The Music of Laos - A Musical Anthology of the Orient 1

Laos - A Musical Anthology of the Orient - 1

Bärenreiter - Musicaphon - BM 30L 2001 - P.1961

(Click here to go to to the disocgraphy listing of all the publications in this series)

Side 1

1. On the Mékong (Long khong)

2. Wishes for Prosperity (Krida pinihan)

3. Pure Music (Ping-pé)

4. Folk Song of the North

5. Melody for two Khène 1

6. Melody for two Khène 2

7. Melody for two Khène 3

Side 2

8. Love Song 1

9. Love Song 2

10. I Shall Return (Khernokburi)

11. The Râmâyana (Scene of the abduction of Sita, First Part

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Bärenreiter Musicaphon - Discography # 2

The German record company Bärenreiter started in the beginning of the sixties of the previous century the first series of what was later to become no less than six different series. The various series covered mostly Asia, but also Africa and Oceania. I have already posted the list of items published in their catalogue for the Premiere Anthologie de la Musique Malienne in this post here.

This post is the second, and that each will attempt to list all of the titles that I am aware of from each series. The Unesco Collection was the first, and started 1961 under the editorial direction of the french musicologist Alain Daniélou.

A Musical Anthology of the Orient - Unesco Collection

(click on the catalogue number to go to the specific post)

BM 30 L 2001 Laos

BM 30 L 2002 Cambodia: Ceremonial, Folk and Court Music

BM 30 L 2003 Afghanistan, 1960

BM 30 L 2004 Iran I: Classical Modal Music

BM 30 L 2005 Iran II: Classical Modal Music

BM 30 L 2006 India I: Vedic Recitation and Chant, 1949-52

BM 30 L 2007 India II: Music of the Dance and Theatre of South India

BM 30 L 2008 Tunisia: Traditional Classical and Folk Music, 1960

BM 30 L 2009 Tibet I: The Music of Tibetan Buddhism 1961

BM 30 L 2010 Tibet II: The Music of Tibetan Buddhism 1961

BM 30 L 2011 Tibet III: The Music of Tibetan Buddhism 1961

BM 30 L 2012 Japan I: Sokyoku 1962

BM 30 L 2013 Japan II: Gagaku 1962

BM 30 L 2014 Japan III: Music of the Edo Period (1603-1867) 1962

BM 30 L 2015 Japan IV: Buddhist Music 1953-57

BM 30 L 2016 Japan V: Shinto Music 1953-57

BM 30 L 2017 Japan VI: No-Play, Biwa and Chanting 1962

BM 30 L 2018 India III: Dhrupad

BM 30 L 2019 Turkey I: Music of the Mevlevi, 1960

BM 30 L 2020 Turkey II: Classical and Religious Music, 1960

BM 30 L 2021 India IV: Karnatic Music (South India)

BM 30 L 2022 Viet Nam I: The Tradition of Hue

BM 30 L 2023 Viet Nam II: Entertainment, Modern Theatrical, Ritual and Religious Music of South Viet Nam

BM 30 L 2024 Azerbaijan I

BM 30 L 2025 Georgia I: Songs of Oral Tradition from the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic

BM 30 L 2026 Malaysia: Traditional Music of West Malaysia, 1969-70

BM 30 SL 2027 Morocco I: The Music of Islam and Sufism in Morocco

BM 30 SL 2028 Kurdish Music I

BM 30 SL 2029 Pakistan: The Sitar - Classical Indian Music from Mohammad Sharif Khan (Poonchwala)

BM 30 SL 2030 Lebanon I: Religious and Ceremonial Music

BM 30 SL 2031 Indonesia I: Java Court Music, 1972

BM 30 SL 2032 China

Here is some more reading with reference to reviews and reissue information of the records.

VA - Music of Dawn and Day - (The Idege of Nigeria.)

VA - Music of Dawn and Day - (The Idege of Nigeria.)

Love Records - LXLP 513-514 - P.1975

Field recordings from 1965, 1971-72 with extensive

notes, explanations and translations of lyrics by

Björn Ranung on the Finnish label Love Records.

The musicians

Hunters

Ringdance

Side A

01 Onyantu

02 a Ikpa

02 b Ikpa

02 c Ikpa

03 Ijege

04 a Abraga

04 b Abraga

04 c Abraga

Sanza player

Side B

05 a Abakpa

05 b,c Abakpa

06 a Aitah

06 b Aitah

07 Ijo (Imeri)

Side C

08 Iboma

09 a,b Akatangka

09 c Akatangka

10 a Etuh

10 b Etuh

Side D

10 c Etuh

10 d Etuh

11 a,b Iged'Agba

11 c Iged'Agba

The recordings presented on these 2 LP's were made during two periods of stay in Idege in Nigeria, the first from September to December in 1965 and the second from August 1971 to March 1972. Recorded with a Nagra III and a dynamic microphone MD 21. The Igede live on the southern edge of the Benue Plateu mainly within the Oturkpo division.

The notes accompanying this release are a most valuable resource for the understanding of what social context and for what purpose this music was played and made and they make good reading while listening to the album. It is evident that a lot of research has gone into the analysiz of texts and rituals and there is much to be understood about the cosmology and traditions of the Idege by perusal of the accompanying notes.

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Ram Narayan - Master of the Sarangi

Ram Narayan - Master of the Sarangi - Classical Music of India

Nonesuch - H 72062 P. 1975

Side 1

A1 Rag Shri 20'28

A2 Tabla solo in Jhaptal 4'10

Side 2

B1 Bhupal Todi 11'23

B2 Kafi Malhar 9'36

Suresh Talwalkar, tabla

Having had access to the internet since the early days of the eighties,(I got my first email adress

in 1984,) I am still today completely overjoyed as a little child with regards to the speed of getting information and the relative ease with witch one can find likeminded spirits through this facility. I have to repeatedly rub my eyes to realize that this is not a dream, and lately I have come across so many nice and generous people that makes sharing these records and the doing my small edits to a genuine pleasure.

Having collected so much music over the years it feels very good to make at least some of them available to more listeners.

So, since there was a real rapid interest in Ram Narayan and also from some of my local and distant friends from pre-internet days I decided to post some more right away before I go on to the next set of records and other artists.

Don't miss that there is a good discography on the wikipedia you can consult here.

And don't forget to read the liner notes on the backside!

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Ram Narayan - Sarangi, the voice of hundred colors

Ram Narayan - Sarangi, the voice of hundred colors

Nonesuch - H 72030 - P.1968

Side 1

A1 Nand Kedar 19'45

Side 2

B1 Jogia (Thumri) 11'57

B2 Dhun Khamaj That 7'43

Mahapurush Misra, tabla

This is another very good recording of the master musician Ram Narayan. He is still a favourite of mine and I still find this recording to have a freshness and a vitality of a remarkable quality. There is quite a bit to read about him in the Wikipedia here, and for once the liner notes on the back of the record sleeve, (included as always) are most informative and the first few paragraphs puts Ram Narayan and this record in perspective of the times it was issued. Don't miss the Jogia!

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Ram Narayan - Inde du Nord - Ragas du matin et du soir

Inde du Nord - Ragas du matin et du soir (Ram Narayan & Chatur Lal)

Boite à Musique - BAM LD 094 - P. 1965

Side 1

A1 Annonce et expositions

A2 Ragini Shuddh Todi

Side 2

B1 Annonce et expositions

B2 Tala Lila Vihan - Tabla solo

B3 Annonce et expositions

B4 Raga Marva

Have you ever seen such a young Ram Narayan? Or such a young Chatur Lal for that matter? Note well how Pandit Chatur Lal is listed above Ram Narayan who at this early times still is without title on the labels! He is another of my favourite musicians of the Hindustani Classical masters.

I will post many more Ram Narayan later and although I like his more mature style and later recordings that bear evidence of the more profound depths that hopefully comes with the years, but alas not to all... Some musicians turn more and more muddleheaded by each day but I won't point any fingers, those who have ears can easily hear their audience pinching tricks and musical show offs at the cost of something more rewarding and lasting. This record as you may guess is as rare as turtlefurs and it is also in perfect visual condition. But unavoidable with age it has some clicks and pops all the same!

Anyhow it is a lovely little 10' record with lots of information, there is even a little inlay in the sleeve, nothing much that is new today but gives an idea at the earliest attempts to introduce Indian classical music to the west. It is all in french but if it is not your preferred language you can always look at the scales and pictures, I'll write more about the artists later on. There is a little spoken rhytm, spoken introductions to each raga and even a rare vocal by Ram Narayan when he introduces the progression of the raga. Hope you enjoy this one as much as I and as the sarangi is one of my loved instruments there will be much more of that later. I still think it is sad that the Sarangi went out of style and was mostly replaced by the harmonium, but if you have tried to keep one in tune in changeing climate and in the cold north going in to a concert and moving outdoors to the next mehfil you may get an idea why. Anyhow it is sad because it was a much more sensitive accompaniment to vocalist than the harmonium.

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Bismillah Khan - Shenai Nawaz

Bismillah Khan - Shenai Nawaz

EMI India - EALP-1289 - P.1964

Side 1

A1 Malkauns, teental

Side B

B1 Des, teental

B2 Thumri, Tilak Kamod

Hope this one finds an equally interested audience as the last one. This album is one of the earlier recordings by Bismillah Khan, you just have to love the cover! As far as the presented ragas are concerned, they belong to the part of the day that also allows me to listen, namely the night! The three hours of night before midnight, I'm am usually still listening by the break of dawn, but the best part for listening is really the six hours around midnight.

Not in the South though, where everything mostly finishes up at the latest a little after ten in the evening. Though late nights work in Bombay, it is not so in Madras, where they get up real early. Actually they get up just around the time when I find it necessary to go to bed. Therefore I often miss the morning prayers and chanting by the tank and I always regretted that but, someone has to make sure the passage of night is made safe as well!

I love the intimacy of the Thumri at the end of side 2, and the Des preceding it has a magical ambience and although the surface noise in the beginning of the track is a bit annoying it does get better as the tune progresses and the quality of the music will certainly capture you anyhow. Again there is no visible wear on the copy and it is played but a few times, but alas vinyl is delicate...

I'll post some more instrumental records before I get on to all the vocalists I mentioned before and that I want so much to share with you.

So much music! So little time!

Here anyhow, you can listen to one more great Bismillah Khan!

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Bismillah Khan - The Soul of Shahnai

Bismillah Khan - The Soul of Shahnai

EMI India - ECSD-2833 - P.1979

Tracks

Side A

A1 Vignettes of Poorab Tradition - Kajri

A2 Vignettes of Poorab Tradition - Poorbi

A3 Vignettes of Poorab Tradition - Chaiti

Side B

B2 Melodies of Love - Raga Tilak Kamod - Jhaptaal

B1 Melodies of Love - Raga Jogiya - Tritaal

I promised before to post more Bismillah Khan! He is one of the musicians who more than many, over the years, since I first heard his mellifluous but never frivolous shenai in the sixties, that constantly have helped me in my life! The compassion and warmth that I feel emanating from his person and his breath through the reeds, have helped to clean both my ears and mind from the travails of this dusty world. To many listeners to the musics of this blog he needs no description, and the long artistic career beginning all the way back in the third decade of last century and spanning into the first of this one. Fortunately his recordings proliferated during the late sixties and early seventies as those recordings, to my ears are his prime ones. There certainly were many good recordings over the years to follow, although I think many of those had the Ustads shenai drowning by the sound of the "Party" and by poor mixing, where percussion was given too much prominence.

I will continue to post some more LP's of mostly indian pressings, and although almost all of them are still in mint condition, there is the occasional surface noise, some pops and other artifacts due to pressing technology of the times. I am not trying to filter or edit anything except pops and clicks between tracks. I may update some of the more valuable posts later if I get enough time to do any filtering and editing, but as it stands all my rips will be left as intact as possible! On occasion there is slightly more noise in the beginning of an LP-side but that often just goes away after a few seconds into the record.

The music is anyhow magnificent regardless and I hope you will enjoy this as much as I and his Excellency with whom I share my great admiration both for the person and the musician Ustad Bismillah Khan! And some more good news is that his Excellency has already committed some other items from his collection for me to share with you later on.

Ustad Bismillah Khan Sahib (Urdu: استاد بسم اللہ خان صاحب; March 21, 1916 ? August 21, 2006) was an Indian shehnai maestro. He was the third classical musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna (in 2001), the highest civilian honour in India and gained worldwide acclaim for playing the shehnai for more than eight decades.

Bismillah Khan was perhaps single handedly responsible for making the shehnai a famous classical instrument. He brought the shehnai to the center stage of Indian music with his concert in the Calcutta All India Music Conference in 1937. He was credited with having almost monopoly over the instrument as he and the shehnai are almost synonyms.

Khan is one of the finest musicians in post-independent Indian Classical music and one of the best examples of Hindu-Muslim unity in India and had played shenai to audience across the world.He was known to be devoted to his art form that he referred to shehnai as his begum, wife in Urdu, after his wife died. On his death, as an honour, his shehnai was also buried along with him.He was known for his vision of spreading peace and love through music.

Khan had the rare honor of performing at Delhi's Red Fort on the eve of India's Independence in 1947. He also performed Raga Kafi from the Red Fort on the eve of India?s first Republic Day ceremony, on January 26, 1950. His recital had become a cultural part of India's Independence Day Celebrations, telecast on Doordarshan every year on August 15. After the Prime Minister's speech from Lal Qila (the Red Fort,) in Old Delhi, Doordarshan would broadcast a live performance by the shehnai maestro. This tradition dated from the days of Pandit Nehru.

[edited from the Wikipedia]

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