Tribute to H.M. Mahesh: The man behind the cassette revolution

H.M. Mahesh, who passed away recently, leaves behind a rich treasure of recordings

March 10, 2022 08:15 pm | Updated March 11, 2022 09:29 pm IST

H.M. Mahesh with veteran playback singer S. Janaki.

H.M. Mahesh with veteran playback singer S. Janaki. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

At a time when vinyls were all the rage, it was H.M. Mahesh, who passed away on March 4, who introduced pre-recorded audio cassettes to South India.

Master Recording Company, popularly known as Sangeetha Live Audio Cassettes, released several albums, with the first being a set of devotional songs on Raghavendraswamy sung by Kannada singer-actor Rajkumar and penned by popular Kannada lyricist Chitnahalli Udayashankar. Rajkumar went on to record over 250 devotional songs for the company.

Mahesh presenting the first CD - Jeevana Chaitra and Oda Huttidhavaru.

Mahesh presenting the first CD - Jeevana Chaitra and Oda Huttidhavaru. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

“Those were not easy days for the music industry. We were not able to get distributors and would ask leading shops to stock cassettes,” recalls H.M. Krishna, Mahesh’s brother, who helped him manage the business. Eminent artistes including Mandolin U. Shrinivas and Chitravina N. Ravikiran, who were child artistes at that point of time, were introduced by the company.

“M. Balamuralikrishna, who recorded the most number of albums with us, used to call up to find out if the studio was free, and then come and record an album. His first release was on Utsava Sampradaya kritis, which was a major hit with listeners. His contract with HMV had ended a few months before he began recording with us,” recalls Krishna.

Born in a village in Kasaragod district in Karnataka, Mahesh got hooked to music because of radio. He began singing in orchestras and moved from Bengaluru to Chennai to meet the film industry’s music directors. Much of the recording of southern film music then happened in this city.

It was at the insistence of lyricist Udayashankar that Mahesh joined the Kannada section of Saraswathi Stores run by AVM. He took it upon himself to improve the collection of Kannada songs. As part of his job, he came in touch with many film personalities and musicians.

Records to audio tapes

In 1978-79, he realised that many music shop owners were copying North Indian film and classical music from LP records to audio tapes. He wanted this to be done in a legal manner, and was convinced that cassettes were the future. He resigned from AVM and started Master Recording company, and became the first licensed manufacturer of pre-recorded cassettes in South India.

Mahesh with Ranga Rao and SPB during a recording.

Mahesh with Ranga Rao and SPB during a recording. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

For over 30 years, cassettes held sway. Mahesh’s company was responsible for some of the finest recordings, especially of classical music. With the digital era, Sangeetha Cassettes too switched to the new format.

Mahesh has left behind a rich legacy of recordings featuring greats such as S.P.B; S. Janaki, M. Balamuralikrishna, D.K. Jayaraman, Swami Haridhos Giri, and the Bombay Sisters.

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