Musicians taking full advantage of election stir in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Elections mean big business for the regional music industry. As political parties are gearing up for the election campaign, composers, lyricists, singers and record studios have started creating campaign songs, jingles and albums for them.

There are more than 100 music studios, both big and small, in the state, most of which are concentrated in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Since Congress and BJP have announced candidates, most of the studios have already received orders for campaign songs. And if industry sources are to be believed, those in the BJD camp who were confident about their candidature had approached music directors for their campaign songs even before the names were announced by party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Composer Prem Anand, who recently composed the song ‘Phir Aayega Modi’, which is part of the BJP’s campaign video for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, is currently a popular choice of leaders from the three main political parties. “It is a common belief that music attracts voters more than long election speeches. This is the reason why the demand for attractive campaign songs remains high till the elections are over. Candidates provide us with content and depending on their budget, they either create new tracks or rewrite old hit songs based on political issues,” he said. Anand said, currently the composition of such songs is going on and the voices of the candidates will be recorded to be played by next week.
Not only popular Oriya songs, Sambalpuri hits are also in great demand for election campaign. “This time, apart from the old Sambalpuri hits, there is a lot of demand for new songs like ‘Kulfi Rani Chocobar’, ‘Laharmani’. If the budget is high, new tracks are made for the leaders,” said Sambalpuri singer and lyricist Saswat Tripathi. In southern Odisha, songs are also composed in Desi and Telugu languages. Not just local singers, parties are also roping in Kailash Kher and other Bollywood singers for their singing tracks this time. Musicians said recording would continue until the elections are over as candidates want a continuous supply of songs and recorded speeches. Also, for them, elections mean more money than regular film songs.
While a popular musician earns a minimum of Rs 1 lakh for writing and composing a song or two along with a few jingles in addition to recording speeches of politicians, lesser known singers, especially those with a music background and composers earn from Rs 2,500. Earn anywhere between Rs 3,000. per song.
“Apart from this arrangement, politicians prefer a package of 30 to 40 songs which they use during the entire campaign period. Through this package, even a new or small singer earns around Rs 1 lakh during this period,” said musician Prashant Padhi, who also owns a studio in Bhubaneswar.
big business
There are more than 100 music studios, small and big, in the state.
Prem Anand, the creator of ‘Phir Aayega Modi’, a popular choice of all three political parties
The parties are not only featuring regional singers but also Bollywood singers