38,000 Songs and a Legacy in Question: Who Owns Zubeen Garg’s Music?
What began as a personal passion has turned Vishal Kalita’s home in Assam into an extraordinary private music museum. For over a decade, the 30-year-old from Guwahati has travelled across India collecting audio cassettes that most of the world has long forgotten. Today, his archive features thousands of tapes, rare CDs and posters from global artists — but one legendary name stands out.
The biggest draw at his collection is the massive discography of iconic Assamese singer and composer Zubeen Garg, whose sudden death in Singapore last month devastated millions of fans. Kalita says his archive now includes nearly 38,000 tracks by Garg, including several rare recordings that aren’t available on any known public platform.
The singer himself visited Kalita’s residence on 16 September, just days before his passing, where he reportedly said that the collection brought back memories of several “long-forgotten” creations from his early career.
Following Garg’s death, Kalita and a wider circle of fans and associates have begun a mission to digitise the late artist’s work, upload it to streaming platforms, and secure proper royalty channels so the singer’s family continues to benefit from his legacy.
With the collection now open to the public, visitors not only discover forgotten music but are also confronted with a larger question — who truly owns a creator’s work after they are gone?
