Imrat Hussain Khan - Raga Sree - Surbahar & Sitar - LP published in India in 1974

Beautiful LP by Imrat Khan, accompanied by the great Keramatullah Khan on Tabla.

Side 1:

Raga Sree (Shri) - Alap on Surbahar

Side 2:

Raga Sree (Shri) - Vilambit Gat, Drut Gat and Jhala in Trital on Sitar

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Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar passes away on May 8, 2013 - In his memory two recordings from AIR

Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar was born in Udaipur, Rajasthan on the 15 June 1932. His father was Ustad Ziauddin Khan Dagar, court musician of the state of Udaipur. He was taught Dhrupad by his father and elder brother, the Veena maestro, Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.

Ustad represented the 19th generation of the Dagarbani musical tradition and has dedicated his life to the propagation of this art form. He was known for his remarkable command over microtones (swar-bheda), gamak and other alankarans and lakshans.

He has been the recipient of many awards a few of which include the Tansen Samman from the Madhya Pradesh government (1993), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (year) as well as the Padma Shri (2012). In 2005, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the North American Dhrupad Association. He was the first director of the Dhrupad Kendra, Bhopal and taught there since 1981 for many years.

A large number of well known Dhrupad performers came from this institute under his guidance and tutelage, including the Gundecha Brothers, Uday Bhawalkar, Ritwik Sanyal and Nirmalya Dey. He also taught at Dhrupad Sansar at IIT Mumbai for 5 years. He lived and continued to teach near Panvel at a Gurukul built by his elder brother. He performed widely in India and abroad.

with some modifications from: http://dhrupaduday.com/gurus/

More about the artist:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zia_Fariduddin_Dagar

We were very fortunate to have seen him perform still this year in February at the Dhrupad Festival in Rasa, Utrecht, Holland.

See: http://www.dhrupadfestival.nl/

Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar and Nirmalya Dey on stage at the Dhrupadfestival.

Here a video of his performnace at the Dhrupad Festival in Utrecht, Holland, in February 2013

And here in his memory two recordings broadcast by All India Radio:

1. Raga Bhairav (29:10)

2. Raga Suha (29:29)

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Available recordings 

(they can be obtained from: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com):

Z. Fariduddin Dagar (Vocal), Nirmalya Dey & Yvan Trunzler (Vocal Support) & Shrikant Mishra (Pakhawaj) - The lyrical tradition of dhrupad 9 - Dagarvani: Raga Chalnat: Alap (29:14), Jor (12:27), Jhala (7:12) & Tevra (17:52), MAKAR, MAKCD 039, EUR 8,00

Ustad Fariduddin Dagar is the senior singer of the Ziauddin Dagar style of Dhrupad. As a master performer, he has won over miriads of listeners, as a master teacher, he has trained almost all of the new generation's elite of Dhrupad singers and instrumentalists. Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar, born in 1933 in Udaipur (Rajasthan) has been trained by his father Ustad Ziauddin Khan, court musician of the Maharajah of Udaipur. From him he learnt vocal Dhrupad of the Dagarvani style but also sitar, bin and surshringar, and after his demise he learnt with his elder brother, late Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. As one of the greatest performers of Dhrupad, he has performed in numerous concerts in India and around the world. He is the recipient of the famous Tansen Award, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and many more. Ustad Fariduddin Dagar is one of the most prolific teachers of Hindustani classical music: he has trained more than a dozen of Indian and Western dhrupad singers of the new generation like Uday Bhawalkar (MAKCD 008, MAKCD 031), the Gundecha Brothers, Yvan Trunzler, Nirmalya Dey or Monica Lacombe. He is teaching in India: Mumbai (Dhrupad Gurukul, founded by his brother), Bhopal (his own school), Baroda (Madhya Pradesh government's Dhrupad Institute), Bangalore; but also in the West: Conservatory of Rotterdam, and leads numerous workshops around Europe and America. 

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena) & Zia Fariduddin Dagar (Vocal), K. Shridhar (Tanpura) – Ragini Miyan Ki Todi – Bombay 1968 - A Rudra Veena & Vocal Duet by Z.M. Dagar & Z.F. Dagar – Miyan Ki Todi – A Morning Raga in the Dhrupad Tradition: Ragini Miyan Ki Todi – Alap, Jod, Jhala (54:11), COUNTRY & EASTERN, CE 19

“The first release with the rudra veena-vocal duet in raga Malkauns was recorded in Ustad Zia Mohiudding Dagar's house in Chembur on the evening of february 4, 1968. On the very next morning he and his younger brother Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar recorded the raga that is the female counterpart of raga Malkauns, Ragini Miyan Ki Todi. The name means Miyan's Todi and it is said to have been created by the famous Miyan Tansen, one of the 9 jewels of emperor Akbar's court in the 16th century, as his version of the Todi raga.”

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena) & Zia Fariduddin Dagar (Vocal), Ritwik Sanyal (Tanpura & supporting vocals) – A Rudra Veena & Vocal Duet – Raag Malkauns – Bombay 1968 – A Rudra Veena & Vocal Duet by Z.M. Dagar & Z.F. Dagar – An evening Raga in the Dhrupad Tradition: Raag Malkauns: Alap, Jor & Jhala (69:16), COUNTRY & EASTERN, CE 02

Talib Hussain (Tabla & Pakhawaj) and other Tablaiyas - Cassette from Pakistan

Ustad Talib Hussain was one of the major two or three Tabla players in Pakistan from the 1960s to the 1990s and one of the last remaining Pakhawaj players of Pakistan. He was well versed in both Tabla and Pakhawaj playing. He learned from his uncle Baba Malang Khan of Talwandi. Later on he further studied with Ustad Gami Khan of Dehli Gharana. In addition, he was the last recognized practitioner of the Punjab style of Pakhawaj playing (from which the tabla gharana has its roots). Unfortunately, at a relatively young age, Ustad Sahib was murdered in a mosque by militants in Lahore in 1993. 

We present here a cassette published in Peshawar, Pakistan. We don't remember from whom we obtained this cassette and unfortunately we didn't scan the original cover. These recordings are different from the ones published in 1974 on LP by EMI Pakistan and now available for download on many download platforms like Amazon, Musicload, emusic etc.

Bosmart just posted on his blog "La Logique interne" apparently the original version of this cassette:

http://lalogiqueinterne.blogspot.de/2013/05/tablaiyas-du-pakistan.html

The correct track info according to the cover below - posted by Bosmart - is, if we read it correctly:

Side A:

1. Savari Panch Tal by Ustad Talib Hussain

2. Tintal (Vilambit & Drut) by Abdul Sattar Tari (Tari Khan)

Side B:

1. Rupak Tal by Ustad Akhtar Hussain

2. Pakhawaj Jhaptal by Ustad Talib Hussain

The version which we copied many many years ago was from a cassette published by Ariana Recording in Peshawar. Unfortunately we didn't copy the cover and in the deciphering of the names of musicians we made either mistakes or the information given on this cassette was not correct. Anyway, the Ariana cassette seems to be a later copy of the original Lok Virsa cassette. We are very grateful to Bosmart to have posted the original version.

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About Abdul Sattar Tari (Tari Khan) (born 1953):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tari_Khan

There were two Tabla masters by the name of Akhtar Hussain, one of them being the last Khalifa of the Punjab Gharana. I guess here we have this Akhtar Hussain.

On the Punjab Gharana see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_gharana

Budhaditya Mukherjee (Sitar) - Instrumental Music of India - LP published in 1982 in the Soviet Union.

A beautiful LP by Budhaditya Mukherjee recorded 1979 in the Soviet Union

and published there as an LP in 1982.

Side 1:

Raga Puria Kalyan

Side 2:

1. Raga Basant Mukhari

2. Tabla Solo in Tintal

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Manzoor Ahmad Khan Niazi Qawwal (1922-2013) and Party - Ya Badee Ul Jamal - EMCPM-5021 (1976) - EMI Pakistan

Ustad Manzoor Ahmad Khan Niazi 

has passed away on April 9, 2013. 

See: http://lalioutloud.blogspot.de/2013/04/on-manzoor-niazi-sbs-passing.html

About the artist: http://www.qawwalniazi.com/index.html/#!?page_id=25

We had posted already in June 2011 this beautiful LP:

Side 1:

1. Marhaba Ya Noor al-Aeni (12:49)

2. Ya Badee Ul Jamal (11:34)

Side 2:

Allah Ho Allah Ho (23:37)

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Another great master of Vichitra Veena: Ustad Ahmed Raza Khan

Ustad Ahmed Raza Khan, from the same generation as most of the masters we posted before, and who past away in the early 1990s, was a direct disciple of Ustad Abdul Aziz Khan. His tradition is continued today by his son Dr. Mustafa Raza Khan.

In 1990 the German label Nataraj Music, which no longer exists, published a beautiful CD by the Ustad:

The CD can be obtained here: 

http://www.discogs.com/Ahmed-Raza-Khan-The-Vichitra-Veena/release/4281052

There also can be obtained a CD by his son: 

http://www.discogs.com/Dr-Mustafa-Raza-La-Tradition-Du-Khyal-A-La-Vichitravina-Patiala-Gharana/release/4280123

More about the artist: 

http://www.vichiterveena.com/artist.htm

Late Ustad Ahmed Raza Khan Saheb

Beenkar (Patiala & Muradabad Gharana)

Masters of Vichitra Veena - Part III - Ramesh Prem

The third and last master of the Vichitra Veena we present here is the unfortunately very neglected Pandit Ramesh Prem. Recently there was announced a CD by him in the series "Rare Instruments" from ASA Music, but apparently never got published. Here we present an EP published in 1967 and a radio program broadcast on All India Radio in 2000.

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Many thanks to KF, who put these recordings from his collection together and made a nice CD out of them.

Saying bye to Vichitra Veena 

By Vandana Shukla

It will pain the already agonised hearts of the culturally-conscious that in a country of 90 crore people there are no takers for one of the oldest instruments of the Indian classical tradition — the Vichitra Veena. Of the total number of three Veena players in the whole of northern India, only two survive, both now in the dusk of their lives, witnessing an almost certain extinction of their beloved instrument. Pandit Lal Mani Mishra from BHU died fighting for the cause of the survival of this instrument to get a few students sponsored by the government or some private agency. His son, Gopal Mishra, has been running from pillar to post for many years in vain. Now, it is only Shri Gopal Krishan in Delhi who plays the Veena, sometimes for the AIR and Doordarshan. Ramesh Prem, who hails from Ferozepore, is now settled in Bombay is the other player. He says that in a country where honours come only posthumously, it is futile to expect any kind of recognition for such a non-glamorous effort. The system recognises only a chosen few, who are given awards after awards, even though they have not made any original contribution to the art. Even the media follows the beaten track and people working quietly in small corners remain marginalised.

This, in essence, is the tale of this highly gifted couple who have been fighting to protect the last bastions of a crumbling citadel of traditional music. Ramesh and Geeta Prem are both gifted artistes. He plays the Veena and she sings melodies in the evening of their life. They do not nurture any hopes for the revival of this instrument anymore. At the same time, they say, they have stopped being bitter about the apathy of the system. They have quietly chosen their individual diversions — Geeta feeds and looks after stray dogs on the streets of Bombay and is popularly known as Kutton wali auntie, while Ramesh composes hymns in praise of his guru, Shri Paramhansa Yogananda. His compositions have a deep serenity expressed in the simple language of the heart, like a soothing balm for the troubled heart.

A devotee of Yogoda Satsang Society of India, he travelled from Bombay to Chandigarh to pay his obeisance by playing his Veena on the 47th mahasamadhi day of his beloved guru, whose blessings, he says, have freed him of his agonies. So, if other mortals have not embraced his instrument, it’s fine with him. He knows his master has accepted his music and this very thought gives him peace and solace. With the blessings of the guru there is more music in his life than it was ever before, he says.

Ramesh’s love for music began as a forced diversion. His father, an eminent lawyer who was writing a few books on law, found his noisy children a nuisance. To keep them busy, he arranged for a music teacher and Pandit Shruit Ratan started giving lessons in vocal music to Ramesh and his sister. Ramesh learnt his lessons faster than expected and developed a discerning ear for the intricacies of ragas and different talas, so, in the annual summer sojourns to Nainital, which was a regular feature, a tabla teacher was arranged for him at Nainital. Having learnt tabla, he started playing the sitar and continued playing it for many years.

Then, he listened to Ustad Abdul Aziz Khan, the court musician of Maharaja Patiala, playing the Veena on Lahore radio station. The sound of Veena with its deep resonance pulled him to this instrument like a magnet. He knew this is what he had been wanting to play all the while. He would listen to all the programmes of the ustad, which were quite frequent those days, religiously for about five to six years. It goes to the credit of Ustad Abdul Aziz Khan that Veena was revived in these modern times. Otherwise, it would have died long back. Ramesh moved to Lahore and decided to learn under the tutelage of the ustad. After five years of futile chase for the ustad, Ramesh realised he had to look for some other teacher. At the same time, he did not want to compromise on the choice of his instrument. When he met Mohammed Sharif Khan Poonchwale, son of Khan Sahib Rahim Khan, the court musician of the Maharaja of Kashmir, the ustad told him to pursue sitar, since he found his baaj good on the instrument. But at his insistence, he agreed to teach him playing the Veena. Ramesh learnt playing the Veena in gayaki ang. It was at his insistence that his ustad taught him the meend style of playing theVeena. Then came Partition and he had to leave Lahore, but he brought along his love for Veena.

The desire for further refinement of his art took him to Abdul Walid Khan Kiranewale, who was his sister’s ustad in vocal music. The aesthetic ease and serenity of the Kirana appealed to him, and through his single-minded devotion he learnt playing the Veena in the gayaki ang of the Kirana Gharana. Jawahar Lal Mattoo, another illustrious disciple of Ustad Walid Khan, taught him the intricacies of Layakari, the most difficult and rare patterns of rhythm, like Aad, Kawad, Khand, Rupak, Tipalli, which are often not used by popular performers as they are difficult to master. The audiences also fail to recognise and appreciate the intricacies of traditional gatkari. What they recognise is only faster beats in the Dogun and Chargun style etc. It is for the wizards to enter the arena of intricate gatkari. Prem’s creative mind, not satisfied by mastering the tradition alone, made many innovations in the instrument itself to attain a wider canvas for his musical inspirations.

It takes 10 to 15 years’ single-minded devotion to get familiar with this instrument. Mastery over the instrument takes even longer.

A world ailing with short-sightedness fails to recognise the depth of serenity as well as pitfalls. So, when the winds of change blow, they also remove what is precious and preservable. It is to the credit of the Prems that they have been holding on to this tradition against all odds. Despite policy consolations of Prasar Bharati, there is no system of royalty being offered either by AIR or Doordarshan. Refinement of art often leads to refinement of temperament. Prems feel incapable of making the rounds of the corridors of power for personal gains.

Perhaps, the next generations will get to see this aesthetically designed instrument only through the glass panes in a museum, devoid of its deep resonance, since it is only the touch of deft human hands that makes it reverberate with music. 

from: http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99apr25/sunday/head6.htm

Masters of Vichitra Veena - Part II - Gopal Shankar Mishra (1957-1999)

Here some recordings by Gopal Shankar Mishra, the worthy son of Lalmani Mishra. Gopal Shankar Mishra was a master of the Sitar and the Vichitra Veena. Recordings done at the Benares Dhrupad Mela in 1995 and 1999.

Download CD 1 & Scans
Download CD 2

Recordings courtesy of VN,  CD compilation and covers by KF.

Many thanks to both. 

About the artist:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopal_Shankar_Misra

Masters of Vichitra Veena - Part I - Gopal Krishan (1926-?) - Some AIR recordings

In the past we had already posted a couple of recordings by some masters of the Vichitra Veena, an extremely rare instrument of classical North Indian music. First we had posted a cassette by Lal Mani Mishra (1924-1979) (see here). Then we had a beautiful LP from Pakistan by Habib Ali Khan Beenkar (1898-1971), the younger brother of Abdul Aziz Khan Beenkar, the inventor or re-inventor of the Vichitra Veena (see here), and finally we had another beautiful Vichitra Veena LP, again from Pakistan, by the legendary Sitar player Mohammed Sharif Khan Poonchhwala (1923-1980) (see here) who learned to play the Vichitra Veena also from Abdul Aziz Khan. 

As there are only very few recordings of Vichtra Veena masters available and it is such a beautiful instrument we will post here some concert recordings and radio programs by two great masters of the instrument from India. We start here with Gopal Krishan (1926-?). The recordings are from All India Radio.

Download CD 1 & Scans

Download CD 2

Recordings courtesy of VN,  CD compilation and covers by KF.

Many thanks to both. 

See on the musician: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopal_Krishan

Alim Gasymov (Qasimov) - Destgah - Azerbaijan Mugams 1 - LP Melodiya C30 24023 006 (1985)

Here one of the earliest recordings by Alim Qasimov. 

See also our post "Azerbaijan - Zerbi-Mugams and Shikeste".

LP first published 1985/1986. This edition is from 1990.

Alim Gasymov - Vocal

Bahram Mansurov - Tar

Talyat Bakikhanov - Kyamancha (Kemenche)

Vartan Avetisov - Daf

Side 1: 

Mahur-Hindi (17:51)

Side 2:

Shur (23:11)

Download

New Download Links

For most posts we created now new download links on Mediafire. Hope this will help. The remaining part will be done in the next couple of days. There are some recordings on this blog which are available now on CD or exist as commercial downloads on download platforms like Amazon. We deleted the download links for these. Mediafire also considers some of our posts as being protected by copyright and denies download. These I also have deleted. You have to try to download these from Rapidshare. Hopefully with new Mediafire links existing now for almost all posts the number of visitors trying to download from Rapidshare will decrease greatly and make downloads easier available again.

Ustad Aslam Khan - Parampara (Tradition) - Cassette published in India in 1989

Here another beautiful cassette by Ustad Aslam Khan. 

Bosmart posted quite a while ago on his blog another beautiful cassette 

by him from the same year. There is now a new download link for it at: 

http://lalogiqueinterne.blogspot.fr/2010_11_01_archive.html

Side A:

Raga Manjari Bihag (29:29)

Side B:

Raga Kamodi Malhar (29:41)

Download

Many thanks again to Ambrose Bierce for sharing this cassette.