When recording technology came to India in 1902 with the Gramophone Company from London, across the country--North, South, East, West, it was women who embraced this nascent technology. Most of them belonged to the courtesan community--the Tawaifs and Devadasis. Circumventing the social taboos against recording and the logistical & creative challenges involved, these women bargained terms and conditions with European agents. In just 3 minutes that a 78 RPM Shellac could hold, they presented a concise portrait of an art form as improvisatory and expansive as Indian Classical Music. Their records catapulted Indian classical and folk music from the closeted confines of salons, temples, theaters and royal courts to global mass media. It made super stars of many of these women who also negotiated hefty fees from the recording companies. India was soon to emerge as one of the major markets for the fledgling international music industry. But soon the virulent Anti-Nautch campaign branded all performing women as prostitutes; their stories and names were rubbished away into the dustbins of history and purged from national and musical consciousness. This work is a tribute and an effort to recreate the stories, the lives, the magic and the music of these stellar pioneers, but for whose brave efforts, Indian music and the music industry would not be where it is today.
Produced by Dr. Vikram Sampath and Ricky Kej, this set is comprised of 43 songs all newly transferred, restored and mastered by Michael Graves.