Classic chants rocket up the list of Puja bestsellers

kolkata: in the wilderness of music remixes, the biggest hit remains mahishashurmardini. with all india radio lifting its copyright on birendrakrishna bhadra's classic piece this year, music companies have been quick to cash in on the opportunity. packed in a twin cassette set, the resonant chant has effortlessly climbed the puja charts. this, perhaps, sums up the mood of the bengali music market, according to an employee of symphony, a leading music store.hmv and sagarika, the two prominent players in the market are packaging quintessential bengali nostalgia into remakes with a vengeance. both have released songs picturised on uttam kumar and suchitra sen. "people still love to listen to these melodious songs," said jyotishankar gupta of hmv. anupam gan of sagarika reiterated gupta's view. "these cassettes never fail," he says. remake artists have also scooped up sachin dev burman, kishore kumar, manna dey, shyamal mitra, pannalal bhattacharya. so where does that leave the great bengali creativity? veteran composers feel that music companies are too wary of experimenting. however, those in the industry say that it is virtually impossible to counter the onslaught of hindi movies and songs "the bengali music industry cannot offer any comepetion, either in the quality of lyrics, melody or composition," says asim chattopadhyay, noted music director. cassette companies agree. "in our market surveys, we have found out that people want good melody, variety and lyrics," balmukunda saha of t-series adds. so it is old melodies in new cassette covers. "all-time greats and hits like rabindrasangeet, nazrul geeti, old bengali film numbers are what we are surviving with," says rajkumar roy of ud series. "it is too great a risk it release a new album nowadays," says sujit talukdar of india music club. another remake this year, is a collection of hit numbers from the gupi gayen bagha bayen trilogy - the first two directed by satyajit roy and the third by his son sandeep. producers of the audio cassette, accord music, feels that this would be a hit. "the music has universal appeal. the best songs from all three films in the gupi bagha series are incorporated," says shiladitya chaudhury, of accord. anup ghoshal, who sang the original titles, welcomed this endeavour. "it was the genius of ray which is reflected in each of these titles. whoever sings them does not make too much of a difference if the titles are sung well," he says.