Here we present an Afghani cassette by the great Rubab master Ustad Mohammad Omar, which we recently received from our very generous friend KF as a gift. This cassette served as the basis for the CD "Ustad Mohammad Omar - Robab - The Soul of Sound", released in Germany in the 1990s and rereleased in 2009. But it is not completely identical: the order of the pieces is different and it seems that for the CD some parts were cut out, probably because of imperfections in the recordings.
The cassette is not well edited, e.g. the first and the last track seem to be two different sections of the same recording, partly overlapping, and often there are some harsh noises between the tracks. These we cut out. At the end of side 1 there are two very short, partly distorted pieces which seem to be fragments of other tracks. These we also cut out. The cassette is still about five minutes longer than the CD.
Ustad Mohammad Omar was presented on many LPs of Afghani music released in the West in the 1960s and 1970s, as he was considered one of the most prominent Afghani musicians and the Rubab was considered a national emblem of the country.
There are only two CDs on the market: the one
mentioned above and the one released by
Folkways. The second one is not that typical. Better are his recordings done in Afghanistan. Next we will post some beautiful recordings from the archives of WDR.
Here he is accompanied by two excellent percussionists: Ghul Alam on Dhol and the legendary Malang (Najrabi) on Zerbaghali. By both one can find music on YouTube. In some tracks there is also an excellent Tambur (long-necked lute) player. His name is unfortunately not mentioned. Perhaps it is Abdul Majid who was present on several LPs published in the West.
On the artist see:
You can also download the booklet to his Folkways CD:
