Black is back

I missed the crackle and the hiss of stylus meeting vinyl.

 There was this certain amount of precision and dexterity required to place the needle on the right groove of the vinyl record and then wait for the music to waft out from the seductively rotating black disc of joy. There was a charm and care in gently babying the vinyl back to its jacket, brushing off any specks of dust it may have collected while playing.






I grew up in the era of radio, when television had still not invaded family living rooms. Most homes in our locality the radio played softly in the background throughout the day. We avidly consumed music, predominantly from the movies, dished out by Vividh Bharati and the enormously popular and iconic Radio Ceylon. While Radio Ceylon was synonymous with Binaca Geetmala and its sugar syrup voiced Amin Sayani, Vividh Bharati was in pole position with its detailed information on the song, its movie title, singer/s, music director and the lyricist. Vividh Bharati brought nondescript towns such as Jhumri Tilaiya ( India's answer to Timbuktu ) to fame and virtually started a cottage business of sending song requests to the radio station. Reeks in similarity to the present day reality show sms voting.

New movie releases were preceded by airing their "Radio Programme's" on Sunday prime time radio with excerpts from the movies songs and dialogues meaning to tempt the listener to the movie theatres. 'Hawa Mahal', 'Inspector Eagle' & 'Fauji Bhaiyon ke Liye' among others enjoyed a cult status.

In our salaried neighbourhood, one rarely came across gramophone's as LP records were expensive to buy and maintain. A few affluent relatives though had the luxury of owning a Gramphone Radio - a huge lacquered wood enclosed cabinet having a radio and gramophone sit beside each other akin to Siamese twins with stereo phonic speakers enclosed by a straw matted net, at the bottom of the cabinet. It was quite a wannabe thing to own a Radio-Gramophone set, be like the Jones next door.

I remember investing in my first turntable from the savings of my first few salaries in the mid eighties. The brushed silver finish beauty with it's moulded transparent acrylic hood was the cynosure of our house. It occupied a pride of place in a prominent corner of our large government provided family accommodation. Each month, I remember spending a princely part of my wages in buying Vinyl records spending hours of careful deliberation at my favourite music store. At home the LP jacket would again be placed in a position to get prime focus and attention. Several hours were spent in savouring the music - with the crackle and the hiss. 

For my lesser privileged friends, who were on cassette mode, I would generously make a copy on to an audio cassette ( remember the Sony Cassettes C45, C60,C90) and distribute songs of newly released movies and later songs from overseas bands whose LP records I would buy on my foreign trips.




Black Vinyl LP's vanished overnight in the 90's with the ascent of digital music. Buying new music never felt the same nor did listening to new cd's ( they were no longer called records) had the same charm.

Music chugged along though and went from glory to glory. Radio made a comeback a decade ago, albeit in a different form. FM -it had a new feel and buzz to it. 

I though still missed the Black Vinyl Long Playing records - the effort of piously cleaning the grooves of the record, placing it on the player and then nimbly placing the stylus and needle on the correct groove. The crackle of the needle engaging the groove of the record and exciting the amplifier -it's back now. Black Vinyl LP's are making a comeback. My oft frequented music store now has a section entirely dedicated to new arrivals.


Black is back.