The fineness of vinyl records and their exceptional sound quality is the hallmark of every sublime music. But in this fast-pacing generation, quality sound is getting lost in the woods of digital music.
A brand new e-store, the Calcutta Records Company, has come to the rescue of music lovers. Albums from Ron Goodwin, Dean Martin, Shirley Bassey, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Kenny Rogers to Bollywood hits like songs from Juliee, Guide, Kabhi Kabhie, the store-cum-website has a huge collection of curated pre-owned vinyl records from cities like Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. Kolkata is the epicentre of vinyl records and in the last 50 years, it has emerged as an important hub for records as most of the renowned music companies like HMV and Odeon were based in Dum Dum.
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Also, there are a lot of old houses from where a lot of vinyl records were recovered. The store has specialised in curation and sourcing of old records that have been collected from different corners of the city.
Owner of Calcutta Records Company, Avijit Sarkar, who is a software entrepreneur by profession, said, “Currently, vinyl records are getting revived globally. A lot of people are going back to vinyl records instead of listening to music on different applications including YouTube, just to appreciate a finer quality of music.” Keeping this notion in mind, the store has flung its doors open to vinyl enthusiasts by offering a piece of history so that music lovers can get a tangible whip of vintage music.
The primary concern of this store is to make people aware of the physical aspect of the album concept. Sarkar, with his team, started his journey with a handful of records and players from their sources. When asked how vinyl records are relevant amid the live-streaming music era, Sarkar said, “The live-streamed music that we listen to on mobile phones or other devices, has a very poor sound quality. But if one can afford to listen to vinyl records they will never go back to online music. Of course, it is quite easy for us to stream music on the internet, unlike vinyl records, which is a hassle. But vinyl records are a niche market. This market wants us to go through the hardship of listening to music and if one can afford to bear that for the sake of quality music then nothing is like that.”