Vaak
Magazine
Our flagship digital magazine brings together thoughtful writing and striking visual design to explore the arts in depth. Each issue moves fluidly across disciplines—music, dance, visual arts, poetry, and cultural history—offering essays, interviews, archival discoveries, and reflective criticism.
The magazine is a space for long-form thinking about the arts: revisiting forgotten figures, examining traditions in transition, and situating contemporary practice within deeper historical contexts.
View Magazines
Productions
Vaak undertakes independent production projects that expand how artistic knowledge is documented and experienced. Our work spans documentaries, archival restorations, and research-driven publishing initiatives that bring rare material into public circulation. These projects often draw on fragile historical sources—photographs, recordings, private archives, and oral histories—transforming them into accessible and carefully contextualized resources.
Types of work
• Documentary films• Archival restoration projects• Discography and archival research publications• Digital archival initiatives
View Productions
Events
Vaak regularly curates concerts, workshops, and listening sessions that bring audiences into closer dialogue with the music. These gatherings are intimate, knowledge-driven spaces where artists, scholars, and listeners meet around shared curiosity.
Live Vocal Concerts
Featuring performances by leading Carnatic musicians including:
- Leela Samson
- TM Krishna
- Shahank & Ambi Subramanyam
- Ramakrishnan Murthy
- Sriranjini Santhanagopalan
Listening Sessions
Deep listening gatherings dedicated to iconic musicians and traditions. Sessions have explored:
- Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer
- MS Subbulakshmi
- Veena Dhanammal & the Dhanammal tradition
Music Workshops
Interactive sessions exploring musical ideas, repertoire, and aesthetics.
Workshops conducted by:
- KG Vijayakrishnan
Music Workshops
Interactive sessions exploring musical ideas, repertoire, and aesthetics.
Workshops conducted by:
- KG Vijayakrishnan
View Newsclipping
View Newsclipping
Archives
Preserving Fragile Sonic Histories
Across homes, attics, and private collections lie the recordings of Carnatic music—captured on spool tapes, cassette tapes, and other analog formats. Many of these recordings contain irreplaceable concerts, lecture demonstrations, and informal musical moments that were never commercially released.
Yet these archives exist in fragile conditions. Magnetic tapes deteriorate with time, and every decade that passes increases the risk of permanent loss.
Vaak works actively to identify, preserve, and digitise these recordings before they disappear.
Digitising with Care
Vaak undertakes archival digitisation using professional-grade playback equipment capable of safely handling fragile analog media.
Each recording is transferred using carefully maintained spool tape and cassette playback systems, ensuring stable playback while minimising further wear to the tape. Every transfer is done in real time with careful monitoring, preserving the original character of the recording as faithfully as possible.
The aim is to preserve the closest possible representation of sound.
Contribute to the Archive
If you or your family possess spool tapes, cassette recordings, or other archival material, we would be honoured to work with you to preserve them.
Through careful digitisation and archival documentation, these recordings can be safeguarded for future generations of musicians, scholars, and listeners.
Help us preserve these musical histories before they are lost.
Contribute to the Archive
