Amarrass: Cutting LPs in Gurugram

When it launched in 2010, the independent record label Amarrass Records was talked about for the way it supported and repackaged folk artists from the hinterland and their largely ignored music forms. Listeners, discerning and otherwise, in urban spaces now had acts like The Manganiyar Seduction and Barmer Boys belting out earthy Rajasthani tunes and popular Sufi numbers interspersed with beat-box surprises. “We got a cutting machine which doesn’t restrict us in terms of numbers.” Cutting, “the oldest form of record-making”, uses a needle to cut the music through a vinyl disc. “It’s something we’ve always wanted to do,” says Sharma, adding that “the first album we released back in 2010 by The Manganiyar Seduction was also on vinyl, though we made that in California then.” Even as he acknowledges that vinyl “has a limited audience in India”, Sharma is not worried about the sustainability of their efforts.