The North Indian Classical Music
Recording Project

Krishna is portrayed in what is probably
a 19th painting from Jaipur, Rajasthan

The team at DoveSong.com would like to create an online repository of performances of North Indian Classical Music

Background

The tradition of classical music in Northern India and Pakistan is an old one that goes back as far, if not farther, than the tradition of classical music in the west. Based on a melodic and rhythmic system of ragas and talas, performances of the music present an unfolding and development of these melodic and rhythmic ideas.

Every performance by one of India's great artists is an important event, and because of the improvised, or on-the-spot composition of material presented in the performance, it is a one-of-a-kind representation. For this reason, most all performances by India's master artists have been recorded. Some of these performances have been reproduced as commercial recordings, but most are simply stored and shared among admirers of the music. The quality of these recordings vary, from high quality, to poor.

Recording the music is no longer problematic now that the record label is no longer involved. Large mixing consoles and stage monitoring are not needed. Excellent recording these days can be accomplished with a laptop computer and a pair of $500 microphones. Once the recordings are on the hard drive, they can be edited, then saved to CDRs, to be later converted into MP3 format using a simple $29.00 program available at any Comp USA or free from the Internet

The chances that these recordings will be made available as commercial CDs is not that great considering the cost and the limited listenership. However, some companies have undertaken projects that have made some of this music available.

DoveSong.com is proposing that a central database be set up into these recordings be entered. Once the database is set up and the web pages have been created to access this database, those involved in the project would receive a password for accessing the database (however, the contents could be viewed by anyone).

The MP3 Project's Computer

Once the recordings have been completed, they would be copied to the server dedicated to the project. Information about the recording, the composer, and the composition is entered along with the actual MP3 recording. Once the recording is in the database, the web pages that refer to the library would automatically updated, as soon as the directory is modified (when new mp3 files are loaded).

The database could be searched by raga, tala, artists, year, etc.

New web pages would be created to access the Library, which would have its own domain name, separate from that of DoveSong.com. For example, a name such as www.NorthIndianClassical.org, or perhaps something similar.

Thus, through contributions of a server computer, internet access, domain registration, enough money to fund the writing of the software for the new website, and most importantly the commitment from the artists and those who own the recorded performances, a great body major recordings could gradually become available to anyone in the world with computer access and a sound card.

An Important Project

The team at DoveSong.com recognizes that the advances in technology in just a decade have made projects such as these possible for the first time ever. It is up to us, those who understand this and realize how easily we can make a difference, to help in the process of using technology to achieve important goals.

The Recording project can go much further than what we have just described. Recordings can be made of great classical music traditions from all cultures in the same manner as we have just described. Additionally, directories for storing midi files can be created for cultures with a tradition of written music.