Religions of India - rec. Deben Bhattacharya

Religions of India - The Living Traditions

Recordings and sleevenotes by Deben Bhattacharya

Argo - ZFB 55 - P.1971

Side A

A1 Temple Bells and drums 1'43

A2 Vedic Chants - Pandit Durga Prasad 3'13

A3 Raga Asavari - Hori Dhamari-ke-pad - Dhruvadas Maharaj 5'38

A4 Kazhagam 2'53

A5 Mariyamman Padal 2'30

A6 Mira's Bhajan 3'35

Side B

B1 Namo tatsat - Pali prayer - Buddhist 3'42

B2 Tibetan prayer - Buddhist 5'35

B3 Pali prayer - Buddhist 4'35

B4 In praise of Guru Nanak - Sikh 6'36

A1, A6, Recorded 1954, Varanasi (Benares)

A2 Recorded 1968, Amer (Jaipur)

A3 Recorded 1968, Brindavan

A4, A5, Recorded 1962, Dehli

B1, B2 Recorded 1968, Sarnath

B3 Recorded 1954, Calcutta

B4 Recorded 1955, Amritsar

Some more of the earlier field recordings by Deben Bhattacharya that not only are valuable historical documents but also makes good listening. Again some of these recordings are very moving and makes for good time travels. I especially enjoy the Sikhs praising Guru Nanak.

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Musique traditionelle de l'Inde - Recorded 1954 by Deben Bhattacharya

Musique traditionelle de l'Inde

Ragas de Bénarès recueillis et enregistrés en 1954 par Deben Bhattacharya

Bôite à Musique - BAM LD 014 - P.1964

Side A

A1 Mya Ki malhar (vina et acct)

A2 Bhairavï (flûte de bambou et tampura)

A3 Adana (sarangi et tabla)

A4 Chant de Mirabai (chant et accompagn' instrumental)

Side B

B1 Marubihag (2 sahnai, 2 duggis et svara)

B2 Bageshri (chant, sarangi et tabla)

B3 Puravi (esraj et tabla)

Here are some more recordings by Deben Bhattacharya. These must be some of the first recordings he ever made in India after having practiced in London on the expatriate Indian musicians there. The following are some of his own words about the hardships of financing the recording trip to Benares, culled from a quite interesting interview made with him in 1982 by Kevin Daly.

"I needed £80 for the tape recorder, about £20 for the transformer, and another £25 or so for 20 blank tapes to take with me, plus about £60 for a one way boat ticket to Bombay. Where was I going to get all this money? The Third Programme wouldn’t give me an advance, although I had a guarantee that they would take programmes when I came back. Then I met a lady called Sunday Wilson – extraordinary name – who was a producer for the overseas service. She commissioned me for six five-minute programmes. I got five pounds – no! – five guineas each, so that was £30.6.0 towards it! Some weeks after that, the poet Stephen Spender had started his new magazine ‘Encounter’, and had approached me to write an article on Indian poetry. We met, and when I told him I was going to India, he was very kind, and gave me an advance on two further articles. So that’s how I collected the money for my first recording trip: from Encounter, from Sunday Wilson, and from Harley Usill. Argo didn’t have much money, but they gave me £25, they paid for the Gaumont-British machine, and the tapes against future royalties." Read the full text here...

This record contains more of the classical repertoire. It was recorded in 1954 in Benares but was not issued until ten years after that under the sponsorship of l'Association Française des Amis de l'Orient, so I guess it consists of material that was not selected for publication by the Argo company. Liner notes are again in french...

vina

shahnai & duggi

esraj

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