MUMBAI: Sony Music Entertainment, global music giant, announced the release of exclusive recordings of the legendary Ghazal Queen Begum Akhtar titled 'Masterworks From the NCPA Archives'.

In an effort to promote India's rich musical heritage across the globe, Sony Music over 5 years via digital and physical formats released rare recordings of a number of legendary Indian music artists including Pandit Jasraj, Bismillah Khan, Rashid Khan, Kumar Gandharva, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Dagar Brothers, GangubaiHangal, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Dr Balamuralikrishna, M L Vasanthakumari, MS Gopalalakrishnan, Lalgudi Jayaraman , M. S. Subbulakshmi to name a few.

To commemorate the centenary birth anniversary of Begum Akhtar the global music giant will release previously unreleased recordings by the ghazal queen. On the release of these recordings, India and Middle East, Sony Music Entertainment president Shridhar Subramaniam added, “Ghazal prodigy Begum Akhtar gave the Ghazal a classical nature which can be only attributed to her. She gave joy to millions of listeners of many generations and we are extremely honored to release this collection of rare recordings for her fans and music lovers worldwide."

The Album of eight recordings comprises of a wonderful collection of ghazals and thumris recorded in 1973 at the NCPA Studios, and features the legendary Ustad Sultan Khan on the sarangi and Mohammed Ahmed Khan on the tabla.

The release of these recordings was announced at the NCPA on Saturday 18th April, at a day-long function celebrating Begum Akhtar's birth centenary.

Giving music lovers across the globe, an easy access to her rare recordings, Sony Music will make these compositions available globally through physical formats such as CD's, LP's etc. at all leading music stores and on digital formats such as Internet download and streaming, mobile download and streaming services etc.

Described as a treasure trove of Indian classical music, the NCPA Archives has over 5000 hours of music from the who's who of classical music- both in the Hindustani and Carnatic styles. Maintained for over 4 decades in the most ideal conditions of temperature and humidity, and on the best recording formats, the work featured on the Archives features some of the artists best works recorded in the prime of their careers. Some of the artistes whose rare and exclusive recordings have been released by Sony Music include Dr. Balamuralikrishna, M L Vasanthakumari, M S Subbulakshmi, M S Gopalakrishnan, Bismillah Khan and many more.