By Anurag Dey, IANS,
Kolkata : Trash for some, treasure for others. Meet Sushanta Chatterjee, who has pursued his passion for music and history, collecting over 8,000 gramophone records that include not just songs but also rare speeches and even plays.
Chatterjee, 60, who calls himself a late starter, boasts of an eclectic collection that includes greats such as L.C. Boral and Kanan Devi as well as rare pieces like Hemant Kumar’s first album and Subhas Chandra Bose’ speech.
“Though I was always fascinated by records, I seriously started as a collector only after 30. Since childhood I would buy one Hemant Kumar record every ‘pooja’, plus I had inherited a few records from my father,” Chatterjee told IANS.
Chatterjee, who worked as a meter reader with the state electricity department, used his work to fuel his passion.
“While visiting houses for meter reading I would talk to elderly people about music and ask them if they knew anyone who possessed such records. Even on my off days I would roam around the city hunting for them.”
Proudly displaying his ‘gems’, he has a fascinating tale about every record he owns.
“Let me tell you an interesting story,” he says as the storyteller in him takes over.
“In search of Hemant Kumar’s first album I visited many shops and talked to many people, but in vain. The record No. G2464 hovered in my mind always.
“I noticed a cardboard box buzzing with termites and cockroaches under the meter of a house. Something made me reach out and open the box. There were 10 records in it, most damaged by termites. The only record that was intact bore the No. G2464,” Chatterjee said.
He then goes on to narrate how he had to repeatedly cajole a man who had two records of his grandfather Manmatha Chatterjee — the only veena player in the city that time. The records were cut in 1905.
Showing the 1902 “Laughing Song” by Burt Shepherd, Chatterjee said: “This song was a must have for affluent Indian families who used to play it whenever any Briton passed by or came to their house.”
He proudly exhibits a 1950 record containing a Lipton Tea advertisement jingle by composer Salil Chowdhury. The record label was designed by Oscar winner Satyajit Ray who then worked in an advertising agency.
Chatterjee’s vintage collection includes a G.B. Shaw record on “How to speak in English”, a Kaukaf Khan 1910 sarod rendition, a special series on recital of Sarojini Naidu’s poems including the “Palanquin Bearers”, the National Anthem of the provisional government of Azad Hind sung by Lt Ram Singh Thakur.
He also possesses the Zonophone Puzzle records, which contain three songs on each side, unlike the regular records that had just one per side. These records were mostly preferred by R.K. Films, the production house of Bollywood showman Raj Kapoor.
Besides, he has the “Kaba Ma Kyei” (Till the End of the World) composed in 1930 by Burmese composer Saya Tin that was later adopted as the national anthem of Burma (Myanmar).
“During the World Wars, records were used by the armies to send coded messages. I believe I have one such record where an army officer is speaking but I could not decipher his speech,” said Chatterjee.
He has a record of Subhas Chandra Bose’s speech in Bengali as Congress president. “Though I don’t claim it, perhaps it is only one of its kind. I haven’t heard of any other copy of the speech from other collectors.”
One of the records dearest to Chatterjee is the 1902 “Borishal Pleader”, a play by W.S. Burke.
“It was a ritual for most record companies to use Burke’s voice to test their records. The play is about how a Bengali attorney would plead in English. There are many characters in the play and all the voices are of Burke.”
“Anything that is old and lost attracts me,” said Chatterjee who, along with his impressive record library, also has a dozen models of record players from different years.
He is also the founder-member of the Record Collectors Association of Bengal — a forum determined to revive old music.
He spends a big chunk of his earning on his hobby. “I have often financially deprived my family because of my passion. They can only complain but who’s going to listen to them?” he said, bursting into laughter.
(Anurag Dey can be contacted at [email protected])