In June 2009 I received an mp3 CD of 187 songs by
Khemchand
Prakash. The CD was sent to me by Har Mandir Singh who told me that it
was put together by Shri Girdharilal Vishwakarma of Jodhpur. Shri
Vishwakarma believes that Hindi film music (specially the vintage music
from 1931-50) is part of artistic heritage and everybody should be able
to listen to it. I will be posting songs from the CD soon.
Brief biography
Shri Girdharilal Vishwakarma is a
painting artist and runs a
handicraft business in Jodhpur in Western Rajasthan in India. He is
recipient of a national award from President of India as a Master
Artiste. His whole
day is devoted to his business of handicrafts and
painting pictures but nights are purely devoted to his hobby of
listening, collecting and preserving old film music.
He is an avid Hindustani Film Music collector. He
is in the big league of record collectors having his own vintage record
collection.
His major interest in
preserving songs from Hindustani films released between 1931 and 1950.
Music
listening is his hobby. He was attracted to Hindi film music when he
was a teenager by tuning to Vividh Bharti. He is still in love
with Vividh Bharti. New songs do not appeal to him and he continues to
listen old filmi songs.
Girdharilal ji is in the process of
digitizing his vast collection so that the Hindi film music heritage is
preserved for coming generations.
Vividh Bharti did a half an
hour program on him in 2009. Noted announcer of Vividh Bharti Kamal
Sharma interviewed him in Jodhpur. The program when aired proved to be
a major hit.
