Deben Bhattacharya at the BBC, 1949–79: Cultural entrepreneurism, precarity, and the business of post-war folklore collection

Abstract

Deben Bhattacharya (1921–2001) had a prolific career as a field recordist that spanned the second half of the twentieth century. Yet his impressive contributions in radio, tv and film have to date been overlooked. Bhattacharya arrived in London from India in November 1949; by the end of the year, he had made his first broadcast on the BBC Eastern Service. Drawing on material held in the BBC Written Archives, this article focuses on Bhattacharya’s work with the BBC from the late 1940s-1970s. It discusses Bhattacharya’s work across different BBC departments: the Eastern Service, the General Overseas Service, the Third Programme, and the BBC Sound Archive. Overall, it highlights Bhattacharya’s contribution to the curation of traditional folklore in the post-war period. I analyse how he interpreted cultural traditions via radio broadcasts and, through field recordings, made substantial contributions to the BBC Sound Archive’s international folklore collections. Bhattacharya’s relationship with the BBC reveals how he developed his career as a cultural entrepreneur, building speculative partnerships with large institutions that supported his activity in the field. The BBC offered Bhattacharya minimal upfront support for his work, however, which meant his field work was often conducted in deeply precarious circumstances. This article discusses how Bhattacharya negotiated institutional prejudices and embraced new opportunities to record and publish field recordings in the post-war creative and cultural industries.