[HCDX] All India Radio digitization project

["Mike Brooker" <aum108@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From The Times of India, Jan. 17 2001:

AIR Vadodara to computerise rare works
By Jahnavi Contractor

VADODARA: The All India Radio's Vadodara station here is soon to embark on a
computerisation project to protect the rare collection of audio records of
eminent musicians, playwrights, artists and litterateurs housed in its
archives.

The computerisation exercise is aimed at not only saving the classics but
also at improving the sound quality. All rare records would be recorded onto
CDs, which would help in improving and sharpening the broadcast quality.

The unique collection of the AIR here includes radio plays in Chandravadan
(Chanchi) Mehta's voice, Ustad Faiyaz Khan's raga collections, talks and
readings by well-known Gujarati poets and novelists amongst others.

The station also has an in-house library of books relating to eminent
personalities featured on its records.

Vadodara Akashvani' station director Bhagirath Pandya told 'The Times of
India' that computerisation of records and conversion of all rare audio
tapes has already begun in the AIR Ahmedabad station. A similar project
would start soon in Vadodara's library too, he informed.

Also, there are many old Gujarati film songs and other material not
available with all radio stations. The Ahmedabad AIR is in the process of
copying these onto CDs, which would later be sent to all other units for
broadcast.

This would improve the sound quality and clarity of radio broadcasts and
avoid deterioration in quality of sound irrespective of the number of times
it is used, he said. At present, the entire archival material is in form of
tape spools which could deteriorate over the years.

"We have recently created a special record room to house the increasing
number of records that are added to our archives. While all the new records
are now in CD format, the old ones have to be compiled on floppies so that
damage is minimised. Those records, which have aged or are in a bad
condition, are currently in the process of being dubbed. Later, we want to
acquire a CD writer and other equipment that would help us in copying these
onto CDs," he says.

Parul Bhoota, who is in charge of the records section at the AIR here, said
she is undergoing a special computer training programme for maintenance of
all audio records in a computerised format. "This training project is a
nation-wide one and the accent is on developing a software that can be used
in all AIR stations for maintaining records in a similar fashion," she says.

According to Pandya, Vadodara has a rich history in arts, music and
literature and, therefore, the AIR here has had the opportunity to feature
many local artists who have then went on to become nationally recognised
figures like Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Mitali Singh (nee Mukherjee)

"Our collection is therefore rare. It would be difficult now to find
gramophone records of Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Shivkumar Shukla and recording of
radio plays in the voice of C C Mehta, interviews and readings by eminent
Gujarati litterateurs like Suresh Joshi Lalji Nanda, and many others," he
says.

"The collections also include interviews of these eminent Gujarati
litterateurs and theatre personalities. There is a special section on local
folk songs, Bhavais, and tribal music of tribes living in and around
Vadodara," says Pandya.

According to him, in most cases the old collections are not used. However,
this year being the centenary year celebrations of Chanchi Mehta, each week
a radio play in C C Mehta's voice is broadcast on Vividh Bharati every
Thursday at 6.15 pm.

The All India Radio Vadodara's archives has a rare collection of audio
programmes, including play readings by C C Mehta, interviews and talks by
Gujarat's eminent litterateurs and musicians.

A special project to preserve this archival material is to be launched.

********************************************************************
Mike Brooker
99 Wychcrest Ave.,
Toronto, ON  M6G 3X8
CANADA
(416) 536-7406
********************************************************************

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