Music from Bangla Desh - Recorded by Deben Bhattacharya

Music from Bangla Desh - The Living Traditions

Recordings and sleevenotes by Deben Bhattacharya

Argo - ZFB 74 - P.1971

Side A

A1 Dotara 2'43

A2 Song of the Freedom Fighters 7'33

A3 Folksong from Noakhali 3'43

A4 Baul song 4'07

A5 Patriotic song 6'15

Side B

B1 Seasonal song 4'57

B2 Love song 6'17

B3 Wedding song 5'53

B4 Song from Chittagong 5'05

B5 Bamboo flute 2'50

All recordings were made in 1971 during the months of October and November.

Children at the orphanage Khelaghar in Calcutta founded by

Srimati Maitreye Devi.

The back of the record sleeve, that was published the same year as the big homicide, also contained a plea for donations to an institution for orphaned children that where survivors after victims of the massacre of intellectuals.

The atrocities committed against several groups of East Pakistan, like Hindus and Bihari minorities by the Pakistani army and their collaborators were reported with disgust all over the world ... read more

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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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