Folk Music Expedition by Online Digital Archive of Bengali Folk Music at IUB Funded by Shaheed Khalek and Major Salek Bir Uttam Trust

Folk Music Expedition by Online Digital Archive of Bengali Folk Music at IUB Funded by Shaheed Khalek and Major Salek Bir Uttam Trust The project of Online Digital Archive of Bengali Folk Music at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) has commenced since May 01, 2015. This is one of the projects funded by Shaheed Khalek and Major Salek Bir Uttam Trust as part of its commitment to the national heritage of Bangladesh. The project team at IUB has undertaken various activities in order to reach the objectives. In the beginning, the team has started the archiving process by exploring resources from its own. A number of songs along with some interviews of folk singers were collected and the team is now sorting the songs according to the variety of folk genre. Relevant information regarding the songs is under preparation for incorporating in the websites.
The process of digitization, cleaning and archiving of audio files is going in full swing. Student volunteers are working in this regard. More than 500 songs from the given resource representing diverse genre have been selected on a test basis and are being readied for online access. The front interface to access different media contents (audio, video, text) has been designed. The preliminary version of the web is available and can be accessed at: http://folkarch.secs.iub.edu.bd/.
The archive team consists of IUB faculty members and student volunteers have visited more than 15 places within the country in order to collect folk music events and Meta information. A number of journals based on these field trips have been uploaded on the web. The songs are being transcripted and gradually being uploaded on the web too. The descriptions of genre of folk music along with Meta information are also available on the web. The following sites across the districts of Bangladesh have been visited by the team so far:

Aricha Shayt Ghar Tewta, Manikganj
Brahmanbaria Sadar, Brahmanbaria
Nasirabad, Chittagong
Chittagong Hill Tracts
Bhadikara, Lakhai, Hobiganj
Richi, Sadar, Hobiganj
Atharobari, Kendua, Netrokona
Srinathpur, Kamalganj, Moulvibazar
Moidail, Kamalganj, Moulvibazar
Dokkhin Shatijir Gaon, Shamshernagar, Sylhet
Rustampur, Srimangal
Nasirnagar, Brahmanbaria
Shetabganj, Thakurgaon
LFE Sites

Independent TV Reports on Digital Archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZSnUEiIZr4