There is no shelf life of songs made today: Suresh Wadkar

With a career spanning almost five decades, veteran singer and Padma Shri awardee Suresh Wadkar feels the yesteryear music is like a goldmine and newcomers can learn from it all the way through their careers.

According to the singing maestro, the music scene today has surely changed hands down. “There is no shelf life and recall value of songs made today. Think why budding singers still needs to sing old songs to prove their mettle!” says the singer of songs like Bawre Ne, Aey Zindagi Gale… and many more.

“Now the onus is on contemporary musicians to do such work that has life and can be treasured. Apni dharohar ko khud hi bachana hoga. We need to come together for this. Earlier, we used to recognize the music composer with just seconds into the song. But today, it’s not so… we need to re-evaluate it.”

Talking about music industry being hit by pandemic, he says, “Only God will see us through these times. This situation has strengthened one’s belief in God. Is pandemic ki wajah jeena mohaal ho gya hai logo ka…Sab thapp ho gya… Revival will take time but it will happen because talent finds its way. Online is like a boon and it helped a lot in our work. My music classes saw a large number of students from across globe when we went online. So today, we have both types of classes. We restarted physical classes but due to third wave we closed. Now, as numbers are going down we will recommence soon.”

Wadkar is currently busy with a music reality. “I believe expectations should always be big from whatever work we undertake…isi tarah se kaam nikharta hai. Our show Swarna Swar Bharat is a humble contribution to celebrate patriotic and devotional music. I am judging the show with poet Kumar Vishwas and Kailash Kher. Besides, during lockdowns I have sung a number of songs of legendry singers like Lataji (Mangeshkar), (Mohd) Rafi sahib and others. I recorded them at home and hopefully will release them online soon,” he signs off.