Q and A in The Times of India

Q&A ‘Music production has undergone a sea change’ Musician Vidya Shah is known for her stirring and soulful performances. However, she’s now stepped into the realm of archiving music and its memorable stars. Speaking with Srijana Mitra Das, Shah explains Women on Record (WoR), her multimedia project documenting female singers of the gramophone era – and why this is relevant in modern times:



Pleasetellusabout‘Women on Record’ – what inspired you to capture the voices and experiences of women singing in a far-removed era of jalsaghars and mehfils?

WoR began a few years ago when i was requested to perform the repertoire of the lesserknown Baijis at a concert in Delhi. I heard a lot of the music from this time and in the process got introduced to women who sang on these records and the incredible versatility they showed. This became the beginning of my journey into early 20th-century India.

Fascinatingly, women were at the forefront of this phenomenon. As a woman performer, i felt that perhaps there was a continuum here – the intersection of women and the record made way for the likes of me to take to the stage, but comfortably, without the social baggage they had dealt with.

Why is it important to celebrate women who sang in the gramophone era?

The Baijis were important to the world of performance, yet they have not been part of a mainstream discourse on music in India. Initially, it was mostly women who recorded in different regional languages across India in the early 20th century. These women of the 78 RPM era made a significant contribution not only to Hindustani music but also to literature, especially Urdu prose and poetry and, later, by their active involvement, to the worlds of theatre and film.

Will the project appeal to younger people whose tastes in music are so different?

Young people today are so challenged by the options they have – so much to choose from! But the flip side is, they have an appetite for all kinds of creative endeavours. We have tried to produce this project with attractive ingredients – it has stunning visuals, different kinds of music, songs, riddles, and now a website. It’s received fantastic responses from young and old audiences in the subcontinent. Having said that, something like this, even if very popular, will never match up to a Bollywood-like scale.

From the gramophone to the iPod, has the evolution of technology shaped music too?

The advent of sound recording changed the experience of listening to music forever. It redefined the world of entertainment. Artistes took on the challenge presented by this new technology – mainly of presenting an improvisatory genre in approximately three minutes. From these beginnings, music production has undergone a sea change. It continues to be more and more democratised. Technology has become very powerful in its presence, be it in live concerts or a recording.

Music is meant to soothe the senses – yet there are musicianslikeyoualsotakingup causes as activists, grappling with hard reality. Can the two roles be reconciled?

Culture has always played an important role in our pluralistic traditions, epitomised by the Bhakti and Sufi movements... but over the years, this critical space has been displaced by a very modular implosion – music has to be entertaining and commercial, its message becoming passé...however, i do not see my role as mutually exclusive to my creative expression. If i perform for World Peace Day, it’s also because i believe in the works of Faiz, Kabir or Surdas…it’s time we stop softpedalling our culture.

Webite launched

www.womenonrecord.com check it out.
More on http://epaper.indianexpress.com/10278/Indian-Express/21-August-2011#p=page:n=3:z=1

Vidya Shah: Singing for women: The Republica, Kathmandu

DIKSHYA KARKI
KATHMANDU, April 12: She’s a classically trained singer, researcher, writer, and a social activist. Her talents are many, but she says, “Singing is closest to my heart. It’s the way I express myself best. All the other things I do are to support my singing, broaden my knowledge on the subject.”

Vidya Shah, the talented Delhi-based artist, was here as a performer for the Melba Devi Mahotsav on April 11 and 12.

She gave a multimedia presentation about her project, “Women on Record” and enthralled the audience with her powerful voice at the Army Officers’ Club in Kathmandu on Monday.

Talking about her project, Shah explained, “During one of my musical performances, I was asked by an elderly gentleman to listen to some women singers of the early 20th century in India. Then I was introduced to a whole new world of music.”

This started her research to unearth the gramophone records of South Asian women singers of the early 20th century.

“Those were the times when the Indian Subcontinent was one musically. There were many women in that era who sang beautifully, but their talents were restricted to their homes.

“But the invention of the gramophone was a boon for them. Women didn’t have to be seen; they could follow their passion by recording their music and not have to come out in the limelight,” she added.

Shah performs those age-old renditions in her concerts along with her own compositions.
Trained initially in Karnatic music, Shah’s teachers include singer Subha Mudgal and Shanti Hiranand.
Secure in her career as a classical singer, Shah discerns popular music derived from classical music.

“Film music has always been popular. There’s no use in comparing it with, or complaining about the devaluation of, classical music.” According to her, classical music has its own audience, “its own niche.” “The audience I sing or play to may not be counted in thousands but I connect with each one of them in person.”

Having performed in prestigious events like the India Festival at Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, Assilah International Festival, Morocco, and the Bode Museum in Berlin, the singer likes to interact with her audience.

“The audience in the West and the East are different, but as an artist, I’m exposed to newer reactions.” She exemplifies her recent performance at Patan Musuem where the audience sang bhajans along with her.

“I wouldn’t be able to get that reaction from the audience in Europe but they are good listeners. I’m often applauded for the way eastern classical music treats the abstract.”

Hugely inspired by the works of poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, she enjoys singing to his lines. In a concert one month ago in Bangladesh, she was particularly touched by the reaction of one of the listeners. She had sung Faiz’s lines as recorded by a Bangladeshi female artist during the gramophone era.

The artist’s brother happened to attend the concert and expressed his gratitude to her for having revived his sister’s legacy.

She came across the works of Melba Devi Gurung while working on her project and mentions that her life and work is a testimony of women empowerment.
“Having come from the Gurung community and traveled so far to fuel her passion, she’s a great source of inspiration.”

The multifaceted singer has penned numerous articles on music, gender and other social issues. Currently, Vidya Shah works as the Program Director of the Centre for Media and Alternative Communication (CMAC).


Published on 2011-04-12 11:57:18

Women on Record

A Multi-Media Touring Show

Seminar 29th-30th March, 2010
Performance 2nd-3rd of April, 2010
IGNCA, New Delhi


Women in the 78 RPM Gramophone era have made a significant contribution to Indian Art music, and literature, and by their involvement in theatre and film. They have had a profound influence on subsequent performance music.
Ironically there is little that is available in the public memory about the Gaanewali’s, and also not in books on Indian music. This is legacy that has largely been preserved through the gramophone records that first made their appearance in India in the first decade of the 20th century.
The advent of sound recording in India had far-reaching social and musical effects, disseminating various genres of music to a mass audience for the first time. In the early 20th Century it is perhaps the first fascinating encounter between technology and music. The vocalists took on the challenge presented by this new technology – of presenting their work in approximately 3 minutes, this given the innately improvisatory nature of Indian music. Collectors estimate that the number of records issued in India would amount to about half a million – a large corpus of which remains unheard of and inaccessible to contemporary audiences.
Women on Record is a multi-media project that combines newer technologies with contemporary art practices in collaboration with artist communities traversing across film, photography, scenography, dance, theatre and music.
It combines different art practices with the idea of recreating an environment and mood of the gramophone era. The idea of reviving interest in the immense contributions made by these artists in the late 19th and early 20th century lends itself to immense visual possibilities given that their lives were about music, theatre, film and overall entertainment.

The Exhibition: This traveling show is an overview of the women who sang in the gramophone era, of the technology that evolved in the 1st half of the 20th century and the impact of these changes on the world of Indian music

The Video walk through: Through a series of interviews with artists, collectors and connoisseurs, some of whom even witnessed some of these soirees, CMAC creates another world of stories and experiences through the vibrant world of archives

Live Performance: A scripted performance involving narration, visuals and a concert to walk the audience through and experience the time and the challenges of women singers as well as their sense of enterprise including the diverse repertoire they brought into Indian music.

Seminar/Workshop: involving artists, historians, musicologists, film makers, art and media institutions to disseminate and discuss the products, the issues and the ideas that arise from the project. The seminar will focus on the role and status of women professionals in the entertainment industry today. It will attempt to trace the role of technology in overcoming the gendered barriers that women have faced over centuries in the Indian subcontinent.