Tribal dialects, Bollywood tunes make for hit combo

Ranchi, Sep 25 (IANS) Video albums that combine songs in tribal dialects with Bollywood tunes have become a rage in Jharkhand. What's more, the industry has flourished despite the absence of high-tech infrastructure.

Around 1,000 such music albums are circulating in the market.

'There is no doubt that the sale of music albums has gone up in the last two years. It indicates that there is a lot of potential for such albums,' said Mukesh, who sells CDs and MPs.

The trend of making music albums and movies in local dialects started in 2001 after Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar. Initially, only 10 to 15 music albums were produced, but the number has gone up to more than 100 a year.

The albums are proving to be more profitable than locally made films. Each earns between Rs.25,000 and Rs.200,000 as royalty, depending on the song and quality of choreography.

'It is still an unorganised sector and anyone who has money can shoot a video album. The artistes are available for a low fee. However, the quality is poor as there are no studios and the artistes are hardly trained,' said Ganesh Mahto, a music video director.

In fact, often enough friends or family members get together to make a video album. These are popularised by cable operators who air them on local television channels.

The music directors normally mix tribal dialects with Hindi and use the tunes of hit Hindi film songs.

'Lyricists who will exclusively write songs in the local languages are not available. We rarely even get good quality musical instruments. Despite these bottlenecks, the albums are doing well in the market.'

'School ke tem pe aanna, gori tem pe pyar bhara dil na torna, goria tu chali aanna' - a song in the Nagpuria dialect - is one such hit song.

Said Arvind, an artiste who stars in the album: 'If the state government promotes the entertainment industry, it would create jobs for scores of tribal and non-tribal youths.'

Rekha, who co-stars with him in the music video, said: 'We feel great that there is more recognition for us but fact is that the industry is still not an organised sector.'