Guwahati, Dec. 30: The Northeast's first music archive was inaugurated at Jyoti Chitraban Film Studio Complex here today.
The Music Archive, a building inside the Film Studio Complex, has been constructed to preserve the music of various artistes - old and new - in digitalised form.
It will also preserve the obsolete music equipment of yesteryears in a museum.
Assam cultural affairs minister Naba Doley inaugurated the archive and said, "The first music archive of the region will fulfil the aspirations of our artistes. The centre will work for preservation of creations, including folklore."
On the technology of the archive, Luit Parashar, its architect, said, "The main function of the archive is to store and make music and sound clips available in digitised form. In the first phase, they will be collected in whatever form they are available, and these will be digitised and uploaded in the cloud network so that people can avail it. The physical storage units of those sounds, such as cassettes, CDs and discs, will be preserved in a climate-controlled environment. There is also a library, where people can access the music."
"Vintage and obsolete sound recording and editing equipment will be polished and displayed in the archive," Parashar said.
"The building is physically-challenged and visually-impaired-friendly. They can walk and stroll around within the building without any help from others," the architect added.
The funds to build the archive were sanctioned from the Union ministry of information and broadcasting to develop a film city within the state as mentioned in the Assam Accord.
"The project took nearly Rs 99 lakh to be completed. The construction began in January this year," Monita Borgohain, the secretary of the Jyoti Chitraban Film Studio Society, told The Telegraph here today.
The day also saw the inauguration of the first air-conditioned shooting floor of the Northeast - Sudhakantha Dr Bhupen Hazarika Shooting Floor - on the same premises.
"It is a multipurpose shooting floor with all the modern technologies," Borgohain said.
Established in 1961, the Jyoti Chitraban Film Studio Society has the world famous Arri-Alexa Digital 35mm movie camera, which is one of the very few available models in Asia. The complex also houses the Dr Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film and Television Institute.
