tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9051206907874534632024-03-14T04:20:38.737-07:00Gramophone Songs of Sri LankaAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17061737589426328566noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-905120690787453463.post-5690391244212957602014-07-06T08:16:00.000-07:002014-07-06T08:21:40.753-07:00History of Gramophone Songs in Sri Lanka<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggeekWQEQJRDU4GeV2OZmZ1Tzmk7pEZyfPlhbatTMiTvv2i0c4y_hXwu88SEmPQbyhrB4LCRT7NTwih9VY3W6Fn_S0pxxAEGPJ7lvz7mphVuZampYJnm10liCkogF3DdfsciBq8PtDYTM/s1600/gramophone+sri+lanka+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggeekWQEQJRDU4GeV2OZmZ1Tzmk7pEZyfPlhbatTMiTvv2i0c4y_hXwu88SEmPQbyhrB4LCRT7NTwih9VY3W6Fn_S0pxxAEGPJ7lvz7mphVuZampYJnm10liCkogF3DdfsciBq8PtDYTM/s1600/gramophone+sri+lanka+1.JPG" height="320" width="305" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">The history of the Gramophone Company of India dates back
over a century. At the beginning it was "Gramophone and Typewriter Company
Limited" which was started in November, 1901 in Calcutta, having its base
in London. Mr. J. Watson Hawd was the first manager. The interesting story of
the HMV gramophone and records in our region begin with the arrival of Fred
Gaisburg, Recording Engineer assistant of the inventor of flat disc record,
Smile Berliner.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">He came to Calcutta in 1902 for recording with all equipment
specially designed to capture the music of India. At the turn of the twentieth
century the Gramophone Company of America divided into two parts. The American
Company was known as Victor and UK Company, subsequently became known as HMV.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The dog's figure in the HMV trade mark was drawn by Francis
Barrnad in London. It was his pet dog named Nipper. Barrnad's father and uncle
were well-known artists in England, highly competent in drawing animals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Barrnad first made this piece of work for Edison Bell and
Company in London who were manufacturing 'talking machines', phonographs. But
later the phonograph in the picture was replaced by Gramophones by Barrnad
himself and was adopted as 'Trade Mark' by H.M.V. It was registered in London
in 1900.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The prestigious label on the record with the 'dog and
trumpet' logo was the vision of joy for the customers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The big brain behind the technological aspects of the
Gramophone Company of India. Jayanta Kumar Maitra, who was the Chief Technical
Manager of HMV narrated the history and the progress of the institution which
now has a capacity of producing 100,000 of cassettes a day having a business
turnover target of Rs. 1000 million a year. He was assisted by the
Executive-Recording Administration, Shyamal Mukherjee.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH1AXjpNKr0szZMwk012eJSoThtGRUHMM_dGRbWAd9y_djtcUnw5V1IiumONgaLq9rZyr1Y1levfHw4HVukfsoKnzUQ_wZq9e0wdwrsnh6vZho4sbRJJqyx2gvHmCLG-O8POiBgd-mW_U/s1600/gramophone+sri+lanka+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH1AXjpNKr0szZMwk012eJSoThtGRUHMM_dGRbWAd9y_djtcUnw5V1IiumONgaLq9rZyr1Y1levfHw4HVukfsoKnzUQ_wZq9e0wdwrsnh6vZho4sbRJJqyx2gvHmCLG-O8POiBgd-mW_U/s1600/gramophone+sri+lanka+2.JPG" height="182" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First recording<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first recording in India started with famous dancing star
Gauhar Jan on 5th November, 1902. Since then, there was no looking back,
encompassing every genre of Indian music. HMV's repertoire of recordings and
artists today represent the very essence of India's musical pride.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The industry grew substantially and moved from originally
producing 78 rpm records to the micro-groove disc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The well organized first Record factory was started in 1907
in Beliaghata in Calcutta, popularly known as the 'Sealdah factory'.
Incidentally, the EMI recording factory at Middlesex, England was also
established around that time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Other countries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Other countries were to start record production much later -
for example, China in 1922, Argentina and Australia in 1925, New Zealand in
1926 and Switzerland and Turkey in 1929.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first recording studio in Sealdah factory was in 1908 and
the electrical recording in 1925. Those occasions were graced by Rabindranath
Tagore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">According to the 'old notes' available it was around this
time that a few HMV gramophones and records were sent to Ceylon. But notes does
not mention whether they were really exported or taken by somebody to the
island. But what I have heard from late Saranagupta Amarasinghe, an eminent
music teacher, was that it was Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala who first took a
set of records from India around 1906. They were with Bengalee songs. It was
worthwhile mentioning that the old "Nritya Geetha" recorded by
several old time singers both male and female in Sri Lanka during that time
were similar to Bengalee songs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In later years Cargills (Ceylon) Limited was the major
importer of HMV Gramophones and records. Several other companies such as Lewis
Browns, Gauri Corporation, New Saraswathi Stores, Wickramasooriya and Company,
International Recording Studio, N. Porolis Fernando and Company and V. G.
Brothers also imported HMV records to Sri Lanka.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With the introduction of the gramophones and increasing
demand for records there was a need for larger premises and the Sealdah factory
was shifted to the present location at Jessore Road, Dum Dum in Calcutta in
1929, the vacated military hospital built by a British Governor in undivided
Bengal, Lord Clive. There, the first record was pressed by an automatic press
on 7th July, 1930 - a South Indian disc. Radio, Record Player/Radiograms etc.
were also introduced during 1930 by the Gramophone Company of India. Microgroove
Recordings LP, EP, etc, were started in the year 1958 and the stereo Recording
in 1967.Early recordings were made directly into the wax discs. Lacquers were
introduced around 1940.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The equipment used originally is presently displayed at the
National Museum in Delhi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Though there were other recording companies such as EMI,
Columbia, Paralophone, Odeon and Eagle etc., HMV was the leader in the field.
Up to year 2000, Gramophone Company of India has carried an inventory of
100,000 records, comprised 2,000 couplings to cater to the needs of the
discriminating customers. According to a former engineer Shyam Mukherjee, there
are hundreds of mother-shells of Sinhala records.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Film songs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Recording of film songs was started in the year 1931. The
first film record was released by the Company in 1932.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A few film recordings done in Sinhala were Chandali,
Wahaldupatha, Sarubima, Sussy and Hondama Welawa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Interestingly hundreds of records with the national song of
Sri Lanka, 'Namo... Namo.... Matha' was also processed under the brand name of
'HMV' in Calcutta.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A few names of Sri Lankan singers are also noted in the
books. Among them were Mohideen Baig, Visharad Amaradeva, Nanda Malini, Neela
Wickramasinghe, Milton Mallawarachchi, H. R. Jotipala, C. T. Fernando, Christie
Leonard Perera and T. M. Jayarathna.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unfortunately, most the 'register books' containing the names
of dozens of Sri Lankan artists have been destroyed due to weather condition or
for want of space.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Among those whose recordings were done in 'HMV' were Gauhar
Jan, Lal Chand Boral, Gopeswar Banerjee, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, Ustad Kale
Khan, Ustad Imdad Khan, Piara Sahib, Bedana Dasi, Rabindranath Tagore, George
Harrison Beatle Group, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi,
Lal Bahadur Shastri, C. Raja Gopalachari, Lord Mountbatten, Dr. Rajendra
Prasad, Dr. Zakir Hussain, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, D.L. Roy, Kazi Nazrul
Islam, Sarojini Naidu, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar, Ustad Amjad Ali
Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Satyajit Ray, M.S. Subhalakshmi, Pankaj Mullick and
several other prominent artists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"However, the introduction of audio cassettes into the
Indian market restricted the growth of records. Subsequently, the invention of
the compact disc and availability of the hardware for CDs in India has finally
sounded the death knell of the vinyl record industry", said Jayanta Kumar
Maitra who was serving the institution for over 30 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The institution commenced manufacturing cassettes from
December, 1976.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Gramophone Company of India with its popular brand name
HMV was taken over by R.P. Goenka Enterprises (RPG) in 1985.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At present, the production capacity is over 40 million
cassettes per annum and it is the India's largest cassette processing venture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Scully machine was installed in the morgue of the Lord
Clive Hospital, so it was not surprising that a few ghosts might haunt the
studio premises.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17061737589426328566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-905120690787453463.post-31014027695494167472014-07-06T07:38:00.000-07:002014-07-06T07:58:33.239-07:00History of Sound Recording Devices<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In
1806 the Physicist Thomas Young (1773-1829), expounded his wave theory, a part
of which was a means of displaying sound as wavy lines on a drum. Young was
more concerned with the nature of sound than a possible recording medium. (see
picture) <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Early
Origins in Dictation Machines </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipr8eGY0cI7BiMIYhmoVl3lfCHn5I_7V2CBuoJwOs4e0G8p03Le6WF-r3U3OUdX46Gthlr8WhbRyHgu1rSlJY1prpU6ALSaqpnKJ7rZ2tcXlPCBXVUvsJHSTy4HtPqcldJg275yNSRY9Y/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipr8eGY0cI7BiMIYhmoVl3lfCHn5I_7V2CBuoJwOs4e0G8p03Le6WF-r3U3OUdX46Gthlr8WhbRyHgu1rSlJY1prpU6ALSaqpnKJ7rZ2tcXlPCBXVUvsJHSTy4HtPqcldJg275yNSRY9Y/s1600/11.jpg" height="320" width="287" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #ffffcc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Edison with the first Phonograph</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
first recording machine is at present attributed to the Frenchman Ed
Ouardd-Leoan Scott De Martinville (1817-1879) who invented his Phonautograph in
1857. It could transcribe sound onto a blackened glass plate and, later, onto
blackened paper on a drum. He had no means of playing it back (in 2008 his
sounds were reproduced optically and can be listened to today) .<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In
1877 Thomas Edison developed a machine that, for the first time in history,
recorded speech and played it back (see picture). It was based on machines
that recorded Morse code but, instead of
dots and dashes, a stylus was attached to a diaphragm and the vibration up and
down inscribed on a cylinder covered in tin foil. The idea was patented in
1878. The machine did not become popular as the recording medium was not
suitable for extended use and would need to be replaced each time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In
1886, in Washington DC, Charles Sumner Tainter and Chichester Bell, cousin of
A.G. Bell the inventor of the telephone, patented an improved Phonograph called
the Graphaphone which looked similar to Edison’s Phonograph. Its stylus cut
into wax on a cardboard disc.Challenged by the Graphaphone Edison’s Company produced,
in 1888, the perfected Phonograph. Its cylinders were made entirely of wax and
lasted two minutes. Both units were powered by either a sewing machine treadle
or electric motor and were only for dictation not music. Edison developed three
versions of Phonographs between 1896-1901, the “Standard” the “Gem” and the “Home”, these remained in
production until 1913. Edison contested, in court, Bell & Tainters wax
system. The legal process took two years, at which time the Judge compromised
the situation by giving Bell & Tainter their own patent so both companies
could make their own machines using each others patents.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In the
early 1890’s Tainter, Bell, and Edison’s companies turned to the more
profitable line of music. Arcades for coin-in-the-slot phonographs sprang up
and people queued up to hear crude recordings of popular songs, listening
through hearing tubes poked into the ears.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Discs
replace Cylinders </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Edison
Standard Phonograph In 1888 the German American Emile Berliner (1851-1929)
produced a player using flat discs with a stylus vibrating from side to side.
Reproducing these flat discs would be easier but they were still made of wax on
a zinc base. Berliner re-visited Germany in 1889 to demonstrate his invention
to a firm of toy makers, there they produced the first machine called a
Gramophone. In 1896 an improved clockwork motor was built by a New Jersey
engineer Eldridge R Johnson, and in 1898 a London branch of Berliner’s business
called the Gramophone Company opened at Covent Garden. The Company purchased
the trademark “His Masters Voice” in 1899 and produced the new improved
clockwork gramophone, using vulcanite rubber compound and wire needles instead
of a stylus which was now only used in the master process. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Shortly
afterwards, Fred Gaisberg (who was working for Berliner in 1900) found a better
material, Shellac, for making records at a button factory in Newark, New
Jersey. Berliner started to use the material to make 78 rpm flat discs, the
surface was laced with slate to wear down the needles, instead of the needles
wearing down the disc.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Competition
from Pathé-Frères</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Tournaphone
Gramophone In 1906 the French Pathé Frères Company developed a new system of
flat discs using Edison’s Hill & Dale (up & down) principle. The discs
were vulcanized rubber and a jewelled stylus sat in the groove, playing at
around 95 rpm, from the inside of the disc outwards. All this was opposite to
Berliner's principle of a wire needle vibrating from side to side and playing
from the outside inwards at around 78 rpm. Using other manufacturers,
particularly German, to make the machines
Pathé was to swamp the market with the new medium. An example is the
Tournaphone this model includes the
“Morning Glory” type horn introduced in 1904. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">By the
First World War manufacturing by Pathé had ceased leaving Berliner's machines to forge ahead.
Edison’s cylinder machines had also disappeared by this time. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Into
the Electronic Age<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In the
1930’s wireless sets were provided with an input for Gramophones using electric
pick ups, Radiograms were becoming common place, these used electric motors and
the age of mechanical machines was coming to an end. If you had a Gramophone
and a Wireless (Radio) you could purchase an electric pick up and replace the
sound box turning your unit into an electric player with a wind up motor.
Electricity was the new fashion and eventually Gramophones would disappear for
those who could afford the new Radiograms, which were very big, floor standing,
and heavy, all well made and styled in wooden cabinets.The Gramophone both
portable and cabinet, and 78 rpm records
were in use through the Second World War until the 1950's.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Vinyl and Hi-Fi<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
1950’s saw the new vinyl long playing records, these records were played on
smaller, lighter portables, using lighter pick ups with high electric outputs
and a Fidelity Portable Record Player <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Fidelty
Record Player jewelled stylus, feeding simple valve internal amplifier and
speakers, none of these systems produced a quality sound. The phrase “High
Fidelity” (Hi-Fi) was coined, and better sounding systems became available,
unlike when the phrase is used today, these systems really did mean a quality
sound, and worshippers of this new religion, (which were rare), built their own
amplifiers and speakers to achieve perfection, (the author of this article
being one). This was happening all through the 1950’s and 1960’s. Moving magnet
pick ups with a force on the record of only one quarter of a gram was achieved
and sound close to reality was possible.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Equipment
manufacturers would set up systems during the early years in concert halls like
the Festival Hall, positioning the speakers behind the orchestra, in order to
compare the two sounds. I have heard that on one such occasion both were placed
behind a curtain and the audience asked to vote on which was the orchestra, and
which was the recorded sound, the result showed that the sound system was
preferred. Systems capable of achieving this would have been far too costly for
most audiophiles, and during the 1950's almost all systems of such quality were
from Britain Europe or the USA. Britain was a leader at the time, the Far East
had not yet entered this market .<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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