Mumbai:
Youngsters browsing through the latest rock album, an elderly couple searching for a devotional track and a tourist hunting for his favourite piece of Indian music -on any day this can be a close description for the city’s iconic music store, the Rhythm House.
Except, it is the beginning of the end for the 67-year-old place which is slated to shut shop in 2016.
Situated in south Mumbai, nestled between Kala Ghoda and Jehangir Art Gallery, Rhythm House was established in 1948.
Known for its extremely rich and diverse collection of music and movies, the store was so popular it was often frequented by personalities like Mumtaz, Shammi Kapoor, A R Rahman, Rahul Sharma and Zakir Hussain.
This was, however, before the illegal music downloads on Internet became a norm, which led to the decision by owners to shut down by end of February, next year.
“It saddens us to inform you the time has come for us to bid goodbye to the music and video business for reasons that need no elaboration. We are the last of our city’s large format music and video stores to yield to the challenges posed by new technologies and piracy,” it says on the shop’s website.
Ajay Parmar, who has been working in Rhythm House for over a decade is now looking at a blank future ahead of the shop’s closure.
“We all are extremely sad. I have worked here for 12 years, and now I need to look for other jobs. The knowledge of music which I had accumulated over the years will go to waste. Where can I possibly use this knowledge now?” he says.
