Irfan Zuberi, M.A.

Peer-Reviewed Publications
Book Chapters
‘Open Access: A Challenging Opportunity for Audiovisual Archives’, in Aparna Tandon, Agnieszka Slomska, Judith Opoku-Boateng and Danielle Abbazia (eds.), Unlocking Sound and Image Heritage: Selected Readings from the International 2015 SOIMA Conference (Rome and Brussels: International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) and the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA), 2017).

‘Qawwālī: From the Khānaqāh to the Dargāh and From the Filmī to the Techno’, in Clarissa Granger, Friedlind Riedel, Eva-Maria Van Straaten and Gerlinde Feller (eds.), Music Moves: Musical Dynamics of Relation, Knowledge and Transformation (Hildesheim, Zürich and New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 2017).

‘Evolution of a Ritual Musical Genre: The Adaptation of Qawwali in Contemporary Hindi Film’, with Natalie Sarrazin in Jayson Beaster-Jones and Natalie Sarrazin (eds.), Music in Contemporary Indian Film: Memory, Voice, Identity (New York and London: Routledge, 2016).

‘Art, Artists and Patronage: Qawwali in Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti’, in Shakeel Hossain (ed.), Jashn-e-Khusrau: A Collection (New Delhi: AKTC & Roli Books, 2012).

Journal Articles
Zuberi, Irfan & Brecht Declercq, Joining Forces in Audiovisual Digitization, Digital Preservation and Access: The Indian and the Flemish Approach, International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives Journal, No. 49 (December 2018), pp. 24-42.

‘Keynotes and Keyboards’, India International Centre Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Autumn 2007), pp. 106–113.

‘In Conversation: Raghu Rai’, Indian Horizons, Vol. 54, No. 4 (October–December 2007), pp. 13–25.

‘In Conversation: Avinash Pasricha’, Indian Horizons, Vol. 54, No. 4 (October–December 2007), pp. 26–35.

‘Vidushi Dhondutai Kulkarni: Stalwart of the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana’, Marg, Vol. 58, No. 3 (March 2007), pp. 50–55.

‘Hindustani Classical Music: The Modernization of a Great Tradition’, Indian Horizons, Vol. 53 (Autumn 2006), pp. 12–28.

‘Pandit T. D. Janorikar: Torchbearer of the Bhendi Bazaar Gharana’, Marg, Vol. 57, No. 3 (March 2006), pp. 46–49.

‘Sharan Rani and the Divine Sarod’, Marg, Vol. 57, No. 1 (September 2005), pp. 74–79.
Book Reviews

‘The Music Room, Namita Devidayal’, Indian Horizons, Vol. 55, Nos. 2–3 (April–September 2008), pp. 194–196.

‘Music and Modernity: North Indian Classical Music in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Amlan Das Gupta (ed.)’, Indian Horizons, Vol. 55, No. 1 (January–March 2008), pp. 117­–120.

‘Music Contexts: A Concise Dictionary of Hindustani Music, by Ashok D. Ranade’, Indian Horizons, Vol. 54 (April–June 2007), pp. 97–99.

‘Jafferkhani Baaj: Innovation in Sitar Music, by Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan’, Indian Horizons, Vol. 54 (April–June 2007), pp. 100–102.

‘Music Makers: Living Legends of Indian Classical Music, by Ashok Roy’, Indian Horizons, Vol. 54 (April–June 2007), pp. 103–104.

‘The Lost World of Hindustani Music, by Kumar Prasad Mukherjee’, Indian Horizons, Vol. 53 (Summer 2006), pp. 109–11.

Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Journal Articles
‘Pandit Bhimsen Joshi—The Orthodox Revolutionary’, Shanmukha: A Cultural Journal, Vol. XXXIV, No. 4 (October–December 2008), pp. 37–39.

‘Delhi School of Music’, Delhi City Limits, Vol. 3, No. 8 (August 2007), pp. 46–47.

‘Personality Interview: Pandit Kishan Maharaj’, The Eye, Vol. 2, No. 1 (June–August 2005), pp. 52–55.

‘Personality Interview: Pandit Rajshekhar Mansur’, The Eye, Vol. 1, No. 4 (March–May 2005), pp. 26–31.

‘Personality Interview: Pandit Laxman Krishnarao Pandit’, The Eye, Vol. 1, No. 3 (December – February 2005), pp. 22–27.

‘Personality Interview: Ustad Sabri Khan’, The Eye, Vol. 1, No. 2 (September–November 2004), pp. 40–44.

‘Personality Interview: Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Khan Dagar’, The Eye, Vol. 1, No. 1 (June 2004), pp. 30–34.

Conference, Workshop & Symposium Presentations
‘Qawwālī: Method of Worship or Music in Context Par Excellence?’, From Sacred Hymns to Devotional Songs: A Diachronic and Transcultural Study of Religious Singing in India under the research project titled “Sacred Sound – Musical Manifestations of the Sacred between Theory and Practice”, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, Department of Indology and Comparative Religion, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 17–18 January 2020.

‘Architecture and Music: A Conversation’, National Seminar on Bharatiya Shilp and Architecture: A Conversation between Text, Practice and Lokaanurupa Anubhav, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, India, 13–15 December 2019.

‘Balancing Open Access and Intellectual Property Rights at the National Cultural Audiovisual Archives of India’, 2019 Joint Technical Symposium – Preserve the Legacy, Celebrate the Future, The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 3–5 October 2019.

‘Sangam Music: Mobile Application as an Outreach Tool of the National Cultural Audiovisual Archives of India’, International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) 50^th Annual Conference – Imagine the Future, The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 30 September–3 October 2019.

Sustainability Panel: ‘Dawn of Digital Repositories Certification under ISO 16363: Exploring the Horizon and Beyond’ iPres 2019–16^th International Conference on Digital Preservation, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 16–20 September 2019.

‘Open Access: The Case of National Cultural Audiovisual Archives of India’, International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) 49^th Annual Conference – Access and Accessibility: Archival Policies and Barriers in the Age of Global Information Exchange, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana, 1–4 October 2018.

‘An Archive of Archives: The Case of National Cultural Audiovisual Archives of India’, South East Asia Pacific Audio Visual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA) 22^nd Annual Conference – Audiovisual Archiving Beyond Boundaries, Pathumwan Princess Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand, 6–12 April 2018.

Debate on ‘Open Access: Friend or Foe of Sound and Image Heritage?’, SOIMA 2015: Unlocking Sound and Image Heritage, Flemish Interface Centre for Cultural Heritage (FARO) & The Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage in Belgium (KIK-IRPA), Brussels, Belgium, 3–4 September 2015.

‘Qawwālī: From the Khānaqāh to the Dargāh and from the Filmī to the Techno’, International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) 43rd World Conference, Kazakh National University of Arts, Astana, Kazakhstan, 16–22
July 2015.

‘Documentation, Outreach and Dissemination: The Case of NaadSaagar Archives and Documentation Society for South Asian Music’, Musical Traditions of the Orient in the Context of Contemporary Culture, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, 26–31 August 2013.

‘Qawwālī: From the Khānaqāh to the Dargāh and from the Filmī to the Techno’, Moving Music: Space, Meaning, Musical Transformation, Department of Musicology, University of Göettingen, Germany, 19–20 June 2013.

‘Oscillating Between Free and Mediated Access Online: The Case of NaadSaagar Archives and Documentation Society for South Asian Music’, International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) 43^rd Annual Conference – In Transition: Access for All, India International Centre, New Delhi, India, 7–11 October 2012.

‘Khanaqahi Qawwali in a Globalized Context: The Case of Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’, Institute of Musical Research, University of London, London, U. K., 20–22 September 2010.

‘Hindustani Music and the “Culture Industry”’, Annual Conference of the Indian Musicological Society – Research Strategies, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, India, 9 January 2009.

‘Modes of Transmission of Knowledge: Travels of a Student Across the Soundscape of Hindustani Music’, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Université Paris-Sorbonne, France, 26 November 2008.

‘Indian Culture Industry’, International Conference – India and the World: The Performing Arts, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, 20–22 November 2008.

‘Musical Nationalism and the Problem of Hybridization: Critical Elements of Alain Danielou’s Unfolding Legacy’, Indian Art Music: A Critical Survey of Alain Danielou’s Contribution, Varanasi & India International Centre, New Delhi, India, 24–27 September 2008.

‘Archives and Social Memory: From Fragile Pasts to Stable Futures?’, International Conference on Audiovisual Archives, India International Centre, Goa, India, 4–6 September 2006.

Raza Fellowship, instituted by the Raza Foundation. (2021)

Chair, National Archives Section, International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives. (2019-2022)

Member & Asia Representative, Editorial Board of the Journal of International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives. (2019-2022)

Dr. Premlata Sharma Award for Promising Indian Musicologist, instituted by the Indian Musicological Society and University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, received at a ceremony held on 23 January 2011 at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, India.

Working on a Biography of Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur, having been awarded the Raza Fellowship instituted by the Raza Foundation for a period of two (2) years. (2021–2023)

Documented the Islamic Heritage of the Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana, including the historical context of the stylistic lineage and its linkages with the Chishti Sufi order and four (4) categories of compositions that are traditionally the preserve of hereditary musicians—compositions about the panjitan (Holy Five of Islam), compositions of and by prominent Sufis, and soz-salam-marsiya, the mourning poetry of Muharram that is intricately set to ragas. The artist chosen for the documentation was late Padma Shri Ustad Ghulam Sadiq Khan, a senior representative of the gharana. (2015)

​​Worked as the Music Consultant for the documentary film Call of the Maestro (2010) directed by Lou Hamilton, which charts the journey of a classical musician from discipleship to becoming an acknowledged maestro for which extensive fieldwork-cum-documentation was carried out over a period of one and a half years featuring forty (40) stalwart musicians belonging to the Hindustani and Carnatic streams of Indian classical music. (2009–2010)

Worked as one of the Junior Researchers for a short-term project titled ‘The Impact of NGOs in the Field of Arts and Culture’, implemented by Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) as part of a larger study conducted by Johns Hopkins University, USA. (1998–1999)

Co-Curricular Course titled ‘Documenting and Archiving Intangible Heritage’ (CPA-0075) during the Monsoon 2022 Semester at Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana, India. (September–December 2022)

Member, Teaching Team of ‘First Aid and Resilience for Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis’ conducted by International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), in collaboration with the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation and Centre for Security Studies in Amman, Jordan. (28 November–12 December 2021)

Member, Teaching Team of ‘SOIMA 2019: Sustaining Sound and Visual Collections’ conducted by the Sound and Image Collections Conservation (SOIMA) unit of International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) at the State Records and Archives Department of Vietnam, Hanoi, Vietnam. (15–25 October 2019)

Devised curriculum for and teaching courses on ‘Audiovisual Archiving’ & ‘Digital Preservation’ as part of a year-long Post Graduate Diploma in Cultural Informatics, approved by the All India Council for Technical Education at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi, India. (2017 onwards)

Teaching Assistant for an elective course titled ‘Creativity, Culture and Commerce’ as part of the Masters programme at the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India. (2011)