Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena) & Zia Fariduddin Dagar (Vocal) - Live at La Sorbonne 16 november 1984

We will now interrupt for a while our series of instrumental recordings of Classical Indian Music and post a number of vocal recordings of Classical Indian Music, before continuing with instrumental music on Sarod and other instruments.
We start here with a beautiful concert - which serves perfectly as a bridge between instrumental and vocal music - by the two great Dhrupad masters: Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena) and Zia Fariduddin Dagar (Dhrupad Vocal). We received these precious recordings recently from our friend FT in Paris. Many many thanks to him for his generosity.

In the past we had already a number of posts by both artists: Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and Zia Fariduddin Dagar.

We made two folders out of these recordings:

Folder 1:
Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena)

Raga Yaman (49:31)

Raga Nur Sarang (12:25)

Folder 1 - flac
Folder 1 - mp3

Folder 2:
Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena) & Zia Fariduddin Dagar (Dhrupad Vocal)

Raga Chandrakauns (46:20)

Raga Bhairavi (8:52)
Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra Veena)

Raga Ahir Lalit (16:10)

Folder 2 - flac

Folder 2 - mp3

Frères Dagar: Nasir Moinuddin Dagar & Nasir Aminuddin Dagar - Inde du Nord - Private CD

Here we have a private CD with beautiful recordings by the Senior Dagar Brothers. And here we have an extreme case of a private CD looking like a real release, in this case an LP published by Ocora, the well known label of Radio France. But for sure it is a private CD and never was published by Ocora. An Indian collector made out of these recordings of unknown sources a private CD and created covers for it. This person seems to take a great pleasure in creating covers and to let them look like real ultra rare releases. Which is sort of funny and sympathetic. And looks nice. But can create some confusion amongst music lovers and collectors.

There are several details proving that this is not an official recording from Ocora:

1. The release date is given as 1977. At that time it was LPs and the tracks are too long to fit on an LP. 

2. The two tracks have very different sound quality and different accompanists, but are supposed to stem from the same concert. 

3. The Dagar Brothers are accompanied in the first track by harmonium, pakhawaj and in the last composition by tabla. In the second track they are accompanied by sarangi and pakhawaj and the track is incomplete and ends abruptly (we made a short fadeout). Ocora would never have published recordings as imperfect. Also the only moment these recordings could have been recorded in France was during their 1964 tour (as mentioned on the back cover), but this tour was organised by Alain Daniélou on behalf of the Unesco and Alain Daniélou as a strict purist would never have allowed the singers to be accompanied on harmonium or sarangi in a Dhrupad performance. On the backcover are given the correct accompanists of the 1964 European tour. But in India it was not unusual for the Dagar Brothers to be accompanied by these instruments, as one can see in other recordings posted by us.

4. The track information is wrong: the first track has after the Alap as a composition not a Dhrupad, but a Dhamar, then in the last few minutes a Tarana in Khyal style with Tabla accompaniment. The second track is neither in Raga Rupashree nor in Raga Shree, as mentioned at another spot on the backside. It sounds like a Hori in Kafi - "Aaj Brij Mein Holi Khelat Nandlal" (different from the one found in the Royal Collection of Mewar CD set). Track information given to us by the Indian collector who shared these recordings. Many thanks to him.

So it is clear that these recordings are not from the 1964 European tour of the Senior Dagar Brothers. And that they were not published by Ocora. They must be recordings done in India at different moments. 

I only know of one other case of someone creating covers to make recordings look like real, but ultra rare LPs. They can be found on the Harmonium blog. See these for example:

https://harmoniummusicblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/03/an-old-tradition-in-the-land-of-the-pure-hafeez-khan-talwandiwale/

https://harmoniummusicblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/ragamala-vol-7-yamankalyani/

https://harmoniummusicblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/the-voice-of-loneliness-kishori-amonkar/

https://harmoniummusicblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/07/the-final-show-ustad-amanat-ali-khan/

I received these recordings from an Indian collector based in the US. Many many thanks to him for his kindness to share these.

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The Hindustani Archives - Dhrupad & Khayal - Pandit Tansen Pandey & Ustad Amir Khan - Private Release

Here we have another outstanding recording by the great master of the Dagarvani, Ustad Hussainuddin Dagar (Pt. Tansen Pandey) (1909-1963), next to Rahimuddin Khan Dagar the only artist of the 18th generation of the Dagars, by whom recordings exist. 

As a filler there is also a piece by the great Ustad Amir Khan, unfortunately of quite bad sound quality. In the near future we plan to post 2 or 3 recordings by him.

This is a private CD. It seems that an Indian collector made out of these recordings from unknown sources a private CD and created covers for it. This person seems to take a great pleasure in creating covers and to let them look like real ultra rare releases. Which is sort of funny and sympathetic. And looks nice. In this case the release looks like a published cassette. But for sure it was never released. 

I received these recordings from an Indian collector based in the US. Many many thanks to him for his kindness to share these.

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Darbhanga & Dagar - Various Artists - Dhrupad Series

Here another private CD with Abhay Narayan Mallik and some artists of the Dagarvani. Amongst the recordings on this CD is an outstanding Alap by Ustad Hussainuddin Dagar (Pt. Tansen Pandey) (1909-1963), next to Rahimuddin Khan Dagar the only artist of the 18th generation of the Dagars, by whom recordings exist. Ustad Hussainuddin Dagar was one of the four sons of Ustad Allahbande Khan (1845-1927) and the father of Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar.
"Tansen Pande (1908-1963) was born Hussainuddin Khan, the fourth son of Allabande Khan. While most of the members of the Dagar musical family acknowledge their Hindu antecedents, Tansen Pande formally chose to revert to his ancestor’s faith around 1947. He ranks as one of the great Dhrupadiyas of the 20th century." From http://www.parrikar.org/vpl/?page_id=618
There exist a couple of performences by him on YouTube.
I received these recordings including the covers from an Indian collector based in the US. Many many thanks to him for his kindness to share these.

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Ustad Rahimuddin Dagar - Raga Shudh Sarang & Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar - Compositions in Ragas Kedar & Malkauns

Yesterday Raagam, the internet radio of All India Radio, which broadcasts 24 hours a day 7 days a week classical Indian music, had a Dhrupad program with Ustads Rahimuddin Dagar and Sayeeduddin Dagar. 

Raga Shudh Sarang by Ustad Rahimuddin Dagar (1902-1976) was wrongly announced as being by Dagar Bandhu (Dagar Brothers). But it is performed by the great Rahimuddin Dagar, probably with vocal support by his son Fahimuddin Dagar (1927-2011). Another great performance by the great master.

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This program was preceded by a performance of some Dhrupad compositions by Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar (1939-2017): 

Raga Kedar - Dhrupad & Dhamar

Raga Malkauns - Dhrupad

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For Raagam see:

http://www.airbengaluru.com/cue-sheets/raagam-2/

http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Default.aspx

The Younger Dagar Brothers: Nasir Zahiruddin Dagar (1933-1994) & Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar (1934-1989) - LP released in India in 1968

Here we present a quite rare LP by the Junior Dagar Brothers, their very first LP. I recently was able to obtain a copy of this LP, which has certain shortcomings. First the cover had the correct back side, but the front had the cover of a Bollywood LP. In the internet I found a good scan of the correct front cover. But this front cover is from the original LP EASD 1334, whereas our LP and the backcover is from the export edition S/MOAE 181, both released in 1968. Secondly, the LP was not in good condition: it had some cracks and sidenoises.

Our friend LF from Scotland was so kind to clean the recording. Here what he wrote:

"I've just uploaded the processed files into your dropbox. You sent me 24-bit WAV files and I've returned them in the same format. The only problem was with side 2 track 1 where at around 1:28 there is a loud crack in the original. I think that there is a jump there. I expect that no amount of cleaning will get rid of this, unless there is some visible lump of grot stuck on the record.

The repair has no audible crack, but the rhythm suffers a slight jump, but not too awful I think? There are no cracks or pops in the rest of the music, except at very low level.  The recording is very stereo with one brother, with the slightly raspy voice in the left channel and the other brother with a sweet softer voice in the right channel." Thank you very very much, LF.

The voice on the left channel is the one of Zahiruddin Dagar and on the right channel it is Faiyazuddin Dagar.

In 2011 we posted a double LP by the Junior Dagar Brothers. We added now (28th of february) flac files.

About the artists see: 

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

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Rahimuddin Khan Dagar (1901-1976) - Raga Rageshri-Kanhara - Recording (1960) from the archives of AIR released as a cassette in India in 1990

We continue our Dhrupad series with an outstanding recording by Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar. Our blogger friend Bolingo had posted in 2011 the LP which was released the same year, but unfortunately only in mp3 format, as was normal at that time when storage space was still a big issue. Here we offer the cassette both in flac and mp3 formats.

We bought this cassette in the same shop in Little India in Mahattan, NY, as the Mushtaq Ali Khan cassette. I still remember very vividly how happy I was to find these two cassettes as I had heard of these musicians a lot before, but never was able to obtain any music by them.

Last month we had already two posts by the artist. There you can find more information on the artist.

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Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (1929-1990) - Been Recital - Recording (1981) from the archives of AIR released on cassette in India in 1989

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar was a legendary master of the Rudra Veena (Been). He was the only member of the Dagar family who performed an instrumental version of Dhrupad. These recordings were also released the same year on LP. 

On the artist:

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

http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~rgarfias/film-sessions/dagar-02/index.htm

http://www.raga.com/cds/222/222booklet.html

http://www.raga.com/cds/219/219text.html

We will return now, after this short excursion into Indian instrumental music, to our Dhrupad series, this recording by Zia Mohiuddin Dagar being a perfect transition. Once this Dhrupad series is finished we will post two LPs by Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.

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Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Khan Dagar - Ragas Lalita Gauri, Adana, Bhatiyar & Komal Rishabh Asavari

Here we present some recordings from Saptak Festival in 1982 (apparently from a 90 min. cassette) and an All India Radio Program broadcast in March 2001. Many thanks to KF for the recordings and the covers.

CD 1 - flac

CD 1 - mp3

CD 2- flac

CD 2 - mp3

Nasir Aminuddin Khan Dagar (1923-2000) - Cassette published in India in 1985

Here a beautiful cassette by Aminuddin Dagar of the Senior Dagar Brothers. Judging from the sound of the recordings it was recorded at the same time as the LP published in 1983. Bolingo posted this LP in 2011 on his wonderful blog. See here.

On the artist see:

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

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In my shop on Discogs are still nine volumes of the "The Lyrical Tradition of Dhrupad" series, published by Makar Records, available at a good price. 

See: https://www.discogs.com/seller/Tawfiq49/profile?q=Makar+Dhrupad

Rahimuddin Khan Dagar (1901-1976) - AIR programs & EPs

Here three AIR recordings by the great Dhrupadiya. The two EPs on the second CD were released in 1961.

See: http://discog.piezoelektric.org/hmvindia/index.php?prefix=7EPE. 

Many thanks to KF for the recordings and the covers.
Frontcover: background right: Behram Khan, background left: Allabande Khan, front: Rahimuddin Khan.

CD 1 - flac
CD 1 - mp3

CD 2 - flac
CD 2 - mp3

Rahimuddin Khan Dagar (1901-1976) - Raga Asavari

Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar was one of the very few from the 18th generation of the Dagars of whom quite a number of recordings exist. See the  wonderful LP which Bolingo on his excellent blog posted in 2011  It also exists as a cassette. Here we present a long Raga Asavari by this outstanding Dhrupad master. We received the recording on a CD in the early 2000s from our friend DM, who also made the covers. Many thanks to him. 

This Raga Asavari seems to be the same that was published, slightly edited, on the double CD "The Dhrupad of the Dagar Bani", Edizioni Musicali III Millennio, Roma, Italy, 2003. The source of our version here seems to be a cassette, as the timings suggest. Here from the CD the correct track information:

Raga Asavari:

Alap vilambit 

Alap nom tom madhya and drut 

Dhrupad chautal "Ayo jit hi" & Dhrupad sultal "Ana sunai bansuri Kanha" (same composition that the Senior Dagar Brothers sing on the Unesco LP)

with vocal support by R. Fahimuddin Dagar

Pakhawaj: Pandit Purushottam Das

Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar is the father of Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar. See our post from 2011 here.

Next we will post some AIR broadcasts and two EPs by the great master.

On the artist see:

http://www.dhrupad.info/rahimuddin.htm

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Moinuddin & Aminuddin Khan Dagar - Dagarvani - Gunkali & Brindavani Sarang from AIR

Here two more recordings by the Senior Dagar Brothers from the archives of All India Rado (AIR). I received these recordings in the late 1990s from VN, a Dhrupad collector from UK. The recordings in our previous post might also come orginally from him. Many many thanks to him. Our friend KF made a CD out of them and created a cover. Also many thanks to him.

Like the Jayjayvanti in our previous post also the Gunkali here is different from the one on the commercial CD from Akashvani. See below.

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Here a commercial CD from the Archives of Akashvani (All India Radio). It can be obtained from: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com

Dagar Brothers: Nasir Moinuddin Dagar (1919-1966) & Nasir Aminuddin Dagar (1923-2000) (Vocal) - Dhrupad Tradition of Dagarvani - Akashvani Sangeet: Raga Gunkali (29:51), Raga Jaijaiwanti (29:43), AKASHVANI ARCHIVES, H-28

Wonderful recordings by the Senior Dagar Brothers, their only studio recordings available on CD.

Moinuddin & Aminuddin Dagar - Yaman & Jayjayvanti - AIR boadcasts

Here two All India Radio (AIR) recordings by the Senior Dagar Brothers. 

Many thanks to KF for the recordings and the covers he created.

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Moinuddin & Aminuddin Dagar - Dhrupads - The Music of India III - LP published around 1966 or 1968 in Germany

We start this year with a series of Dhrupad recordings. We had already posted in the past quite a number of Dhrupad recordings, both vocal and instrumental. Here it will be only vocal recordings. 

We start with perhaps the most outstanding and beautiful recording of Dhrupad ever: a legendary LP by the Senior Dagar Brothers Moinuddin Dagar (1919-1966) and Aminuddin Dagar (1923-2000), published in the famous Unesco Collection "A Musical Anthology of the Orient" as volume 18. The recordings were done during their 1964 European tour (Berlin, Paris, Venice) in Berlin. For me it was the very first vocal Raga music I ever heard. I had listened to it many times in the end of the 1960s at the home of some friends and bought my own copy, the one we post here, in the early 1970s.

In the early 2000s there was a project to republish this whole Unesco series on CD, but unfortunately only very few volumes saw the day. I guess the label - Rounder in the US - gave up the project as the CDs didn't sell as expected. So these recordings were never republished, though there are still many copies around for sale, as one can see for example on Discogs. 

In 2011 we had posted another LP by the Senior Dagar Brothers, the one originally published in India by The Gramophone Company of India in 1965. See here.

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Sayeeduddin Dagar (20 April 1939 – 30 July 2017) passed away - May he rest in peace - In his memory two concert recordings from 1989 & 2000

Only today I received the sad news that Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar passed away on 30th of July. May his soul rest in peace. He was the last surviving representative of the 19th generation of the Dagar dynasty. 

I met him first around 2000 in Holland, I think at a concert in Amsterdam. Afterwards we met for a couple of years at a number of other concerts and developped a very warm friendship. The most beautiful concert, for me and my wife, took place in a suburb of Paris, in a small building at the back of a garden with only around 30 visitors. My wife was very fond of him and talked about this concert for many years. This concert was one of the most memorable concerts I ever experienced. It seems that the Ustad gave the most outstanding performances in front of a small public.

In the last 10 or 15 years a couple of CDs by him were released in France and UK.

On the artist see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Sayeeduddin_Dagar
http://isha.sadhguru.org/blog/inside-isha/expressions/tribute-ustad-sayeeduddin-dagar/
http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/dhrupad-maestro-ustad-sayeeduddin-dagar-dies-aged-78/article19395864.ece

Concert in Bonn, Germany, in 1989:

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Concert in Cologne at WDR in 2000:

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Many thanks to KF for the recordings and the covers.