Saturday, 24 November 2018

Ustad Imrat Khan (17 November 1935 – 22 November 2018) passed away - May he rest in Peace - In his memory some broadcasts from WDR, Cologne


The Ustad passed away on the 22th of november in the US. I was very fond of his Surbahar Alaps. May he rest in Peace.
Over the years we had posted 7 LPs by him. Here we present in his memory some broadcasts by WDR in Cologne, from concerts in their concert hall in 1986 and 1996.

On the artist see:

Konzert 3.5.86 im Funkhaus Köln
Broadcast 7.6.86 on WDR3
Imrat Khan (Sitar) & Vajahat Khan (Sarod) - Jhinjhoti
(this is the Gat of the performance. The Alap was broadcast earlier. Unfortunately I don't have it.)


Konzert im Funkhaus Köln am 18.10.96, 
Broadcasts on WDR3 & WDR5
1. Imrat Khan (Sitar) & Shafatullah Khan (Tabla) - Yamani Bilaval und Durga


2. Imrat Khan (Sitar) & Shafatullah Khan (Tabla) - Bageshri, Durga, Pilu
(The Durga is the same as in the first broadcast. The Pilu is incomplete.)


We received these recordings a while ago from our friend KF. Many thanks to him for his immense generosity.


Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena) & Zia Fariduddin Dagar (Vocal) - Live at La Sorbonne 16 november 1984


We will now interrupt for a while our series of instrumental recordings of Classical Indian Music and post a number of vocal recordings of Classical Indian Music, before continuing with instrumental music on Sarod and other instruments.
We start here with a beautiful concert - which serves perfectly as a bridge between instrumental and vocal music - by the two great Dhrupad masters: Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena) and Zia Fariduddin Dagar (Dhrupad Vocal). We received these precious recordings recently from our friend FT in Paris. Many many thanks to him for his generosity.
In the past we had already a number of posts by both artists: Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and Zia Fariduddin Dagar.

We made two folders out of these recordings:

Folder 1:
Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena)
Raga Yaman (49:31)
Raga Nur Sarang (12:25)

Folder 1 - flac
Folder 1 - mp3

Folder 2:
Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena) & Zia Fariduddin Dagar (Dhrupad Vocal)
Raga Chandrakauns (46:20)
Raga Bhairavi (8:52)
Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena)
Raga Ahir Lalit (16:10)

Friday, 23 November 2018

ADrive problems

Occasionally ADrive is not working. I guess the reason is that too many music lovers try to download at the same time. Once for all: the links will never be dead as long as I pay for it. And I plan to pay as long as I'm living, inshaAllah. 
The solution is just to have a little patience - by the way a very beautiful quality - and to try again at a later point. Thank you.
The same is true also for the Dropbox download links.


Thursday, 22 November 2018

Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar Khan - Ragas - Double LP released in France in 1973


Here recordings which have been released quite a number of times by different labels with different covers. The same double LP was also published the same year (1973) with a different cover in the US. Originally the recordings were published as two individual LPs. The Jugalbandi LP was orginally released in 1960 in India as EALP 1251 (the very first LP published by The Gramophone Company of India) and in 1964 by Prestige in the US. There was also a widely distributed edition by Transatlantic Records in London from 1969
The second LP - a solo LP by Ali Akbar Khan - was orginally published in India in 1963 as EALP 1274 and in the US by Prestige in 1965.
The inside of the gatefold album only has advertising for other albums from the label. That is why we didn't scan it.





Tuesday, 20 November 2018

Vilayat Khan - Music of India - Vol. 2 - French edition of EALP 1259 (1961)


Here we offer a French edition of the very first LP by Vilayat Khan for The Gramophone Company of India, released in India in 1961. This French edition is probably from mid or end of the 1960s. The advantage of the French editions is that they don't have the surface noise which almost all Indian pressings have.
In 2011 we posted the volume 3 of this French series, also by Ustad Vilayat Khan. And also in 2011 volume 5 by the Senior Dagar Brothers.

In 2017 we posted the companion LP to this one. These two LPs each contain recordings from two different recording sessions with two different Tabla accompanists. See here for further information.

This is our 18th post by Vilayat Khan.




Sunday, 18 November 2018

Classical Music of North India - Sitar and Tabla - LP released in Japan in 1982


In 2017 we had posted an LP from the same series: Duet of Sitar and Sarod. Here another LP with Ganesh Bahadur Bhandary on Sitar on side 1 and Shambhu Prasad Misra with a long Tabla Solo on Side 2. For more infos on the musicians see the above link. The musicians are from Nepal.





Friday, 16 November 2018

Bimal Mukherjee - The Ecstasy of Sitar - The Brilliance of Senia Baaz (Baaj) - Cassette released in India in 1984


Bimal Mukherjee (1930-1996) was a great Sitar player of the Senia Gharana. He was a student of the Beenkar (Rudra Veena player) and Dhrupad singer Ustad Abid Hussain Khan (see our post), representative of the Jaipur Senia (going back to Tansen) Gharana. He also learned from the great Agra Gharana singer Ustad Faiyaz Khan. 
Unfortunately there are only very few recordings by him. The very best is the CD released in 2001 by India Archive Music, for me one of the most outstanding and satisfying Sitar CDs ever. Here he plays shorter pieces in which he can't develop his art as fully. But it still is a wonderful cassette.


Tuesday, 13 November 2018

Ghulam Husain Khan - Sitar Nawaz - LP released in India in 1974


Here a rare LP by a brilliant Sitar master, who was quite well known in the West through his LP released in France in 1968 which we had posted in 2013. See there for more information on the artist.
He also had one side on an Unesco LP released in 1972, recorded probably at the same time as the French LP.
This LP I also bought  two or three years ago from the same German record seller as the one in the previous post. I'm sure that he himself bought it in India. It was quite expensive though it was not in the best condition. It seems to have been used very much and has some bad bumps..




Sunday, 11 November 2018

Ahmed Hussain Khan - Sitar - LP released in India in 1980


Here a rare LP by a brilliant, but little known Sitar master. The Mian Achpal Gharana he belongs to seems to be a branch of the Qawwal Bachchon ka Gharana and the Delhi Gharana. Mian Achpal was a legendary singer in early 19th century. See: https://www.swarganga.org/artist_details.php?id=698
That he is so little known might be due to the fact that quite early in his career he settled in Madras and started a school there. So he was far away from the part of India where Hindustani music was prevalent. Later two cassettes by him were released. 
I bought this LP 2 or 3 years ago from a German record seller. I'm sure that he himself bought it in India. It was quite expensive though it was not in the best condition. It suffers from the weaknesses LPs in India generally suffer from, as mentioned in a previous post. This one has no waterstains, but it seems to have been used very much.




Wednesday, 7 November 2018

Budhaditya Mukherjee - Raga Ahir Bhairav & Raga Puriya - LP released in India in 1979


Here the artist's first album on The Gramophone Company of India. One can hear here the artist's proximity to Ustad Vilayat Khan. He plays in Raga Puriya the same composition as Vilayat Khan did on an LP in 1976. Budhaditya's version seems almost like a copy. But even if so this a great album.
The complete education of Budhaditya Mukherjee took place under his father Bimalendu Mukherjee, who was a reprentative of the Imdadkhani Gharana.