Voices from the past

From rare concert videos to lesser known Kalbeliya tunes - a unique exhibition of audiovisual material offers a peek into the rich cultural heritage of India

Strains of thumri greet you as soon as you enter Exhibition Hall 11 at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA). On closer look, one finds a black-and-white recording of Girija Devi playing at a kiosk at the far end of the hall. Many more such priceless recordings are on display as part of the ongoing exhibition of audio-visual archives at IGNCA to celebrate the World Audiovisual Heritage Day observed by UNESCO on October 27.

"The idea was to tap the rich holdings various governmental and non-governmental cultural institutions possess," says Irfan Zuberi, consultant with IGNCA and curator of the exhibition. So one finds 10 kiosks featuring unpublished music, documentaries, photographs, features, video footage and audio snippets by institutions like Sangeet Natak Akademi, All India Radio, Doordarshan, Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology, Rupayan Sansthan, Archive of Indian Music, NaadSagar Archives and Documentation Society for South Asian Music, IGNCA and Jadavpur University's Archive of North Indian Classical Music.

Considerable planning and research went into organising an exhibition of this scale. "Each of these kiosks features content which has been shaped like a rudimentary website - with heads and subheads. One of our foremost tasks was to ensure that all kiosks have mutually exclusive materials," says Zuberi. He had to undertake several meetings with the heads of each institution about the range of material to be showcased. "For instance, NaadSagar is a fairly young organisation. So their content was fairly recent, as compared to All India Radio which has materials dating back to 1931," he adds. Given the diversity and vastness of each collection, it was a challenge to confine each kiosk to 50 gigabytes worth of storage.

Several meetings were organised to discuss the technical details as well. "We had to ensure that the formats are compatible with the kiosk. For instance, all audio material was to be in wave format and video in MP4 files," explains Zuberi. This unique interface has been created exclusively for the exhibition by the in-house Cultural Informatics Lab.

Such is the richness of the material on showcase that one can't tear away from any one kiosk to visit the other. It's a treat to view a rare full length concert recording of the 105-year-old maestro Abdul Rashid Khan. One can view a bandish by him at the NaadSagar kiosk. The organisation in a very short span of time has been digitising collections of historian Akhilesh Mithal and painter Shanu Lahiri.

IGNCA's two kiosks focus on rock art heritage from across India, the oral tradition of the Vedas, genres of Ram lila, martial arts of Manipur and socio-religious pulses of Braj, among other things. A must watch is the video clipping of the traditional Braj chhadma lila geet. A woman bedecked in red sings a devotional song in her robust rustic voice.

And if it is folk Rajasthani tunes that appeal to you, then head to Rupayan Sansthan's kiosk. Started by renowned ethnomusicologist Komal Kothari, the Sansthan offers a peek into the songs and traditions of the Manganiyar, Langa, Bhopa, Hudkal and Kalbeliya communities. A cheery birth song, halariyo, by the Kalbeliya women is a must-hear, as is the shaadi ka geet - dhola maaru - in the haunting voice of a young male vocalist.

Carnatic strains can be heard at the kiosk of the Bangalore-based Archive of Indian Music, with voices of doyens like Madurai Mani Iyer and Ananthalakshmi part of the collection. "There is also a rare early recording of Gandhi dating back to 1931 that offers a spiritual message," says Zuberi. For the sounds that border on classical music, visit the kiosk of Gurgaon-based Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology. A maand geet - Kesariya balam - shares space with a gaudiya kirtan: Shyamer banshi Radha bole.

A must watch is the interview with Mother Teresa and a 24-minute long feature Nalanda by Melville de Mellow at the AIR kiosk. You can also listen to documentaries, interviews with personalities like Mahadevi Verma and Kaifi Azmi, Rabindra Sangeet and speeches at the AIR kiosk as well.

Sangeet Natak Akademi too makes its presence felt with a selection of material from its gargantuan collection of 1.44 lakh of 16mm cine material, 7,947 hours of audio clippings, 8,505 hours of video recording, and 263,944 photos.

It's heartening to see the effort that has gone into preserving this rare collection. "IGNCA's Kala Nidhi, for instance, has a vast collection of ethnographic objects, LPs and materials donated by scholars, which is in the process of being digitised. Maybe, next time we will hold an exhibition featuring some of those," says Zuberi.
The exhibition will be on at Hall 11, IGNCA till November 15