NEW DELHI: Good news for lovers of Indian classical music. In an effort to up the marketing activities relating to its archives, All India Radio has released three more CD titles under the Akashvani Sangeet series from its rich National Sound Archive.
The titles released yesterday were of Pandit V G Jog, Vidushi Siddheshwari Devi and Bhajanavali. Noted vocalist Shanno Khurana presented the first copies of the CDs to Dr N Rajam, violin maestro, Savita Devi, daughter of late Siddheshwari Devi and Pandit Rajan and Pandit Sajan Mishra, renowned vocalists.
A Doordarshan Archives title - Rudraveena by Ustad Asad Ali Khan - was also released on the occasion. Ustad Asad Ali Khan was present to receive the first copy. Information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy, I&B ministry secretary Navin Chawla,Prasar Bharati CEO K S Sarma and DD and AIR DGs, respectively, Navin Kumar and Brijeshwar Singh were present during an evening of classical music yesterday.
The CDs priced Rs 195 and cassettes priced Rs 95, along with the previous titles like D V Paluskar, DV Naidu, Pandit Omkarnath Thakur, Pannalal Ghosh, Ustad Aziz Ahmed Khan Warsi, Musiri Subramania Iyer and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, will be available at all leading AIR and Doordarshan centres across India.
The National Sound Archive in All India Radio is one of the largest audio archives in the world. Though radio broadcasting began in South Asia seven decades ago, the act of archiving began seriously only in 1960s. Today, All India Radio has more than 10,000 hours of recordings of music. It is the only source where a music lover can lay his hands on any
legendary musician who has played a role in evolving a music tradition in the country. It has rare recordings of Ustad Bundu Khan, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Baba Allauddin Khan, Munavar Ali Khan, Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer, T Bala Saraswathi etc.
One of the major technological progresses has been the digitization of All India Radio archives. The recordings stored in the analog tapes have been transferred into compact disc and wave format. All India Radio's decision to bring out the archival recordings for public consumption has been welcomed by different quarters in India as well as abroad. The thrust now is on improving marketing and distribution network through music stores, Internet etc.
