``It's an amazing collection; it's difficult to get these recordings now'', says Vice-Chancellor Anil Kane. The 300-odd tapes were tucked away in an obscure corner of the Faculty of Performing Arts for almost 35 years.

``Since many people are interested in them, and since we have the funds, we decided to use the money to preserve the treasure'', he adds.

When Kane talks of the ``treasure'', he is also referring to several musical instruments gathering dust at the Performing Arts faculty for half-a-century. Among them are a tanpura used by Faiyaz Khan, a 100-year-old rudraveena, a rare vichitra-veena, a snake-shaped trumpet, a variety of flutes and a set of tablas used by Khan's accompanist.

Not surprisingly, none of these are in impeccable condition. But MSU is gearing up to deal with that. ``We have already sought expert opinion on how to transfer these recordings to hard discs'', says Kane. ``With great difficulty, we've also found a machine where these spool tapes can be played.''

Narendra Shrimali and Performing Arts dean D Bhonsle -- two of the many experts consulted in the project -- have also identified a shop that can make the instruments usable. ``They can never be played in a three-hour show, but they can be repaired so that they can be used for demonstrations and the like'', says Bhonsle.

Kane also has plans to repair some old cupboards and set up a museum of the turn-of-the-century instruments.

For once, the university does not apprehend the plans going haywire for want of money: The revival project is being funded by the campus diversity programme. Besides, if anyone's interested, Kane says MSU is ready to part with the copyright to the old recordings. ``But we'll keep the master copy'', he adds.

Along with MSU officials, city musicians are upbeat about the project. ``It's a good decision'', applauds sitarist Arvind Dighe. ``But I'd think the instruments would be good only for display.''

Says vocalist R C Mehta, ``The tapes will help us know our traditions better. Though the finer nuances may have been lost irretrievably, technology can help the artist fraternity benefit immensely through the tapes.''