THE RECORD NEWS - Hindi Movies / Films Songs

concerts of Mr. Pyara Sahib and Mr. Mohamad Hussain, both of whom were
‘Gramophone’ celebrities of long standing and sure to draw large audience to
their concerts. They both had recorded prolifically on almost every label of that
period. In about 1933, a new design was given to the ‘RAMAGRAPH’ label, with
a red and brown colour, overprinted in gold, which was basically a modified and
prettier version of the R-series type of label. This label presented no new
recordings and was used for re-pressings of titles that had retained their
popularity over the years. These discs were also made in Germany, and it is
presumed that they were manufactured by a pressing plant within the E.M.I., Ltd.,
conglomerate of companies, if not by Carl Lindström, A.G., at their Odeon-werke,
Berlin. By 1936, this new design label appears to have gone into a state of
relapse once again and to have not released or re-issued any more titles, and by
1938 had little more to offer it’s customers for disc records, other than left over
stocks, of the variety of label styles that T. S. Ramchunder & Bros., had
marketed over the past three decades.
The achievement of T. S. Ramchunder & Bros., in surviving in the sound
recording industry of India for over three decades is no small achievement in
itself, particularly in that the musical tastes of the record buying public were
constantly changing – an aspect which the T. S. Ramchunder & Bros., seemed to
be able to cope with, but curiously, the firm never took advantage of disc
recording facilities in India, for the ‘Ramagraph’ discs were never manufactured
in India during their entire life-span, and always dependant on resources and
facilities outside of India.
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Summary
In this short article, I have tried to summarize two indigenous disc record
manufacturers who had ties with Carl Lindström A.G. in disc pressing operations,
although Mr. Carl Lindström never visited India. Both the businessmen were from
Bombay. The labels described are ‘Beka Grand Record’ and ‘Ramagraph’ that
operated in India during 1904-40. Today, over five hundred discs of both the
labels together have survived and the discs are available with the record
collectors in India. These collections are endangered since they are in private
hands. It is necessary to digitize the sound on the discs using modern technology
and preserve the label scan images for posterity and further research.
Dr. Suresh Chandvankar
Hon. Secretary, ‘Society of Indian Record Collectors’
Mumbai, India
December 19, 2009
chandvankar.suresh@gmail.com
chandvankar@yahoo.com
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