Tuesday, 28 June 2016

Aghakhan Abdullayev - Dorna - Musiqi Sanati Azerbaijan (Art Music of Azerbaijan) - Cassette published in Iran


Aghakhan Abdullayev (Aqakhan Abudllaev) is one of the most important and most traditional Mugham singers of Azerbaijan. Born in 1950, he is a student of the great Haji Baba Huseynov (1919-1993) and is regarded as the guardian of Mugham. He is also one of the most important teachers. Amongst his students is the famous Alim Qasimov. Here we present a cassette recorded and published in Iran. A wonderful CD has been published in France by Inédit - Maison des Cultures du Monde. 
See: http://www.maisondesculturesdumonde.org/node/238





Sunday, 12 June 2016

Cheikh Mouhammad Farid Al Sindyouni (1912-1955) - Le Coran - LP published in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1976


Here as a small tribute to the holy month of Ramadan a LP by a less known Qur'an reciter from Egypt:
Sheikh Muhammed Farid al-Sandyouni (محمد فريد السنديوني)
(1912 - 1955) 





Monday, 6 June 2016

Ari Babakhanov - Shashmaqam of Bukhara - Cassette from Uzbekistan


Ari Babakhanov (born 1934) is a wellknown renewer of the old Shashmaqam of Bukhara. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Babakhanov
See also our last post containing recordings by his grandfather and his father: http://oriental-traditional-music.blogspot.de/2016/05/buxarskie-klassiki-classical-music-of.html
In 1998, RASA in Utrecht, Holland, organized a tour by the ensemble and I still remember very vividley, how I accompanied the tour with a CD desk and was taken by the music with each of the 5 or 6 concerts more and more and how sad I was at their last concert that the tour was finished. This is a music one has to grow into and the more one does the more rewarding it becomes.
The same year 1998 the ensemble also went in Holland into a studio and recorded a magnificent CD:


The CD is available at: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com
I bought this cassette from the musicians at a more recent concert, maybe about 10 or a little more years ago, also in RASA.


Friday, 13 May 2016

Buxarskie Klassiki - Classical Music of Bukhara - MP3-CD from Uzbekistan


Here we present another wonderful MP3-CD from the collection of our dear friend Danny, containing famous singers from Bukhara, basicly trained in Shashmaqam, all from the Jewish community of Bukhara. The CD contains five folders:
1. The Family of Babakhanovs: Levi Babakhanov (1873-1926) and his son Moshe Babakhanov (1910-1983). There grandson and son Ari Babakhanov (born 1934) is today the most famous and most authentic interpreter of the Shashmaqam. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Babakhanov. There is a wonderful CD by him and his ensemble, first published in 1999 on the Dutch label  New Samarkand Records, later republished by Pan Records. It is available from info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com. We will post soon a cassette by him.
2. Barno Isxakova (Ishakova). We posted recently a MP3-CD by her here. The material here seems to be more or less completely also on that MP3-CD.
3. Berta Davidova. We posted a MP3-CD by her here. The material here seems to be more or less completely also on that MP3-CD.
4. Gabriel Mullaqandov, a great Bukharian Shashmaqam singer.
5. Boris Namateyev (Namatiev), a well-known Shashmaqam singer, who lived in Dushambe, Tajikistan.



Monday, 9 May 2016

Qurbon o'lam - Four singers of the Shashmaqam of Bukhara, Uzbekistan


Here we present a MP3-CD from Uzbekistan with four singers of the Shashmaqam of Bukhara.
"Bukharian Jewish singer and Honored Artist of Uzbekistan Isoq (Isak) Katayev sings various traditional SHASHMAQOM songs in the Tajik (Central Asian Persian) language. These songs are known throughout the world of knowers of Shashmaqom music (or the folk music of Central Asia - Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Bukharian Jews). Katayev was quite popular in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and the USSR. He worked for many years on the State TV and Radio of the Uzbek SSR with many famous performers where he later was bestowed with the title Honored/Merited Artist of the Uzbek SSR (Uzbekistan). He was a great master of traditional Uzbek and Tajik Music and Shashmaqom. After immigrating to the United States in the 1990's he joined the Ensemble "Shashmaqom" (under the leadership of Fatima Kuinova, Honored Artist of Tajikistan) and later Ensemble "Maqom" (under the leadership of Ilyas Mallayev, Honored Artist of Uzbekistan) with whom he travelled and performed all over the world. Sadly, he passed away in 2006 and is buried at the Bukharian Jewish section of a Long Island, New York Jewish Cemetery. His memory will never be forgotten, may he rest in peace!"
Izro (Ezro) Malakov is another Jewish Shashmaqam singer who after a successful career emigrated to New York. "People's Hofiz (Singer) EZRO MALAKOV. Born in Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan, he is a singer of traditional Bukharian Jewish and Central Asian songs as well as the cantor at the Beth Gavriel Bukharian Synagogue in Forest Hills, NY, USA."
Both these singers were present on the CD: "The Ilyas Malayev Ensemble - At the Bazaar of Love - Timeless Central Asian Maqam Music", published 1997 in the US by Shanachie and unfortunately for many years no longer available. 
The other two singers, Karim Mo'minov and Siroj Aminov, are a generation older than the first two and don't seem to belong to the Jewish community. They were members of the ensemble which under the direction of Yunus Rajabi recorded the legendary complete Shashmaqam, published in the first half of the 1960s . See our post of this box of 16 LPs here
The MP3-CD contains four folders, one for each of the four singers. They can be downloaded separately.



Many thanks again to our dear friend Danny who brought this CD from a trip to Uzbekistan.

Thursday, 5 May 2016

2 Ragas - LP published 1969 in Sweden


Here the promised LP with another side by Damodarlal Kabra and Manju Bhatt. See the one before here. Recorded in Jodhpur, India, in 1968 by Deben Bhattacharya. About the flutist on side 2 I don't know anything.





Friday, 22 April 2016

The Sitar of India - LP published in UK in 1971


Here we post a LP published in "The Living Tradition" series, recorded in India in 1968 by Deben Bhattacharya. This LP is interesting mainly because it contains one of the very few recordings of the great, but unfortunately little known Sarod player Damodarlal Kabra, the older brother of the famous Slide Guitar player Brij Bhushan Kabra. Damodarlal Kabra was the very first student of Ali Akbar Khan during the time when he was court musician in Jodhpur. That was in Ali Akbar Khan's early twenties. On Damodarlal Kabra see here.
We had already posted in 2013 a LP with one side by Damodarlal Kabra, also recorded in 1968 by Deben Bhattacharya. See here. Next we will post another LP published in Sweden, also with one side by him and Manju Bhatt, recorded at the same time as this one. 
Manju Bhatt, later after marriage known as Manju Mehta, with whom he plays here a Jugalbandi, was at that time completely unknown. She is the older sister of Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and studied with Damodarlal Kabra and Ravi Shankar. In the last years a couple of CDs by her were published in India and UK. She also was the co-founder of one of the biggest festivals of Classical Indian Music in India, the Saptak Festival. 
On side B there is another important, but little known musician: Umashankar Mishra, one of the very first students of Ravi Shankar and a very fine musician. On him see here. One would have wished that Deben Bhattacharya would have recorded a solo performance by him.





Sunday, 13 March 2016

Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar Khan - Duets - LP published in UK in 1965


This is one of the very first LPs I bought around 1970. I loved it very much, especially Ali Akbar Khan's playing, and played it many many hundreds of times. This is the UK edition. It was published the same year also in India as EASD 1296.




Sunday, 21 February 2016

Roshan Ara Begum (1917-1982) - Roshan Ara Begum Sings - LP published in 1961 in Pakistan and also in India


Here the second of the two LPs by the great singer of the Kirana Gharana published in the beginning of the 1960s. The first one we posted in July 2012. See here.
We also had posted in March 2015 four cassettes by her published in 1978. See here.

This LP we bought in the 1970s with a generic cover (see below) in a Pakistani record shop in Southall, near London. Recently we bought another copy from India with the original cover. We offer here the music from the LP we bought in the 1970s (Pakistani pressing) and the covers of the recently bought LP (Indian pressing).




The generic cover of the Pakistani pressing I bought in the 1970s:

Thursday, 21 January 2016

Mohammad Reza Shajarian - Concert Paris September 1995 - Mahour & Dashti - Cassette published for 1995 tour


Beautiful cassette of a concert by the great master of Avaz Ostad Mohammad Reza Shajarian with Parviz Meshkatian (1955-2009) on Santur and his son Homayoun Shajarian on Tombak. The cassette was produced to be sold at the 1995 tour of the musicians. I bought it at their concert in Bonn. As always, the concert was very impressive and intense. This cassette was never republished on CD.

About the artists see:

Shajarian has his own label in Iran named Delawaz (see first link above), on which he published over 30 CDs, all very traditional, except for 3 or 4 with symphonic orchestra. 
These albums can be obtained from: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com You can request a list from them.


Friday, 15 January 2016

Barno Ishakova (Iskhakova) (1927-2001) - MP3-CD from Uzbekistan


Here a MP3-CD by the great Shashmaqam singer Barno Ishakova (also transcribed as Iskhakova or Itzhakova), considered as the greatest female singer of the 20th century in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Outside of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan she is hardly known. Only very few tracks by her have been published in two anthologies, both produced by Jean During:
1. Asie centrale - Traditions classiques, a 2 CD set, Ocora - Radio France, C 560035-36, published in 1993, unfortunately for many years out of print.
2. Echoes of Paradise - Women Voices from Central Asia - Echos du Pardis – Voix de femmes d'Asie Centrale – Avaz-e Minu, Set of 2 CDs, published in 2015. This fantastic double CD can be obtained from info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com


A couple of tracks we posted here in 2012. See, also for more information on the artist:



Again many thanks to Danny, who brought this CD from Uzbekistan and shared it generously with us.