Kolkata :
Imagine being present at a mehfil where Begum Akhtar is presenting a ghazal. Imagine listening to a house concert of Annapurna Devi. Imagine listening to Ustad Amir Khan singing a bandish in Persian. All these can be a part of reality if one goes to Jadavpur University’s School of Cultural Text and Records (SCTR). On World Music Day today, any connoisseur can walk into the kiosks set up in the school and listen to the treasure trove of archived music. The best part is that all that comes free of cost!
Director of the School, professor Amlan Das Gupta said, “Collectors from across India have generously donated to this archive that was set up in 2003. The work done here helps in cultural preservation.” In a country where rare records and tapes are lost at regular intervals, such an endeavour has been welcomed by all.
Barring weekends, the archive storing more than 10,000 hours of music is open to any listener between 11 am and 5 pm. Musicologist Anindya Banerjee donated rare live recordings of courtesans like Malkajaan, Bade Moti Bai, Rasoolan Bai and Siddheswari Devi to this archive. “I’ve donated rare live recordings of my guru, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan’s rendition of ‘Lankadahan Sarang’ too,” Banerjee said.
Some years back, Delhi-based collector James Stevenson had sent an aluminium trunkload of cassettes by train. Many still talk about the excitement of receiving that trunk at the Howrah station and then transporting a slice of history to the School. Resoom Pal, an intern at SCTR, said, “I was floored to stumble upon Vidushi Annapurna Devi’s surbahar recital in raag ‘Kaushiki’ and ‘Manjh Khamaj’ from this collection.” All recordings are of superior quality than what is available at any online portal, insists Shantanu Majee, project fellow of SCTR. “We try to preserve these tracks in audio files of superior quality that are uncompressed and preserved in large ‘WAV’ format. This is possibly sound at its best quality,” Majee said.
Some years back, collector Ghulam Naeem donated his collection of spool recordings from house concerts at his residence. In the 70s, Naeem used to import spools to record the programmes! After digitization, the clarity and sound precision of these recordings are of international standards.
One such recording is from a mehfil of Begum Akhtar where she sang a rare ‘ghato’ song – ‘Jal jaumuna bharan ke jaun sajni’ – that was usually sung when women went to fetch water. This ‘ghato’ song leads on to another song – ‘Chha rahi kari ghata’ – in the same recital. Arnab Ghosh, PhD scholar at the JU’s Bengali department, was pleasantly surprised when he discovered a live recording of Ustad Amir Khan’s recital of raga ‘Yaman’ in this collection.
“It was a revelation to hear Khan sahab sing ‘Shah Ze Karam Bar Man-E-Darvesh Negar’ by Amir Khusrau. Listening to such superior quality of music is as good as reliving the live performance,” Ghosh said.
So, what are you waiting for? Just pick up the headphones and let the music play!
Rare recordings:
The Hemanga Biswas archive includes the legendary folk singer’s world music collection of English contralto singer Kathleen Ferrier and German actress and singer Gisela May.
Apart from his created ragas like ‘Chandranandan’, ‘Alamgiri’ and ‘Gaurimanjuri’, this archive also has rare recordings of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan playing raag ‘Gour Sarang’, ‘Barhans Sarag’ and ‘Maligaura’.
One house concert has Ustad Vilayat Khan exploring various kinds of raag ‘Kannada’. This leisurely performance is almost like a lecture demonstration.
There is a recording of Ustad Allauddin Khan playing raag ‘Nat’ and ‘Darbari Kanada’ in sursringar. A rare interview of the maestro with Bhopal radio has him singing raag ‘Komal Bhimpalasri’ and raag ‘Sugadh’.
Pt Ravi Shankar’s early 1950s rendition of raag ‘Mian ki Todi’ and ‘Aalahiya Bilawal’ at the Dixon Lane residence of guru Gyan Prakash Ghosh.
A pre-independence duet of Vidushi Annapurna Devi and Pt Ravi Shankar playing raag ‘Yaman Kalyan’ at Delhi’s Constitution Hall.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Priyanka Dasgupta / TNN / June 21st, 2016