Calicut’s passion for good old melodies in Malayalam and Hindi is unshakably expressed even in this era of fast and mix varieties of songs. This has been evident in the Music Fair, a collection of music CDs and allied products. A wide collection of evergreen songs attracted music lovers to the show, organized by Viji Music. 

“As we expected, here, the music fans are fond of golden melodies of olden days. Demand has been always high for Muhammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar songs. Irrespective of age, people’s search is focused on old hits of Malayalam or Hindi songs. Ghazals are also becoming popular in Calicut. While a small segment is searching for Hindustani music, seekers for classical music are comparatively low here.”-said Ramachandran, Viji Music; the staff at the fair. 

The music lovers of Calicut had a fantastic option for collecting a wide range of musical products. From Carnatic Vocal, Hindustani classical, instrumental, Ghazals, Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil old film songs, wide variety of children’s VCD, DVD and books on music were among the attraction of music fair organized at Police Club, Kozhikode. Around 25000 CDs were on display under various segments.

Children's section at the music fair, Kozhikode

A collection of movies based on Shakespeare’s plays were major attraction in the film section. It costs around Rupees1500. 

Many classic and popular English movie titles like Sherlock Homes, Pandora’s Box, Oliver Twist, Robin Hood etc were available at Rs. 500 to 700 per DVD. 

A Golden Collection of 50 must see movies packed by Moser Baer priced at 2999, offered a mix of Hindi movies combining classic, humor, popular all in one. 

Children of Heaven, an Iranian classic film costs rupees 499.Lensight, a film produced by students of Film and Television Institute of India was available at rupees 299. 

Traditional art forms of Kerala from Sopanasangeetham, Kathakali, Chendamelam, Panchari Melam, Nadan Pattukal and albums on folk songs and music on various instruments rendered by various artists added variety to the fair.

In search of the soul of music- a view from music fair at Police Club, Kozhikode

Collection of songs by legends like Salil Chaudhury, Manna Dey, compiled by SaReGaMa was offered for sale at Rs.1000. 

Music albums of SP Balasubramaniam,M.S Subhalakshmi, AR Rahman, Bombay sisters, Yesudas, BalamuraliKrishna, S.Janaki and all famous playback singers of Malayalam were available as rare collections, karaoke and in mp3. 

“Almost all animated CD’s, especially in Malayalam, presently in market for children were made available under the single roof in this fair;” said Anna Varghese amidst her Xmas purchase. “But most kids CDs are those targeted for preschoolers”; said Supriya , a student from adjacent school. 

“Versions of Natya sastra , Life of mammals by BBC and rare collections of renderings from AIR and Doordarsan were the unique components;” opined another musical fan. 

Sadhakam, basic lessons on music in audio CDs are available for students to choose from, depending on their preference of teacher. 

 “This would definitely help students of music to better understand, practice and reinforce their lessons to a great extent;” said Leelamma, a teacher who came to buy a CD for her grandchild. 

Osho’s meditation CD’s were available both as a set and in splits. Other CDs on Yoga and Meditation made a separate section. 

In the Hindu devotional section, sanskrit recitations, slokas , prayers, pancharatna keerthanas and popular albums by P.Leela, Kavalam Srikumar and M.G. Srikumar were on display. 

Sufi music and Qawali, poems of noted Malayalam poets, mappila songs and Christmas carols were other segments. 

Selection of evergreen hits in MP3 s based either on playback singer; lyricist or music director, aptly titled Old is Gold attracted Calicutans. Old is Gold is priced at rupees 75 while other audio CDs are priced in a range between 40 and 100.