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Nostalgic strains

Our Bureau

CHENNAI, Dec. 24

FOR Carnatic music lovers, who missed the live concerts of renowned artistes in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s at the Music Academy in Chennai, Saregama India Ltd will bring back those concerts in the form of cassettes and CDs.

The company, formerly Gramophone of India Ltd, has tied up with Music Academy to re-record the concerts of various artistes, past and present, in a digital format. The agreement was signed in June and a formal announcement has been made now. Henceforth, Saregama will also record the live concerts of popular artistes performing at the Academy.

Mr T.T. Vasu, President, Music Academy, said as per the agreement, Saregama would pay a royalty, for an undisclosed sum, to the Academy. Saregama would get the copyright from the artistes concerned to re-record the earlier concerts, he said. The concerts were recorded on Grundig tapes, which need to be cleaned to reduce the noise level, and increase the sound recording. This would be done using Sonic Solutions software, said Saregama's Managing Director, Mr K. Krishnan.

According to Mr Krishnan, customers can also order the CDs through www.hamaracd.com, the company portal, which offers customised CD songs and music recordings. There were around 1,200 tapes available with the Academy, since 1965. Of this, the company wou ld choose the artistes, and re-record their concerts. The company planned to come out with the first re-recorded cassettes/CDs in six months, he said.