In the last six years of its existence, AIM has rescued, restored and preserved nearly 10,000 gramophone records from flea markets, shanties, and record collectors across India. These have been painstakingly acquired, digitized and catalogued
Vikram Sampath
“India with its long history in music does not have a national sound archive?”- This was the question that confounded Bangalore based author, historian, and musician Vikram Sampath across Europe. “While researching for my book on GauharJaan, India’s first artist to record on the gramophone in 1902, I was offered a visiting Fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. I visited all the sound archives across Europe and was astounded to see that not only did they have a national repository of vintage recordings of their country, but also had vast holdings of Indian voices. For instance, an archive in Berlin had voices of Indian prisoners of war of the First World War who were held captive in Germany. It embarrassed me as a student of history and music, and more so as an Indian that we do not have such an institution.” On his return, Vikram made an elaborate proposal to the UPA Government to establish a national sound archive and also offered his expertise and time for it. However, the proposal fell on deaf ears and the project file kept being shunted from one department to another. But not the one to give up, he decided to establish a public charitable Trust and for this help manifested itself in the form of philanthropist TV Mohandas Pai, formerly with Infosys and currently the Chairman of the Manipal Global Education group. Pai was moved by the fact that valuable cultural inheritances of our country in the form of gramophone recordings are lying rotting in flea markets, chor bazaars, and raddi shops across India. He decided to support Vikram and thus was born the “Archive of Indian Music” (AIM) in November 2011.
In the last six years of its existence, AIM has rescued, restored and preserved nearly 10,000 gramophone records from flea markets, shanties, and record collectors across India. These have been painstakingly acquired, digitized and catalogued. The archive features numerous artists and several rare tracks including Gandhiji’s Spiritual Message that he recorded in 1931 in England; the country’s first recording by GauharJaan in 1902; Rabindranath Tagore reciting his Bengali poetry; the first recording of the National Anthem by the Vishwa Bharati Chorus; the first recording of M S Subbulakshmi as a child of 9 years, to name just a few of the valuable gems available online on SoundCloudhttps://soundcloud.com/archive-of-indian-music/) Vikram adds: “The problem with many archives is accessibility. With AIM I wanted all this material, which is truly the inheritance every Indian woman and man to reach them and the Internet is the best option. Hence I decided to upload all the digitized material for ready access for musicians, scholars, students, youth and public at large. I think in a small way AIM truly represents the spirit of our Honourable PM’s ‘Digital India’ vision and how this can be used effectively in the field of culture through individual and private efforts.”
AIM has also held several first of its kind audio exhibitions called “Voices of India” in Bangalore, Delhi, and Kolkata, curated by using the latest technology to access the oldest music of the country. Through Apps designed on Android Smart Phones that were made available at the exhibition, visitors regaled themselves to the lilting melodies of the oldest music of India. AIM has also tied up with the Google Cultural Institute to curate online and thematic audio exhibitions (https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/partner/archive-of-indian-music).
Along the journey, Vikram realized that not only these vintage recordings, but also of the music, dance; traditions, dialects and languages, and heritage of indigenous tribal communities of India were endangered. Hence AIM expanded its scope to create a first of its kind ethnographic archive of indigenous communities.
In 2017, AIM in association with internationally renowned Grammy Award-winning composer-musician Ricky Kejand RajibSarma of Assam, undertook extensive field-recordings of the Baul Tradition of West Bengal. In the year 2005, the Bauls and the Baul Tradition has been enlisted in the UNESCO’S “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”. However, both at the levels of the Central Government and the West Bengal State Government, there has been very little or no documentation at all of this important mystical tradition of India. Through this project, AIM undertook a documentation of the BaulAkhaaras, villages, ashrams etc. in Birbhum district such as JaidevKenduli, Villamangal, Godar Ashram (Bakreswar), Darbesh Ashram (Dubrajpur), Datapirer Ashram (Dubrajpur), Fullara (Labhpur), Gopalnagar, Data Baba Mazar (Patharchapuri) and other sites. Personal interviews with the mystic Bauls and with groups; and documentation of performances were conducted. In addition, the monuments, terracotta temples and Shaktipeethas in the district were also documented in order to locate the socio-cultural environment from where the Baul tradition emerges. Temples over the mound of BoruChandidas, a cluster of temples surrounding The Bishalakshmi Temple (Basuli Temple), Char Chala temple complexes of Nanoor, DurgaDalan, Jora Shiva Aatchala temples etc. were included as part of this exercise. Finally, the fieldwork including a documentation of the local leather handicraft, pottery, terracotta and other items closely connected with the culture & tradition at Bhuvandanga, Alcha, Basundhara, Amar Kutir etc. were also done.
The projected outcomes include a full-length documentary film on the Bauls and their tradition; coffee-table books; research monographs and an online resource of all the audio, visual and photographic content for easy public access by mid-2018.
In the coming years, along with the objective of digitization of gramophone records and their easy accessibility, AIM has chalked out an ambitious plan of creating a unique ethnographic archive of the traditions of over 300 indigenous communities of the North East of India through extensive field recordings. Not only does AIM seek to capture and document these traditions, and dialects of the region but also create long-term sustainability and livelihood options for the artists. With the usual constraints of lack of governmental support and funds, AIM is struggling to keep its act together. But Vikram is not concerned about that. With a smile, he says: “When you want something badly, and if your intentions are good, I think the Universe conspires to help you achieve it!”
