India Indian music music: 78 rpm discs Dance genius
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78 rpm Records of Indian Music: Kathak Dance by Sitara Devi
Here is a very unusual item: four 3-minute performances of Kathak dance by the great Sitara Devi:
Sitara Devi (born early 1920s on a Diwali day) is an eminent Indian dancer of the classical Kathak style of dancing. When she was in her teens, Rabindranath Tagore, after watching a performance by her described her as Nritya Samragini, meaning, the empress of dance. The epithet continues, and she is still described as the Kathak queen.
Wiki
This rare boxed set was part of a group of 78s that were sent to me by a fellow collector.
Sitara Devi is among the great dancers of modern India. Born in Calcutta, she was trained in Kathak by her father Shri Sukhdev Maharaj Misra and by masters of Lucknow gharana including Achhan Maharaj, Lachhu Maharaj and Shambu Maharaj. She has combined the traditions of Banaras and Lucknow in her performance of Kathak.
An exhaustive treatment of the entire gamut of nritta, sometimes in different talas, interspersed with gats of lyrical beauty and compositions of dramatic intensity followed by moving renditions of thumris and Bhajans constitute the format of her hours long performances, characterized by an electrifying energy. In many ways she represents a lost era of complete Kathak performed all night with the accompaniment of masters of Tabla like Kanthe Maharaj, Samta Prasad and Kishan Maharaj.
Sitara Devi has danced extensively in India and abroad contributing to the popularization of the art. She has also been an actess and dancer in films since the silent era. In a class of her own, she continues to inspire her audience and fellow artists.
She has been honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1969) and the Padma Shri.
Moordhan Poornam & Trotakam
Parahang
Padakriya (Tatkar)
Tarana
India Indian music music: 78 rpm discs genius
by Warren
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78 rpm Records of Indian Music: Ustad Abdul Aziz Khan
Four performances by the great vichitra veena artist Ustad Abdul Aziz Khan.
Ustad Abdul Aziz Khan.
Originally a Sarangi player in Mumbai, he was the first person to play Khayals and Thumris in Vichitra Veena. After his maiden performance, at the annual music conference of the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Lahore, he never had to look back. He preferred Tabla accompaniment to Pakhawaj. He had been the court musician to the Maharaja of Patiala.
The Vichitra Veena emerged towards the beginning of the twentieth century and is descended from the ektantri veena or the ghoshvati veena as it was known, prior to the 6th century. It shared the same sound production techniques as the ektantri. The credit of giving the vichitra veena its present shape and developing its modern style of playing goes to Abdul Aziz Khan, a former sarangi player of Patiala. Today, the vichitra veena remains a rare instrument, with not many artists who play this instrument.
Raga Darbari Kanada — a different performance of this raag from the one posted earlier (he doesn’t give himself any daad, for one thing):
The beautiful compound morning raga Jogiya Asavari:
Raga Misra Pilu:
Raga Bhairavi:
India Indian music music: 78 rpm discs genius sitar
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78 rpm Records of Indian Music: Ustad Vilayat Khan
These sides feature Vilayat Khan at the early height of his powers. Listening through the surface noise and distortion is worth it; he plays with intensity, concentration and emotional clarity in a way that has never been duplicated.
This is not the cover of the record you are listening to.
Wiki:
Vilayat Khan was born in Gauripur, British India to Enayat Khan, a sitar maestro. His family of musicians trace their pedigree back to the court musicians of the Mughals. His father, recognised as a leading sitar and surbahar (bass sitar) player of his time, as had been the grandfather, Imdad Khan, before him. He was taught in the family style, known as the Imdadkhani Gharana or Etawah Gharana, after a village outside Agra where Imdad Khan lived.
However, Enayat Khan died when Vilayat was only nine, so much of his education came from the rest of his family: his uncle, sitar and surbahar maestro Wahid Khan, his maternal grandfather, singer Bande Hassan Khan, and his mother, Bashiran Begum, who had studied the practice procedure of his forefathers. Vilayat’s uncle Zinde Hassan looked after his riyaz (practice). As a boy, Vilayat wanted to be a singer; but his mother, herself from a family of vocalists, felt he had a strong responsibility to bear the family torch as a sitar maestro.
Raga Shyam Kalyan
Raga Bhairavi:
Vilayat Khan taught or otherwise influenced many of of today’s prominent musicians. These include Vilayat Khan’s two sons Ustad Shujaat Khan, and Hidyat Khan, as well as Pdt. Arvind Parikh. Even Vilayat Khan’s younger brother, Ustad Imrat Khan (sitar and surbahar) was taught by him in his younger days. It should also be noted that Vilayat Khan’s nephew Rais Khan is also a famous sitarist.
Vilayat Khan died of lung cancer at the Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai on March 13th, 2004. He was 75 years of age.
India Indian music music: genius sitar surbahar
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78 rpm Records of Indian Music: Ustad Enayet Khan
Ustad Enayet Khan is one of the most important names in Hindustani instrumental tradition, both for his own genius and for his illustrious ancestry and descendants.
Wiki:
Enayat Khan (Urdu: عنایت خان ) was one of India’s most influential sitar and surbahar players in the first decades of the 20th Century. He was the father of Vilayat Khan, one of the topmost sitariyas of the postwar period.Enayat Khan was born in Uttar Pradesh into a family of musicians.[1] His father was sitar great Imdad Khan, who taught him the sitar and surbahar (bass sitar) in the family style, known as the Imdadkhani Gharana or Etawah Gharana (school), after a village outside Agra where Imdad once lived. He married Basiran Bibi, daughter of khyal singer Bande Hussain, and settled with his family in Calcutta, where, though he only lived to 43, he did much pioneering work on the sitar. For example, he standardised its physical dimensions and added the upper resonator gourd, which is very popular with today’s players (though his own descendants have not kept using it). In a place rapidly developing into an important North Indian centre of the arts, at a time where interest in national culture was strong fuelled by the struggle for independence, he brought sitar music out from its narrow connoisseur circles to new mass audiences. Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore was a musical collaborator and personal friend. Some of Enayat Khan’s recordings have been released on CD, on the Great Gharanas: Imdadkhani compilation in RPG/EMI’s Chairman’s Choice series.
Enayat died young, with four children. His two sons, Vilayat and Imrat, were trained in the Imdadkhani style by other members of his extended family. Vilayat learned the sitar and Imrat the surbahar; both were to become very famous classical musicians.
Surbahar alap: Raga Purbi
Sitar Gat in Raga Bihari
India Indian music music vocalists: 78 rpm discs genius violin
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78 rpm Records of Indian Music: Gajananrao Joshi’s Violin Virtuosity
The great Gajananrao Joshi. Both a violinist and a vocalist, he was one of the most competent and intelligent musicians of the century:
Wiki:
Joshi was a highly skilled violin player by the age of 20. His students include vocalist and violinist Madhukar Joshi, Vikas Kashalkar, Ulhas Kashalkar, Padma Talwalkar, and violinist Shridhar Parsekar. He also taught vocalists Kaushalya Manjeshwar, Shubhada Paradkar, Veena Sahasrabuddhe and Jayashree Patnekar. His daughter Malini, sons Manohar, Madhukar and Narayan are also trained musicians. His sons variously took to singing, violin, and tabla.
His grasp was so quick that it is said that Kesarbai Kerkar did not like to have him attend her concerts because he could quickly incorporate her strengths in his own singing. His gurus—father Anant Manohar Joshi of Gwalior, He was also a disciple of the late Pandit Balkrishnabau Vaze of the Gwalior Gharana Vilayat Hussein Khan of Agra and Bhurji Khan of Jaipur—spanned the three gharanas whose blend is exhibited in his art.
As the guru of my own guru, Pt. Devasthali, Gajananrao Joshi has a special place in my personal musical pantheon. Mohan Nadkarni’s biographical article on Gajananbua is well worth a read.
These two sides showcase his violin artistry, which was of a piece with his singing: intelligent, uncompromising, beautiful.
Listen and enjoy!
Raga Todi
Raga Kafi
India Indian music music vocalists: 78 rpm discs bhajan falsetto genius
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78 rpm Records of Indian Music: Pyare Saheb — India’s Countertenor
Pyare Saheb was one of the most esteemed voices of turn-of-the-century Hindustani tradition. Singing always in a high falsetto, he recorded literally hundreds of 78 rpm discs and enjoyed high esteem amongst rasikas, especially for his sensitive handling of thumris. His music, alas, is now almost completely forgotten. Here are two samples of his singing — a popular devotional song (with some fabulous extemporized ornamental passages) and a beautiful rendition of the rarely heard raga Sorath.
Bhajan: He Govind He Gopal
Raga Sorath: Dekhori na mane Shyam
India Indian music music vocalists: genius
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Jawab Nahin.
Raga Kafi: Piya to manata nahin. This looks and sounds like a mid-70s recording.
India Indian music music: clarinet genius
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78 rpm Records of Indian Music: Rajan Sarkar And Keramatullah Khan
The clarinetist Rajan Sarkar, accompanied by the great tabliya Ustad Keramatullah Khan. I greatly enjoy these performances; it’s a shame that Sarkar is not better known. He is mentioned in Greg Booth’s 1997 article “Socio-Musical Mobility Among South Asian Clarinet Players,” and his name appears in connection with the early Bombay cinema music scene.
Dhun
This version of Malkauns is a rough adaptation of the vocal bandish Koyaliya bole ambuva, one of the most commonly taught compositions in this raga. On both renditions, Keramatullah Khan’s accompaniment is terrific; wonderful fat sound and righteous theka playing.
India Indian music music: genius violin
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78 rpm Records of Indian Music: Pandit V.G. Jog, with Ustad Ahmed Jan Thirakwa
Two early recordings of the late Pt. V.G. Jog, one of the musicians who made Hindustani violin a force to be reckoned with in the 20th century.
Pandit Vishnu Govind Jog, better known as V. G. Jog (22 Fehruary 1922 – 31 January 2004), was an Indian violinist. He was the foremost exponent of the violin in the Hindustani music tradition in the 20th century, and is credited for introducing this instrument into Hindustani music.
Jog was a disciple of Baba Allauddin Khan. He performed and recorded with many of the greatest Hindustani musicians of the 20th century (including Bismillah Khan) and toured the world. He frequently performed for All India Radio’s Calcutta division. He received the Padma Bhushan award in 1982.Wiki
He is accompanied by one of the greatest exponents of tabla ever known in India, the late Ustad Ahmedjan Thirakwa:
Ahmed Jan Thirakwa Khan was an Indian tabla player, commonly considered the preeminent soloist among tabla players of the 20th century, and among the most influential percussionists in the history of Indian classical music. He was known for his mastery of the fingering techniques and aesthetic values of various tabla styles, technical virtuosity, formidable stage presence, and soulful musicality. While he had command over the traditional tabla repertoire of various gharanas, he was also distinguished by the way in which he brought together these diverse compositions, his reinterpretation of traditional methods of improvisation, and his own compositions. His solo recitals were of the first to elevate the art of playing tabla solo to an art in its own right in the popular mind. His style of playing influenced many generations of tabla players.
A meeting of the titans, indeed. Enjoy these two performances, probably from the early 1950s.
This version of Raga Bahar is based around the popular chiz Phulwaale kaunt main ka basaunt, recorded in the 1920s by Narayanrao Vyas.
Raga Nat Bihag; inevitably, this is an adaptation of the canonical chiz Jhan jhan jhan payal baaje, sung by pretty damn near everybody who’s ever performed this raag.
Thirakwa is rock-solid and authoritative throughout these performances.
India Indian music music vocalists: genius khyal
by Warren
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More Early Mallikarjun Mansur To Delight Your Ears
Three more gems from Buwa’s Gwalior period, for your enjoyment:
“Karnataka Kafi”
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Raga Puriya
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Raga Brindabani Sarang