Deben Bhattacharya (1921–2001) was a field recordist, poet, filmmaker, musicologist and amateur ethnomusicologist, based in Calcutta and Paris. Highly influential, it would not be too bold a stretch to say that his work shaped how we listen to the world: he produced a vast number of LPs, CDs, videos and radio shows of traditional music from India, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe from 1953 until his death in 2001.

Never before published, Paris to Calcutta: Men and Music on the Desert Road features over 4 hours of music and is Deben’s impressionistic account of a 1955 journey overland, in a converted milk delivery van, from France to India collecting and exploring music along the Desert Road from Europe into India.

With 4 CDs of recordings, 43 tracks, over 4 hours of music, all recorded in 1955 featuring music from Bedouin camps, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Pakistan and Greece. With 50 pages of detailed recording notes, musical transcriptions and more including Deben’s impressionistic, poetic travelogue written on the road from Paris to Calcutta in 1955.