Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar will be crooning a new version of Vande Mataram for the RPG-controlled Gramophone Company of India Ltd (GCIL)'s new album to be released soon.
Called Vande Mataram 2, the album will take on Sony Music's best-selling album by the same name released last year. Apart from Lata Mangeshkar, the album will feature veteran singers like Shubha Mudgal, Saddiq Khan, a well-known folk singer. Actor Om Puri will also play a part. Last year, Sony Music had launched Vande Mataram, a music album, with young maestro A R Rahman to celebrate 50 years of India's Independence.
Vande Mataram 2 is seen as an attempt by RPG to cash in on the patriotic fervour which is expected to reach its peak by August 15 as the 50th anniversary celebrations draws to a close.
The album has been conceived and produced by Kanika Myer Bharat of production company Bharat Bala, a unit of TVi Pictures.
HMV owns the music rights and will be the marketing and distribution vehicle for the album. The rights to the earlier Vande Mataram album are held by Sony Music. Vande Mataram as a music album was conceptualised by Bharat Bala and bore fruition with the release of the first album, last year.
They attempted to free the concept from its patriotic overtones.
The new album is said to mirror the changing Indian and some songs are expected to specially appeal to the youth.
The title song Vande Mataram `98 is said to be a dynamic, modern version of Lata Mangeshkar's Vande Mataram sung 50 years ago and will be sung by the lady, herself. The album also contains the original Vande Mataram composed by Hemant Kumar and sung by Lata Mangeshkar in the 1952 film `Anand Math'.
Besides, Om Puri will sing an English version of Vande Mataram and a folk song by Saddiq Khan. A music video is already being filmed by Bharat Bala on the title song at different locations in the country.
HMV has been on the comeback trail for nearly a year now with hits like `Dil To Pagal Hai' under its belt. Last year, after sixteen years, the Gramophone Company of India popularly known by the brand name HMV paid a ten per cent dividend to its shareholders. After it ceased to be the sole licensee of the UK-based EMI International, the music major is going it alone. HMV has been one of the players hit hard by music piracy and cover versions of classic hit songs to which it owns the rights.
