SALIDAA is a digital archive that collects and preserves materials from South Asian artists, writers and performers that have made a significant creative contribution to British art and culture over several decades. South Asia refers to the Indian subcontinent, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

The digital archive currently consists of some 30 collections with over 4000 items total.The digital archive consists of scanned images and covers five main areas: literature, visual arts, theatre, dance and music.

The collection of Ram Gopal, a world-renowned Kathak dancer from India, features original programmes and brochures from Gopal’s performances and photographs of his elaborate costumes. The archive of Romesh Gunesekera, a poet and fiction writer born in Sri Lanka, contains notes and initial drafts of his works and excerpts from his published works. The collection of Najma Akhtar, an internationally acclaimed classical vocalist born and raised in England, includes flyers and programmes from her performances and the sheet music and lyrics of some of her famous ghazals. Mán Melá, the London based theatre company, has a collection that consists of digitised material pertaining to its productions and its audience and project development work since 1993.

While the current materials in the archive are mainly post-1947, SALIDAA aims to cover the period before Partition and has begun work on such collections. SALIDAA does have a growing physical archive of materials housed at the University of Leicester, which can be viewed by appointment. Contact SALIDAA for further details.

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