This is a remarkable story. The author, his wife and daughter (the book has been authored by the father-daughter duo)—all enthusiasts, music lovers, avid collectors are rummaging through a kabadi shop when Abha (wife) stumbles across dusty cartons of cylinders which the shopkeeper tells her are textile yarn winding accessories. They bring the cartons home. Some of the cylinders are labelled and dated. Going back to the late 1890s they are without doubt some of the oldest wax cylinder recordings of Indian music. Their survival is a miracle. In honour of Abha who discovered this precious trove the cylinders are appropriately named the Abha cylinders.
April 2015, volume 39, No 4