Temple Dhrupad - Recordings from the Dhrupad-Mela in Vrindaban in 1982 - From broadcasts by WDR, Cologne, Germany

Painting of Swami Haridas teaching Miyan Tansen in the presence of Emperor Akbar.

Here some more recordings from the Dhrupad-Mela in Vrindaban, recorded by Peter Pannke in 1982 on behalf of WDR, the West German Broadcasting in Cologne. Peter Pannke made 7 broadcasts out of these recordings:

Dhrupad-Mela Vrindaban · 7 Folgen · WDR 1982

Dhrupadas aus Darbhanga

Dhrupadas aus Braj

Asghari Bai - Die letzte der Baijis

Pakhawaj - Die Trommel mit dem satten Klang

Bhutji - Der singende Dämon

Holi - Das Fest der Farben

Der gestohlene Ring - Ein traditionelles Musikdrama 

The first program we had already posted recently under the title "Nicht einmal Gott steht höher als der Klang". As I don't have recordings of the complete broadcasts with the announcements and comments I don't know from which ones the recordings of this post stem. Only the recordings of one of the singers, Kundanlal Sharma, seem to be from the broadcast "Bhutji - Der singende Dämon".

The origin of Dhrupad are the temples, before it turned into court music. But there was always a Dhrupad tradition which stayed in the temples. Here we have recordings from three different of these traditions:

1. Kundanlal Sharma "Bhutji" (Bhootji) (tracks 1 to 4) was, according to a recent talk to Peter Pannke, a leading senior temple Dhrupad singer from Punjab.

2. The Caturvedis (tracks 5 & 6), popularly known also as Caube, are representing an old form of Dhrupad sung in certain temples in Marutha and Vrindaban, belonging to the Mathura Gharana of Dhrupad. Our two artists of this tradition, Lakshman Caturvedi (Caube) and Balaji Caturvedi (Caube) have been in the 1980s eminent artists of this tradition. 

See here on this tradition some excerpts from "Sonic Liturgy: Ritual and Music in Hindu Tradition" by Guy L. Beck:

3. Swami Shriramji Sharma (track 7) was the director of the Krishna Ras Leela Mandal troupe in Vrindaban in the early 1980s and, according to Peter Pannke, had some knowledge of Dhrupad, probably of a tradition similar (if not the same) as the Caturvedis, and performed it on the Dhrupad Mela.

We received these recordings from our friend KF. Many thanks for the sharing.

flac

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