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Publications and Research John Jay College of Criminal Justice

1991

The Cassette Industry and Popular Music in North

Peter L. Manuel CUNY Graduate Center

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?tular Music (1991) Volume 10/2

The cassetteindustry and popular music in

PETER MANUEL

Since the early 1970s the advent of cassette technology has had a profound effect L'lnmusic industries worldwide. This influence has been particularly marked in the world, where cassettes have largely replaced vinyl records and have "leveloping ertended their impact into regions, classesand genres previously uninfluenced by the mass media. Cassettes have served to decentralise and democratise both pro- .iuction and consumption, thereby counterbalancing the previous tendency ton'ard oligopolisation of international commercial recording industries. While the cassetteboom started later in India than in areas such as the Middle East and Indonesia, its influence since the early 1980shas been no less significant. in other publications, including a previous article in this journal, I have referred rriefly to the rarnifications of the cassette vogue in India and other countries llanuel 7988a,pp.173-5,1988b, pp.6-7,274).Thisarticleattemptstosummarise, Lrnsomewhat greater depth, albeit still superficially, the salient effects of cassette ;echnology upon the production, dissemination, stylistic development and general :,ultural meaning of North Indian popular music, by which I mean to comprehend :iI those genres, including commercialised folk music, which are marketed as mass ;'-trmmodities and have been stvlisticallv affected bv their association with the mass nedia.

Popular music in India before 1980

-:'rthe aforementioned publications I have summarised the development and major =:,-les of North Indian popular musics since the advent of recording technology 1900. At this point it will suffice to reiterate a few of the most basic and :eler-ant-ound characteristics of the popular music scene during this period. The most >.:lient of these features was the relatively undemocratic structure of the music ,:,iustry, control of whose production was concentrated in a tiny and unrepresen- -.rr-e sector of the Indian population. From the mid-1930s until the advent of ::-

189 _tu1 190 PeterManuel -:'-11r5 LataMangeshkar.SincevocalstyleinT:,i.issuchanessentialandbasicaesthetic :'- , il. ffilld liifl-i,i],T $M [*Hr,nx'L*::#irtxJri*Hix"[:*i3'l1;nttftn+i;**rr' ltm,u il s music and singing .: r ili[$]lfi1ilmr!fi{l

Sll|{$irUtlllfi'd ilHI:."i.:",*#F'J:':L'i'iil'T::i;fip'8) *{t}:*:f""1*#*[t*l rnnilluwEs; *J**t.r',ui1*"uiu'" intl' +':J",#,'@ Th ;i"h;varietv i+"Jil:'n:li*:tl;or rr ilmuditnn Al*t|;# m ff:il'T:'il:il"'ffi' 'ItLitl|ri:I'lmt$M dealing almost exclusivelY I musics. --^rr-,rimileri in subiect"i matter, nrordlue-w :# s; nwrciumrrdid :gl'd "" f: ll'ii {q in*:nJ i:i :: ilI "''" ''"' f ;,lJ'ais oili:.j r tne irrruuiiie, --,no* tr,y * ".]"ffi J:ti!:i+li,l'"H ffi runum11'imnud ",",,movies " tn"H?;"r?"ffiilTtso *.:*n:*;,i:i Indian llL']lr'(g'EIflt rndian basicto '"i'X"*J radio;only the rrnuirfiiilqummLri illllmm,onqmn *.:t**nHl{A$tir$irr:iirit*Ii1,$;*,.i1";,'#'llrumn,qililt ilfim lne.g*sml 1lr,c ;.,M *xi**89*rff*+Hq':}:"'*ffid,s:diil;ilrr;'i.tilulltu ;; ;h r'ever or stand a rd s J*'i',h*"'n# Hil J;.lil'il; " t.rj rry fi$[n "'" ot ?lrlrrtratrvrl;:;';"xiffx"'"?: commun"J cient was any- sort It is such a sense ot ']ll:;:;; :tr :lfe :llt,:,.je( f?i""le1?iT ,,lE Ll ctivecommunitY an d 1an gu ag -_-ii-: colte ],#: i JfiT ?lr;,;;. "' ", T'^'rt;'j:,fi$ f m

-(- -_t -\ :*::ilT?T,TlU;;-f,:*,nrns;:IH*"ffi :;-'eyil"::ru :re:er I asthe escapist cin In ihe I ::-$y;:.:Ti;f"ti**tv "rienating an.i ]Tt ltt' igntrre. "tib"dd"d unl.i-itle Master's Voice alternatives to His ber"rld The advent of cassettes: ethnl'l qon L-a i YJ'1";;,TT:::::',:1'*musiccassettesbega::*':'*r*;HfjJi:$reliirl :;;#;F,"*::::;11,'lt*i',i'i',X,U;,i5:T;:,;ru:fir ell. i i;;*'il:',i.;.i^.}ildiverv '*in+'i:?,1'iffJr3lT'??r:rTilJr,r*tli{t*t*rffi:il-1i1- 3 : .:=n : X** T

---::-,\ : ''.:- :.: *$#$ff**lt*usfi;;;;il""'*'1no".1,?1iil:,1.,,i::;i;1ti:1ilihT':i'ffIh$#+:*di''ffi:"1":iti:"J"li1t-a;:; '*"T;r- :1. #:**i,}*i*f"'t"'ru:r*i:fftg'#e"utri:il?'ffi in NorthIndis 197 Thecassette industry and popular music

rnarrufacturerswerenowabletoproducepresentablecassettesandplayers,the aforementioned imported ."-f"""",s o'r not.' Finally, rrhether using some class while of questionable benefit to the lower economic riu".ii*tion iolicies, consumerism the purchaslng.P.owr and general majority, the "..ri;;;;t-""lhu"t"d secto* oi in" lower-middle classes' in of the middte classesand even somJ countrysid.eu,'-"rtasthecities.Thisdevelopment,amongotherthings,has of t"l"rririons and casiettes in slums and greatly contrinuieJ to the protif"rutior-, the country'a irittug"" throughout music industry technology effectively restructured the The advent of cassette the had come to account for 95 per cent of in India. By the mid-1980s,cassetteJ Lui"g purchased only by wealthy audio- recorded music market, with record, prefer using themas masters)'5The philes, raaio statior,sand cassettepirates 1wfio by HMV (now Gramophone Co' of recording industry monopoly f"tq"ttt:"ioy-e-d India,or,GramCo,)dwindledtolessthan-lSpercent.ofthemarketasover300 while salesof film music remained strong, competitors tn" r".orairlg field. "*;;i - fro1. $] z mjllion in 1980 to over $12 , the market market' ";;JJ;o "tpo''J''tontcame to constitute only about half of the , mllion in 1gg6?- that film music and devotionai music, and other forms of , the remainder consisting oi r"glo.uilok 'basic' pop music' ;;;-il;'. or in industir- parlutl't"' I ended the unchallenged the cassetterevolution nua a"ri"itively In ettect, of film music, of of the corporatemusic industry in general, n heeetrftonvot GramCo, gombay film music of the uniform aestheticof the -.tnuI-ata-\trukJ.:o.ui ,wf" ana ,- a few hundred million music listeners ir;rlrs.* n .n had been superimpose{ 91 ; factors were the relatively low expense o,._errhe y"u.r. The crucial v Fr-.";;;-;r,1, its lowered production costs which t, .ut=*tt" t"?htoiogy' and especially t" F: t",Pttry"ti:e throughout the country' enahledsmali, 'coftage'cissette tomputti"i rq regional markets to whose diverse rt ,^.ul"u"r, t"^ito have local, specialised, ]: to respJnd in a manner quite uncharac- nr,*sical- rfr"y are able und *i''lrrg id cornpanies, which, as we have seen, :eristrc oi-r"r"rl the monoiolistic major recordi.rg be to criqtea mass homogeneousmarket' l,refer ,o uoor"r, urrd, u, much as possible, as have been energeticallyrecording lin the process,the backyard.usreit" companies which were previously marketi;; ;ll ,,'uJr,", of regional 'iittle traditions' an. being oriented toward ignored Uy HrfiV and the fin' p'JO":"t:: -""it cassette-basedllTl:nutl musics are aimed at a undifferentiatedfilm-goefs, most of ihe new target audiences' *:*t of class' age' gender' Lrervildering o? specific ll ,/as ""ri",y occupation(e'g' Punjabi truck drivers' ethricrt,v,,regionand, in some ou'J'' the """" in terms of their region' trr"'*it"' producers themselvesare varied lllv songs)' class backgrounds as insofar is many are lower-middle class, their ,i, religion and, more t r"u.,, of musical production is thus incomparably Mas rr.ell. Ownetri'rip".i,n" is be?orethe cassetteera' As a iesult' the average',t:^:"lt^t:Indian .ers diverse tnan thatnow,asrt".r",b"fo'e,offeredthevoicesofhisownto**''tttityasmass-mediated alternativesto His Master'sVoice' il; orientation, operating prac- The cassetteproducers now. Vary greatly in size, rary are the handful of major fkms, uiz' tices and **r"p"iir."ters. On the o'.,e"hani und and-inability to compete' relies GramCo, ."ni.it, hampered by inefficiency cas- and a break-away firtn' on its back catalog"" film music; CBS rt of primarily "f Polygram's Music *hich speciatJe in releases of western music; and Magnasound, Industries (SCI)' a ftt-i'ly Polydor); T-Serieslsuper Cassette after india Ltd. lft4fi, diannewelbusinessfoundedbytheruthlessentrepreneurGulshanArora,witha t92 PeterManuel i--:estu-ork diversecataloguenowincludingmostCurrentfilmmusic;Venus,aBombay-basedcover ,epertoire; and TIPS, which specialisesin concern with a ,i-ifuriy ai"er# '',--rrg nosl are the smaller regional producers' til t-tryt nila ,"::,1- - - -:-- -'- versions of pop ,orrir.'on ---i,-: 500 nationally.TThese themselves range which probably r,,rrl]Ii". betweer1250and insizefromregionalfolk/popproducerslikeDelhi,sMax,SonotoneandYuki,with _ ._ i _- i - like Chandrabani Garhwal series' over a thousand releases'-isgg, to operations "u&, a single cassette.Beyond this level are whose series, u, or consisted'of, who record music and sell copies numerous provincial ;;;;;p;;;""rial individua"ls them with simple one-to-onesetups' ;;;ta;Jt, out of ttreir residences'dubbing .l- -.i.].:r.j * t;: Technology, financing and PitacY

r'i Theexpensesandtechnicalresourcesofthecassetteproducersnaturallyvaryinand ". rfl orientation a.td othet factors' Both large accordancewith their size, audience t..i M smallcompaniesmayhavetheirownrecordingstudiosanddubbingfacilities,and/ ml other juplicators. While a few of the better or they may rely or",i"'rla studios and ',d rec.orders,most professionalstudios studios have such features as sixteen-track are almost all imported'' UlTli? have only four-track technology' Recorders consistof one-to-fourduplicators made -111wrwd machinerymay be i-pori"d, or mav "1,h", generallvunlicensed companies' Sililarll' for around $6,000by indigenous and "l"irrlr iiili|tltllllr{idlw be imported, acquiredfrom indigenous blank tape ur-,a.urrlt[;i.%Iil;"y eitlier iiii' ljfl-'1"Yrfllll'li liiilliiilj]&]il like T-Series,minufactured by the firm makers,or, in the caseof larger companres iliriur rl,ir lt|.rUn l! itsel{;smallerproducersasse-mblethecassettesbr-hand-.SCassetterecordersthem-ii r4i'rq1*t' ,llLlnlil of (e'g' Bush- selvesrange from 1,Gn iiaAlt' prod,ucts Japanese-Indian,'fie-ins' li*rt5'lll,il'lr,rr]lliiid{ plavers,inrvhich onl' the headsand micro- Akai and O.ror.r-Sor-ryii.i.."]f' inade ' Ntr:l,lr"1'-'Lllrq*l)IS.{{ which fo-1around S18' 'ill]'i{ motors are imported''and lell for engineers ni4r.,irL'[.ft l]l studio fees 'l Recording widely'.With :llT:tj:d ri,l:r'll[f! ilg.]:iTliclrln "*p"'"""" "ury tape of mass-marketfilm songs and and musicians, production of a 60-minute r.,r 1* ri, nILLL:n While the .,]r-[]li.liL.' pop music may on occasiont:t{."f^': irL.-ti-ttLl Hindi 11?9'"t^t"t^.(s12'000)'recordingsof folk music are to manv i exPense-sare closer $1d00" '" L:l averagerecording with - -- -ll: g75. dupiicationthen proceedsin accordance produced for as little;s Cassette :-': :i --: : i:: t9 .,,-''oid .uL:'^.o the manufacturer demand,with retailersoften being able 1et'urn --_.: _ : - labels on manv regional cassetteshells)' for re-recordirg 0;;;" in" ufr"i." of slightlv more than a dollar; HMV's tapes Most cassettessell for around Rs. 18, or gO. iur-,g", from acceptableto worse, with range from Rs. 24 ir-nr. Tape fidelitu T"l^ - T --:, IlLg Poolelcassettesr"u'i.go*iaedepositso,,tape"headsandwearingoutafterafewpurchaseto ensure !lUL i to listen to taPesbefore ^--1-- - listenings;customers lJarn to request trd1l\ u]:tt,trt-: -L: that they are not already defective' eorrnlel<- o- remains r,,'i"io Piracy,orthesaleofunauthorisedduplicationso{recordings,hasplaguedwas the worst The first half of the 1980s 1 f. inaustrf from its inception. s)PELrdu\^^-^^i^ll.- \ r the cassette to deal with cassette copyrightlaws were unequipped popularise.i period in this ."rp"Jt. n*tant offenders' showed little interesi ltt ptot""uting of 'respectab piracV, while the government producers with its old fif* f-tiit ptovided the pirate emerged, dis ifllV,, inability to?r$" obstacles comparli"r iu."a onerousbureaucratic ample repertoireto market. New to of film song i absurd requirements' Due tb;;;;lit"''"t" including :*P9tl Western insi in legitimat"ly pricing policiesof the large taxes6n bhnk tup", u.J ifre myopic vocal style et high government t*it" as much as HMV)' tegiiimxe tap;t t;t'^l:;tty other cassettecomPames (especially some/ singers pi#" cassetteiwere of inferior quality' pirate versions.Further, while most by Whiie i] and purchasedin the Gulf states such as the tapes of Goanesemusic Pt;;; The cassetteindustry and popular music in North India 193 ased guest workers, were actually superior to the legitimate cassettes. By 7985, pirate over cassettes were generally estimated to account for 90 per cent of all tape sales.lo cers/ While most of the piracy was perpetrated by small producers, the fledgling T-Series ange was widely accused of being a major culprit. Meanwhile, cassette stores and dub- with bing kiosks proliferated throughout the country, recording favourite songs selected )ries/ bv individual customers. I are In the latter half of the decade, the situation improved somewhat. Most rpies legitimate producers lowered their prices, making pirate tapes less competitive. ups. The government, under increasing pressure from the industry, reduced its various taxes and trureaucratic hindrances to registration of new companies; more import- anth-, r'ealicing ihe extent of its tax losses, it enacted a more effective copyright act in 1%1 and intensified attempts at enforcement. Legal cover versions of the classic .rym hits became rr.idely marketed. Consumers gradually became aware of the advant- ages ot huling legitimate tapes. As a result of these changes, pfuacy, although still : and rrtdespread, diminished considerably, at least in relation to the market as and/ open ar-rd In the absence of accurate figures, I would estimate its share at roughly retter a lnrhole. third of the market. udios '.me bbing made The impact of cassettes on musical trends ilarly, l[he cassette vogue has played a central role in the flowering of a number of -'nous music styles of North India, especially the 'non-filmi' genres which e firm cu-r'mrmercial to rival, if not surpass the popularity film music. Film music, of them- her-e come of to be the single most dominant Indian genre/ and casset- Bush- u-'L-lttrs€rcontinues North tes har.e naturally served to disseminate it considerably more widely than before. nicro- \er-ertheless, as I have suggested, by making possible more diverse ownership of the means of musical production, cassettes have served as vehicles for a set of ineers hreterogeneous genres which provide, on an unprecedented level, stylistic alterna- ;s and tir-es to film music, and to which listeners have responded to the tune of some le the $60 million annually. In the process, relatively new genres of stylised, commercial sic are popular musics have arisen in close association with cassettes. The following dis- e with rather than attempting a descriptive these styles, endeavours to rcturer cussion, survey of the connection their emergence and technology. hells). outline between cassette ; tapes :, with Ghazal rafew The Urdu ghazal has played an important in Indian ensure part North culture since the early eighteenth century. As a literary genre (consisting of rhymed and metered couplets employing a standardised it has been and lagued symbology and aesthetic), remains widely cultivated among many illiterate Indians, ) worst educated and even North especially Muslims. As a musical genre, it emerged as a rich semi-classical style, assette popularised by courtesans and, in the twentieth century, by light-classical singers :nders. of 'respectable' backgrounds. With the advent of film music, a 'filmi' style of ghazal :s with emerged, distinguished from its semi-classical antecedent by characteristics typical rstacles of film song in general, aiz. orcheslral interludes between verses, occasional use of Due to Western instruments and harmony, absence of improvisation, and a standardised re large vocal style epitomised by its main exponents, Talat Mehmood and a handful of ruch as other singers, including, of course, Lata Mangeshkar.ll / some/ While the film ghazal had declined after Mehmood's heyday in the 1950s, in "ates by lg4 PeterManuel to host an ex:t direct widespread of thelateTgTOsanewstyleofghazal-songfloweredwhichwasatoncecommerciallyX"aiig;i-;r"*i:.1T,tv1"i' and lacking popular,distinct f'"'1'h;;;ir"' first by associated rt'id .io,'ou"t ghazal'as popularised with cinema.Ind.eed, the'i* new rather than kar association first widely successfulpoPular H"r;; ur-rJCnnfu* Ali, was the (song) had bet pakistanis Mehdi for that matter' radio' *u, ir1a"p"r-,a*ioi.ittema or, and ttrti music in south A"i";;;h its sentimental songs) languoroust-"*P:' itt t;;;;i;'i'tot'utit'"thos' sequentlY sunl With its leisurely, th.ough disparagedby ,rr"toai"r,","il--i"* glrorot, Hari'I lyrics and soothing,'int,u.ri"a far wider than |agdish music' tu'n" io acquir! an audierrce becol purists as yupple relaxation -rur,r"n consisted of had also of the" sn*a's aud'ience ghazal had ever ."J;;;;;. ""i. by the recent Further, recort fif- t""g;*n? were n of the formerly melodious -dismaYed the action- to time new devotees styIes more to trend towa,d di".o-o,iented -aPPropriate Bengali Durga film music n"^at or tn" subsequentghazal films o_fthe rsS0sljn-rn" the public went € oriented mnsala(,spice,) cniou and others - Udhas, Anup Jalota' Jagiit^a'J bhakti vogte u stars - Pankaj with'ltigll its diluted urdu' often has become *or" Jistinct, The imn crossoverghazalstyle "rr"r', of improvisation' and a general uU'"""J'i *"aiottity recordings bv shallow and trite Poetry' t"nder it immediately *nl"n RamaYane silky, non-p",to"it'" uJ"oirpaniment "";;;;ytu the was not until recognisab|e'Asthegenrebecame.ever*"'"'"'"".efromits.semi-classicalante-a cliche' goes ti! gh""f soon became iournalistic the mass sales. T cede-nt,'poP role thatcassettesplayed in pr"r"r,t3t"ayirir'," Mahabhnrat an what is sig'iri;ri;i;'in" had gatheredmomentum iiirrtvogue popularisati"^ .f #;;; ou.r'glrorot.li. next decade' in mass-mediate it, upog"i il;; ri.3t nurr 9i.tt"t" mt tv the rate 1970s,but reached each other' at devotional t-oir"rdr, irrd""d,leinforced with the .ur""u" boom. rn" in the crucial role fu tandem g"""t"I. Cassetteproducers or rr-yi*.ords and rirrr, *rrril'i" - saw that a succesl the expense iogr" - Gramco and MIL crosely with the ;;;r; than most od firms most "rr..*ta a?ma1{' but activelypromoting' as not merely responding.t";;;;i"t in orcl.er months.lr Fur themselves pushed ghaza-l partly *.'" trL;J:Thus, MtL.rrgoioJtry -tapes by tions constitu if not creating t*it"t distinguished cassettepirates by-creatingl f:t1 9:y" tial. Accordin to outflank jet audience (unlike pirate cassettes' lffluent, mass music was dt relatively high fidelitli;;; hits aimed at lower-class "^poor-fideu,y if"t film fen' most of which consist of 9f religious executive related: ;;;;d'" si"'itutty' a Gramto tam Das statt them moreuniversallv Bhnjanshave a Whatbecamenecessary[afterthedecline^ofmelody-orientedfilmmusiclwastotakeghazalsthus-si*diil;;;il;;^;;;;;kt"g and bhaianstoa widlTmarket' tunes have be trends can be created'" accepted . . ' Many such which is resP'< P. 15). Whileourinformantisnodoubtoverstatingtnearrhty'lfthemusicindustryton ol ghazalcassettes by -ul, ciear that the deliierate promotio ano Similarly, a r createtrends nJlea poputarl': themedium thelarger ,"'o'ffi""i1i;;'":'!"{";' ""Orgf-rr, l*h rng of bhainn and the rise themusic'Inthewakbofthesedevelopments,commercialcassetteswerebv the early 1980s' sector'"i^id" r."trt industrv The va established as the most dynamlc music were closely in the;;*;;;;" populur remarkable- such that future developments 'mainstream allied to the new medium' accomPanilt Mukesh's Rr Dertotionalmusic prising that mainstream Ifthecrossoverghnzalboomconfirmedthetransitionkornviny|tocassetterecord-of devotional musrc versions of bhaT ing, it *u, tt''".u'ifr!l*"."'."U sofi ":ql:,:ittmmercial marketed ar thataccompanre.landfedtheextensionofthecassettemarketbeyondtheurbanemerge from a rrrrrri.'i;; il not, of coulse, come incorn middle classes.ir"r"'a""",r"r,ut population' continues divers" u'rJirt"r,rely religious vacuum. India, Jrr., ir" vast, India 195 The cassetteindustry and popular music in North

tohostanextraord.inarilyrichvarietyofd.evotionalmusictraditions.Themostsongs been the various, often collectively performed : widespread oi in"r" have which celebrate personal , associated with the Hindu bhakti traditions, -99":ti"" Commercial film versions of bhakti git rather than k;;, caste or formalistic ritual. p (Hindu religious for decades, and several fll",.. bhaians . (song) had been iamiliar lsongs)andartis(prayerchants).hadacquiredthestatusofhits,beingsubsequently(such as the arti'Om iay sun!'fy'a""ot""'^tt1'o"gno"t the.country / sequently Muslim qawwali film Purab q"ur Paschim). Filmi versions of r Iagdish Hari, fiom the ,fhadalsobecomeaCommonfeatureofBombaymovies(Manuel1988a,pp.1.67_8). come (primarily' of GramCo) had traditionally Lt Further, record companies gouise, r-totimenewreleaseswiththemainHindufestivals(especiallyjh::'Tlllln€ous zlBengaliDurgaPuja,GujeratiNavratri,andMaharashtrianGaneshPuja),whenthe .epublicwentongift.buying^Spfees.Nevertheless,theextentofthecommercial was qrrite unprecedented' n bhakti vogue rn tlie USOi "atty widely successful series of immediate foierunner to tire trend was the a The of of tasteful musical settings of ' version ty recordings by Mukesh consisting e-Ihel|nmayanepic(Manuel1988op.775).Although-firstreleasedonLPformat,it lat*etgTos that this series achieved -r."-aSflot until it was issued on cassette in the 1e::',..-:,e=.Thephenomenalpopularityofsubsequenttelevisionserialsofther* " :-,.t'.,1ur'ti n'omayan eplcs pliyed an even more important- m | , ll^f:l"tt"g of ."6gio.rs works, including cassette recordings in :::,=-::-.e.liateJ realls"ations of the cassettemedium itself played the at -..'" - -*-'ral *.rri.r. As with ghazals,"however' he--:'.----:-:,-.leinpopularisingcommercialbhqktigif'Cassetteproducersrecognised considerably longer'shelf life' j s,..essfllievotionil cassettemay enjoy a rw :-:. a few releases' generally dwindle after ,o,b, --::.:r'.--s; pop music = "in". that -ho'"''il"tthe country,s-extant devotional music tradi- ler :. ': ':-. |urther, producers saw gold mine of inestimable commercial poten. by :' .:: ..--,ist1ruted a reiatively untapped to"""e'-tiatois have opined that the vogue olpopbhakti es, -:,, 1;:.-rdrng1v, severul -."..= advent of cassettesrather than to any resurgence of ass : -::-- a.r! primarily to the country. Thus, for example, veteran bhaiansinger Purshot- :: r- - -: ,"^ or" in the ]-:-::ited: ': society.But now the catchy ; ,. :-.--.eain-ar-s been popular in certain segmentsof our it ii the cassettemedium :: i:'.- :een successf"[;i;;t;;tit-tg tn" yo"tttn'Essentially' interest (upadhyay 1985, .:: ,. ;._;.rii" r* ir*-;.;;G ,1t", ,u'tn", than growing Fto sby :::,',:,-..:.rusiclournalistargued,.'Perhaps-therealreasonforthismanicfollow- and consumer goods -: -,,.,astr-,"-rp".tu.ilar rise of audlo-visual electronic fele . _ r.-,_..-,:i 1988)' 80s, , . ,. = ::.e r: i\e qlnzal'(Lalitha l:='"':.r,.:-"otcommerciallymarketeddevotionalmusicsinNorthlndiais ,selY may be described as a -:r- j:r:r: Jl-e most conspicuous gerue is what wiin ngnt- '--:i-:::::::-, :-':";'';';stvie, by i solo vocalist lTlt:T'l:t:l ""'g the bhakti boom' in the waKe or i ,. ::::-:::rent lt *-as'this genie tirat started t]neghazalvogue' Hence it is not sur- ;,- .;-! -t---,."-....;i'.and, more"importantly, (jalota' Udhas)' the -: j: le. instrumentation and leadiig performers :ord- :*ri -: -:t =:', *r:r":-:r- ghazal'-Whllethis rusic i.,:i :-::.:.:.1Jrrhadmarkedaffinitieswiththeclossovel --.:trnuestoenjoynlassaPPeal'cassetteproducershavesince Lrban musics' which' needless to say' 'r'r.,-,: :-r : :''.ilrtll.linan' uuti"iy of rehglous lma of Indian devotional :::rt:,r",closer to representing"the rich diversity 111t1€S r.: i-, 196 PeterManuel musics than film musics ever attempted to do. Predominant in the field, naturally, are sub-genres of Hindu devotional music, including musical settings of traditional "1e.g. prayers Itanuman chnlisa, or the epics), bhaians devoted to various cult leaders sung in light-classical style i".g. sui'nuba), or to deities (e.g. Santoshi Ma), bhajans byilassical vocalists like Kumar Gandharva, and all manner of old and new songs in regional languages. Musics of other religions are also well represented. Qawwali cassettes continue to sell, as do tapes of semi-melodic discourses by Muslim reli- 6tm devotional songs - especially s-habdg-urb.anl - enjoy a large gious leaders. Sikh iilil,[iu irarket (and are remarkable for their avoidance of the stylistic commercialisation .]M typical of many other devotional musics). Christian hymns, lainbhaians, and even mt{f have their own customers. Marathi Buddhist songs also ll'-{,15 including the mainstream bhajans, are essentially for While most cass6ttes, trillirm recreational listening, others are more functional in intent and usage. Housewives, m;lil example nay routinely play a cassette of the Satyanarayan kntha during theit for , mmi ritual iasting, in place of inviting a pandit to chant the story, or reciting it occasiona^l flmlllll themselves. The impoitant thing, in terms of spiritual benefit, is that the story be one recites it oneself or listens to it while doing heard, regardless o? whether M housework. ,MlI cassette companies frequently produce tapes for specific festivals Smaller [ffi0il A fledgling company in , for celebrated annually at shrines or temples. Lfu tape of songs connected with the annual festival in nearby example, produced a M selling some worth at the event every year since' Deva^Sharif, and has be-en $600 ffi may be too small to interest the larger recording com- Such profits, of course, siluffi in the market. Indeed, aside parries, but suffice to keep many smaller ploducers ch of bhaian Juperstars like Anup jalota and Hari_Om Sharan, it is the irom the appeal nmu![ abiliry of iassette produceri to represent the innumerable 'little traditions' that NMIUM in large part for the exteni of the devotional music vogue. Perhaps due to accounts dailw nature of these traditions, the commercialbhakti boom, the r.irtually in"exhaustible ]ffiruil of the ghazal, shows no signs of abating at present' unlike that TilfifiM s'iw! 'Versions'and parodies:recycling the classics ro[ti, ire A third important genre in the contemporary cassette-based popular music scene into bef comprises iover versions of prior hit songs. Such recordings can be grouped - that of the cover version proper, or in modern two broad categories: in one case {r a 'r.ersion' recording - an extant song is re-recorded, generally by Indian parlancf n01 label, with different ,ro&listt; the second category consists of cases a di{ferent Grt release uses the melody of an extant hit, but set to a new text' The where a new not of course, constitutes parody (and is commonly referred to as such latter instance, inc in India). Parodies substituting new texts in the same language - a common Prac- - not classified in the 'version' category, tice in modern film music ale genelally !L^ LI IE and lacking direct association with cassettes,will not be discussed in this article. Of substituting a new or translated text in a i'LIl greater relEvance here are those parodies :: . different language from the original. cover versions and cross-language parodies- -:' Lke gh;zal"and devotionaliongs, .-,:: are neither new nor unique to Indian commercial music; for that matter, the use of stock tunes is basic to folt music in india and many other countries.ls Furthermore/ for several decades, Indian folk musicians throughout the country have freely borrowed and adapted film melodies. Nevertheless, the extent of the current popularity of comrnercial versions and parodies is quite unprecedented in India

i,-:t-!.aa:ia,ai-ia musicin North India 197 Thecsssette industry nnd popular

,and,tomyownknowledge'unparalleledinanyoth^erlountry(withthepossiblerraol. The deluge of 'version' ,f r;;;;i;, f& *ni.n ,l exception """'v"*p"rJty .^recofdngscoveringclassic.filmhitsnowconstitutesaseparatemarketcategorvFurther' every malol in most urban cassettestores' that occupie, u-rirJuut" niche several i: oi its original language' has spawned hit song of recent years''"gu'at"" n*'?;;;::?ilXT"t"?:11i111t":1-r::,thebeo* o,r versions and parodies canbe i: environment'The c;nditions outuiJng in the Indian.musical attributed,, ,o".rr* light-classical uttg-^:t"' )-:: borrow"a lrr*t-i" Indian {olk' wide use ot Jtock and popular muslc/ a initial In the realm of H:HL;:i. .or-,rtit,.rt"san fre.ed"ttt. Act (of * h", b;5;-;" lax Indian more immediate precondition '"tutL'"ty :^-1956-1,section52;'whichalo*'u"y-partytomakerecordsofanexistingworkbyto this-opyright legal tolerance paying-;t";;i"ittyalty. Added :' filing a notice of intent and innumerable =l:" the governm""i.top'os"cute the is th! unwilltd;;;;f:t't," devotional -producer, . icordings, typically of folk or cassette release :.; :mall '*lo cou"t versjonshas ilrnusic,whiclr"-proymelodiesborrowedfromfilmsorotherPopmuslc..prima"n:;;;;r; forlhe vogue oi Bevondthese factors, the catalogue ng the demand for releises of its vast -3effi; ft; inability of GramCo to meet a,s u".*'::illl':-fl:ji:":;';;;'il;" i;; _'E:'.:'1L;*:,sr *$;":fmi:**i**:nm*x';'##J,;Ti"'*'l'""1 *"." stiil in demand,but were il =*rj:.:.-.:l:g;:?H#i,?l?1liiilHli:llT:"HFory-bredinefficiency rhe t'.i or pt- ;' -I-t=tli*nes and the subsequentemergence 11"^1:t::: *; r'.5',:;fi:ffi'd; ri:xli:J*{l*Tii"t,}l""TP;|"Q#t"x':il:H;#5 il-1]'X ,il;'":T*j::,'1,*;-:i,{TCh1i{:11**:'Sr"J.:$,:'J:*"fithe .4f,t-r['] ;::?:'11'"'i"'l; =I-t-lill-litatar. or bound bY contract^obliEa- deceased(Kishore ,Talai Mukesh), ",o for clone singers,coming.up om, rroru scouted.;ii"g; talent shor's ::-j-*;';r:;Co, releasedan ongo'.'g t"'di"oi"'"d vocalists' He then a ,tuUr" o]l'"'"*p"'-"i""' labelsacknowledge' in ',-rrh entitleavrrit"-(w"mories'), whose =erresot,r,ersion, tapes The versions .roi,t-rore of the original recordings' =nal1 print, that the singers ur" ,rerecordedinstereo,using,,.od".,,technolog;',andthusofferconsiderablycategorv of .#,.J:";:"t other labels followed suit, and the ,r,ur.,-,n"'origin;b. film 1il: or these have been based on Hindi-Urdu ,erslon ;;.;;;r;;"#J" rraori dern Marithi hits16)'While ^rlvbv.onS-S:Dllsomei-abelshavespecialisedinofferingregional-languageversionsof - J- (such u, surgJ, ,r"rrlor-, sedeJ oflast rLrn-Flindl songs its cassettes,as ."trsrri.,g ,"-" iatalogue, ::l#:t"ate-dly began ,.1-ilr-back labels, T:: mole exPensive than tiose of other ].^; :.r.otedabove, ,e,nain-considerabl| suLr I Lncluding versions' are inferior to prac- complain that the version singers Critics and aficionados often the of theserecordings suggest that ,n:l.Xi+"t Net'"'tneless'the wide'sales l?:Z; p*r: ,;,,'" as lrlm ::*:;:#]tli*k*,.J::*':x*li'rT'*T#ffi'.f:H:: Pro *usic industry even where ownership can,contribJ* i"1n" decentralisat-i;3iah; rodies ;::':? ranguaqesisanother d1l-orment "t'nil"Jil:tr#T:ffiilffi;i':"i;gionlf ownership' the diiersification oimusic industry Tot:' intrinsically tied to cassettesa,-'i from treery had often borrowed melodies Of course, Bombay fitm music ;;;;.;;; uffent . India 198 PeterMqnuel But it is the e:: or.translated texts' generally in Hindi' folk music and given them new deri-'-e, regional of the sceneenabled this end the advent of cassettei?;;;h"-e"centralisation the new ., ic scale' and in reverse'-"iic First of all' processto occur o'-t* the borrowed ""pt"*a,"1tedindepena""ify of_cinema,whether oarody recordlngs w"re ma'rketed generally o, ,,o1.-S".ondly, the parody songs i-rit,,'"lodi", originated in film music containnewtextsinregionallanguages,ratherthanmainstreamHind.i.Urdu;thus,in (t'u"'abi' Bengali' Marathi' etc) and they have b"",-t ui*"iuui;;i;;:iffirkets of Hindi- ai r".iy rlther tharithe hegemony that senseselve to promote iinguistic u'0";;ro"':;;1':::^" 'Hawa hawa','rirchi topi- three top hit sonss or 1e88-e, in various North Indian 'Ek do tin', have all appeareJ i" wala' and """ions relentlesslyparodied and il;; h";" ut'o' fot thJ matter' been regionallanguages' like Baooi Lahiri' usually .e# t-J*i-" uy r'- ..*posers pligiarised, *itr-, puttayi"g severaltop murt"ted't"ii in ihe form of cassettes ihe-regionalparodies ur" are classi- and in public conceptions,such tapes songs.(Both for film -Jk;;;;oses which occasionallyuse borrowed {ied separatelyfrom folt music cassettes tunes.)T-Series,V"""'utta'aboveall'theTIPSlabelshavebeenthemostaggress-parodies' thelucrative market for regional-language i'e in tappir-,g,ir tunes' sucn ',oilr;ilg - 60th filmi and non-filmi - borrow western some current hit cassettes versions of her ,Madonna' tup", .or-rrirt-irrgof Hindi-language as Alisha Chinai,s "d'essed' a gaudy iiil Alisha upptoptLt"ly' in idol's songs, with ; ;;;;"pi}ing (TIPS' l1'* " " ,111Ia6 t*o oiit-r"*ost succlssfulparody tapes brassiereand no shirt. Interestingly, .r ir t il,ltlf, ,Lor,eme,and,Foltowme,)have'consistedofsettingsofcurrentlndianPoptunes, ,,", ,,t,,,,iiltr thereby exploiting' LL with English-lanlu"gt,llfl: ril'lll including ti-tor" ubot'"' pop ; new Jarket foiAnglophone' Indian-style and again,helping -"'ttio''"d c'eate an entirely :: .. .r.ij music.AlthoughEnglishisnola'regional'Indianlanguage'thevogueofsuchtarget diverse' I t"ltt auiiity of the cassettelndustn to is anotheri1;?.-;;; of the ' l-l:' r{': songs of educated,middle-class Indian *u.t llr-, ,hi, .ur", u ."rtuir, ,Lotor specialised "t, t"o for regional-language .:'t::. i: and aestheticimplications of the vogue TiltJ;#;;gical in depth in this u"a to'"'i'uaictory to bJtreated parodv ,or-tg, u'"-tto to*pf"* referenceto Indonesianinter-language yu-potst" iisg,iln"s noted in --:_.: article. As and empowering regional parodies, ,.r.t-,,.or-tg,'coull aside from the are nowT,:"^".:^,,11''"oiturisit-tg availablein varioirs languaees cultures, slnce nlt songs North India)' i" il;;;;;ia, Hindi-uid,,"r'' .-.-'*. dominant ,^" @;;;;:i";;;;,i; such -,.: may.be to regard -:-:-- as Yampolskv also obsert'es'it Hoivever, ^:t" regional::t:"tate markets' In that hl$gmonit,-1'::t'"um"style into songs as extending a as reinforcing ,"gror"rulpuroii"r-ur" belter seen sense,it could be arguedthat such thedominantclass/region/corporate.aestheticratherthanconstitutingcom-,little traditions,. t.,.,"-uo.,owing in regional merciaiisationsof the practiceoi

Regionalfolk-PoP mLtslcs and important version songshave. c:*: to form new While popghazals, bhainnsand recordingsof *1rui.3.".,", it is the commercial componentsof tHe Inhian popular within the constit"tu th;;;;i-ignificant development resional tott *.rri.s that now appear to musics' o' stytis"i versionsthereof' mirsic industry' Regionalfolk Moreover' ot all ca'ssettesales in North India'17 accountfor around 40 to 50 per cent The cassetteindustry and popular music in North lndia 199

which most clearly illustrates ut it is the emergence of regional commercial musics of the music industry at J, and derives fr6m the dec&tralisation and democratisation music' rrv the expense of Hindi-Urdu, corporate-produced film commercial recordings of non-filrni ; As with the other genres discussed above, decades before the cassette lfu regional folk-pop musils had been extant for several and variety, and their audience was ; bo?-, but they were limited in quantity who could afford record- i; large$ restricted to urban middle-class consumers settings of live$ folk songs, or Ji- pluiy"tr. Mostly they consisted of short, stylised playing pre- n"* ,ong, in folk style, accompanied by instrumental ensembles modernised ni- composed interludes between verses. Wiih the advent of cassettes, compete with an unprecedented :; ;;;;il" of such songs continue to sell, but now among the lower classes, ;J variety of other g"ir"r. styles popular primarily largelv lgnored by record industry, are now represented on cheap ,i; previously Jl" 78 or 45 rpm tecords, cassettes ;p iassettes. Futti"i, ,rtn"ttrictld by the time limits of longer time to present, and are ,ri- now offer a wide diversitv of genres which require music getttes than the short songs formerly Im in many cases more representitive folk western- residents can ,;;- rnarket"ed on records. Thus, for example, knthas, or narrative song-stories ;;. purchase dozens of cassettes of their iherished by different respecially 'Alha' and 'Dhotn'), representing different episodes sung '.6 Haryanvi listeners can choose from a few il *rfor-"ir. Mean'while, Rajasthani and sequential rrlrr lrundred cassettes of old and new knthasin their own dialects. Extended, alsowidely marketed, along with shorter song forms ;rd, ,*.*"r like Bhojpu1'birhn are been represented by fewer than a ;;, :-ke the Bral-bhasha rnsiua, rvhich had previously aE, joren records' in regional rnn Even more dramatic is the vogue of commercial cassettes ignored by the-record and film industries' ;t -ansuages which had been essentially region, all within 150 miles of ' rse, FL-lrinstance, Garhwal, F{an-ana and-the Braj in their own languages, with lian :.,rrLal-ecome to constitute Livllv markets for cassettes Most of these =ereral producers, large and imall, issuing new releaseseach month. more often, new compositions in .age tapes consist of eithei traditional folk songs, or this alore or less traditional str-le. aes- Aoc' Needless to sav, rvhile film music sought to homogenise its audience's to celebrate regional cultures ,"? -u.hetics,the cassette-based regional musics are able dealing exclusively with the an6 affirm a local sense of community. Unlike film songs with references to local il;). amorphous sentimental love, regionil sottg texts abound events or issues. ;;h u-usto:ms,lore, mores and even contemporary socio-political resists easy classification into itru, Much of the ne*' cassette-basedregional music "tolk' of_traditional genres recorded cing or 'popular' categories. Many .uss"ttes consist 'modernised' or 'improved' (as ;: rn straightforward tralditional style. Others are of untraditional instrumental accompaniments. Froduc&s put it) by ihe addition Once marketed, evln tuaditional songs can sometimes be 'discovered' and enjoy mass popularity of pop hits; for insta19e, the Punjabi nonsense song the ephemeral -by 'Tutuk Tutuk', as recorded tht UK-based Malkit Singh, sold over 500,000 copies.18 music, and the rtant Such sales, however, are highly unusual for regional folk music is uncertain' gs of indefinite continuance of the commercial market for folk majority of their i tt-r" Several producers of regional folk cassettes told me that the in film music ar to customels were of the older generations, who were less interested abundance fver, than the young. To the extenithat such is indeed the case, the present 200 PeterManuel of folk music cassettes may constitute a unique and relatively brief moment in recording history.

'lt Cassettes, style and film music aesthetics ;! Thus far, this article has emphasised the ways in which the cassette-based music "iutr industry differs from the film music industry in offering a much greater diversity of represent the variety of North Indian 'i1{rl6 musics and styles, which more faithfully .mil genres and aesthetics. Nevertheless, the effects of cassettetechnology are complex " t ''1 ind contradictory, and in some respects can be seen to reinforce, rather than rrriiirrllM negate, tendencies manifest within the earlier, corporate-dominated Indian music Lirlr inJustry. Cassettes, after all, are commercial commodities whose production- is r[l[ subject, in varying degrees, to the same constraints and incentives of capitalist "ii""" ll$r| enterprises in general,-such as goals of maximisation of profit and economies of I '-"rrrrrr! scale. Accordinlgly, if film music ian be accused of distorting consumers' aesthetics riutll by superimporlr,g values deriving from the inherent structure of the music irlaurtry, cassette"-basedmusics cin be seen to perpetuate some of the same ilr il tendencies. An initial constraint is that cassette producers, whether small or large, will r; l'r! only market those genres which prove profitable. Thus, for example, because_a 'Lrr S must have a certain minimum size, within a given region it may be only ,11,, rflli certaln-uik"t genres, or certain styles of a given genre that are marketed on cassette' A case in is the commercial music scene in the Braj area, atound Mathura' Most foint , f":iiitiill[ cassettes here consist of rasiya, the single most popular folk music genre. Rasiya itself is rendered in a variety of styles, including village women singing informally r lli1 in the evening, a dozen oi devotees singing responsorially in a temple, a -ot" a chotus singing in the :i dangnl 1'compltitlon') between two professional groups, flnitrroti style influenced by nautanki theatre, or a solo professional accompanied by drum and harmonium . Rasiya commercial cassettes, with a very few exceptions, .l i,"fll present onlv the latter kind of format. Further, while many traditional rasiyas are devotional portrayals of and Radha, the vast majority of rasiyacassettes are 'u il' .I i secular, spicy (masatedar) erotica. some of the best singers continue to go unre- r " '18 corded beiause they sing in styles other than that favoured by cassettecompanies' - Producers also tend to ivoid vocalists who perform in peripheral, lesser dialects "i..- - (e.g. Mevati) with smaller potential markets. Thus, while cassettesare able to offer ini-putubly.greater regional and stylistic varietv than did film music, there are limits to the degree of diversity they represent. A particuilrly conspicuous characteristic of Indian cassette-based popular *a _ musics is the tendency tobhminate improvisation. This trend is especially_apparent - in glrnzal, whose triditional light-classical style was based on bol banao, ot impiovised textual-melodic interpretation. While several cassettes of Mehdi Hasan, Ghulam Ali and others do feature some improvisation, the majority, like appeal lies in earlier flTmghnzals, consist of purely Pre-comPosed renditions whose can the fixed tune, rather than in the ti.tg"t's skill at improvisation' Similar trends be observed in other commercialised North Indian genres, suggesting that the be more a genre becomes dependent on the mass media, the less improvisation will tolerated.ro Similarly, cassetteshave tended to perpetuate the aforementioned practice of 'improving' or 'decorating' songs with instrumental interludes and accompani- 207 The cnssetteindustry and popularmusic in North Indin

ments(frequentlyincludingchordalinstruments).ofcourse/manycassettes in cases where producers think their employ purely traditional iristrumentation, dirappro.r", or when thev are disinclined more traditional-minded listeners would rehearsal tirne. But the trend unable to pay for extra musicians, urrun?Jri-u"d or established in film toward non-traditional instrumental accomianiments,.already ii clearly being spread by cassettes' music and radio broadcasts of folk music, . musics which ii belng reinforced by Another t"'ta"'tly oi maiu^ popular While as mentioned above' lengthy cassettes is the pro^otio'' of short songs' on cassette, other more flexible genres narrative ,or.,g g"..,"" a.e *idely markete"d tend to be into four- to (e.g. qawzuali,rasiya,in""gi', lnizal and'bhaian) 5gmpressed qawwall cassettes told me that in his experi- six,minute formats. i;;;'pt;]". er of ence,thisformatwasthefirstthingcustomerslookedforinacassette.Whether or from the desire to acquire several deriving from the influence of recor? format, oi which can always be replayed)' the tunes in a single purchase (the favourites perpetuationofthiscustomoncassettesrein{orcesthe,soundbite,aestheticin popularmusicsanctextendsittogenrespreviouslyunirrfluencedbythemassmedia. formal standardisation, cassettes While ,"frfor.ir,f u J"gr"""of styiistic and for the creation of new texts and, in some have provid"a u ."*irtubl;stimulus from T-Series to several smaller pro- cases, melodies. Many cassette companles/ regardless of genre, sing primarily ducers interviewed, t;!tr,lrr"i,rr"ir p"trot-ers, t lyrics. In the.case of regional folk genres new material, that is, material with new ?amiliar traditional repertoire may have 1ike rasiya, a considerable amount of the that the producers, n''. years of the cassette boom, such t been exhausted in .n" lyricists occupied (while generating much demand for new rr",ui",iu1 t"Lps several 7 as novelty is a virtue in itself' this verse that aficionados find forgettable). Insofar { as unwelcome' of cassette impact shoJd not be regarded a uspect greater melodic genres appear to.hive acquired markedly e Similarly, certain difficuit to attribute this development variety in recent a".uf,"r, although it is v matter, to any other specific factor' Modern solely to the cassetteboom, or, for Ihat e renditionsofllajasthanikathnsandtheBraj-bhashaDholaarebothsaidtobe 'e considerably.o,"'opt''sticatedand-variedintheirstylesandmelodiccontent r. and mass media influence in than a generation ;;; while professionalism the' cassette-based com- hL% tot'"if"t"a to this development' ; general appear to tS mercialisatio.,ortn","g""'"'maywellhaveacceleratedtheprocess..Another the aforementioned borrowing of film tactor related t, thr;;h""r.,or,r"rror, hus b"en 3r North Indian folk had also become a common practice in re tunes, which, of co,,ise, musicwellbeforethead.ventofcassettes.Cassetteshavenotonlyserved.as the practice by increasing p"trJy tunes, but may have intensified AI vehicles for such demand for new material' nt rnay.reinforce,.'rather than oppose In discussing how cassette technology or the Indian music film music and other retaila tendencies within .di certain features of are vehicles not only for the spread of industry, we may also reiterate that cassettes ke also of film music itself' Film music filmi aesthetics and borrowed film tunes, but in ut as sixty, per cent of still accounts for at least one third, and possibly TY.l an roughly half the shelf space is cassette sales. Even in stores in provinciaito-ttt, he other compet- music. While cassette technology has- enabled be often devoted to film which enabled this development to ing genres to flourish, some of the same virtues the increase of film music _ low cost, poriability, etc. - have also promoted :of occur Thus, while tt",Jio*"r--iddle classes and rural dwellers. .ni- sales, especiutty u-or,g 202 PeterManuel and l dropped significantly' film music share of cassettesales as a whole has film music,s market for recorded mem ufp"u, to have declined, u, th" entire salesthemselves do ,roi has been r",hi, ,"rrr", the impact of cassettes music has expand"a ,i'ar"""r."iiJry. ill; contradictory. :::e:::

Cassettes and live performance CmsC,mg technology on evaluating the impact of cassette A further factor to be considered in have had on live performance in North India is the influence cassettes musical life a commonplace traditional u n-"-t-!:" and the general 9usi5.g"11:t' performance' "it"iity-of often flourisli at the expense of live observation that the the decline. of many traditional have -lr,.""tru"*a -"aiu significaniiy to and that they in general' In decreas" o'f .o**rnal social life musics worldwide, if not to the the well-documented decline of India, severui ,.noiurc have attributed North media' and particularly genres to the ir,Ro"r-,." of the mass various folk music the cassette G1".:" the remarkable spread of cinema (e.g. Tewar i' lgi+, P' 18)' that, sooner orlalet, it^uy have a similarly industry, it would f" bgi."fi. suspect traditions' detrimental impact ott lit'" performance. Atthispoint,l,o*",,",,itisdifficulttoverifysuchtrendswithcertainty,due tothefactthattheytendtobeoverdeterminedbya-wi.dev'ari.etrof.socialfactors,changes cassettes and the fact that significant and also due to the relative novelty of a decade to become apparent' tradition" g"""'utty take more than in performance exacerbated that in certain cases/ cassettes have Evidence does suggest, howevet, common the media,st"^a"^.f-io dir"orr*g" live performi."." ,9"" ryrticularly practiceof hous-ewivesplaying cas- exampleis the aforJmentionedr,ri'idespread settesoftitualarats(prayers)orknthasratherthanpersonallychantingthemor Komal Kothari has also suggestedto hiring a panditt" d" :5. Ii;1"tt;;"i;;ikl..ist standarqsofor p'*tuT:i"s-'::::t::i,::t-'::'#-11*i"ffi:^---'participation me that the professi"""rlti"a"rdsprofessional Pru*trcr'rF) was- from taking part in collective genres where ! rtfff"J u-uti".rt, In the realm ot I o.r". *ro.ui &pertise (or evenb-asiccompetence)' traditionally valued former l of my informants' including a few village professional performan"", to: '"""'ui ,p."ud of cassettesconstituted a disincentive concert_goe.u,oprrr"J?i"ilrr" gan)' and that the ffitne,& (of g"nrl, ltke rasiyaor Bengali adhunik attend.live performances one Dhola l,t[*e f, such prog**--"s was-dimidJni"g uc.&d.tgly.,Similarly, frequencyof that his present ,lnl*drm nua,"rirt"a offers to r'ecordout of fear sinqertold me ilrat [E for a {,[mfimd listen to his tapes rather than book him urrJi"r,.", would ,r,U,"q""'"ttly simply |MIM ot"t?T#"";er, and professronal, dues:m in the case of many genres, both participatory. in general have :gn that the cassettevogu€, tire mass media there is little evidence a :-,lE noticled that-or some housewives may play decreased live performance. I have -:l- to sing along with than to replace cassetteat a household ritual in order 1!^i"il* acqiraintancesinsisted that despite own singing. Sirril;lt;*y urban their luniiUl usageat marriages,there of wedding-r""t'."rr"rres, and thiit occasional "\"ffil the sales women at weddings' f";;':th ;;;"t tt t"pr*e hve singing by was little tendency to me that lr*lsnm t""eral periormers and ftod"iets.;nsisted As for professional;;;;; and concert Lr t-rlfilu rather than lessensa performer's fees renown via cassettei-uooro l:'r itr',ll Dhola singer,sfears, they invarl. and, when told of the aforeme,,tio,,ed bookings, alsonoted tha: --,i.lrLu attitude' Contemporaryscholirs,have ably scoffedat his'backward' 11 l{ig 6r, cassette,such as Rajasthanikafirrn some genreswhich;;;; widely -urt"t"d

-**m,milm,m,mrMM{im,wffi*tl'l:i*a w 203 The cassetteindustry and popular music in North lndia

than ever before within ribirha,today appear to be performed livernore Lusic ::rd Bhojpu rdedmemory."Accordingly,"itis'clearthatasidefromstudioaccompanists'veryfew'if for more th11 a small fraction of their any, perfor-;;; t"# in recording fees oeen for publicity,. and- jor the flat pay- livelihood; rather, cassettes ur" ,u6n as useful standard fee for a live programme' ment received, which is often no more than the

Conclusions Iy on iu.,""I,opularmusichasbeenwelldescribedasasiteofnegotiation,wherediverseanddramatised and social ideologies and aesthetics are mediated' place often contradictory mass media themselves, including cassettes contested i".g. #aar"ton 1gg5).'The urrce, hand' cassettes can be seen to embody this-process' On the one ffi; in North Indi;a, al.Inhaveperperuated,lfnotexacerbated'manyfeaturesofcorporatemusicindustriesmusic industry in particular; such in general, and of the film-dominated Iniian ne of the replacement of live te#encies include the discouragement of improvisation' ffi-, other features associated with the perrormance bv passive listenin!, and varioui ssette of market and of genres whi-ch were previously relatively free rilarlv commerclarr#o'., " media influence. .-A..^ontheotherhand,cassetteshavedecentralisedanddiversifiedthemusic alienating hegemony of escapist, corporate-con- L_lI"' ,,'durirv, challenging the orrerins'p'."il"l.the ;;il'i'il;;;i.?;"*v: -,little?v to lil,'Ji; rich traditlo"ns'Lf regionalmusics,YlY.:,t^f:::'-'-'-:""1iT*'"t cassettesare able ,ur"-rrt. extensively from the local community and revitalise traditions, rather than obliterating rbated affirm a senseof superirnpos"d by u mass-market, lowest common denominator llffi oi *l n musics "* muslc' ls cas- PoPr r diversity is not At the same tirne, the affirmation of aesthetic and ideological iil;, by a hegemonic ,rvithoutits costs. \^rtrile negating some of the alienation promoted sted to naturally may promote certain culture r,arrt v, a decentrXhsin"gmusic technology iffi"; destructive' ,commuruty ,ruirr"r, t'hich are controversial, if no1 reactionary or even )n was sati (widow-burn- Hence, in India one finds tapes of Rajasthani knthasgloti$ing ^^1* ^f speeches,from Puniabi ;;;;; *"ii u, all manner of political iampaign songs and l:fTH to Hindu chauvinist calls for paeansto Beant Singh (an a;i1ss1nof Indiia Candhii' rtive to question whether even ihe exputsion or *irder of Muslims. Further, one might ffiil is desirable when the innocent celebration of regional and sectarian difference re Dholn -most religious violence.' For an India is being wracked by the vicious ethnic and ;;;; to work out their dif- op,to,ir, faitfrfd in ihe uuitity of individuals and groups fi*; imposgd on them, a ierences ,ug,". than havin[ hear.y-nanded ideologies music industry should-seempreferable to one consist- :ssional, decentralised,if provocativ-e elite mass-producing bubble-gum music for ral have ing of a tiny corporate -a--captive context of Indian capitalism, it is difficult to r play a audience. unfortunately, in the scenarios' , ripiu." imagine any alternatives to these two t desPite es.'.lhere Acknowledgements eddings. {^^n ,,,- )^- r*^- r}ro An in 1989-90^n under a^ grant^-^hts from the American me that Research for this article was conducted am indebted to the informants cited above' and many I concert Insitute of Indian studies. I here. special thanks are also due to shubha :y invari- others too numerous to mention Archive u.rd R"t"ut.h Centre for Ethnomusicology oted that Chaudhuri and the staff at the nnikatha in New Delhi' 204 PeterManuel

Endnotes

1 Music critic and record archivist V.A.K. Ranga 12 See, e.9., Yljay Lazarus, interviewed in Pky- Rao, interviewed in 1989. back, lune 1986, p, 30, 2 Thus, while Lata may have recorded in over a 13 GramCo manager Sanjeev Kohli, interviewed dozen languages, she cannot really be argued by Anil Chopra in Playback, August 1986, p. 31. to have sung in more than one style. 14 This aspect of devotional music cassettes, 3 Anil Chopra , editor ol Playbackand Fast Forward initially pointed out to me by Scott Marcus, (a music industry trade journal), interviewed was corroborated by cassette producers in in March 1990. India. 4 See, e.g., 'Rural consumeism', Indin Todny, 15 15 See articles by music journalist and archivist March 1990. V.A.K. Ranga Rao (1986) for a sketch of the 5 See Vijay Lazants, interviewed in Playback, history of version recordings in Indian film June 1986, p. 30. music. 6 lbid., p.30. 16 See 'Marathi versions booming', in Playback, 7 Anil Chopra, interviewed in March 1990, |anuary-March 7990, p. 71. estimates the number of cassette companies at 17 AniI Chopra, interviewed in March 1990, 500. A 1987 survey (cited in Playback, July 1.987, estimates 50 per cent. Accurate figures are p. 27) listed 256 producers. I myself unavailable due to pirary, the unreliability of enumerated about 200 in selected regions of sales reports from the major companies, and North India. Note that the record industry dis- the absence of data from the smaller ones. tinction between 'majors', who own produc- 18 'HMV fights back', in Playback, November- tion and distribution as well as recording December 1989, p. 7. FoIk songs in the West, facilities, and 'indies', who generally only Iike 'La Bamba', can also acquire 'hit' status. record, is not meaningful in reference to most 19 Contrast, for example, the improvised guitar cassette producers. solos on many 1960s acid-rock records, with 8 India, indeed, is now the world's second the carefully-crafted, over-dubbed, pre-com- largest manufacturer of blank tapes. posed solos of todayfs healy metal guitarists. 9 Biswanath Chatterjee, interviewed by AniI 20 Personal communications with Komal Kothari Chopra in Playback, Jdy 1986, pp. 36-7. and Susan Wadley, respectively. 10 See, e.9., Dubashi 7986; and Yijay Lazatts, 21 Personal communications with Komal Kothari interviewed in Playback, June 1986, pp. 30-1. and Scott Marcus, respectively. 11 For further discussion ol the ghazal in Indian popular music, see Manuel 1988a, p. 1,67, 1988-9.

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