The EFT has, undertaken systematic efforts towards building a collection of Sindhi music, dramas, mushairas, VVIP’s speeches, discussions, talks, seminars, events including audio and video collections held in the archives of various institutions and by individuals besides digitization, storage and preservation of collected audio/video recordings of music and other materials for posterity.
Objectives and Workflow of Audio Visual Library
To collect the required data and information, personal visits were made to various institutions besides approaching the individuals to contribute voluntarily. To date the EFT houses the following collections voluntarily shared by Abdul Hamid Akhund, Naseer Mirza, Nisar Memon and others:
- 379 Cassettes containing rare songs sung by Manzoor Ali Khan, Muhammad Juman, Mai Bhagi, Khamiso Khan, Muhammad Yousuf, and Faqir Abdul Ghafoor
- 500 audio spools, 48 CDs, and 60 cassettes (each ~30 mins) containing music dramas, talks, interviews, documentaries, mushairas, features, events, seminars, discussions ready to publish
- Over 1600 hours of material including kafi kalam, folk, light and classical music, religious recordings (Manqabat, Salam, Noha, Marsia, Maulood Sharif, Hamd, Naat), tribute songs, mushairas, Shah jo Raag with Urdu & Sindhi recitations, dramas, and documentaries on people, places, obituaries, speeches
- Shah Jo Raag recorded in America by Qurban Faqir and others, 1997. Original recording donated to EFT by Ms. Humeria Rehman