Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar • Gangeyabushan (1st take)

Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar  • Raga Mangeyabushan (sic!)
[i.e. Gangeyabushan] Recorded 1968 in Bombay by Bengt Berger.
Disques Alvarès (Productions Boîte à Musique) - LD 114 - P.1974







Side A

A1 Gangeyabushan 19'16

Side B

B1 Gangeyabushan 21'10


Here as one file without the interruption of a total lenght of 40'28!






Here is another record that has also been a very long time coming. I did not want to post it totally out of context and felt there had to be some more substance to this blog before I could posts such a profound piece here! I hope you understand. It was generously supplied a long time ago by a true and very good friend in music! This piece, that had been “cleaverly” cut up because of the LP format, have now been cleverly edited together as there was no interruption on the master tape. ;-)




I am pretty sure you will enjoy! I usually don't phrase myself in the negative, but if you don't like it go find another country than Luobaniya ...

Ustad Zia Mohiuddin on the roof terrace in Chembur 1968.

There is a noteworthy CD release with an alternate take of this piece on Amigo AMCD 906 • Gangeyabushan, and the reason for that is that is that Jacques Lévi-Alvarès [aka Jacques Lévy-Alvarès] the founder of BAM - Boîte à Musique / Disques Alvarès, never returned the masters! There are still a few copies left of this CD with the 2nd take, also recorded the same day. available from Country & Eastern, and at a very low price as well, less than a third of what a regular CD costs these days. If you are interested, do take a look here, before they are all gone...




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Zia Mohiuddin Dagar • Raga Chandrakauns - P.1974

Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar • Glimpses of Ancient Music of India 
- Raga Chandrakauns
HMV EMI India - ECSD 2736 - P.1974



Side A


A1 Chandrakauns - Alap, Jod, Jhala, Gat - Chautaal 20'34


Side B

B1 Rudra Veena Recital - Gat - Jog  Aditaal 10'17
B2 Mridang solo - Chautaal, by Swami Pagal Das 8'30

This post is more than overdue and to say that the influence of Ustad Zia Mohiuddin on me and many of my friends has been tremendous is almost an understatement. Not only because of his own music but also what it brought with it of other musicans in the family and its extensions as well as a tremendous inspiration to find out more about Indian culture as a whole. It is with so much profound joy that I listen to almost any vibrant note by his gentle steady pluckings of the been and it never fails to soothe my weary mind when it starts rambling. 

A very good musician friend of mine, who met Ustad already in the sixties said, that he felt, that just being in the same room with him would slow everything down. Ustad did everything in slow motion just like his music developes in  one peaceful, yet forceful wave after another. Nothing in this world has such a steadying impact on my psyche. This is pure balsam for my soul. Of course again we will have to repeat that the LP format is not ideal for the grandeur of Ustads music, but we all know that fortunately there are other longer recordings to behold. But I hope that no one shall be dissatisfied with these first real post of the Dagar family traditions. There will be many more to follow and there is pages to write about this music, as has already been done. Search the net and I assure you that you shall find some more information. 

On this compilation that I posted earlier here, there is also a very short track by Ustad to behold.

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (14 March 1929 – 28 September 1990), was a North Indian (Hindustani) classical musician, one of the 19th generation of Dagar family dhrupad musicians. He was largely responsible for the revival of the rudra vina as a solo concert instrument.

Z. M. Dagar was born in the town of Udaipur, Rajasthan and began musical study with his father, Ustad Ziauddin Khan Dagar, court musician for the Maharaj of Udaipur. He was trained both in vocals and in the rudra vina, an instrument used by vocalists to practice melodies. The vina was traditionally not played in public, but the young Zia Mohiuddin adopted it as his primary instrument, giving his first recital at age 16. Although he was discouraged by his father from experimenting with the structure of the vina, he nevertheless modified the instrument after his father's death to better equip it for solo performance, transforming it into a larger bass instrument (sometimes called a Dagar vina): With the help of the instrument house Kanailal & Brother, he enlarged the tumbas (gourds) and dhandhi (hollow neck) to create greater resonance and to allow the notes to sustain longer and so better reproduce the techniques used in dhrupad singing. Because of these modifications, the instrument was too heavy to be held in the standard Northern posture (with one tumba on the left shoulder), so he played instead in the Southern posture, with one tumba on the ground and one on the left knee.
snipped from wikipedia here




And by all means check this site out for more history of the instrument, and musicians.





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Classical Music of India - Recordings by John Levy P.1969

Classical Music of India

Featuring renowned soloists

Recordings by John Levy

Nonesuch Explorer - H 72614 - P. 1969

Side 1

A1 Bansri (tranverse flute) Yaman 8'10 Devindra Murdeshwar

A2 Sarangi (fiddle) Puriyadhanashri 6'12 Fateh Khan

A3 Jaltarang (cup-harmonicon) Bhupali 4'35 Chintamani Jain

A4 Thumri (love-song) Bhairavi 6'11 Mohammed Ismail

Side 2

B1 Rudra Vina (stick zither) Chandrakauns 5'40 Zia Mohiuddin Dagar

B2 Haveli Sangit (devotional song) Gauri 14'25 Amarlal

B3 Naubat Shahna'i (Royal Gateway Music) Todi 7'40 Suleiman Jumma & Sumar Jumani, Abdullah Ramatulla

This LP comes with an accompanying leaflet with annotations by John Levy and Jairazbhoy.

Graciously recieved by his Excellency, who was in very good spirits, I partook in an unplanned and most impromptu repast at his mansion some afternoons ago. As on previous occasions music is always omnipresent, and in the continued sitting that ensued, where selfless presence were being expounded while leisurly sipping tea contemplating the there and now, we came upon the topics of many good artists that have long passed. And sighing, that even thou there are many young budding talents, the reasons for making the music seems to have fundamentally changed.

Suleiman Jumma & Sumar Jumani, Abdullah Ramatulla

His Excellency suddenly mentioned the Naubat Shahna'i piece represented on the LP in the latest blogpost, the John Levy compilation on CBS. I was bemused that he took time to follow my blog and even more so when he said he had been inspired by the idea to preserve these old records and I was very happy indeed to see him pulling out another record, saying that those recordings, also by John Levy, must have been made around the same time as the one in my post. To my big surprise there was not only tracks with Naubat Shahna'i, but one more track with jaltarang, also by Chintamani Jain, a sarangi track by Fateh Khan and above all, a short but very good Chandrakauns, played on the been by Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar

Chintamani Jain

Hidayat Khan

Mohammed Ismail

He kindly lent me his copy of the record and I hope you will all enjoy. He was even kind enough to let me botanize on my own in the shelves, so I can assure you that there are several other good and rare records that will follow. It was also understood that our meetings could maybe be elevated to a jour fixe, set aside for music and contemplation.

Devindra Murdeshwar

Fateh Khan

Amarlal

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