The mantra to success

Indians are a religious lot which explains the high production

and sale of devotional albums. Music companies come up with devotional albums for every occasion - Mahashivvery God and Goddess, and they are lappratri, Id or Christmas - and devoted to eed up by the devouts. But none of these devotional albums has recorded as high sales as the Gayatri Mantra, which is selling like hot cakes.
Almost all music companies, big and small, are cashing in on the craze for the mantra, and have released albums devoted to it. But its the Times Music version which is the highest selling, followed by the T-Series version. In fact, Times Music’s Gayatri is hot even after a year of its release. Others in the fray are the ones by Swami Sukhabodhananda (HMV), Suresh Wadkar, Ajit Kadkade and Kavita Krishnamurthy.
Why this sudden craze to possess an album which is an ode to the energy of the Sun God, and is said to have the most potent spiritual words? How come the Indians have suddenly discovered Gayatri Mantra? According to music analyst Amod Mehra, albums on Gayatri Mantra have been released earlier, but none recorded good sales. "Gayatri Mantra was first heard in Ravi Shankar’s Chants Of India released two years back," informs Mehra, "The album was released internationally first, and did well, after which it was released in India, and evoked an average response here. The hitch is that Gayatri Mantra is in Sanskrit and a difficult one at that. So though it’s known to Hindus, it’s not as popular as Hanuman Chalisa."
T-Series’ album on the mantra was the second to be released, and this one for the first time had Anuradha Paudwal alongwith her daughter Kavita reciting the mantra to the accompaniment of a tune. Mehra says that this too sold, but didn’t create any waves.
It was the Times Music’s Gayatri released last year, that evoked an overwhelming response among the listeners. Mehra cites the reason, "It was their aggressive marketing strategy which made people notice the album and re-discover Gayatri Mantra. Suddenly listeners realised that the powerful mantra was available on a cassette or a CD, which was never released exclusively before. Usually, if a devotional album sells 30,000 copies, it is considered a hit. But Times Music’s Gayatri has recorded a sale of more than three lakh copies and that’s phenomenal. Listeners are finding it good for meditation. Looking at this response, T-Series, revived their album promotion, and now that is selling well too. Even small companies like Wings and Sargam have come out with their version of Gayatri Mantra and they are doing well. All the albums by all companies put together have sold over 10 lakh cassettes. And all have been priced low, except the Times’ version. The only Gayatri Mantra which hasn’t sold well is the one by HMV."
Pooja Kashyap of HMV agrees with Mehra that their album hasn’t recorded great sales, but it’s not that bad either. "We released our album around the same time as Times Music, but their advertising has attracted more attention."
Pramod Shankar, Head of A & R, Times Music, puts the sales of their album Gayatri to over six lakh copies. "It’s selling well all over the world," he claims, "Of course the sale in India is maximum. It’s rare for a devotional album to cross the two lakh mark, so we’ve created record of sorts. It was released in January 1999, and is still going strong."
Shankar says Gayatri has been a whopping success because it’s an "unpolluted" version. "People want the mantra to be recited in an authentic and traditional way, and we have done that. The Gayatri Invocation is sung by noted classical maestro Pandit Jasraj and written by Shyam Manohar Goswami. The music and the chants have been composed and sung by Rattan Mohan Sharma, Pt. Jasraj’s nephew. Our album has the explanation of the mantra in English and Hindi, so even people belonging to other religions can understand the essence. The album has 108 congregational recitation of the Gayatri Mantra in chorus, and a 60-minute aarti of Gayatri. We have consciously stuck to the original text of the Vedic literature. There’s no music and melodic treatment to the mantra."
But aren’t their ads misleading the people by saying that the album is by Pt. Jasraj, when his nephew has recited the mantra, while Pt. Jasraj has only performed the invocation? Shankar refutes the allegation. "We never advertised that the album was by Pt. Jasraj," he says, "We have mentioned that only the invocation to the deity, Gayatri, is by him. And we use this invocation as a signature prayer at the beginning of all our devotional albums."
Why are the listeners patronising the "authentic" Times Music version? Mrs. Ramamurthy, who regularly listens to Times Music Gayatri, says it’s the best. "It’s so good that one can hear and learn it. I have heard the T-Series version too, but that is faulty. Since it is set to music, the chanting of Om has been omitted in one instance so that it fits the meter. But one can’t tamper with the mantra. Also by setting it to music, it can be played anytime, anywhere, so the significance of the mantra is lost." Another listener, Vinod K. is all for the T-Series version since according to him setting the mantra to music makes it appealing.
Music stores like Rhythm House and Groove affirm that Gayatri by Times Music is what the buyers ask for first, after which comes the T-Series version. "We have sold 12,000 cassettes and 3000 CDs of Gayatri, and 3000 cassettes of the T-series version. The ones by Suresh Wadkar and Swami Sukhabodhanana come next. Most buyers belong to the older generation," informs Ismail of Rhythm House. Purvi of the hi-fi music shop Groove too has the same opinion. "The Times music version is very popular, followed closely by T-Series. And we have youngsters asking for the albums too."
Well, the mantra discovered by Sage Vishwamitra, which is a symbol of the creation of the Universe by Lord Brahma, is said to sharpen our wisdom and intellect, and improve our capacity to worship. And it has the force to move the cosmos. Well, it sure is moving the music market.


Salma Khatib