Dhrupad recordings from All Pakistan Music Conference in 1961 - Mian Mehr Ali Khan of Talwandi Gharana & Niaz Hussain Shami of Sham Chaurasia Gharana

Talwandi Gharana. Lahore. Early 1920s

Here we present some Dhrupad recordings from the All Pakistan Music Conference (APMC) in march and april 1961. We downloaded these many many years ago from the Esnips and Mediafire folders of "Holistic" Ashfaq Khan, which have disappeared already many years ago.

Mian Mehr Ali Khan (1913-1976) of Talwandi Gharana was the father of Muhammad Afzal & Muhammad Hafeez Ali Khan. We have here twice the same recording, first a shorter excerpt in good sound quality, second a longer version unfortunately of very unequal quality.

On the Talwandi Gharana see our previous post.

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Niaz Hussain Shami (1924-1972) was a famous Dhrupad singer of Sham Chaurasia Gharana. This Gharana, founded in the 16th century, was till quite recently a Dhrupad Gharana. Only with Nazakat Ali Khan and Salamat Ali Khan and some others it turned into a Khayal Gharana. Even Vilayat Ali Khan, the father of Nazakat & Salamat Ali Khan, was apparently still a Dhrupad singer.
We have here three recordings by Niaz Hussain Shami, all three in Lalit or variants of Lalit.

On the artist see: http://www.thefridaytimes.com/03062011/page28.shtml
On the Sham Chaurasia Gharana:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sham_Chaurasia_gharana

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In all these recordings Pakhawaj accompaniment is provided by the legendary Ustad Bhai Naseera, one of the greats of the Punjab Pakhawaj Gharana.

As the original recordings have been in mp3 format we offer them here also only in mp3 format.

Muhammad Hafeez Khan Talwandi (1933-2009) - Dhrupad from Pakistan - Talwandi Gharana

Here we present two recordings by Muhammad Hafeez Khan Talwandi (1933-2009), who was, together with his late brother, the eminent representative of the Talwandi Gharana, the only Dhrupad Gharana in Pakistan. The recordings, Ragas Bageshree & Jaijaivanti, we downloaded, if I remember right, many many years ago from the website, no longer existing, of the Lahore Music Forum or from Lahore Chitrkar, also no longer existing. 

Orginally Muhammad Hafeez Khan performed with his late older brother Muhammad Afzal Khan as a duo. In 2015 we had posted a cassette by the two brothers. 

Peter Pannke recorded them for the CD "Pakistani Soul" published in 1997 by Wergo: Rag Patdeep (14:08). He also invited them for the Festival "Pakistani Soul - Musik der Sufis aus Pakistan" in Berlin and Munich, also in 1997. This was perhaps the most beautiful Festival I ever saw.

Today's representatives of the founding family of the Talwandi Gharana of Dhrupad vocalists, Labrez Afzal Khan and Ali Hafeez Khan, also known as Talwandi Brothers, are the sons of the two older brothers and are quite active, performing in Pakistan and India. On YouTube one can find a good number of recordings by them.

For a very detailed and fascinating article on the Talwandi Gharana see:

http://www.naseeb.com/journals/dhrupad-in-pakistan-111674

Another fascintaing article. Read from page 147 (page 3 of the pdf):
http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.gisp.d7_sp/files/sitefiles/journals/volume16/no1/9-Obituaries16.1.pdf

For some beautiful recordings see:
https://harmoniummusicblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/03/an-old-tradition-in-the-land-of-the-pure-hafeez-khan-talwandiwale/

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As the original recordings have been in mp3 format we offer them here also only in mp3 format.

Frères Dagar: Nasir Moinuddin Dagar & Nasir Aminuddin Dagar - Inde du Nord - Private CD

Here we have a private CD with beautiful recordings by the Senior Dagar Brothers. And here we have an extreme case of a private CD looking like a real release, in this case an LP published by Ocora, the well known label of Radio France. But for sure it is a private CD and never was published by Ocora. An Indian collector made out of these recordings of unknown sources a private CD and created covers for it. This person seems to take a great pleasure in creating covers and to let them look like real ultra rare releases. Which is sort of funny and sympathetic. And looks nice. But can create some confusion amongst music lovers and collectors.

There are several details proving that this is not an official recording from Ocora:

1. The release date is given as 1977. At that time it was LPs and the tracks are too long to fit on an LP. 

2. The two tracks have very different sound quality and different accompanists, but are supposed to stem from the same concert. 

3. The Dagar Brothers are accompanied in the first track by harmonium, pakhawaj and in the last composition by tabla. In the second track they are accompanied by sarangi and pakhawaj and the track is incomplete and ends abruptly (we made a short fadeout). Ocora would never have published recordings as imperfect. Also the only moment these recordings could have been recorded in France was during their 1964 tour (as mentioned on the back cover), but this tour was organised by Alain Daniélou on behalf of the Unesco and Alain Daniélou as a strict purist would never have allowed the singers to be accompanied on harmonium or sarangi in a Dhrupad performance. On the backcover are given the correct accompanists of the 1964 European tour. But in India it was not unusual for the Dagar Brothers to be accompanied by these instruments, as one can see in other recordings posted by us.

4. The track information is wrong: the first track has after the Alap as a composition not a Dhrupad, but a Dhamar, then in the last few minutes a Tarana in Khyal style with Tabla accompaniment. The second track is neither in Raga Rupashree nor in Raga Shree, as mentioned at another spot on the backside. It sounds like a Hori in Kafi - "Aaj Brij Mein Holi Khelat Nandlal" (different from the one found in the Royal Collection of Mewar CD set). Track information given to us by the Indian collector who shared these recordings. Many thanks to him.

So it is clear that these recordings are not from the 1964 European tour of the Senior Dagar Brothers. And that they were not published by Ocora. They must be recordings done in India at different moments. 

I only know of one other case of someone creating covers to make recordings look like real, but ultra rare LPs. They can be found on the Harmonium blog. See these for example:

https://harmoniummusicblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/03/an-old-tradition-in-the-land-of-the-pure-hafeez-khan-talwandiwale/

https://harmoniummusicblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/ragamala-vol-7-yamankalyani/

https://harmoniummusicblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/the-voice-of-loneliness-kishori-amonkar/

https://harmoniummusicblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/07/the-final-show-ustad-amanat-ali-khan/

I received these recordings from an Indian collector based in the US. Many many thanks to him for his kindness to share these.

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The Hindustani Archives - Dhrupad & Khayal - Pandit Tansen Pandey & Ustad Amir Khan - Private Release

Here we have another outstanding recording by the great master of the Dagarvani, Ustad Hussainuddin Dagar (Pt. Tansen Pandey) (1909-1963), next to Rahimuddin Khan Dagar the only artist of the 18th generation of the Dagars, by whom recordings exist. 

As a filler there is also a piece by the great Ustad Amir Khan, unfortunately of quite bad sound quality. In the near future we plan to post 2 or 3 recordings by him.

This is a private CD. It seems that an Indian collector made out of these recordings from unknown sources a private CD and created covers for it. This person seems to take a great pleasure in creating covers and to let them look like real ultra rare releases. Which is sort of funny and sympathetic. And looks nice. In this case the release looks like a published cassette. But for sure it was never released. 

I received these recordings from an Indian collector based in the US. Many many thanks to him for his kindness to share these.

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Darbhanga & Dagar - Various Artists - Dhrupad Series

Here another private CD with Abhay Narayan Mallik and some artists of the Dagarvani. Amongst the recordings on this CD is an outstanding Alap by Ustad Hussainuddin Dagar (Pt. Tansen Pandey) (1909-1963), next to Rahimuddin Khan Dagar the only artist of the 18th generation of the Dagars, by whom recordings exist. Ustad Hussainuddin Dagar was one of the four sons of Ustad Allahbande Khan (1845-1927) and the father of Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar.
"Tansen Pande (1908-1963) was born Hussainuddin Khan, the fourth son of Allabande Khan. While most of the members of the Dagar musical family acknowledge their Hindu antecedents, Tansen Pande formally chose to revert to his ancestor’s faith around 1947. He ranks as one of the great Dhrupadiyas of the 20th century." From http://www.parrikar.org/vpl/?page_id=618
There exist a couple of performences by him on YouTube.
I received these recordings including the covers from an Indian collector based in the US. Many many thanks to him for his kindness to share these.

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Over 500 posts since we started this blog in 2011

Dear lovers of Oriental music traditions, by now we have posted over 500 LPs, cassettes, radio broadcasts and also a couple of CDs. We hope you enjoyed them and we also hope that we are able to continue this journey for a while.
A remark: as in Western music, especially pop music, there is mainstream music and music which is not at all mainstream, so in classical Indian music and other Oriental music cultures, there are musicians and musical forms which are mainstream and others, which are not mainstream at all. These are often very little known and neglected by the general public, even in their own countries.
About fifty and more years ago, when in India the Gharanas had still quite marked identities and great masters of these Gharanas were still living and well known, Indian music was still more diverse and this contibuted greatly to its fascinating richness. Todays public often hardly knows about the greats of these Gharanas and hardly perceives these identities, as nowadays the differences between them have nearly completely been washed away. In mid last century there were quite a number of musicians which were in one or the other way quite extreme or extremely intense, sometimes even bizarre. In todays music one looks in vain for these qualities. Compare for example, in Dhrupad, old masters like Rahimuddin Dagar or the Senior Dagar Brothers with the extremely intense Nasir Moinuddin Dagar or Ram Chatur Mallik with todays Gundecha Brothers: worlds apart. But todays public for sure opts for the easily appreciable Gundecha Brothers.
The same is true for other musical cultures: in Uzbek Maqam music, for example, in the  music of the older masters which we posted, there is an intensity and depth and a minimalism in the instrumentation that makes this music a universal music, whereas todays music, by its sentimentality and also its instrumentation, close to folk music, is reduced to a just local music.
Or Iranian Dastgah music: the music of the old Radif masters had a universality and depth and an inner architecture or logic hard to grasp and only revealing itself, at least partly, after listening to it many many times, and therefore always remaining fresh and new, because one hardly ever is able to grasp it completely. This quality most later musicians don't have anymore, except for the very few ones which understood the old masters and are their heirs.
Right from the beginning our focus was always on the quality of the music, not on the fame of musicians. Our choice of music has always been a very personal one, looking for depth and intensity. Not for the immediately appreciable, which soon looses its interest. Though part of the public of this blog is not interested in a lot of the music we post, we will continue to remind of musical jewels, musicians and musical forms, which are more or less completely forgotten. In between there will show up musicians, which one could consider more or less mainstream, but which we like a lot.

Ram Chatur Mallik & Abhay Narayan Mallik - Vrindavan Dhrupad Samaroh, 1983 - Private CD

Here another great recording of Ram Chatur Mallik and his disciple Abhay Narayan Mallik.

This is another private CD, not a commercial one. It seems that an Indian collector made out of these recordings a private CD and created covers for it. This person seems to take a great pleasure in creating covers and to let them look like real ultra rare releases. Which is sort of funny and sympathetic. And looks nice.

I received these recordings from an Indian collector based in the US. Many many thanks to him for his kindness to share these. I received the music of the two CDs as one file, which is probably the original version.

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Hindustani Vocal Music - Darbhanga Dhrupad - Pt. Seyaram Tiwari & Pt. Bidur Mallik

Here we post a private CD with two great singers of the Darbhanga Gharana. By Siyaram Tiwari we had posted already a couple of recordings. See here. By Bidur (Vidur) Mallik we had up to now only one recording from a broadcast by WDR. 

On Bidur (Vidur) Mallik see:

http://www.dhrupadmusic.org/teacher.html

The recordings here are presented as "A Doordarshan Presentation". Doordarshan is the Indian state television. But the recordings sound more like concert recordings.

The CD was never published. It seems that an Indian collector made out of these recordings from unknown sources a private CD and created covers for it. This person seems to take a great pleasure in creating covers and to let them look like real ultra rare releases. Which is sort of funny. And looks nice.

I received these recordings from an Indian collector based in the US. Many many thanks to him for his kindness to share these.

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Darbhanga - Pandit Abhay Narayan Mallik - Dhrupad - Live in Concert

We present here some more beautiful recordings by Pandit Abhay Narayan Mallik. This CD probably was never published. I even don't know if this label ever existed. It seems that an Indian collector made out of these recordings from unknown sources a private CD and created covers for it. This person seems to take a great pleasure in creating covers and to let them look like real ultra rare releases. Which is sort of funny and sympathetic. And looks nice.

I received these recordings from an Indian collector based in the US. Many many thanks to him for his kindness to share these.

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Abhay Narayan Mallick - AIR programs broadcast recently on Raagam

Here we present three beautiful broadcasts from All India Radio, recently recorded from Raagam, the internet radio of AIR, which broadcasts classical Indian music 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

1. Abhay Narayan Mallick - Raga Alahiyah Bilawal - Alap-Jod-Dhrupad Chautaal 

& Raga Abhogi - Alap-Jod-Dhrupad Dhamar Taal (57:52)

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2. Abhay Narayan Mallik - Raga Ahir Bhairav - Alap-Dhrupad Choutaal - Bol: Praatah Samay Shyam Sunder Ko Roop Niharak & Raga Todi - Alap-Dhamar - Bol: Pari Aaleeri (57:39)

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3. Abhay Narayan Mallik - Dhrupad Gayan - Ragas Bhoop Kalyan, Basant & Rageshri (59:02)

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Abhay Narayan Mallick - Dhrupad at its Best - Cassette published in India in 1990

Abhay Narayan Mallik, born 1937, is today the leading artist of the Darbhanga Dhrupad Gharana. He is the master disciple and successor of Ram Chatur Mallik.

We posted in 2016 another cassette by him. 

On the artist see:

http://www.gharanafestival.com/a8.html

https://www.facebook.com/Pt-Abhay-Narayan-Mallick-119698491554492/

http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/citation_popup.php?id=79&at=1

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Nicht einmal Gott steht höher als der Klang - Dhrupadas aus Darbhanga - Recordings from the Dhrupad-Mela Vrindaban 1982 - WDR broadcast from 1982

Abhay Narayan Mallik, accompanied by Ramkumar & Premkumar Mallik 

during their concert on 26th of march 1982 in Vrindaban

Here we present a broadcast by Peter Pannke with recordings of Dhrupad singers of the Darbhanga Gharana, recorded at the Dhrupad Festival in Vrindaban, India, in march 1982. The announcements by Peter Pannke are in German. Some of these recordings were later published in their complete versions on several CDs. A neighbour recorded it for me back then from the radio on the two sides of a 90 minutes cassette. Here the details:

Side 1:

1. Mangalacarana by Siya Ram Tewari (1:30)

2. Announcement by Peter Pannke (5:07)

 3. Siya Ram Tewari - End of Alap (5:02)

4. Announcement by Peter Pannke (3:08)

5. Siya Ram Tewari - Raga Jaijaiwanti - Dhamar (19:10)

6. Announcement by Peter Pannke (7:26)

7. Ram Chatur Mallick - Raga Sindura - Dhamar (4:56)

Side 2:

 1. Ram Chatur Mallick - Raga Sindura - Dhamar, continued (6:50)

2. Announcement by Peter Pannke (1:13)

3. Abhay Narayan Mallik - Sadav Vasant - Dhamar (11:10)

4. Announcement by Peter Pannke (2:01)

5. Ramji Upadhyaya - Pakhawaj - Parants (1:12)

6. Announcement by Peter Pannke (1:52)

7. Bidur Mallik - Raga Jay Jayvanti - Dhamar (11:47)

8. Announcement by Peter Pannke (0:56)

9. Ramkumar & Premkumar Mallik - Raga Bhup Kalyan - End of Alap (4:56)

10. Announcement by Peter Pannke (0:22)

11. Ramkumar & Premkumar Mallik - Raga Bhup Kalyan - Sul Tala (2:26)

12. Abspann (0:15)

Side 1 - flac
Side 2 - flac

Side 1 - mp3
Side 2 - mp3

Siyaram Tiwari (1919-1998) - Recording (1979) from the archives of All India Radio

Here we present a beautiful recording by Siyaram Tiwari, the legendary singer of the Darbhanga Gharana. The recording is from 1979 and contains Ragas Todi and Mian Malhar. I recorded it in november 2017 from Raagam, the internet radio of AIR, which broadcasts classical Indian music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Unfortunately at that moment I was only able to record in mp3 format.

In 2011 we posted his only LP. We added now flac files.

On the artist see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siyaram_Tiwari_(musician)
https://siyaramtiwarinadvistar.wordpress.com/2016/08/25/padmashree-pandit-siyaram-tiwari-smriti-sangeet-samiti-nad-vistar-a-journey-so-far/

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Ram Chatur Mallick - All India Radio recordings (1983) published as a cassette in India in 1990

These recordings exist also on LP: PMLP 3070 (1990). The LP is extremely rare like most of the AIR releases published in 1990 and 1991 by The Gramophone Company of India. As the publication year was already a couple of years beyond the end of the LP in the west, these LPs never made it to the west and even in India apparently they didn't find a wide distribution anymore.

But in India - and sometimes even in the west in Indian shops - in the 1990s one could get these releases as cassettes. This way music lovers who visited India then were able to obtain them and bring them home. From one of these music lovers I purchased recently this cassette.

I apologize for having posted the wrong version of the cassette. In effect I had forgotten that the cassette I purchased recently was quite damaged in the beginning of side 2 as sometimes happens with cassettes. But I have already for many years a rip from my friend KF. And this one is in good shape. I had the intention to post this version together with the scans of the recently bought cassette.

Here now the correct version of the files as originally intendet. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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Ram Chatur Mallick (1902-1990) - Chant Dhrupad & Dhamar - LP published in France in 1977

Up to now we presented in our Dhrupad Series only members of the Dagar family. Now we turn to some other Dhrupad traditions, first to the one from Darbhanga.

I still remember very vividly how happy and surprised I was when this LP was released. For the first time one was able to hear a completely different Dhrupad tradition. This was a very strong and robust style compared to the one by the Dagars. I loved it immediately. Later, in the 1990s, I was able to visit many concerts by later masters of this Gharana, namely Vidur Mallik and Premkumar Mallik. These singers were so enthousiastic and energetic. It was always a great experience to see them in concert. It was Peter Pannke who brought these musicians reguarly to Germany and Europe and produced quite a number of fantastic CDs by them, first of Ram Chatur Mallik, then by other members of the Mallik family.

But this LP preceded all the work of Peter Pannke. Around the same time I discovered the LP, released in India, by Siyaram Tiwari, another great master of the Darbhanga Gharana, which we posted in 2011. These two LPs were for quite a while amongst my favourite LPs and I still like them very much.

Ram Chatur Mallik was the great old master of the Darbhanga Gharana. The German author, journalist, composer, musician, ethnomusicologist and producer Peter Pannke produced in the early 1980s broadcasts by Ram Chatur Mallik and other singers of the Darbhanga Gharana, recorded at the Dhrupad Samaroh in Vrindaban, India, in 1982. Out of these recordings later a number of CDs were published: first in 1988 the fantastic CD by Ram Chatur Mallik - The King of Dhrupad (unfortunately no longer available for many years) and later a number of other CDs by other members of the family like Vidur Mallik and his sons Ram Kumar Mallik and Prem Kumar Mallik.

Peter Pannke made also a whole series of recordings by Ram Chatur Mallik in 1984/5 in Vrindaban which he released in 2002 as two boxes of 6 CDs each in a very limited edition of only around 35 copies. There were attempts to make them available more widely but unfortunately it never happened.

Next we will post a cassette of AIR recordings by Ram Chatur Mallik, some recordings by Siyaram Tiwari and a number of recordings by the excellent Abhay Narayan Mallik, the disciple and successor of Ram Chatur Mallik, who always gave vocal support to his master during concerts and recordings.

On the artist see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Chatur_Mallik

http://www.dhrupadmusic.org/darbhanga.html

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo15701317.html

https://www.amazon.com/King-Dhrupad-Pandit-Ramchatur-Mallick/dp/8184573332

On the Darbhanga Gharana see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darbhanga_Gharana

https://sreenivasaraos.com/tag/dhrupad/

http://www.paperbackswap.com/Dharbanga-Tradition-Drupada-Selina-Thielemann/book/8186569014/

http://www.itcsra.org/Gharana-Details.aspx?SubId=26&GharanaId=37&Type=B

On Peter Pannke see:

https://www.india-instruments.de/peter-pannke-tagore-preis.html

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Ustad Rahimuddin Dagar - Raga Shudh Sarang & Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar - Compositions in Ragas Kedar & Malkauns

Yesterday Raagam, the internet radio of All India Radio, which broadcasts 24 hours a day 7 days a week classical Indian music, had a Dhrupad program with Ustads Rahimuddin Dagar and Sayeeduddin Dagar. 

Raga Shudh Sarang by Ustad Rahimuddin Dagar (1902-1976) was wrongly announced as being by Dagar Bandhu (Dagar Brothers). But it is performed by the great Rahimuddin Dagar, probably with vocal support by his son Fahimuddin Dagar (1927-2011). Another great performance by the great master.

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This program was preceded by a performance of some Dhrupad compositions by Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar (1939-2017): 

Raga Kedar - Dhrupad & Dhamar

Raga Malkauns - Dhrupad

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For Raagam see:

http://www.airbengaluru.com/cue-sheets/raagam-2/

http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Default.aspx