Told by	Bishoke Kumar Sil
Obtained by	Suranjita Paul
Date	29th September 2016
Place	84A, Ahiritola. Kolkata- 700005
About the speaker	Bishoke Kumar Sil is an eminent Sitar and Rudraveena player of Seni gharana
Tags	Sailasekhar Mitra, Bagbazar, Gauharjaan, 1902-03, Theatre, Sashimukhi, Indumukhi, Voice record
Language	Bengali

Bishoke Kumar Sil speaks:

Verbatim:

?????????, ??????? ?????…??? ????? ?????? ????????? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ??????, ?????? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ????, ?? ?????? ??, ???? ?????? ????? ????, ???? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ?? ???

??? ???? -?? ????? ??? ??????? ???? ??????? ?? ?????? ???? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ????? ??? ???? ??? ???????? ??? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ???????? ???????, ????????? ……??????? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ??? ???????????????? ?? ????????? ?? ?? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ??????, ??????? ?? ??? ??-??? ??? ??? ????  ??? ???? ??????? ????? ? ??? ?? ??? ????? ??????????, ??????? ??? ????? ??????? ???? ??? ???, ???? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ???? ??????? ????? ??? ??? ????????, ?????? ???? ?????? ????? ???? ??????????, ????? ???? ??? ???????? ???? ????? ???? ??? ??????? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ???

Verbatim by: Dr. Suranjita Paul

 Translation:

SailashekharMitra is a mine of old stories, he is a record collector lives in Bagbazar. He told me that in early days of gramophone records one had to put his face almost inside a huge cone like microphone to record a song. Presently in an upcoming film about Gauhar Jan which we have seen in a press show, announces that Gauhar Jan was the first recorded voice of India. But it is not true. In 1902 or 03 when foreigners came with recording equipment they could not find any female to sing through their instruments. Someone suggested them to go to theatre where women artists used to sing. So they went there and recorded the voice of Shashimukhi first. Then on Friday they recorded the voice of Indumukhi.

After then on Monday it was the voice of Gauhar Jan that they recorded. So, she was not the first woman, she became the third woman as far as I know. I asked him, how could you remember whether it was Friday or Saturday? He answered thatit is all printed in the outer cover of the disk, time, date everything. After they recorded Gauhar Jan they returned back to London and then to Germany where the discspublished. Later in 1911 they again returned and recorded a few more. They were quite famous then and it posed no problem to find voices. This is the first recording stories of gramophone.

Translation by: Arundhati Banerjee

 Picture Courtesy: Google

https://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/gauhar.htm

Edited & Designed: Dr. Suranjita Paul

Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.