Songs Sung True

When it began operations in 2004,Dasgupta and his team (comprising only research fellow,Subrata Sinha) had only a room,a computer and a few “rudimentary equipment” to their disposal. Today the archive contains about 5,000 hours of digitized music,largely made from personal music. “We are now being funded by the British Library under its Endangered Archives Programme. The British Library will support us till 2011,” says Dasgupta. By then,Dasgupta hopes,the collection will boast of 7,500 listening hours of digitized music preserved on hard disc and CD/DVD format. Their first project was the recording of Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur,famous vocalist of the Jaipur gharana. It was sourced from a private collection. Thereon the works of stalwarts like Gauhar Jan,Malka Jan,Zohra Bai,Janki Bai,Chandabai Karwarkarin,Kali Jan,Maujuddin Khan,Lalchand Baral,Imdad Khan and Barkatullah Khan found a place in the archive. The archive also has early radio recordings of artistes like Faiyaz Khan,Abdul Wahid Khan,Ramkrishnabua Vaze and Early concert recordings of  Anantamanohar Joshi,Bade Ghulam (Karachi 1947) Amir Khan (Kolkata 1949).

Even before the British Library funding,the archive had been providing useful information to musicologists,musicians and music companies. Filmmakers have also relied on the archive,like the time filmmaker Saba Dewan approached Dasgupta for a recording of Rasoolan Bai’s lost song,Lagat jobanwa mein chot,Phool gendwa na maaro,which Rasoolan had sung in 1935. “Saba had given up all hopes. She had looked for it everywhere. But we were only too happy to help her out,” smiles Dasgupta.

That is one of the aims of the archive,claims Dasgupta,to provide researchers with adequate material. “There is no single available list of gramophone records made in India,leave alone recordings of other kinds. There is also no public archive of any note anywhere in India where sound recordings are stored and are made available to researchers into music,musicology and cultural history,” says Dasgupta.

And the fact that there is very little awareness about the history of sound recording in India upsets Dasgupta. “The history of sound recording in India goes back more than a hundred years. Yet,knowledge about the vast body of recorded music that has accumulated over the decades is still patchy and incomplete,” he adds.

Dagupta did his Bachelors from Presidency College Kolkata,after which he pursued his Masters from JU. He received an M Phil from Oxford University and soon started teaching in Scottish Church College in Kolkata before joining the JU faculty. All this while he nurtured a growing love for North Indian Classical Music. “I started my own private collection of records. I would reach out to collectors and barter records,” remembers Dasgupta. Since Kolkata has traditionally been one of the main centres of musical performance,patronage,commercial recording,and of course,collection,Dasgupta found it easy to built his collection.

“A major incentive to the circulation of classical music in Bengal was the arrival of Wajid Ali Shah in Kolkata in the mid 19th century. This supplemented existing practices of music patronage among aristocratic families of the region. Commercial recordings began in Kolkata and the city continues to be the hub of activity for the Gramophone companies till the 1960s,” says Dasgupta.

Then there were regular public concerts held in nearby towns like Srerampore,Uttarpara and Agarpara where greats performed. The prosperous mercantile class of the city patronised such concerts and also made private recordings for their own collection.

“Most of the contributions come from such families. I approach them and tell them about my endeavour and they have been only too happy. Recently,Rajiv Goenka made a sent us some really interesting materials from his private collection,” says Dasgupta. Materials also pour in from various corners of the world,including Venezuala and Germany. “Recently,a collector send us some invaluable recordings. He was a student with Jadavpur University and was only too happy to help. These are particularly valuable in terms of the rarity of the material and the fact that recordings of particular artists,styles and genres show considerable regional variation,” says Dasgupta.

Since many serious collectors,like classical musician Anidya Bandyopadhyay,are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain their collections— battling against the difficulties of locating,acquiring,documenting and preserving records and recording—they have more than welcomed the idea of digitization. “We give a full set of digitized copies to the owners of the collection so that they are able to listen to classical music without further compromising the original material,” says Dasgupta.

The project may also prove to be the last chance to access the works of some reputed artistes,some who were never commercially recorded in their lifetimes. “There are some artistes whose recorded works only exist in private collections,and whatever knowledge about them exists is on the basis of limited circulation of these private recordings. For instance,there was this vocalist called Pulin Pal,a student of Ustad Waliullah Khan. He spent most of his life in obscurity but was a great talent. We somehow managed to get hold a few of his recordings and digitized them. When we handed over the CDs to his family members in Murshidabad,they were overjoyed,” says Dasgupta.

Meanwhile,Dasgupta’s team members keep adding to the effort. Subhranil Sarkar,who is a part of the project for about two years,has started a video interview project of classical musicians. “We have already interviewed Pandit Kashiraj Mukherjee,and now we plant to interview Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta,” says Sarkar. Dasgupta,is more than willing to encourage such efforts. “These youngsters are brimming over with ideas and it is such a pleasure to work with them,” he says.

At the end of the day,the archive is an effort to salvage “some of the most important and valuable music pieces ever made”. “It needs to be to be stressed that a large proportion of musical recordings have been destroyed through neglect and want of care. If an effort is not made at this point of time to preserve these valuable records of the past,there will be even greater loss and invaluable records of our cultural history will disappear,” says Dasgupta.