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:
On the Darbhanga Gharana see:
On Peter Pannke see:
5 comments:
Another exquisite gift to Dhrupad lovers..... many, many thanks!
Teşekkürler...
Great! Thanks! I agree about the beauty of this LP. I have been eying my copy from time to time over the last few months thinking about transferring it. I'm glad you have shared it in your Dhrupad series.
Thanks for posting this great recording. I haven't listened to much drupad before.. If light classical sits at one side of the musical spectrum, then Drupad certainly sits at the other end! Although usually more 'serious' or 'heavy' this form really draws in the listener and I feel really focused and rejuvenated after listening. Can't wait to delve into it more. Kirrin.
Thank you for this. I also love reading your memories of getting your hands on these recordings. One day, I anticipate people will be writing music blogs about people first hearing dhrupads from the Darbhanga Gharana tradition, or Orif Xatamov, or many others, thanks to Tawfiq's relentless love of music.
You are one of the greats!
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