anna Dey has sung in one of his songs, ‘Sangeet manko pankh lagaye, suronki rimjhim rut barsaye!...’ Music can not only give solace to mind and soul, but can also be used as a therapy and several individuals and institutions all over the world are working very hard to use this therapy. However it is interesting to note one such effort was done in the first decade in Bombay! Here is an interesting story of Columbia double disc records made in America in 1910, to heal patients using music therapy. [Ref. - An article: “Columbia Double Disc” - An unusual Indian series. By Mr. Michael Kinnear].
Dr. U. L. Desai (born 1869, in Surat, Gujrat) studied abroad in England and in America. He returned after obtaining degrees in medicine and surgery. He practised in Fort area in Bombay for some time. He had his dispensary Medico-Electric at Fort with branch at Mazgaon and his residence was at Walkeshwar. In 1905, he married to Satyabala Devi (born 1892, in Bihar in a zamindar family). She had learnt many languages and music, and was an expert in playing Vichitra Veena and violin. Soon after the marriage, the couple shifted to Vallod, a native place of Dr. Desai and opened a dispensary for poor. In this dispensary, Satyabala Devi also began to experiment upon music therapy. She also offered this therapy to King of Reva state. Due to positive results, Reva Naresh began to believe in this therapy and sponsored a trip of Dr. and Mrs. Desai to United States of America for more experiments and for propagating the therapy.
Satyabala Devi’s veena was believed to be from the court of King Akbar and over 600 years old and produced melodious sound. One of the objectives of the tour was to record her veena recitals on gramophone records. Desai couple stayed in America for three years during 1910-13, toured extensively presenting lecture/demonstrations. Satyabala Devi recorded over 50 records of her veena recital with white/blue colour label that shows her photograph (shown above). These records were sold in New York, America, in 1910 for $2.5 each. It is not known who marketed these records in India although these are found in flea markets even today. Besides recording in New York, Desai’s were constantly engaged in lecture demonstrations of their medical and musical techniques. Europeans, Chinese, and Japanese invited them as well as American institutes during their world tour.
Dr. and Mrs. Desai returned to India in 1913 and Dr. U. L. Desai took up the position of personal physician to the Maharaja of Rampur in Central India. Nothing is known further regarding their experiments and therapy. However due to patronage of Reva King, at least Satyabala Devi’s music was recorded on Columbia double discs. After returning to India, Satyabala Devi does not appear to have continued her career as a recording artist with any other recording company in India or abroad. Upon listening to these records one wonders what the Maharaja of Reva had hoped to achieve in sponsoring these recordings.
Columbia company was manufacturing gramophones and blank cylinders when Gramophone Company was recording in India in 1910. The company entered the Indian market much later in 1931, but Indian music was recorded in America in 1910. Some of these records are found with some record collectors and only they can tell us whether they are useful in music therapy or not.