Recording on the Nomads' Trail
Sunday Feature - December 2023

Musician Paul Purgas explores the life of Deben Bhattacharya, the uncelebrated godfather of Indian field recording.
Bhattacharya’s recordings have shaped the way the West has listened to the sounds of South Asia and beyond and the vastness of his output is remarkable: he produced over 100 records, 23 films and published more than a dozen books during his lifetime. He also left over 400 hours of tape recordings going far beyond India.
Who was the man behind it all? And what are we to make of his legacy today?

In Stockholm, Purgas visits the Musikverket archives to learn more about Bhattacharya’s approach to documenting songs and traditions. Here was a man who had dedicated his life to capturing the sounds of music, landscape and life on the road, embarking on extensive field recording trips throughout Asia and Europe; and yet his name seems to have been somewhat forgotten from the histories of what is now known as World Music. Purgas charts Bhattacharya’s journey, from his early life in India, to his work with the BBC where he introduced Indian music to British listeners in the 1950s. We hear first-hand accounts of Bhattacharya’s travels, explore the new possibilities that technology had to offer at the time, and delve into the rich archive of sounds recorded along the way.

With contributions from:
Dr DM Withers, Lecturer in Publishing at the University of Exeter
Robert Millis, Seattle-based sound artist
Srimoyi Bhattacharya, Bhattacharya’s daughter
Birgit Lundin, Bhattacharya’s ex-wife
Adim Lundin, Bhattacharya’s son
Wictor Johansson, archivist at Musikverket in Stockholm
Moushumi Bhowmik, Bengali musician and researcher
Sushrita Acharjee, Doctoral scholar at Jadavpur University
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001t2jj