"We are 100 year old today" - Indian Gramophone Records
naniwadekar
"Friend, it is our birthday today. But our name is not Jawaharlal
Nehru. We have been rather more useful, far more genuinely
secular, more sinned against than sinning, our legacy worth
preserving rather than discarding, and we were not yet
a centenarian until yesterday. But today we are. We
have completed 100 today. We are Indian Gramphone
Records." Thus Indian Gramophone Records, when they visited
me in my dream half an hour ago.
As I had posted recently, the first Indian gramophone record
was recorded in Kolkata on 14 Nov 1902. (But one URL posted
on rmim recently quoted the date 11 Nov 1902. I am trying to
verify the correct date.)
I am in a position to placate the jerks who believe a list should
start with the number '0'.
Item # zero, then - First voice of Indian person was recorded
in 1899 at London. These were 7" diameter records with
recording on one side only. These 44 records were by
Captain Bholanath, Dr.Harnaamdas and Ahmed who
sing or recite in various languages. None of these records
is available with the collectors today.
Moving to the proper list, beginning properly with the first item :
Item # one - In 1902, the first Indian gramophone disc was
cut in Kolkata, featuring voice of the thumri diva Gauhar Jan.
In 1901, J.W.Hawd came to Calcutta and soon a branch office
was opened. F.W.Gaiseberg arrived in 1902 for his first
recording expedition and recorded about five hundred songs.
These were then sent to Joseph Berliner's pressing factory
at Hanover in Germany.
Abandoning the numbering business, we move on to the
factoid that though HMV - His Master's Voice - continues
to enjoy their monopoly in this field, about half million
gramophone records have been manufactured and
marketed in India under variety of banners and labels.
Until 1916, about 75 different record labels/brands were
seen in Indian market, the important ones being - Nicole,
Universal, Neopxxxx .....
I will post important highlights over the last 100 years soon.
- dn
naniwadekar
I had written -
>
>
> As I had posted recently, the first Indian gramophone record
> was recorded in Kolkata on 14 Nov 1902. (But one URL posted
> on rmim recently quoted the date 11 Nov 1902. I am trying to
> verify the correct date.)
>
"As per Kinnear's book, Gaisberg spent November 1902 in Calcutta
and recorded several songs between first and third week of Novemver.
Gauhar Jan did record on 8th and 14th November. It is difficult
to determine 'First' date."
>
> I will post important highlights over the last 100 years soon.
>
Due to time constraints, I can do one of the two things
only. I can either postpone my complete post to a later
date. But I would rather not do that and there is only a
47 hour window in which it is 14 Nov 2002 in some part of
the world or other. I want to use that window. My window
is even shorter than 47 hours as I would like my post to
be stamped 14 Nov 2002; that means I must follow google's
usenet clock. And at a later date, I rather think rather
than doing something useful by formatting and arranging
the Indian-Records post carefully, I should do something
not-so-useful by addressing some of the squeals floated
on rmic over the last 2-3 days. In light of Chandvankar's
explanation that there may be nothing special about 14
November 1902/2002, I guess I could postpone my post but
I had set myself the deadline of 14 Nov for the post and
let me now stick to it.
So then. On to the main post. But I am not appending it
here. I am making a separate post.
- dn
naniwadekar
As I had posted recently, the first Indian gramophone
probably impossible now to decide the exact date of the
first recording. Maybe the first few attempts were
abortive. There is no conclusive evidence supporting
claim about any particular day being the exact date of
the first gramophone recording in India.) Here are some
highlights over the last 100 years, culled from an SIRC
publication - 'The Record News' - an Annual issue 2000,
made available to me by Suresh Chandvankar,
Hon.Secretary of Society of Indian Record Collectors
[SIRC]. It was he who suggested to me that a post
covering these highlights would be appropriate today.
Most of the material has been cut-pasted by me from the
source document while half-asleep. Please pardon any lack
of continuity, jumps, jerks, shifts, lack for formatting
and like aggravations caused by the post. I just don't
have enough time on hand to devote to the post.
After recounting important highlights over the last 100
years, the post will end with a reminder of Kesarbai
Kerkar's Bhairavi recording being sent into the outer
space aboard Voyager. The story has been discussed on
rmic in the past but will surely bear another repetition.
In 1902, the first Indian gramophone disc was cut in Kolkata, featuring
voice of the thumri diva Gauhar Jan. In 1901, J.W.Hawd came to Calcutta and
soon a branch office was opened. F.W.Gaiseberg arrived in 1902 for his first
recording expedition and recorded about five hundred songs. These were then
sent to Joseph Berliner's pressing factory at Hanover in Germany.
We move on to the factoid that though HMV - His Master's Voice - continues
to enjoy their monopoly in this field, about half million gramophone records
have been manufactured and marketed in India under variety of banners and
labels. Until 1916, about 75 different record labels/brands were seen in
Indian market, the important ones being - Nicole, Universal, Neophone,
Elephone, H.Bose, Beka, Kamla, Binapani, Royal, Ram-a-Phone (Ramagraph),
James Opera, Singer, Sun, Odeon, and Pathe. With time, all these companies
either disappeared or got merged with Gramophone Company. The name His
Master's Voice (HMV) and the label first appeared in 1916 and soon
established their monopoly in the market. In 1952, EMI launched its first 33
1/3 rpm (revolutions per minute) microgroove Long Playing record, along with
7" diameter 45 rpm microgroove singles of both classical and pop music. In
1954, first 7", 45 rpm extended play (EP) record was launched. Soon, these
vinyl records appeared in India too. The first microgroove record from
Gramophone Co. was introduced in 1958. These were 45 rpm 7" extended play
(EP) records. Of the early releases, one by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan's (no.7EPE
1201) 'sarod' recital record became very popular. In 1959, LP record plant
was established at Dum Dum factory of Gramophone Company and it was
inagurated by Pt.Ravishankar in May. The first LP record was released in
June.
The fellow who has made possible all the mischief over the last 100 years
is, of course, Thomas Alva Edison. When did the first cylinder phonograph
came to India ? There are several stories and a detailed account has been
given by Amitabha Ghosh in " The Record News " - TRN - 1999. pages 73-97. As
per this article, the first demonstration of the cylinder phonograph was
around December 1878 (within a year of its invention) at Calcutta. The
oldest dealer of HMV in Delhi, Maharaj Lal & Co.was founded in 1895. At that
time they were selling cylinder records. Although there is no systematic
catalogue found so far, it is believed that several hundreds of cylinders
were recorded both privately and commercially. Unfortunately, no working
cylinder machine or cylinder is found with any collector in India so far.
Some of the museums and archives have stored broken, worn out machines and
cylinders in the showcases as antique pieces.
" Historical events in sound recording "
1877 - Thomas Alva Edison's discovery of sound recording
and reproduction. Early recordings were taken on wax
coated cylinders. [cylinder records]
1888 - Emilie Berliner, (a German emigrant in America)
invented flat disc format for sound recording. The first
trial disc was 5" diameter made of rubber. Later, 7"
diameter zinc and lac records were commercially released
and were known as E.Berliner Records.
1898 - Foundation of Gramophone and Typewriter Co. (G &
T) in London. The gramophone company officially
registered by William Barry Owen with provisional
arrangements made to manufacture gramophones, records and
assembly of machines in Germany. The famous 'Recording
Angel' trademark, devised by Theodore Birnbaum, first
appears on the company's record label.
1899 - Recording of first Indian artists in London - Dr.
Harnamdas and Mr.Ahemad - songs from Ramayan and Aayats
from Kooran. In the same year, Francis Barraud's famous
painting [of dog speaking / listening into the horn] - "
His Master's Voice " was purchased by the Gramophone
Company and first used in the Record Supplement of
January 1900.
1900 - Manufacture of Lambert typewriters also taken up.
Hence the name of the company changed to 'The Gramophone
and Typewriter Ltd'. This name also appeared on record
labels. [Later, in 1907, as the typewriter line was
discontinued the word 'typewriter' was dropped both from
the name of the company and the record label.]
1902 - First recording expedition of F.W.Gaisberg at
Calcutta.
1902 - 1908 - Three recording expeditions in India taking
about 5000 recordings.
1908 - Establishment of record pressing plant at Calcutta
- announcements at the end of the songs stopped. In the
same year, the Hayes factory in England also became
operational.
* Around 75 different record companies were operating in
India until about 1910.
1910 - A gramophone and records were sent with Captain
Scott on his Antarctic Expedition. The gramophone was
brought back to Britain and is now part of the EMI
archives which houses about 5 million items.
1915/16 - Nipper, the Gramophone Dog, makes first
appearance on Indian record label. [In Britain it
apeeared in 1909]
1925 - 'Electrical' recording replaced 'Acoustic'
recording. Electrical recording introduced in Britain
using the Western Electrical System.
1931 - The Gramophone Company Ltd. and the Columbia
Graphophone Company Ltd.merge and register a holding
company - Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI). Stereo
recording and reproduction patented.
1930/31 - Bombay radio became operational. sound entered
into Indian films.
1952 - EMI launches first LP & EP/SP microgroove vinyl
records.
1958 - EMI launches first stereo LP.
1960 - The last 78rpm record on EMI labels is issued in
Brittain - 'Rule Brittania' and 'Royal Event' by Russ
Conway.
1966 - EMI releases its first pre-recorded cassettes.
1971 - EMI changed to EMI Ltd.
1973 - The Gramophone Company changes its name to EMI
Records Ltd.
1970-80 - Production of 78 rpm records reduced and
ultimately stopped. Indian Television entered the
entertainment scence.
1986 - EMI opens its first-ever CD factory in England.
1980-90 - Market flooded with hi-fi equipment,
audio/video cassette recorders / players. [Two in ones,
VCR's and VCP's].
1997 - EMI celebrates its first centenary.
1990-2000 - Records began to slowly diminish turning into
decoratives pieces and antique items or 'collector's
items'. Compact audio/video discs and related reproducing
equipment flooded the market. CVD [Compact Video Disc]
and DVD [Digital Video Disc] along with computer floopy
discs took over all kinds of reel tapes - both in audio
and video world. Satellite television with multiple cable
networks changed the whole concept of personal recorded
music and its collection.
2000 ++ - 21st Century - World library of music - sound
and pictures - accessible to anyone through a Personal or
a lap-top computer or through Cable network.
One very noteworthy event is the inclusion of Kesarbai
Kerkar's 78 rpm Bhairavi record on the space shuttle
Voyager. It would be fitting to end this post by
recalling some facts associated with that event.
An Unusual Record
Sent in space by NASA in August 1977
This unusual record was sent in " Voyager spacecrafts I and II " in search
of intersteller intelligence. This was a 12" diameter double sided record
for one hour play time at 16 2/3 rpm. 'The Voyager Intersteller Record'
consisted of number of assorted items listed below -
118 pictures, the first two bars of the Beethoven Cavatina, greetings from
the President of the United States, congressional List, greetings from the
Secretary General of the United Nations, greetings in fifty-four languages,
UN greetings, whale sounds, the sounds of earth and "Music".
In music section, sound clippings from various countries were selected. The
only criteria for the selection was that - 'the music should touch the heart
as well as mind (?)'. Music from 7 states in America, 8 from European
countries, 2 from Africa and three from Asia were chosen. Among Asian
countries, there was only one song chosen from India. The song was from old
78 rpm record of Surshree Smt.Kesarbai Kerkar-"Jaat Kahan Ho - Bhairavi
Hori". There is an interesting story from selecting the song to locating the
record for the voyager project and details could be read in a book by Carl
Sagan titled -
" Murmurs of Earth " : The Voyager Interstellar Record" pages-19,163,196-97.
The book is published in November 1978 by Random House, in U.S.A. [Also web
site - www.seds.org/nineplanets/spacecraft.html]
Two Voyager spacecraftts were launched to the stars on
August 20th and September 5, 1977 along with the recorded
messages inscribed in the 'Voyager Record'. Incidently,
this was the centenary of the invention of sound
recording. Kesarbai Kerkar passed away on September 12,
1977 without knowing that her voice has been sent in
space. Now 25 years have passed and one does not know the
status and the whereabouts of this spacecraft. However,
if it is found by aliens and they could listen to the
music on the record, they would listen to the magnificent
Bhairavi sung by Kesarbai, the illustrious daughter of
the country.
- dn
Surjit Singh
Great job. But.
naniwadekar wrote:
> As I had posted recently, the first Indian gramophone
> record was recorded in Kolkata in Nov 1902. (It is
> probably impossible now to decide the exact date of the
It is either possible or impossible. No probability here!
John Thomas
"naniwadekar" <nani3...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Item # one - In 1902, the first Indian gramophone disc was
> cut in Kolkata, featuring voice of the thumri diva Gauhar Jan.
> In 1901, J.W.Hawd came to Calcutta and soon a branch office
> was opened. F.W.Gaiseberg arrived in 1902 for his first
> recording expedition and recorded about five hundred songs.
> These were then sent to Joseph Berliner's pressing factory
> at Hanover in Germany.
I have a photograph of Gauhar Jan from Gaisberg's autobiography (F.W.
Gaisberg, "The Music Goes Round," Macmillan, 1942) in which she is
called "Goura" Jan, probably just a difference in transliteration from
the original. Gaisberg also mentions and has a photo of a Janki Bai who
recorded in 1902 and was paid a remarkable Rs. 3000/- for the session.
According to another source (Daniel M. Neuman, "The Life of Music in
North India," Wayne State University Press, 1980) all the professional
female vocalists of the time came from the prostitute class, which if
true might explain Ms Jan's tumultuous love life as outlined by Nani in
an earlier post. Neither of these sources clarifies exactly who made
the first actual recording.
--
-Regards,
John Thomas
Surjit Singh
John Thomas wrote:
> In article <aqvn9a$dsus0$1...@ID-75735.news.dfncis.de>,
> "naniwadekar" <nani3...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Item # one - In 1902, the first Indian gramophone disc was
>>cut in Kolkata, featuring voice of the thumri diva Gauhar Jan.
>>In 1901, J.W.Hawd came to Calcutta and soon a branch office
>>was opened. F.W.Gaiseberg arrived in 1902 for his first
>>recording expedition and recorded about five hundred songs.
>>These were then sent to Joseph Berliner's pressing factory
>>at Hanover in Germany.
>>
>
> I have a photograph of Gauhar Jan from Gaisberg's autobiography (F.W.
> Gaisberg, "The Music Goes Round," Macmillan, 1942) in which she is
This one seems to be out of print.
> called "Goura" Jan, probably just a difference in transliteration from
> the original. Gaisberg also mentions and has a photo of a Janki Bai who
> recorded in 1902 and was paid a remarkable Rs. 3000/- for the session.
> According to another source (Daniel M. Neuman, "The Life of Music in
> North India," Wayne State University Press, 1980)
This is available for about $10 (including shipping) from e-bookstores
such as amazon.
> all the professional
> female vocalists of the time came from the prostitute class, which if
> true might explain Ms Jan's tumultuous love life as outlined by Nani in
> an earlier post. Neither of these sources clarifies exactly who made
> the first actual recording.
>
>
--
Surjit Singh, a diehard movie fan(atic), period.
http://hindi-movies-songs.com
John Thomas
Surjit Singh <surjit...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > I have a photograph of Gauhar Jan from Gaisberg's autobiography (F.W.
> > Gaisberg, "The Music Goes Round," Macmillan, 1942) in which she is
>
>
>
> This one seems to be out of print.
If you're interested in getting your hands on this book do as I did:
find it in a university library and borrow it through inter-library loan.
Mine came from the University of California Library System:
http://128.48.120.7/mw/mwcgi.home
1. Gaisberg, Frederick William. The music goes round,, by F. W.
Gaisberg. New York, Macmillan, 1943 [c1942] 273 p. ports. 24 cm.
[Long Display]
Print Access:
(All, All UC, UCB+circ status, UCB, UCI+circ status, UCI, UCSB+circ
status, UCSB, UCSD+circ status, UCSD)
2. Gaisberg, Frederick William. The music goes round /, Frederick
William Gaisberg. New York : Arno Press, 1977, [c1942] 273 p., [15]
leaves of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
Series title: Opera biographies
[Long Display]
Print Access:
(UCR+circ status, UCR)
Find a library system closer to you to search by looking here:
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Libweb/
--
-Regards,
John Thomas
Surjit Singh
Thanks. I checked. It is in UCSD. Will borrow it.
John Thomas wrote:
--
Sambit Basu
> In 1902, the first Indian gramophone disc was cut in Kolkata, featuring
> voice of the thumri diva Gauhar Jan.
If interested (and can read Bangla), you may visit
http://www.anandabazar.com/11karcha.htm. There is a
headpiece on this.
Interesting info: On 8th November, Shashimukhi and
Phanibala's songs were recorded. There was another
recording session on 10th. "Miss Gaharjan Kalkattawali"
first recorded on 11th. Miss Sailabai (or Shielabai) also
recorded on the same day. Gaharhjan had another session
on the following day.
The headpiece lists the names of the artists who recorded in
that recording-fest which lasted till 18th November.
Another info is that, the recordings were arranged in two
theater halls - Classic Theater and Madan Theater.
- Sambit
Surjit Singh
It has a nice picture of gramophone-sarasvatii!
Sambit Basu wrote:
--
Surjit Singh, a diehard movie fan(atic), period.
http://films.hindi-movies-songs.com/
http://worldline.hindi-movies-songs.com/
Sudhir
The first EP for Film was for:
SHARARAT / 1959 / Shankar Jaikishan
Record # TAE 1001 (TAE, most probably stands for:
Transfer Audio to EP
All 4 songs were transfered from 78 rpm records to this EP, i.e.:
for the EP the Master Plate was not cut during recording.
The EP and related 78 rpm records most probably were released
in 1958. The EP was later re-issued under: EMGPE 5017 number
Sudhir
Surjit Singh
areas. No hint of any help or instructions. Then I read the side bars
carefully. The usual, desh, bidesh, khel, aaj etc. One of them caught my
eye. It said, "bangla na jane" in bangla! ROTFL but Good. I followed
that and learnt that Netscape 6 does not support dynamic fonts. Did not
know that. Was forced to use IE. But could see all and read all now.
What would have happened if I did not know how to read bangla? When you
place the mouse over little bangla words, mercifully, you see the text
in English. You learn something new every day.
Sambit Basu wrote:
--
Surjit Singh, a diehard movie fan(atic), period.
Surjit Singh
Surjit Singh wrote:
> Very interesting. I went to the page. Could not see bangla on the main
> areas. No hint of any help or instructions. Then I read the side bars
> carefully. The usual, desh, bidesh, khel, aaj etc. One of them caught my
> eye. It said, "bangla na jane"
Sorry. It is bangla na ele.
Bosma
recordings" some time ago I was very much intrigued by some records
issued (among the first) containing "bird imitations". I found this
truly poeticial and very apt but have never been able to understand
what urged Indian recording companies to issue these type of records.
June 1913 is the date. "Ameer", his name is quoted somewhere on this
tread recorded: "Chririya ka bol, imitation of Indian birds
(Hindustani), that same month a 10 year old boy named Khoobee recorded
in Calcutta "Muktalif boliyan ki nakilen, Hindustani Bird imitations".
The Karnatic division did not linger: That very same month Vengopal
Chari recorded his (Tamil) "Imitation of birds" (That same session he
recorded "Various kinds of laughter, Imitation of a passing train and
"Brahmin going to a dancing girl's house". Being a sound engineer in
June 1913 much have been a jolly business).
Were bird imitation a regular genre at this period? Did people do this
on the stage for example? I do not see any references afterwards. Also
I ignore if there are still people today practicing this lovely art. I
have watched old Bollywood film to check if any bird imitations were
featured but haven't been able to find any.
I raise this question because bird song, the nickname of "bülbül" or
nightingale and reference to birds are very common and traditional
features all over the Orient. It is needless to say that I would very
very much like to hear these recordings.
Hans Bosma
Paris
France
naniwadekar
>
> > It is probably impossible now to decide the exact date of the
>
> It is either possible or impossible. No probability here!
>
It is true that it is either possible or impossible. But the
point is I don't know which of the two it is. That is where
probability and guesswork about it comes in.
Is the phrase 'may not be possible' okay with you?
'may not be possible' is approx = 'may be impossible'
approx = 'probably impossible'.
If you say I could/should have avoided the phrase 'probably
impossible', I won't argue. But that phrase is not untenable.
- dn
Surjit Singh
naniwadekar wrote:
> Surjit Singh <surjit...@yahoo.com> wrote -
>
>>>It is probably impossible now to decide the exact date of the
>>>
>>It is either possible or impossible. No probability here!
>>
>>
>
> It is true that it is either possible or impossible. But the
> point is I don't know which of the two it is. That is where
> probability and guesswork about it comes in.
>
> Is the phrase 'may not be possible' okay with you?
Yes. That's what you meant to write.
> 'may not be possible' is approx = 'may be impossible'
> approx = 'probably impossible'.
>
> If you say I could/should have avoided the phrase 'probably
> impossible', I won't argue. But that phrase is not untenable.
>
>
> - dn
>