RecordingChattogram
On 24 November 2016, I went to Noakhali in eastern Bangladesh with sound recordist Ali Ahsan, searching for…
19:12
About this recording
- Title as given by the source
- On 24 November 2016, I went to Noakhali in eastern Bangladesh with sound recordist Ali Ahsan, searching for Tazal Ahmed, who had sung two songs for Arnold Bake on board the Streefkerk in 1934. Following the leads from the catalogue of the Berlin Phonogramm Archiv, I wondered if some family of Tazal Ahmed could still be found in his village Ghutia in Noakhali Shadar (usually written as Sadar, but Bake was probably writing as he listened; he was writing the sound)? The recording was more than 80 years old, so there was of course no chance of finding the singer. But perhaps someone with some connection would tell us something? Perhaps he had settled in London or somewhere else in the UK, as many sailors did? Perhaps someone would be able to say something about the song? So, the first stop would have to be Noakhali Sadar. Ali and I took a bus from Dhaka to Noakhali and went to the office of the District Magistrate. No one seemed to have heard of Ghutia, but some people talked about Sholla Ghutia. So that is where we went, but realised that it was a fairly new place, formed as a result of the rising of a new char or silt island. They talked about the River Bhulua, which had changed its course over the last forty years, washing away places which would have existed in the 1930s. Sadar now is not how Sadar was then. Could it then be that the river had washed away Tazal Ahmed’s Ghutia village?
- Place
- ChattogramLocation is approximate — known to district level.
- Date
- Date unknown
- Collection
- The Travelling Archive
- Persistent ID
- BDMA-R-000342
Rights
The Travelling Archive's own material is used by permission with credit, for non-commercial streaming. Third-party material requires separate permission. No downloads; essays are excerpt-only until confirmed.
Cite this recording
- APA
- On 24 November 2016, I went to Noakhali in eastern Bangladesh with sound recordist Ali Ahsan, searching for Tazal Ahmed, who had sung two songs for Arnold Bake on board the Streefkerk in 1934. Following the leads from the catalogue of the Berlin Phonogramm Archiv, I wondered if some family of Tazal Ahmed could still be found in his village Ghutia in Noakhali Shadar (usually written as Sadar, but Bake was probably writing as he listened; he was writing the sound)? The recording was more than 80 years old, so there was of course no chance of finding the singer. But perhaps someone with some connection would tell us something? Perhaps he had settled in London or somewhere else in the UK, as many sailors did? Perhaps someone would be able to say something about the song? So, the first stop would have to be Noakhali Sadar. Ali and I took a bus from Dhaka to Noakhali and went to the office of the District Magistrate. No one seemed to have heard of Ghutia, but some people talked about Sholla Ghutia. So that is where we went, but realised that it was a fairly new place, formed as a result of the rising of a new char or silt island. They talked about the River Bhulua, which had changed its course over the last forty years, washing away places which would have existed in the 1930s. Sadar now is not how Sadar was then. Could it then be that the river had washed away Tazal Ahmed’s Ghutia village?. (n.d.). The Travelling Archive. Shurer Manchitra. https://shurer-manchitra.pages.dev/en/recordings/BDMA-R-000342 Original: https://www.thetravellingarchive.org/tazal-ahmed-noakhali/
- Chicago
- "On 24 November 2016, I went to Noakhali in eastern Bangladesh with sound recordist Ali Ahsan, searching for Tazal Ahmed, who had sung two songs for Arnold Bake on board the Streefkerk in 1934. Following the leads from the catalogue of the Berlin Phonogramm Archiv, I wondered if some family of Tazal Ahmed could still be found in his village Ghutia in Noakhali Shadar (usually written as Sadar, but Bake was probably writing as he listened; he was writing the sound)? The recording was more than 80 years old, so there was of course no chance of finding the singer. But perhaps someone with some connection would tell us something? Perhaps he had settled in London or somewhere else in the UK, as many sailors did? Perhaps someone would be able to say something about the song? So, the first stop would have to be Noakhali Sadar. Ali and I took a bus from Dhaka to Noakhali and went to the office of the District Magistrate. No one seemed to have heard of Ghutia, but some people talked about Sholla Ghutia. So that is where we went, but realised that it was a fairly new place, formed as a result of the rising of a new char or silt island. They talked about the River Bhulua, which had changed its course over the last forty years, washing away places which would have existed in the 1930s. Sadar now is not how Sadar was then. Could it then be that the river had washed away Tazal Ahmed’s Ghutia village?." Recorded in Chattogram. n.d. The Travelling Archive. Shurer Manchitra, BDMA-R-000342. https://shurer-manchitra.pages.dev/en/recordings/BDMA-R-000342. Original at https://www.thetravellingarchive.org/tazal-ahmed-noakhali/.
- Persistent URL
- https://shurer-manchitra.pages.dev/en/recordings/BDMA-R-000342