Monday 30 October 2017

Damodarlal Kabra demonstrates Ragalap - Recorded in Jodhpur on 23.7.1975



New covers created by Coltra (see comments):



With these very beautiful privately recorded Alaps we conclude our posts on Damodarlal Kabra. See here our other posts on the artist:
http://oriental-traditional-music.blogspot.de/search/label/Damodarlal%20Kabra
We received these recordings recently from our friend KF. Many thanks to him for sharing.

"Ustad Ali Akbar Khan came to Jodhpur in 1944 as court musician of the erstwhile Marwar state and came across Damodarlal Kabra. Soon Kabra became Ustad Ali Akbar Khan's first disciple and started learning the fine notes of Maihar Gharana. His hard work and commitment for pure music found new dimensions under his Guru's teachings. 
Damodarlal Kabra loveably called 'Damoodada' never had quest for publicity. He maintained a low profile instead. In 1956, he first played in Calcutta and won a big acclaim there. In May 1959, his Sarod recital was first heard by the Radio listeners across the country in Akashwani's National Programme of Music. 'Dada' always wanted to promote the rich Indian classical music. In 1957, he founded "Rashtriya Kala Mandal' in Jodhpur. Many musicians worked here as teachers, in this college and many great musicians have been students of this college.
'Dada' passed away on 4th August, 1979. After hearing about this legendary tabla player of Banaras Kishan Maharaj uttered " The front page of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan's music has flown away". 'Dada' taught music to many people. His disciples include Manju Mehta, Vikas Gupta, Amubhai Doshi, Imu Desai, Krishna Mohan Bhatt and Laxmi Kant Doshi.
This humble and great musician always maintained a low profile, but his music is still alive and his son Basant Kabra is a true representative of this."



Damodarlal Kabra's only commercial LP (republished as a CD) was a Jugalbandi with his younger brother Brij Bhushan Kabra, today also available on many download and streaming services:


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent share Tawfiq - Many thanks ! The touch of Maihar Gharana flows through the Sarod notes !

Cheers,
PS.

Anonymous said...

Very, very nice... Thanks!

AdamB said...

What format were these very beautiful Alaps privately recorded on? (I.e vinyl, cassette)
Are they available?
I collect the recordings of Damodarial Kabra.
Thank you very much for this info !

AdamB said...

What format were these very beautiful Alaps privately recorded on? (I.e vinyl, cassette)
Are they available?
I collect the recordings of Damodarial Kabra.
Thank you very much for this info !

Tawfiq said...

As I understand they were privately recorded. I don't know more. Sorry.

AdamB said...

How did you learn about these "private" recordings ? And how did you get the files?
I'm asking because I too would appreciate getting the original recordings. Thanks

Tawfiq said...

This is mentioned in the post. Just read it.

Anonymous said...

Is there any chance that you post the record of both brothers? That would be great! Anyway i thank you a lot for your efforts, a great site!

Tawfiq said...

I don't have it.

Coltra said...

Thanks for the record.

I made a cover and backcover for a cd box, here the cover:

https://coltra.deviantart.com/art/Damodarlal-Kabra-724730302

here the backcover:

https://coltra.deviantart.com/art/Damodarlal-Kabra-724730952

:)

Tawfiq said...

Thank you. Very nice.

Coltra said...

Thank you :)