The great Ustad Aslam Khan (1940-2018) passed away on 21st of March 2018

We just received this morning the sad news that the great Ustad Aslam Khan (1940-2018) passed away already on 21st of March 2018. May he rest in peace. We always were very fond of this outstanding singer with a very rich background and a huge, extremely beautiful repertoire. For us he was one of the two or three greatest singers of his generation and perhaps the most interesting. Unfortunately he was only well known amongst the real connoisseurs. He had quite a number of cassette and CD releases during his long career.

In 2013 we posted two cassettes by him.

"A grand Condolence Meeting was organised to mourn the sad demise of Legendary Musician Ustad Aslam Khansahab Khushrang arranged by Pandit Nayan Ghosh, Sangit Mahabharathi and all the Fans Friends Colleagues, Students and disciples of Ustad Aslam Khansahab on the 18th April 2018 Wednesday 7. pm at the Sangit Mahabharathi Hall JVPD Mumbai. It was well attended by many eminent Musicians Followers and Close Associates of Late Aslam Khansahab. It included Pandit Nayan Ghosh (Introductory Speech) His Holiness Shyam Baba. Swami Chaitanya Swarup. Ustad Yakub Hussain Khan. Mr. Ramdas  Bhatkal. Ustad Vajahat Hussain Khan. Prof. Jamil Kaamil. Ustad Raja Miyan. and Pandit Amrendra Dhaneshwar.Two Minuites Silence was observed in the begining of the Meeting to pay homage to the departed Soul.Ustad Aslam Khansahab was a Musicians Musicians  and possessed a very rich repertoire of Indian Classical Ragas and Bandishes. He taught more than 500 Students and many of his disciples are in the frontline performers as on date. Aslam Khan belonged to the very famous Gharanas like  Hapur. Khurja. Atrauli=Jaipur Agra and the Delhi Tanras Khan Gharana.like his Guru the famous Gayan Samrat Ustad Azmat Hussain Khan Dilrang he served the Indian Music till he breathed last. He was an Awarded and Rewarded Musician.He precious recordings are preserved and recorded extensively by Sangit Natak Akademi. ITC Sangit Research Academy. N.C.P.A  Samvad Foundation. Goa Kala Academy. Saptak Sangeet Ahmedabad. Agha Khan Foundation New Delhi and All India Radio Akashwani Mumbai. New Delhi,  CPC Doordarshan. VividhBharathi Mumbai and many other Music Institutes.His prominent disciples include. Ustad Vajahat Hussain Khan. Anwar. Manhar Udhas. Usha Amonkar. Vrinda Mundkur. Bhal Patil. Chandra Kothari. Angna Kothari. Kamla Jhangiani.  The treasure of Music which Ustad Aslam Khansahab has left behind will be of great use for posterity and knowledge for the young generation of India. May his soul rest in peace. Website. www.dilrangacademy.org"

See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIATf6NIKGQ&feature=youtu.be

There are in total 6 videos there.

On the artist:

http://dilrangacademy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7&Itemid=12

https://www.esamskriti.com/e/Culture/Music/Down-The-Memory-Lane~-A-Journey-Into-The-Repertoire-Of-The-Living-Legend-~-Ustad-Aslam-Hussain-Khan-Saheb--colon-Khushrang-colon--1.aspx

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/aslam-hussain-khan-an-honest-blend-of-six-hindustani-gharanas/309908

As a tribute to this great master we post here another cassette published in India in 2000:

flac

mp3

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (1929-1990) - Rudra Vina - Private double CD containing two cassettes from the 1980s

Here we present a private double CD from the collection of our friend KF. The two CDs contain two cassettes:

1. Cassette MA 8508 published in Holland in 1988: Raga Yaman Kalyan from the concert in Mozes and Aaron Church in Amsterdam on 19th of june 1982.

2. Cassette published by Swarashree Enterprises (CBS) in India in mid 1980s: Raga Ahir Bhairav & Raga Malkauns. As the sound of the cassette is not so good we decided to take the recordings from the re-release on CD published in 2008 which is no longer available. KF reversed the order of the two Ragas of this cassette, probably in order to have a logical succession of Ragas on CD 2 from evening and midnight to morning. We kept his order.

Here the original covers of this cassette, thanks to WD:

Many thanks to KF for sharing the recordings and creating the covers. Unfortunately the covers faded over the years.

CD 1 - flac

CD 2 - flac

CD 1 - mp3

CD 2 - mp3

Krishnarao Shankar Pandit (1893-1989) - A Broadcast from All India Radio (AIR) with Raga Yaman Kalyan, Raga Paraj & Bhairavi Tappa

Here our last post - at least for now - of the great Krishnarao Shankar Pandit. We received these recordings many years ago, if I remember correctly, from the collector VN in UK. Our friend KF made a CD out of them and created a cover. Many thanks to both.

flac

mp3

Addition on October 27th 2017

Here a beautiful story about the artist:

In late January 1970, at the concert hall Rabindra Sadan in Kolkata, Panditji’s program was scheduled one early evening. Supravat Da and I went to the concert hall with our tape recorder to record Panditji’s program. Both of us were not familiar with Panditji’s singing, although we knew that he was one of the great singers of Gwalior Gharana. We had an uneasy feeling that the organizers might not allow us to record the program. It exactly happened that way. The organizers bluntly told us that recording was not allowed. Suddenly I saw Panditji on the back stage and I approached him. After initial greetings, I told him that I would like to record his program but I was not successful in receiving permission to do so from the organizers. Panditji was an older dignified person of seventy-eight, very accommodating and very easy to talk to. He immediately got me the permission to record his program.

I learnt that Panditji arrived at four in the afternoon by train from Gwalior and from the Railway station he went to visit Pandit Tarapada Chakraborty who had been hospitalized. This was a news for us. Panditji was living in Gwalior, knew that Tarapada Babu was ill, and we, the people of Kolkata, had absolutely no information about it.

It is impossible to describe Panditji’s singing. It was unique. His style of singing had no similarity with any other singers I knew of and I do not know if any singer could successfully imitate him. I was fascinated by his control and precision. I was simply overwhelmed. Even today, his Shree, Chaturang in Dabari and many other ragas are among my very favorite.

After the program I met Panditji and before I could say anything, he told me to come to his concert at Birla Academy, which was taking place the next morning. The next morning I passed some time with Panditji before the concert and requested him to sing a few morning ragas of my choice. He sang all the ragas I requested except Paraj; for that one, he said the timing was not right.

Panditji had no idea who I was, what my name was but he was kind and generous enough to invite me to his morning concert and kept my request.

Pt. Krishnarao Shankar Pandit was a great singer, a legend and above all a great human being.

In a private concert of Zia Mohiuddin Dagar in New York in 1980, during the intermission, Dagar Saheb, Sheila Dhar and I were talking. I wanted to know Dagar Saheb’s view of Pt. Krishnarao Shankar Pandit. I am always careful not to praise one musician in front of other musicians. I told Dagar Saheb that one vocalist impressed me very much. After he learnt that I was talking about Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, he was surprised at first then asked me, “Chowdhury saab tell me, who can sing like Pandji?” After superlative compliments about Panditji’s music he told me, “ In a concert if he sings whole night, I will also remain there whole night to listen to him.”

from the outstanding YouTube channel by Subrata Chowdhury (may he rest in peace):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilC2K7itBpE

Annapurna Devi & Ravi Shankar - Some rare Surbahar recordings from the 1950s

CD 1:

Annapurna Devi:

1. Raga Kaunsi Kanada

2. Raga Manjh Khamaj

Download CD 1 & Scans - wave
Download CD 1 & Scans - mp3

CD 2:

Annapurna Devi & Ravi Shankar:

Raga Yaman Kalyan

Download CD 2 - wave
Download CD 2 - mp3

"She has not recorded any music albums. But some of her performances (notably, 1. Raga Kaushi Kanara and Raga Majh Khamaj, Surbahar recital; and 2. Raga Yaman duet Surbahar recital with Ravi Shankar) that have been secretly taped from her earlier (1950s) concerts, are non-commercially available among a percentage of music lovers in India."

For more information see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurna_Devi

http://www.kamat.com/database/articles/annapurna_devi.htm

http://spinningawheel.blogspot.de/2012/12/1913-annapurna-devi-and-ravi-shankar.html

Many thanks to KF who made a nice double CD out of these recordings.

Rudra Veena exponent Ustad Asad Ali Khan passes away - In his memory: a recording from a concert in Darmstadt, Germany in 1995

Rudra Veena exponent Ustad Asad Ali Khan, one of the last existing advocate of the Khandarbani dhrupad school, passed away in the wee hours here today.

He was 74.

The classical musician, who represents the 12 generation of Jaipur's Beenkar Gharana, breathed his last at the All India Institute of Medical Science at around 2:30 am, his adopted son and disciple Ustad Ali Zaki Haidar told PTI.

"I had taken Ustad ji to hospital in the evening for a routine check-up and he was admitted around 7 pm. They conducted routine tests. Around 2:00 am while he was watching TV in his air-conditioned room, I noticed he was sweating. He passed away a little later," Haidar said.

Ustad Khan who was unmarried is survived by his nephew Haidar whom he had adopted as his own son at a very young age and trained to become his successor, said Pawan Monga, a disciple of the Rudra Veena exponent.

The musician, who received the Padma Bhushan in 2008 underwent training under his father Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan Beenakar. His father, grandfather Ustad Musharraf Ali Khan Beenakar and great-grandfather Ustad Rajab Ali Beenakar were court musicians in the princely state of Alwar where Ustad Asad Ali Khan was born in 1937.

His father later moved to the princely court of Rampur where he undertook to teach him music. For the next 15 years he learnt to play Rudra Veena, practicing 14 hours a day.

Ustad Khan was a artiste of the All India Radio and participated in 'sangeet samelans' and musical performances across the country and the world. He has also performed at concerts in Afghanistan, Australia, Holland, Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the US and other countries.

Ustad Khan has also been a professor of music at Delhi University.

Rudra Veena, an instrument said to be created by Lord Shiva, has remained essentially unchanged for millennia.

It comprises a bamboo piece mounted on two gourds and has 19-24 frets fixed with beeswax with four main and three side strings having a range of four to four and half octaves. Unlike a sitar or sarod, the rudra veena does not have resonance strings.

Ustad Khan used to play dhrupad in tile Khandarbani style, which is one of the four ancient styles of Indian music. It is named after Khanda, the Rajput warrior's traditional sharp curved sword.

from: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_rudra-veena-exponent-ustad-asad-ali-khan-passes-away_1554898

As a tribute to him we present here a concert in Darmstadt, Germany, from 1995. Our friend KF recorded it from its broadcast in february 1996, made a CD out of it and created nice covers. Many thanks to him.

flac

mp3

See also the recent post by our dear friend Bolingo of the only LP by the Ustad:
http://bolingo69.blogspot.com/2011/06/ustad-asad-ali-khan-rudra-vina-p1978.html