Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology
The Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology (ARCE) houses extensive collections of recordings of Indian music and oral traditions.
Mission Statement
The Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology (ARCE) of the American Institute of Indian Studies provides resources for the study of ethnomusicology and the performing arts in India through archival collections, library resources, field research by staff, special events, advanced training, internet resources, and collaborations with institutions, scholars, communities and performing artists in India and around the world. Access to its collections is enabled in a way that respects professional ethical standards, artist and collectors wishes, and Indian copyright legislation. Materials are disseminated using methods that change with evolving technologies.
ARCE Facilities
ARCE employs state-of-the art technologies and professional archival standards to ensure that recorded performances of Indian performing arts are kept available for the long-term in order to enhance scholarship, creativity, and the safeguarding of India’s intangible cultural heritage for future generations. A particular focus has been the repatriation of collections held in archives abroad for access to Indian scholars and institutions.
The ARCE archives is a repository of voluntarily deposited collections from scholars and collectors of all nationalities. The collections have all been meticulously documented, and are complemented by a superb library that includes books, journals, and dissertations relevant to the field of ethnomusicology in general, with a particular focus on India.
ARCE follows an active program of acquisition, cataloging, preservation and dissemination. There is an audio visual laboratory equipped for making preservation copies of incoming material as well as for making working copies and research copies for users. A listening room, equipped with high quality audio and video equipment, is dedicated to the use of scholars listening and viewing archival material.
Collections
The Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology now holds over 270 collections of field recordings in its archive
In addition to these, the Centre has extensive collections of published recordings ranging from classical music to folk and popular genres from all over India – from 78 rpm discs to CDs. There is a small but growing collection of published world music as well.
The ARCE library has approximately 10,000 books, apart from journals, and collections of offprints and newspaper cuttings. The focus of the library is on the field of ethnomusicology and related disciplines, with a regional emphasis on India.
The AIIS facility houses top equipment for both recording and playback, and documentation for all recordings is maintained in a computerized database that may be used by any interested scholar. Recordings as old as the 1930s are now maintained by the Centre, where they are preserved under optimal archival conditions in a vault strictly climate controlled for temperature, humidity and dust protection.
A number of items in this collection are available at the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings web site. There are over 200 tracks for paid download from which performers get royalties.
ARCE Materials
- Endangered Archives Programme: Preservation of audio recordings, and accompanying documentation of music and folklore of Western Rajasthan | Endangered Archives Programme
- Modern Endangered Archives Program: Recordings of Hereditary Musicians of Western Rajasthan – UCLA Library Digital Collections
- Google Arts and Culture: a set of 6 exhibitions Finding the Groove: Pioneers of Jazz in India 1930s-1960s — Google Arts & Culture
Activities
ARCE also holds seminars, workshops, and training programs regularly as well as special programs such as the well-received Remembered Rhythms festival on the Diaspora and the Music of India, supported by a generous grant from the Ford Foundation. ARCE is also involved in research projects such as the Archives and Community Partnership which involved field work in Rajasthan and Goa, also funded by the Ford Foundation. A recent field project “Documentation of endangered music traditions in West Rajasthan” was funded by the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation.
Contact information
Archive and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology
22, Sector-32
Institutional Area
Gurugram-122 001 Haryana
Open: Monday – Friday (please contact for further information)
Contact: Dr. Shubha Chaudhuri, Associate Director General (Academic)