June 2020: While the current pandemic has brought many things to a standstill, Saregama
has been able to digitize and bring to life, previously unheard and unexplored musical gems
from legends like Gauhar Jaan, Ghulam Ali, Janki Bai, M.S. Subbulakshmi, D.K. Roy, Lata
Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi amongst many others. These tracks belong to
earlier part of the century and range from film to non- film music across various genres and
languages.
This was a mammoth exercise taken upon by Saregama which involved extensive research,
listening, and manual cleaning of each of these tracks for the best listening experience. Each
and every track was heard and converted from physical tapes into a digital format. Every
song was also updated with relevant information about the artiste, composer, film, etc. for
ease of access by the listeners.
The project was initiated 4 months back, and completed during the lockdown while
adhering to the rules of remote working. All employees across the county coordinated to
complete this project from their homes and finished the project even before the decided
deadline.
Commenting on the latest addition, Mr. Vikram Mehra, Managing Director, Saregama
India, said, “We have painstakingly digitized unexposed 11,000 additional tracks in over 12
languages like Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and more. This is our attempt to preserve our
country’s music legacy for future generations. These songs will soon available on all digital
platforms for listeners”
About Saregama India:
Formerly known as The Gramophone Company of India Ltd, Saregama owns the largest
music archives in India, one of the biggest in the world. The ownership of nearly 50 per cent
of all the music ever recorded in India also makes Saregama the most authoritative
repository of the country’s musical heritage. Saregama has also has expanded into other
branches of entertainment – publishing, film production and digital content.
