1924

This is the gramophone age: thumri, dadra and ghazal compressed into three minutes of wax, recording sessions in Calcutta and Bombay, and the tawaif tradition's voices made immortal on disc. Film is still silent — music reaches homes by record and stage. The last fully acoustic years: horn recording is at its craft's peak while the microphone readies in Berlin and New York labs. Thumri, dadra and ghazal still rule the Calcutta–Bombay lists. Our archive holds 5 songs of this year — each page growing toward the most comprehensive account of its subject.