| Priceless radio archives rendered useless |
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| Written by Gulf Times | ||||
| Sunday, 31 December 2006 | ||||
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The CRMC, now working under the Central Production Unit (CPU) of the organisation, once used to hold musical events and had an independent head as well. Sources said that some five years ago the CRMC worked under the Broadcasting House - the Lahore Radio Station - but later it was placed under the CPU, a unit meant for special assignments and production of special songs. The CPU had nothing to do with the classical music, as all the recordings of the genre took place in the Broadcasting House, they said. Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz conceived the idea of CMRC housed in the basement of Lahore Radio Station. The research cell was ultimately established in 1976. It was first set up on the premises of Faiz's Gulberg-II office when he was a consultant to the Ministry of Culture and Education. Faiz chose M A Shiekh, an ardent classical music lover, as head of the CMRC. The cell used to collect and preserve books and magazines on classical music. There are 700 English and 300 Urdu books on music in the cell to benefit music scholars and students. The cell has 400-hour music recording in addition to western classical music and Unesco's collection of traditional music of about 70 countries of the world. The cell also has complete compilation of the bio-data of classical musicians, along with the information about their schools of music with special emphasis on Muslim contribution to the music of the Subcontinent. Besides priceless classical music archives, the cell also boasts of having an antique collection of 250 photographs and portraits of Muslim musicians of the Subcontinent spanning over a 100 years. CPU former controller Azam Khan, commenting on present condition of the CMRC, said: "It should be preserved because it was a part of our artistic heritage." - Internews | ||||
Marc Levitt
said:
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LAHORE: The Classical Music Research Cell (CMRC) of Radio Pakistan's Lahore station, despite having priceless archives comprising recordings and portraits of legendary singers, has long been lacking funds and staff, seemingly because of laidback attitude of the authorities concerned, official sources have said.
| I applaud your trying to publicize this issue, will commit to copying and pasting this link, forward it by email to at least two librarians and a major newspaper in my area, and see if it can't be picked up and carried through various wire services or publications until it becomes a widely enough known story that someone or some benefactor or benefactors wants to step in to see that something or everythingis done a) to preserve this heritage, and/ or b) encourage someone truly capable to step forward and take over managing or saving this archive in perpetuity. For your information, this story made it to Google, and I received it as a Google Alert. Google Alerts are completely free and, to the best of my knowledge, are available to anyone in the world who has a computer, knows about them, and requests a Google Alert of the kind that brings this sort of alert. Mine had to do with classical music. I majored in music history in college in the United States, am a former librarian and, although I know nothing of Indian music or musicians, also am a history buff and know the importance of preserving collections like this simply on principle. This collection also should be preserved and kept available for future generations in your country and elsewhere who can benefit from it or help it grow. Good luck to you. If you are relgious or spiritual, and you may be either, simply putting it into God's hands ought to be assurance enough that the God of your understanding or mine will ensure that your needs, if not all of what you hope for, will be done successfully. |
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