Buy Gramophone Records at Free School Street

Team Chronicle

Exploring Free School Street or Mirza Ghalib Street is akin to going on a treasure hunt. It is a paradise for connoisseurs of any kind, hunting for old and rare books, vintage records or even if their interests are entirely gastronomical. The bargain makes it even more tempting. Though there are some isolated shops of gramophone records like those on Lenin Sarani near Calcutta Girls’ School, Free School Street was once the gold mine for vinyl records. Nowadays, the number has dwindled to three shops, each having almost 30,000 records in their collection. The almost extinct 78 RPM (revolution per minute) records are also sold. You may even come across RCA’s coloured discs of 45 RPM. These discs were released in America but were quickly discontinued because of the high production cost.

The Treasure
We found three shops at Free School Street selling gramophone records. Two of them, which are Record Prince and Mohammad Shoaib’s store are located opposite to St. Thomas School and a little further ahead is Vibrations. The shops may not be much to look at but the treasures they hold would make your eyes pop out. There are records of Urdu ghazals by forgotten artists like Habib Wali Mohammad, and English classical records that date back to the 1940s. Bing Crosby and David Bowierub shoulders with Jose Feliciano and Manna Dey or Sholay. There is Paul Anka and Kishore Kumar as well. Look out for very rare 78 RPM records of Cliff Richards or Elvis Presley. There is Tom Jones –Live in Las Vegas as well. Also, check out for the French or the Spanish music albums and Arabian ones too. “There is a different charm in listening to music played on a gramophone record player,” said Mohammmad Shoaib, a shop owner.

Most of the shops on Free School Street have been around for years and were handed down from one generation to another. Not only the shop but even the passion for vinyl records has been passed on to the next generation. “Even though there is hardly any demand for vinyl records these days, I still open the shop. It is like paying homage to my forefathers who had started this establishment out of their sheer love for music,” said Sheikh Danish, the proud owner of Record Prince which is also known as Chacha’s shop. Biltu, owner of Vibrations, says that there is still a market for gramophone record players especially among the foreigners who collect the vinyl records of Hindustani Classical music but is a very niche market.

Products
The collection was clearly not built in a day. The shops are quite old and they already had one built over the years. According to Biltu, people often come here and sell the vinyl records which they consider to be junk. Once upon a time, the gramophone player had a great pride of place in a household but not anymore. So the vinyl records are sold away by people whose record players have broken down. Sometimes gramophone records are collected by door to door vendors. “When people get rid of junk to make space for the more utilitarian stuff or shift to new houses, they sell off their vinyl records, once purchased by their parents or grand-parents. Many foreigners also do the same; when they leave and don’t want to carry back what they had brought, they leave the records behind” confided Danish. Hence, don’t be surprised if you come across French or Spanish albums as well, during your hunt.

Business
There has been a major decline in the sale of records over the past few years for obvious reasons. Today, only a handful of people own a record player and therefore it makes no sense to invest in vinyl records unless one is a collector. Earlier there were about 8 to 10 shops selling vinyl records. In the past five years, the number has dwindled to only three. The foreigners who frequent the adjoining Sudder Street play a vital role in both – for sourcing and sale of vinyl records. In recent years, the number of foreign tourists staying at the various budget hotels in Sudder Street has apparently gone down, affecting sales. According to the shop owners, the steep increase in hotel charges from INR 500 to INR 2000 per day within a year has led to the decline in sale. However, the 45 RPM and the 33 RPM records are still popular among foreigners who own electric record players. But the 78 RPM hardly gets sold these days. “The records of 78 RPM are bought by people who are collectors or have gramophone players that are still running,” said the owner of Vibrations.

Price
The gramophone records are not as expensive as you would imagine. They start roughly from INR 500 and can go up to INR 2,000 depending on how old the recordreally is. Biltu from Vibrations said, “The ones on sale these days are mostly the 33 RPM or the 45 RPM which are used for electrical record players and these are priced roughly between INR 500 – INR 1,000 . The rare ones, like the 78 RPM which were popular during 1930s, 40s and early 50s, are a little expensive. They start around INR 1,200 and go up to INR 2,000, depending on the kind of album.There are plenty of records on display but the real gems are beyond public gaze. If you do not have something specific in mind, we suggest you should come with a lot of time in hand to rummage through the collection. You never know, you may strike gold.

What still draws people to buy vinyl records?
Well, any discerning music lover would tell you vinyl sounds better than any other format. The mahogany rich sound can beat others on any day because it is a loss-less format. Most of the music we listen to is stored or broadcast in a format where details are lost and quality is reduced. This is because the audio is compressed in order to make it small enough to store in a phone or broadcast over the air waves. Hence, details are lost. Vinyl sounds as good as the producer intended it to be.

How to check for damages?
Most of the records in the market are a collector’s item but you do need to run a quality check. Vinyl records that have peelings on them aren’t necessarily bad or damaged. Unless a record is broken or has too many scratches on them, you can go for it.

FAST FACTS
Timing: 11:00 am to 9:00 pm
Car parking: SudderStreet and New Market area
Must do: Bargain for a better deal