Finding Aids to Collections Organized by Topic in the Archive of Folk Culture

SOUTH ASIA COLLECTIONS
IN THE ARCHIVE OF FOLK CULTURE

Compiled by: Frank J. Korom
Series Editor: Joseph C. Hickerson

Publication Date: August 1987; Web revision August 2008
Series Number: LCFAFA No. 5 [revised]
ISSN 0736-4903

This finding aid includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, The Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh

AFS 11,339-11,468: Sidney Robertson Cowell Duplication Project
Eleven 10-inch tapes of interviews and music recorded in California; Iran; Ireland; Massachusetts; New York (State); North Carolina; Nova Scotia, Canada; Bangladesh; Wisconsin; and Wyoming by Sidney Robertson Cowell, 1952-56. The collection includes two and one-half linear inches of correspondence, journals, logs, notes, postcards, and transcriptions, and an article.

AFS 11,339B: One 7-inch reel containing Bengali folksongs sung unaccompanied by Jasim ud-Din, a native of Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The selections include birth songs, nursery rhymes and dances, rain incantations, work chants, war cries, and mourning songs. Recorded in Bangladesh, by Sidney Robertson Cowell, 1957.

AFS 11,933: State Department / Folk Music and Poetry from Pakistan
One 7-inch reel of tape from the U.S. State Department of broadcasts from radio Pakistan in Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and Karachi. Accessioned June 1962.

Selections include 32 minutes of Urdu poetry and recitation from the repertoires of Jasim ud-Din and Iqbal; live marsiya ("threnody," eulogistic elegies for martyrs) recitation; Pashto folk poetry from the Northwest Frontier Province recited by Samandar Khan; two songs by Hafez Jullundari; and a variety of Bengali folksongs, including marriage, devotional, boatman and cartman songs. (LWO 3140.)

AFC 1989/009: 1989 Neptune Plaza Concert Series Collection
July 20: Ganga, Washington, DC (Bengali). [catalog record] [finding aid]

Bhutan

AFS 10,508-10,514: Prince Peter of Greece / Nestorian, Lamaist Materials
Three spools of wire recorded by Prince Peter of Greece during the Third Danish Expedition to Central Asia in India in December 1949. Nestorian Christian services recorded at churches in Trichur, Travancore, and Cochin, Kerala. Keywords: Nestorial Church Service (3), India and Tibetan music (4). This collection is duplicated AFS 10,859-10,860.

Red Hat Lamaist ceremonies in a Buddhist Dgompa ("monastery"); conversations over lunch in Tibetan; miscellaneous folksongs by female and male singers accompanying themselves on the sgra-snyan (wooden long-necked lute); and an unaccompanied sgrung-pa ("bard") reciting "the War against Hor," a chapter from the Tibetan epic Ge-sar sgrungs ("The History of King Gesar"). (LWO 1357, spools 4-7; tape duplication on AFS 10,860-10,861 [LWO 2119, reels 2-3].)

AFC 1973/028: Laura Boulton Collection Part 23: Africa, Europe, Far East, Latin America, etc.
Three-hundred and forty-four 7-inch tapes, twenty-two 5-inch tapes and one 3-inch tape of instrumentals and songs recorded in Africa, Europe, Far East, Latin America, Middle East, Near East, North America, South America, and Southeast Asia by Laura Boulton, 1949-61. The collection includes one-third linear inch of articles, correspondence, and lists.

AFS 18,191-18,193: Three 7-inch reels of tape recorded by Laura Boulton in Kalimpong during a 1956 field trip. A female choir performing sixteen unaccompanied songs. (LWO 8956, reels 90-92; tape duplication on LWO 8949, reel 18.)

India

AFS 9049-9052: Music of India
Four 12-inch discs recorded by the station director of the Broadcasting Station in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Miscellaneous classical Indian vocal music in both north and south Indian style. The vocal pieces are accompanied by tabla, pakhavaj, mrindangam, sarangi, and tanpura. Ghazals are also included, accompanied by harmonium, flute, violin, tabla, and mringdangam. (tape copy on LWO 5111 reels 178-179)

AFS 9133-9134: Amita Datta-Majumder / Hindu Folk Songs
Two 16-inch discs of Two sitar solos followed by three Bengali folksongs sung unaccompanied by Mrs. Amita Datta-Majumdar. (tape copy on LWO 5111 reel 190.)

AFS 9795-9810: Lanka Film Company / Songs of India
Sixteen 10-inch LPs (Victor Records and Lanka Film Company Records) of songs of India. The collection includes a song list with names of performers. Recorded on an unknown date.

AFS 10,053-10,054: Erich von Hornbostel Collection
Two 10-inch tapes copied from 120 cylinders of ethnic and tribal music recorded by various collectors in various parts of the world and comprising a 1919 version of the Erich M. Von Hornbostel Demonstration Collection of the Berlin Phonogramm- Archiv.

AFS 10,054: Once tape containing a selection of a Muslim male from Hyderabad playing a tiktiri, an indigenous bagpipe. The second selection is a shehnai duet from Gujarat. (tape copy on LWO 1416 reel 2, and LWO 5111 reels 283-29 and 283-30)

AFS 10,508-10,514: Prince Peter of Greece / Nestorian, Lamaist Materials
Three spools of wire recorded by Prince Peter of Greece during the Third Danish Expedition to Central Asia in India in December 1949. Nestorian Christian services recorded at churches in Trichur, Travancore, and Cochin, Kerala. Keywords: Nestorial Church Service (3), India and Tibetan music (4). (This collection is duplicated AFS 10,859-10,860)

AFS 10,859-10,860: Two tapes containing Nestorian Christian services recorded at churches in Trichur, Travancore, and Cochin, Kerala. (tape copy on LWO 2119, reels 1-2)

AFS 10,908-10,914: Village Music and Speech of Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and Andaman Islands
Seven 10-inch discs recorded by researchers of the Government of India's Anthropological Survey, Calcutta. Includes miscellaneous tribal songs of India: eight Abor songs from Assam; two Angami Naga songs from Assam; two Jaunsari songs from Uttar Pradesh; two Andamanese songs from the Andaman Islands; a war speech given by a Pange chief prior to a raid. (tape copy on LWO 5111, reels 354-355)

AFS 10,981-10,982: All India Radio / Folk Songs from Tirachi, Southern India
Two 16-inch discs from the Transcription Service of All-India. Folksongs from Tiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu; cow herding songs from Mysore, Karnataka; and shepherds' songs from Gujarat. (tape copy on LWO 5111, reels 356-357)

AFS 11,931-11,932: USIA / Folk Music of India
Two 7-inch reels of tape from the United States Information Agency's Voice of America. Miscellaneous folk music of India, including Panjabi folksongs sung by Mirza Sahiba and Virbhai Gurdas. (tape copy on LWO 12,661, reel 36)

AFS 13,723-13,732: Foreign Folk Music Project by Joint Army-Navy Committee / Music of India and Burma
Ten 12-inch discs recorded by the Foreign Folk Music Project of the Joint Army-Navy Committee. Miscellaneous classical music of India (and Burma). (tape copy on LWO 5111 reel 444)

AFS 14,176: Theresa Olson / Vedic Chants from India
One 5-inch tape of Vedic chants recorded April 3, 1966, at Academy of Meditation, Shankaracharya Nagar, Rishikesh U.P., India. Sung by tow Sama Vedic Pundits from Benaras, India. Recorded by Roland O. Olson. (LWO 5937)

AFS 14,242-14,247: Music from North India
Six 7-inch tapes of Classical music of India, primarily ragas from North India. Prepared by Pan Orient Arts Foundation of Boston and New York State Education Dept. Accessioned August 1970. Classical ragas in both north Indian and Karnatic style. The tapes are intended to be an instructional guide for students of Indian music. Each raga is preceded by a spoken commentary. A descriptive manual accompanies the tapes. (LWO 6101)

AFS 23,019-23,155: Ethnic Broadcasting in America Collection
Eighteen 7-inch tapes, two five-inch tapes, and one hundred seventeen cassettes of ethnic radio broadcasts recorded for the Ethnic Broadcasting in America Project of the American Folklife Center. Recorded mostly off the air by Elena Bradunas, Theodore Grame, Alan Jabbour, and others at various locations in the United States, 1977-78. Documentation includes Theodore Grame's Ethnic Broadcasting in the United States (Washington, D.C.: American Folklife Center, 1980) and nine linear inches of manuscript materials. Includes an interview of KELK station manager, Jesus Lopategui (Basque), and a copy of a Croatian broadcast recorded in Detroit, Michigan in 1945 (donated by Richard March).

AFS 23,070; 23,077; 23,101; 23,138; 23,142: Five tapes containing a variety of material documenting East Indian radio broadcasts in the United States. Programs are from WFUV, New York; WHBI, New York; WMZK, Detroit; WLTD, Evanston, Illinois; and WWEL, Medford, Massachusetts. (RYA 2929, 2936, 2959, 2986, 2990.)

AFC 1945/006: Mr. Jaffer Recording of Indian Chant
One 13 1/4-inch disc of an Indian Chant in the Temple (sung at the end of the day). Sung by Mr. Jaffer (informant for Hindustani language records). Recorded by Arthur D. Semmig in the Recording Laboratory of the Library of Congress, May 23, 1944.

AFC 1968/004: Gujarati songs (chants)
Four 12-inch discs recorded by Dorothy Spencer in the Recording Laboratory of the Library of Congress on May 24, 1946. Gujarati bhajans ("devotional songs") and mantras ("chants") sung by Mr. Pandit; passages from the Bhagavad Gita sung by Dr. Haridas T. Mazumdar; and Kusti (Zoroastrian) prayers sung by Mrs. C. E. Nonavutty, a Parsi residing in Bombay, Maharashtra. The collection includes 9 pages of correspondence and engineer's notes. (Includes AFS 13,116-13,117) (tape copy on LWO 5111, reel 423)

AFC 1973/028: Laura Boulton Collection Part 23: Africa, Europe, Far East, Latin America, etc.
Three-hundred and forty-four 7-inch tapes, twenty-two 5-inch tapes and one 3-inch tape of instrumentals and songs recorded in Africa, Europe, Far East, Latin America, Middle East, Near East, North America, South America, and Southeast Asia by Laura Boulton, 1949-61. The collection includes one-third linear inch of articles, correspondence, and lists.

A variety of recordings ranging from classical ragas played on a number of instruments to folksongs and sacred recitations from the Panjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, and Kerala. (LWO 8956, reels 93-113; tape copy on LWO 8949, reels 18-22.)

AFC 1984/007: 1984 Neptune Plaza Concert Series Collection
July 12, 1984: Concert of Bengali folksongs from West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, and the foothills of the Himalayas. Songs collected and sung by Hita Brata Roy and his ensemble Ganga. (RWA 7908) [catalog record] [finding aid]

AFC 1990/022: Gheorghe and Eugenia Popescu-Judetz Collection
Manuscript materials, audio recordings, graphic materials, and moving images that document primarily Romanian folk dance and music.  Materials span 1938-1974, and 1995.  Bulk of fieldwork materials covers Romanian dance tunes, songs, and ballads performed by singers, musicians, and ensembles from all regions of Romania and from Yugoslavian Banat.  Also includes Turkish music from Dobrudja and dervish ceremonies from Anatolia, as well as folk and classical music recorded in India. This is a collection of traditional folk dance music which serves as a basis for the choreographies of their government-sponsored performance ensembles. Materials documenting Romanian costume, rituals, and customs areincluded. Music arrangements, choreographic diagrams, photographs, and show programs document activities of the Ciocirlia and Perinitza Ensembles.  The collection also provides insight into the lives of the Popescu-Judetzes through manuscript and photographic documentation of their work as ethnographers, dancers, choreographers, and teachers.

AFC 1991/015: Frank J. Korom Collection
Performances and life histories recorded by Frank J. Korom in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, India, in 1982, 1983, and 1990 as part of his dissertation research (Folklore, University of Pennsylvania). Includes life histories, traditional stories, devotional songs, drumming, rural brass bands, street theater, verbal duets, mystical songs, legends, heroic songs, and performances on the classical flute and sitar.

AFC 1993/002: 1993 Neptune Plaza Concert Series Collection
Music performance of North Indian Bengali music. Recorded in at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., April 15, 1993. [catalog record] [finding aid]

AFC 1999/018: John Moyer / Traditional culture of India, Tibet, Africa
Documentation of traditional music of Tibet, India, and Africa, most recorded in 1953 (though a couple apparently date from 1970 while filming on location among the tribal peoples of Assam State).  Contents: 7-inch reel: Tibet, recorded in Dharmasala, Assam, 1953. 5-inch reels: Calcutta street sounds (December 1953); Naga songs from Mao village, Naga Hills (1953); Manipuri dances and drumming from Imphul, Manipur (February 1953); Pipe band, Alipore Zoo Singers on Calcutta street (1953); Nong Krem dance music from Smit, Assam (June 26, 1953); Firewalking, Banki, Orissa (June 1953), Tibetan dances from Darjeeling, Kanu Patel, etc.  3-inch reels: African music; India music for titles. One hundred twenty-one photos accompanying this collection are available in the Prints & Photographs Division. [catalog record for photos]

AFC 2000/014: Robert S. Gottlieb / East Indian Drumming Collection
Ten 5-inch tapes and 11 audiocassettes of ethnographic field recordings of Tabla drumming of North India by various masters. Also includes interviews with the masters.  Resulting publications incl. "North Indian Tabla Drumming" in Music of India/Anthology of World's Music, New York, 1975: LP by Inam Ali Khan with notes, illus, and transcriptions.

AFC 2004/031: Anjani Ambegaokar Concert Collection
Homegrown 2004 concert, National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Awardee, performing Kathak dance of India in Coolidge Auditorium. Collection includes sound and video recording of dance performance of classical Kathak dance from northern India performed by Anjani Ambegaokar and her daughter Amrapali Ambegoaker. Manuscripts in the collection include program flyer and describe the dances and the tradition in more detail.

The Maldives

The Archive of Folk Culture currently has no collections from this country.

Nepal

AFS 15,459-15,523: J. D. Robb / Folk Music of the Southwest
Sixty-three 7-inch and two 5-inch tapes of principally Mexican American music; also includes music from Mexico, Nepal, Spain, and Venezuela. Recorded by John Donald Robb in New Mexico and elsewhere, 1939-73. Principally Spanish American, but also American Indian and Anglo (cowboy, instrumental, etc.). [Possibly includes recordings from El Salvador.]

AFS 15,523: One 7-inch tape containing 16 Nepali folksongs and dances. The selections include love songs, popular ballads, a tragedy, and a harvest dance. Recorded by John Donald Robb in Kathmandu on January 16, 1958. (LWO 7226 reel 60)

AFS 18,215-18,238: Twenty-four 7-inch reels of tape recorded by Laura Boulton during a field trip to Nepal in 1950-1951. Accessioned April 1976.

A variety of Nepali music and songs recorded in numerous social contexts such as weddings, religious festivals, and on street corners. (LWO 8956, reels 114-137; tape duplication on LWO 8949, reels 22-25.)

AFC 1978/007: Anne H. Ross / Catalog of the Terence R. Bech Nepal Music Research Collection
This collection includes the catalog only. Original recordings are housed at the Archives of Traditional Music, Indiana University

Pakistan

AFS 10,745: One 10-inch reel of tape recorded by Herbert Norwood in the Recording Laboratory of the Library of Congress on September 23, 1952. Accessioned June 1953.

Ragas Yaman and Khammaja, as well as dhuns ("folk tunes") played on sitar by Sheikh Muizz-ud Din, a former student of Ustad Sharif Khan. (LWO 2017.)

AFS 11,933: State Department / Folk Music and Poetry from Pakistan
One 7-inch reel of tape from the U.S. State Department of broadcasts from radio Pakistan in Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and Karachi. Accessioned June 1962.

Selections include 32 minutes of Urdu poetry and recitation from the repertoires of Jasim ud-Din and Iqbal; live marsiya ("threnody," eulogistic elegies for martyrs) recitation; Pashto folk poetry from the Northwest Frontier Province recited by Samandar Khan; two songs by Hafez Jullundari; and a variety of Bengali folksongs, including marriage, devotional, boatman and cartman songs. (LWO 3140.)

AFC 1953/001: Muizz-ud-Din Collection of Sitar Recordings
One 10-inch tape of music played on a sitar, an instrument of Pakistan played by Sheikh Muizz-ud-Din, an exchange student. The collection includes a song list. (Includes AFS 10,745)

AFC 1959/004: Sidney Robertson Cowell Collection of Folk Music Recorded in Ireland, Iran, Pakistan, and Malaya
Twelve 10-inch tapes of folk music recorded in Ireland, Iran, Pakistan, and Malaya by Sidney Robertson Cowell. Recorded pre-1959. Includes 2 inches of correspondence, fieldnotes, recording logs, etc. related to field recordings made in Ireland in 1955, as well as accompanying research notes made in preparation for Folkways recording, "Songs of Aran," published in 1957 and drawn from recordings in collection. (Includes AFS 11,462-11,473)

One 7-inch reel containing a selection of Pakistani music and poetry. Selections include classical music for voice and shehnai, mystical poetry of the Muslim pir ("spiritual master") Bhit Shah, and folk music from Sindh, Pakistan, played on the alghoza. Recorded by Sidney Robertson Cowell, July 24, 1958.

Sri Lanka

AFS 9795-9810: Lanka Film Company / Songs of India
Sixteen 10-inch LPs (Victor Records and Lanka Film Company Records) of songs of India. The collection includes a song list with names of performers. Recorded on an unknown date.

Contains a variety of songs and tunes; classical, popular and folk. Many of the items are vannamas, songs and dances from the district of Kandy based on the movements of animals, birds, and reptiles. (Tape duplication on LWO 5111, reels 260-261.)

AFS 10,053-10,054: Erich von Hornbostel Collection
Two cylinders from the E. M. von Hornbostel Demonstration Collection in Berlin. The recordings were made by Mrs. M. Selenka in Bibile, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and E. M. von Hornbostel in Berlin during 1907. Accessioned June 1951.

The first selection is a tribal song, "Tantina," performed by Posalasaka, a member of the Vedda tribe, the indigenous people of the island. The second is a Singhalese dance tune accompanied by a folk drum. (Tape duplication on AFS 10,053-10,054 [LWO 1416, reel 1-2, and LWO 5111, reel 283-29].)

AFS 10,083-10,084: Surya Sena / Sri Lankan Songs
Two 10-inch tapes of Sinhalese folk music and folk music of other lands of the Orient. Sung by Devar Surya Sena, assisted by his wife, Nelun Devi. One  reel recorded at the Library of Congress in the Studio and the other reel is a recording of the recital at the Library of Congress in Coolidge Auditorium, 1950.  Singhalese folk music including vannamas lullabies, and boatman songs, as well as music from other Asian lands.

AFS 11,880: S. Vithiananthan / Ceylonese folk music and folk music-drama
One 10-inch tape of miscellaneous folk music and folk music-drama recorded by S. Vithiananthan in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Recorded pre-1961. (LWO 3236.)

AFC 1973/028: Laura Boulton Collection Part 23: Africa, Europe, Far East, Latin America, etc.
Three-hundred and forty-four 7-inch tapes, twenty-two 5-inch tapes and one 3-inch tape of instrumentals and songs recorded in Africa, Europe, Far East, Latin America, Middle East, Near East, North America, South America, and Southeast Asia by Laura Boulton, 1949-61. The collection includes one-third linear inch of articles, correspondence, and lists. (Includes AFS 18,102-18,468)

An informal lecture-demonstration on the folksongs (audava, vannama, musaladi, vrithia, viraha), folk drama (kolam, nadagambal, kuttu, nalagam), and poetry (su putta) of Sri Lanka by Surya Sena, a composer, singer and collector of Singhalese folk music. (LWO 8956, reel 89; tape duplication on LWO 8949, reel 17.)

AFC 1996/028: Ron Walcott / Philippine and Sri Lankan Music Collection
One audiocassette entitled, "The Mountains Ring Out their Joy" is Christian music from the Cordilleras of Northern Philippines, and was produced by the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music.  A songbook by the same title accompanies the audiocassette.  The second booklet is the first number of a journal, "Paminsanang Sulatin sa Pananaliksik sa Musika" (Occasional Papers in Music Research).  It is written in English and Sri Lankan.