Nov 19 — Music is
big business these days. Even in Hindu movies, after 30 years, Punjabi
music is the most successful. In every movie, there has to be a
Punjabi song or a mixture of Punjabi and Hindi in a song.Swaranjit
Savi has launched a website Punjabi. singer.com about two months ago.
In these two months, it has had 9.5 lakh hits. It has 60 famous
singers on its website like Hans Raaj Hans, Sirdool Sikandar,
Sukhvinder Sukhi, Inderjit Nikoo, Manmohan Waris etc. He launched this
website in a big way in South City. Mr Sukhbir Badal was the chief
guest and Raj Babbar inaugurated the site. He says, “Most hits are
from the USA, England, Canada, Australia, India and Pakistan. No other
Punjabi site has had as many hits as this one.
Punjabi pop music is also becoming increasing popular. Channi Singh, Bally Saggu, Malkiat Singh, Mandher Brothers, Hira Group which has incidentally split were the pioneers of Punjabi pop music. These youngsters had migrated to foreign countries and experimented with Western music, while living there. They mixed it with Punjabi folk tunes and this resulted in Punjabi pop. Channi Singh is a versatile singer of this genre who has a cassette to his name, in which he has sung songs with Asha Bhosle.
Mr
Savi says, “Earlier there were 65 companies, that were recording
songs of talented singers from Punjab, but due to big companies like
T-Series, Venus, Magna Sound, HMV jumping into the fray and pumping
huge sums of money, most of the companies have folded up except for
six or seven like Finetone, Peritone, CTC, Choice etc. These
companies, which are releasing new cassettes of new singers, is a
gamble that they are taking. Usually 1,200 cassettes of a new singer
are made, if successful, the are recycled.
These are small budget
presentations. In spite of the fact, that many new cassettes are
hitting the market, very few are successful. Mr Savi said, “It is
really not essential that good music become popular. Sometimes,
ordinary music becomes a hit whereas good music is bypassed. Many
companies are losing out, too, but still, they are promoting with the
hope that the product will sell. For every big music company 80 per
cent of the budget ‘promotional budget’. In Punjabi videos,
Colossus Video Company, run by Kumar Gaurav, son of the late actor,
Rajinder Kumar, is doing well. There are other 20 companies that are
making Punjabi videos on Beta, 35 mm and 75 mm.”
The companies
decide their budget depending on the singer, the price of the singer,
locale, models, choreographer etc.
Mr Balbir Singh, the owner of
Choice and Karan Music companies says, “Yes, I agree that Punjabi
singers are mushrooming but they are fading away just as fast. My
company has given quite a few hits in the past. Now the company wants
to promote an artist from Punjab in a big way and we have picked up
Vicky Walia. He is an amazing singer and his album Toba-e-Oye is going
to be launched soon.
We have shot this video in Mumbai. Sukh Pal Sukh was the music arranger and an assistant of Anu Mallik gave music. This boy used to accompany Hans Raaj Hans and never got a break, so we decided to give him one.
These days, the trend of remixes has started, so each company is trying its hand on remixing music. Prominent Punjabi singers like Hans Raaj Hans, Harbhajan Maan, Surinder Chhinda all are becoming very popular singing Punjabi pop. They are being paid well.
But one would be surprised to know that beside pop 10 lakh copies of Gurbani are sold and there are 600 raagis and singers singing shabads. Punjabi religious music to be appreciated by common people.
There
are three major recording studios in Ludhiana. They are Inderlok
Studio, Texla, Super Track. All these three studios have the latest
recording techniques. Most of the producers try to show their songs on
TV, and sometimes strike a pot of gold as in the case of Babbu Mann.
His first cassette Nindra Ni Anandiyan sold 10 lakh copies, but
everyone is not so fortunate. Most of the new singers sink without a
ripple. Talent, too, requires god fathers and dame Luck to smile.
