Scope and arrangement
These music and spoken word recordings were collected under the auspices of the Society for Asian Music, and the contents of the recordings primarily concern Asian music, in both specific and general contexts. The Society was also the sponsor of many of the music recitals and lectures within the collection. Although the collection contains a diverse sampling of the music of many Asian countries, the music of India is given a more substantial treatment. Both Hindustani and Karnatic music are represented by performances as well as lectures. Noteworthy performers include Shirish Gor, Ravi Shankar, and M. L. Vasanthakumari. The songs and poetry of Rabindranath Tagore are the topic of several recordings. Programs broadcast by All India Radio include performances and discussion of the songs of Tagore, and poetry readings by Tagore himself. In addition, the collection contains a symposium on the poetry of Tagore, held in New York in 1961, that features tributes given by Amiya Chandra Chakravarty and Robert Frost. Music from other countries includes folk music from China, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, and dance music from the Philippines. The collection also includes examples of the classical music of China, Japan, Korea, Laos, and Pakistan. Additional spoken word recordings include a series of introductory lectures on Asian music by Henry Cowell, and a lecture by Alan Hovhaness on Gagaku.
The Society for Asian Music collection of noncommercial recordings are arranged in eleven series:
-
1960-19616 reels
-
1959-1961, undated9 reels
-
March 19614 reels
-
1959, 19632 reels
-
1959, undated3 reels
-
1960, 19625 reels
-
1965, undated4 reels
-
1959, undated3 reels
-
1959, undated2 reels