Dinkar Kaikini (1927-2010) - Raga Nand, Paraj & Bhajan - LP released in India in 1985

Dinkar Kaikini was a well-known singer of the Agra Gharana. Here we present a beautiful LP from 1985. Dhruba Ghosh is providing Sarangi accompaniment. So we have here the third recording in a row involving Dhruba Ghosh: first a LP by his legendary father Nikhil Ghosh, the great Tabla master, with Sarangi accompaniment by Dhruba Ghosh. Then the very first solo album by Dhruba Ghosh. And now as the third post a LP by one of his teachers, Dinkar Kaikini, providing Sarangi accompaniment for the singer.

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Dhruba Ghosh - Soulful Sarangi - Cassette published in India in 1989

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On the artist see:

http://www.dhrubaghosh.com/

http://www.artindia.net/dhruba.html

Indian Talas - Nikhil Ghosh (1918-1995) & Raja Chattrapati Singh (1919-1998) - Unesco Collection - Musical Atlas - LP released in Italy in 1983

Here a rather rare LP with the great Tabla master Nikhil Ghosh (1918-1995) and his sons Nayan Ghosh (born 1956) (Tabla) and Dhruba Ghosh (born 1957) (Sarangi). In addition the LP has two tracks by the great Pakhawaj master Raja Chattrapati Singh (1919-1998).

I still remember vividly a concert of Nikhil Ghosh with his very young sons, playing Sitar and Sarangi, in Cologne on 21st of november 1978. Today both sons are very well known musicians.

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On the artists see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikhil_Ghosh

http://www.parrikar.org/vpl/?page_id=251

http://www.raga.com/cds/216/216txt.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatrapati_Singh

http://dhrupad.org/gundecha-brothers/teachers/

Arjun Shejwal - Mridangacharya - Pakhawaj Wadan - LP released in India in 1984

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The great Sitar player Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (1927-2017) passed away on 4th of january 2017. May he rest in peace.

Another great musician passed away on the 4th of january 2017, one of whom I was particularly fond: Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (1927-2017). 

See on him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Halim_Jaffer_Khan.

Over the years we posted nine LPs and a set of two cassettes by him. See here. Here we post in his memory a cassette from 1989. 

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In 2015 Meera Music in Mumbai published two CDs with archival recordings:

Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (Sitar) – Sitar: Raga Abhogi (51:29), Raga Chakradhun (27:32), MEERA MUSIC, mm 121

Wonderful recording by the great Sitar master. Excellent live recordings from 1968. Unbelievably fluid Sitar performance. Outstanding.

Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (Sitar) – Sitar: Raga Kedar (50:34), Raga Gorakh Kalyan (27:21), MEERA MUSIC, mm 120

Beautiful live recording by the great Sitar master. First published years ago by MUSICIAN'S GUILD.

As always, these CDs can be obtained from: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com

Ustad Fateh Ali Khan (1935-2017), the great singer of the Patiala Gharana, passed away on 4th of january 2017. May he rest in peace.

Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, the legendary and very charismatic singer of the Patiala Gharana and grandson of one of the two founders of the Gharana, passed away on the 4th of january 2017. Sometimes he was called Bade (older) Fateh Ali Khan in order to distinguish him from other singers who carry the same name. We present here in his memory some archival recordings. I don't remember anymore from whom I received these recordings. Our friend KF made a double CD out of them. I always was very fond of his deeply emotional voice and listened to many of his recordings literally hundreds of times. He has quite a number of LPs, cassettes and CDs released in Pakistan (nearly impossible to get outside of Pakistan), India, Germany, France and England. Some of them are available from: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com

We posted already several cassettes by him in 2013 here and 2015 here (see there more information on the artist), here and here.

There exists a wonderful portrait - The True Ustad - by Ally Adnan, originally published in The Friday Times in Pakistan in 2013. I made a pdf-file out of it. It can be downloaded here:

The True Ustad

CD 1 & Scans - wave

CD 2 - wave

CD 1 & Scans - mp3

CD 2 - mp3

Comment on 7th of january 2017

The last couple of days I listened several times again to the Megh and Malkauns posted here. These two ragas were - together with Darbari - the favourite ragas of the Ustad and his renditions of them were legendary. I have to say, that even after decades of knowing the music of Fateh Ali Khan, I'm still each time blown away by the sheer intoxicating beauty of these recordings. For me it is an absolute summit of beauty and deep emotion. But, to tell the truth: there are quite a number of summits in Pakistani and Indian Raga music.

What also contributes to it is the exquisite Sarangi and Tabla accompaniment. Unsurpassable indeed. Very particular to Pakistani recordings of that period is that the Sarangi starts the rendition and lays down the atmosphere of the Raga. Only then the singer enters. In India this would be unthinkable. Pakistan always had in the past quite a number of outstanding Sarangiyas: Ustads Nathu Khan, Hamid Hussain Khan, Nabi Bakhsh, Ghulam Mohammad Khan and a few others. In the near future we will post more LPs by some of these great Sarangi masters.