ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with some of the early developments in the first decade of sound recording in India, and their relation to the production and circulation of music as a commodity. The Gramophone Company – known then as the Gramophone and Typewriter Company Ltd. – began its operations in India in 1902. The new technology appears to have become popular in India by the end of the century, and was used not only for casual recording but also to make recordings of eminent musicians – some of the greatest of the time. The gramophone record became for artists a site on which to create images of their own musical ability and range. Many of the greatest exponents of Indian art music of the first part of the 20th century, Hindustani and Carnatic alike, committed their art to this medium, and in doing so made it a witness to the greatness of their musical imagination.
