchal, who has about six album releases every year, says companies come back to him within a month of a new release. Veteran bhajan singers Hari Om Sharan and Nandini Sharan say sometimes they are not even aware their albums have been released.Religious Hit Parade:ArtisteAnup JalotaLata MangeshkarHari Om SharanAnuradha PaudwalVani JayaramAlbumBhajan SandhyaRam Ratan DhanPushpanjaliDurga ShaptsatiSoundtrack: MiraAll these albums have sold between five and 10 lakh unitsSource: Rhythm House, MumbaiBeing heard in an increasingly crowded market is difficult. The key, according to T. Suresh, assistant vice-president (sales), Plus Music, is "a pleasant, soothing voice with lucid, simple lyrics, and a colloquial language conveying profound thoughts". Jalota and his main lyricist, Kiran Mishra, strive to make God user-friendly. The duo source obscure stories and find new ways of telling the already familiar ones. "You have to create a repeat value," says Jalota. "So we pick up small incidents and try to create a little suspense. You have to touch people's hearts." Anuradha Paudwal, the queen of devotionals, currently recording an eight-pack-set Sampoorn Ramayan, picks up material "from temples, little shops". Paudwal, who spent seven years singing only devotional songs and recording over a 1,000 bhajans, says she hardly misses the glamour of films. "There is so much traditional material that even if I were to sing for 100 years, it wouldn't get over."Despite all the hard work, devotional music hasn't been able to shed its primarily rural, downmarket image. "Devotional music is the Lifebuoy soap of the music industry," says Vinay Sapru of Polygram. "It's sasta, mazboot, tikau (inexpensive, strong, long-lasting), but you don't get brand equity from Lifebuoy, you get brand equity from Lux Supreme." Today, an album's image is built by music videos. In the case of devotional music, videos are largely shoddy, hurried productions. T-Series videos are mostly shot on existing mythological film and television sets at the rate of 30 to 40 videos per day. "Companies just don't want to spend money on bhajans," says Nandini Sharan. "They want everything cheap.""Devotional music is the Lifebuoy soap of the music industry"Vinay Sapru, PolygramPolygram is hoping to change this image. Earlier this year, the company released a digitally remastered version of Lata Mangeshkar's best-selling '70s album Ram Ratan Dhan Payo, with a Rs 10 lakh video starring Mayuri Kango and choreographed by Ahmed Khan. The album, which was earlier selling 3,000 to 5,000 cassettes a month, sold three lakh cassettes in the first month alone. It now sells 30,000 to 50,000 pieces every month. Polygram is now putting together albums by Asha Bhosle and Jalota. Says Sapru: "Our effort is to put the devotional on par with the pop and film catalogue. The product must be classy."For those who don't quibble about class, scores of cassettes of devotional music line shop-shelves, waiting to be heard. Pick a God, a festival, an occasion, even a superstition, and chances are somebody's singing about it. God, obviously, is doing a good job.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Dec 29, 1997 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

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Audio companies do brisk business selling devotional songs

Gods, folklore, festivals anything is grist for the music mill as audio companies do brisk business selling them.

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