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A unique music archive
An archive by an NGO has gathered some 2,000 recordings of performances of some of the greatest exponents of Indian classical music.
An archive created by an NGO here has gathered some 2,000 recordings of performances by some of the greatest exponents of Indian classical music.
The archive put together by Saptak, a group that has been organising live performances by classical musicians and singers for the past 25 years in Ahmedabad, features over 100 performers.
Zakir Hussain, Shivkumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ravi Shankar, Pandit Jasraj and Amjad Ali Khan are on the growing list of those whose live concerts have been digitally recorded by Saptak Archives. The NGO is now offering music connoisseurs an opportunity to listen to its archive.
"Over 25 years of our activities, hundreds of masters came to Ahmedabad and performed. During this period, we made live recording of their performances, and today we have 2,000 recordings in our collection," Praful Manubhai of Saptak said.
With this mammoth collection, Saptak Archives offers a veritable encyclopaedia of Indian classical music. According to Manubhai, the idea behind this venture was to preserve and maintain Indian classical music. Saptak Archives is catching up fast with youngsters. Music buff Malhar Dave said: "Youngsters have had enough of filmy and Western music. The main principal of fashion is constant change. Thus, now Indian classical music is the 'in' thing while filmy and western music is 'out'."
The collection at Saptak Archives is digitally recorded and made available on computers. "Indian classical music has a long history. It has survived through oral tradition as a music notation system developed only in the second half of the 20th century. Even this system has several limitations in authentic documentation," said Manubhai.
"On the other hand, oral transmission is subject to substantial loss and contamination. Authenticity is often an issue. Today technology has made it possible to preserve this heritage and tradition in its authentic version in a convenient and manageable form with records, spool recordings, LPs, cassettes, CDs, DVDs and computer hard disks."
Saptak Archives thrives on the latest digital technology. Recorded music exists in various formats of various generations. Technology is used to digitise the music for long-term preservation, storage, compilation and retrieval.
The archives plans to collect, compile and organise books, magazines, articles and graphics on Indian classical music.
