At CeGrams, we preserve and celebrate the unique pedagogy of gramophone records as auditory artefacts, uncovering their role in not only recording and documenting history, but also shaping it. Our focus research area is the pivotal contributions of gramophone recordings to Indian history, especially during the Freedom Movement, and exploring the evolution of Indian music through a rising Modern India aching for independence from the British Crown in the Late 19th to 20th century.

We aim to recognise the importance of this analogue form of material culture from a volatile and politically fertile historical period. The gramophone record was egalitarian without trying; while the ownership of paraphernalia surrounding the entire system was mostly limited, the participation in its creation was not. During the abysmal colonial period, the Indian voice found a way to be truly and quite literally heard and recorded forever.

This project is an attempt to perpetuate the forever intentionally with careful preventive care and novel research.