A singer, writer and practice-led researcher based in Kolkata, India. She has been traveling across Bengal and London where she collects recordings from people that recount their stories and journey’s and uploads them to a site called the travelling archives.
In her lecture she was extremely insightful with her knowledge of the past and how wax cylinders from war times show how people were treated and recorded. This then gives perspective on recording and who are we listening to but also who is recording them and why. How we speculate from our limited understanding of what is going on with the noise that we listen to and the stories we can weave from it. But also how sound can become information as she said that “Their voices were measured like their skulls”. They were seen as things that needed to be study in a diminishing way and that is very impact she then goes on to how they can be remembered.
This was very meaningful to me personally as I am Bangladeshi so hearing the voices of the past felt closer since I listen to my family speak Bengali. It made the me very interested in the archives and while listening to some I could hear familiar tones and words. I spoke with Moushumi after and she was very happy I could recognise some of the words and we talked about the different cities and cultures. It was a very insightful lecture.