Friday, 14 August 2015
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Berta Davidova (1922-2007) - Legendary Shashmaqom Singer - MP3-CD from Uzbekistan
Next in our series of Uzbek MP3-CDs, which our friend Danny brought years ago from Uzbekistan, we present one by Berta Davidova, the great singer of the Shashmaqam of Bukhara. She was one of the main singers in the legendary complete Shashmaqam recorded in the early 1960s under the direction of Yunus Rajabi, which we posted in 2012. See:
Berta (Balur) Davydova (1922-2007) was a famous singer from Uzbekistan. She was
born into a family of Bukharian Jews and learned to speak many languages such as
her native tongue of Bukhori (Bukharian Jewish language), Uzbek, Russian, and
Tajik. She sang songs in many of these languages and other languages of the
people of the world. She was honored as People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR
(Uzbekistan) for her work. A famous Uzbek song with words by Uzbek poet
Alisher Navoiy, called "MUNOJOT" (Prayer), made Berta Davydova very famous and
beloved by many people in Central Asia, the former USSR, and abroad. She sang
the song so well that she received the title by some as "MISS MUNOJOT". She will
always be remembered for her music and development of the culture of the Central
Asian peoples like Uzbeks, Tajiks and Bukharian Jews. She is buried at the
Bukharian Jewish Cemetery in Tashkent Uzbekistan.
Remembering Berta Davidova. (To the 90th Anniversary)
EDITOR NEW • 16/03/2015 • ISSUE #4 • 294
In December 2012, Berta Davidova, the People’s Artist of Uzbekistan, a
remarkable singer who made a solid contribution to the national art, would have
turned 90. Her life and work are covered in academic papers, numerous television
shows, and a film-concert called “Berta Dovidova kuylaydi” [Sings Berta
Davidova]; there is a record and a CD of the masterpieces of traditional Uzbek
music professionally performed by her. The present author is hopeful that these
recollections of her late mother-in-law, as impartial evidence, would inform our
knowledge about Davidova’s outstanding personality and be of interest to the
reader who is familiar with the art of the singer.
Berta Davidova (her real name was Billur, which means “crystal”, but only
her close relatives called by this name) represents the oral tradition of ustoz
– shogird [teacher to student] system of professional training. She never
studied at a conservatory and did not know notation, but the school of vocal
performance she went through as a singer could be envied by many a performer
with a formal education certificate. Among Davidova’s first teachers
were bastakor Imomjon Ikramov, the author of the “Munojot” song that made her
famous: he personally rehearsed it with her; and the renowned masters
of maqom Fazliddin Shahobov, Shonazar Sahibov, and domla Zirkiev. But all her
life she considered Yunus Rajabi her most influential Teacher. He was the one
who introduced her to the secrets of maqom singing, and, for the first time in
the history of maqom, which was never performed by women before,
entrusted shube (the solo numbers) to Berta Davidova in a recording of a Bukhara
Shashmaqom by an all-star cast of the maqom performers’ ensemble.
Berta-opa often mentioned that Rajabi was giving a lot of attention to
vocal technique, not permitting her to force the audj (culminations) with an
open, throaty sound; to the skill of using diaphragm – the so-called nasal
singing; and to the correct distribution of breath during long hanga chants.
(Not an expert in vocals, I regret not having recorded these methods then).
Persistently working to achieve the desired result, the teacher sang phrase
after phrase together with her, accompanying them on either a tambur, or
a dutar, beating the most complex usul (rhythmic formulas) on doira [tambourine],
and Berta, with her impeccable sense of rhythm, reproduced them accurately on
the same doira. Rajabi also paid much attention to lyrics, explaining their
content and complex, polysemantic imagery.
Telling about her training sessions with Rajabi, Berta-opa always noted
that the learning of maqom had not started immediately. For quite a while, the
teacher was introducing her to folklore material and the songs
of bastakor performers, where she could use the skills acquired when she was a
soloist in the Radio Committee folk instruments ensemble conducted by Dani
Zakirov. Based on her own experience, the singer claimed that maqom performance
requires not only a mature voice, but also certain life experience. She believed
that an artist, who never suffered emotional pain, would not be able to feel the
spirit of maqom, comprehend its essence and meaning, and communicate it to the
listener.
The validity of the statement is proved by an interval of almost thirty
years between the recordings of “Munojot”. The first version (1949), filled with
exultation of the young voice that effortlessly deals with vocal complexities,
is different from the widely known later recording (1975) that communicates the
focus of the experience master on presenting the dramatic character in the most
refined finish. Artistic principles borrowed from her teacher and complemented
with her own practice Davidova tried to apply to her work with conservatory
students learning traditional singing; she did not always agree with the syllabi
and often criticize them in terms of their practical relevance.
Valuing her profession highly, she bore the title of the People’s Artist
with dignity and pride. In my memory, she never accepted offers to perform at
wedding parties, although, given the singer’s enormous popularity, there was no
shortage of them. She refused to benefit from this way of earning money, so
common in the artistic environment, not because she was too rich – her rate for
a solo concert at that time was little more than 19 roubles; neither did she own
a luxury apartment or a country house. It is just that the atmosphere of the
nuptial feast did not match her perception of maqom art and the special mission
of its bearers. However, as a guest, she agreed when asked to sing something,
and could even dance, leaving all the cash that was coming her way to the party
musicians.
Berta-opa prepared for her appearances on television very carefully and
responsibly (in the 1980s, when she no longer gave concerts). She herself put
her concert costume in order: attire in Fergana style, with a light coat of
striped bekasam [textile blend of cotton and silk], white satin or
crepe-de-Chine dress, losim pants, a silk scarf worn smartly across,
lacquered kaush shoes, and traditional jewellery. She rehearsed, accompanying
herself on doira, first softly, and then, as her vocal chords warmed up, in a
full voice; she never sang before the concert, relaxing and concentrating on the
upcoming performance. All this reminded me of the charity concert preparation by
the heroine of Ivan Bunin’s remarkable story “Favourable Part”.
Having phenomenal musical memory that could store long and complex shube,
Berta-opa sometimes had difficulty remembering lyrics – ghazal in old Uzbek and
Persian/Tajik languages. This brings to mind one humorous episode. Television
producers were preparing a program dedicated to the poetry of Babur, if my
memory is correct, and Berta-opa had to perform a piece based on his verses. By
that time, she no longer worked, that is, was not in shape for a concert all the
time. The proposal came unexpectedly, and there was not enough time for
preparation. The solution was as follows: I found a piece of wallpaper left
after renovation (in those days paper of the desired format was not readily
available), Berta-opa wrote the text in large letters on the reverse side, and
the rehearsal began. I acted as a prompter, holding the text before her eyes. In
the text, a strange word ‘povza’ appeared with certain intervals, and when I
asked Berta-opa about it, she said, “Here musicians play, and am silent”. The
‘povza’ meant ‘pause’ in the vocal part! During recording, the text with ‘povza’
was held behind the camera, and the performance ran without a hitch. This was
not the only funny incident in her career. With her characteristic sense of
humour, Berta-opa recalled one outdoor concert, when, performing rather complex
and lengthy audj, she suddenly felt some kind of midge flying into her mouth! “I
had to swallow it! Luckily, I didn’t choke on it, and the audience saw
nothing”.
The singer often told stories about concerts delivered during cotton
harvesting, when performers went out “into the fields of the land”, as people
used to call it. They usually travelled by trucks with open body (buses appeared
later); with sides down, the trucks turned into a stage, and the driver’s cabin
served as a dressing room. The audience coming to shiypan (an open terrace in
the field camp) straight from the field accommodated themselves on the ground,
sitting on aprons used to pick up cotton, while younger people climbed the
nearby trees. There was no amplification equipment or microphones (at that time
people had no idea about a lip synch!) – just live music and sound in the open
air. The response of the audience, too, was live, not recorded, not programmed.
“How did they clap their hands, calling us again and again, thanking us and
inviting to visit them again! I always tried to sing at the top of my voice, to
entertain and cheer them up”.
Her voice had a kind of magical power and indescribable timbre, sounding
smoothly and naturally in all registers. It seems, however, that the secret of
Berta Davidova’s singing talent was not so much in the excellence of her
performing technique, but rather in her ability to sing with her heart,
empathize with her characters, and create a dramatic solo show, convincing and
winning the listener with the interpretation she discovered. Her gestures, the
expression of her face and eyes, and the vocal techniques she employed were
justified by the content of a piece, helping the singer “to burn human hearts
with a word”. The audience responded adequately: I remember a foreign graduate
student visiting with her son on holidays, who was not a musician and did not
understand a word in Uzbek: he wept as he listened to “Fighon” (“Lament”)
performed by her. In the days of television broadcasts featuring Berta Davidova
the phone kept ringing with calls from fans, friends, and acquaintances. Those
were the happy moments for her.
Davidova valued the recognition of her audience – people who approached her
in the streets with expressions of gratitude and admiration. Sometimes this
popularity had a comic side to it: the moment she arrived in the Alai farmer’s
market and went to the stalls, prices went up at once, for the sellers knew that
Berta-opa never bargained, upholding her image. Still, even among the merchants
there were unselfish amateurs of her art. I remember an elderly woman selling
bread who always brought her finest patyr to her favourite singer, never
accepting money, despite the attempts to pay.
For Berta-opa another proof of people’s love was the much cherished
yellowed letter from the people of Andijan that arrived to the Radio Committee
in 1957 and was passed on to the singer by its chairman H. Ibragimov. The letter
contained a request to broadcast the songs of their favourite singer more often,
and a suggestion to reward her artistic achievements. In the same year the title
of the Honoured Artist of Uzbekistan was conferred on her, and Berta-opa always
believed that she largely owed it to her admirers.
Deep and sincere was the singer’s love for her home country. When awarded
the El-Yurt Hizmati [Service to the Nation] Order by the President Islam
Karimov, in all her interviews and public appearances she always spoke of her
devotion to the country that nurtured her and to its people, whose art she
served. This was her conscious position chosen once and for all, and she
repeatedly rejected offers to leave the country. Once the top party leadership
of Tajikistan approached Sharaf Rashidov with an official request, to which a
negative response was given, first of all, by her. Once Uzbekistan became
independent, Israeli officials repeatedly offered Davidova to return to her
‘historical homeland’; she also received invitations from her brothers – one in
Canada, the other in Germany, and still the other in Israel. Yet she invariably
answered: “Here I was born and happened to be of some use, and here I will die.
Uzbekistan made me its people’s artist – so it will bury me the way it should
be”. She, certainly, regretted that in the bloom of her art she could not go on
tour abroad, as today’s singers and musicians do, but she never imagined her
life outside her native environment.
The singer was as adamant in her choice between art and family. She had to
part with the father of her only son due to the firm demand to abandon her
profession and leave stage. Another attempt to fix her personal life also ended
in a failed relationship: Berta’s second husband, one of the managers in
GlavMosStroy [the Moscow Construction Administration] who arrived in Tashkent in
the aftermath of the 1966 earthquake, invited her to move to Moscow where he had
a nice apartment and comfortable life. Berta-opa recalled: “When Sharaf
Rashidovich Rashidov learned about this, he invited us to his office and
listened to our story. He had no objection to my move to my husband’s, yet he
noted: ‘Your art is needed here. Your audience, the fans and admirers of your
talent are all here. Think about what is more important to you, so that you
don’t regret it in the future.’ I gave it a thought – and stayed…”
Berta Davidova is no longer with us, but the singer’s voice lives on in
records, delighting the ear and aesthetic sense of amateurs of traditional
music. Her vocal art has not yet been studied thoroughly, awaiting its
researcher who, as we hope, will soon arrive. The Art of Berta Davidova, the
People’s Artist of Uzbekistan, left behind as heritage of our nation is worthy
of examination and careful research.
BERTA DAVIDOVA
In recent years we have witnessed an active interest towards classical
Oriental music art in the whole world. Makom is a phenomenon of the spiritual
culture of Central Asia; however its significance goes for beyond the limits of
the region. From the philosophical point of view, makoms are a musical
reflection of the objective reality, expressed through symbols and notions of a
high aesthetic order through pursuit of harmony of Infinity. Although we marvel
at beauty and manysidedness of the instrumental part, it is still the vocal that
forms the bases of makoms.
Life and creative activity of the wonderful singer of makoms - Berta
Davidova is closely intertwined with the history of development of traditional
musical arts of Uzbekistan. Despite the fact that her professional biography has
always been closely linked to the history of the formation makomists' first
ensemble, it is from/with her name that the popularity of female solo makom
performance begins. Female vocal parts were an innovation seen as deviation from
traditions in the practice of performance of makoms.
Berta Davidova was born in 1922 in Margilan in a family which loved music
and supported musical talents of the girl. In 1935-1938 she studied at Tashkent
Medical Vocational School. During the Second World War she worked as a nurse at
Tashkent military hospital, where she sang for wounded soldiers, patients of the
hospital.
Berta Davidova's career as a singer began in 1943, when she started to work
as a soloist of the chorus of the State Radio Committee, and then as a soloist
of "Makom" ensemble under the leadership of Yunus Rajabiy. She became renowned
as early as in 1946 after she had performed classical folk song "Munojat" during
the live broadcast on Uzbek radio.
In 60s of XX century, over period of work in "Makom" ensemble, where her
talent and remarkable musical gifts showed up best, she quickly became
well-known and occupied a well-deserved place among outstanding artists of the
country and beyond. Spiritually elevated poetics of the invaluable asset of the
national and world culture "Shashmakom", which has formerly been considered as
elitist, palatial music, became accessible to general public and acquired
popularity to a large extent due to high performing mastery of Berta Davidova
and her self-sacrificing serving the cause of art. Makoms formed the basis of
her repertoire. In makom's history there were many bright performers, but the
performance manner of Berta Davidova rendered makoms with new inimitable
sounding amidst established traditions. Makom pieces when performed by her were
steeped in deep sensations, disclosing not only the deep philosophic meaning of
Oriental poetry, but also richness of her own soul.
Possessing her phenomenal musical abilities and faculty of coordinating
breath and voice, which was remarkable due to unique strength and beautiful
tone, enabled her to perform unrivaled ŕudjes - plangent wide-range culminations
of vocal parts.
Apart from makoms, Berta Davidova performed classic songs, such as
"Munojat", "Figon", "Sarakhbori Oromijon", "Samarkand ushogi", "Dugokh",
"Bayot-1", etc.
Both makoms and song repertoire of the singer is included in the "Golden
Stock" of Uzbek radio. Due to outstanding talent of Berta Davidova, a large
variety of pieces of Oriental musical art has been included in the world
treasury of musical masterpieces."
See also this passage from the book "From Shamanism to Sufism: Women, Islam and Culture in Central Asia" by
Razia Sultanova. The two female singers on the records of the complete Shashmaqam talk there (in chapter
22) about their lives, and about the recording of this Shashmaqam:
and:
Saturday, 1 August 2015
Akmalxon (1905-1987) va Boboxon (1900-1980) - Sufixonovlar (So'fixonovlar) - MP3-CD from Uzbekistan
In Uzbekistan quite some years ago MP3-CDs by the great singers of mid last
century had been published. These recordings probably have been released
originally on LPs by Melodiya, the Sowjet state-owned label. These MP3-CDs
contain in general the complete recordings by these artists. As these artists
are mostly completely unknown in the west and their songs are such beautiful
jewels and these CDs are extremely difficult to get, even in Uzbekistan, we
brake here with our habit not to post music from CDs. We will post about one or
two of these MP3-CDs per month. We are very very grateful to our dear friend
Danny, who brought these CDs a couple of years ago from a trip to Uzbekistan and
had to undergo enormous difficulties to collect all these recordings from shops
and bazars in several towns in Uzbekistan. He was so kind to let me copy all of
them. We have tried since then to find ways to order these CDs but never got any
response from the labels. According to the information we could gather they seem
no longer available. Other friends who have been in Uzbekistan in the last years
were unable to find any or only very few CDs of traditional music.
We start here with two legendary Sufi singers, the brothers Akmal-Khan and Baba-Khan Subhanov. Jean During wrote about them in the booklet to the CD "Ouzbekistan - Les Grandes Voix du Passé (1940-1965)", on which he published three tracks by the brothers, the only ones available in the west:
"THE LAST REPRESENTATIVES OF SUFI TRADITION
Besides these three traditions (the three Maqom traditions existing in Uzbekistan: Shashmaqom of Bukhara, the Maqom of the Ferghana Valley and the Maqom of Khorezm), yet not fundamentally different, existed a
huge repertoire of Sufi songs, about which not much is known. Of this
repertoire, passed on through initiation by the Yasavi (often also Naqshbandi)
whose practising members were to be found a little throughout Central Asia äs
far äs the Uigurs of Xin-jiang, Uzbek emigrants and Chinese Hui, only traces
remain. Certain hymns like "zikri Ushshaq" were common to the Sufis of Kashgary
and Ferghana. But the level of traditional Sufi singing in Namanghan
(Ferghana) was not as high as it was in Turkestan. This town (now in the Uzbek
region of Kazakhstan) is the site of the tomb of Ahmad Yasavi (l Ith
Century).
All Uzbek and Tajik classical music being impregnated with a mystic ethos,
to fully understand it, one needs to refer to Sufi values and culture. With the
revolution, materialism swept all other creeds aside. After several decades of
religious persecution, almost nothing remains of Sufi devotional and musical
practices. The vestiges left by the Subhanov brothers are, in the light of this,
even more precious: a constant reference for connoisseurs, they represent the
consummate perfecting of a spiritual art and ideal.
Subhan Ata was a Sufi singer from Turkestan, first noted by Belaiev and
Uspensky, Russian musicologists from 1920 to 1950. His nickname came from the
piety of his singing and invocations (subhan: praise). His two sons Akmal-khan
and Baba-khan Subhanov perpetuated this spiritual repertoire through a period
when any mystical or religious allusion was mercilessly censored.
Turgun Alimatov, the celebrated master, who sometimes accompanied the
Subhanov brothers on the violin, recalls them for Theodore Levin in his book
"The Hundred Thousand Fools of God", with these words of praise:
«In contrast to other Singers, the Subhanovs performed exclusively songs
with a religious content. They were religious people themselves, even during the
time when religion was strictly forbidden. People who rejected religion simply
didn't associate with them, and for their pari, the Subhanovs stayed away from
atheists. They were invited to the houses of believers. «I've been in the Company
of very different hafizs [singers], but I've never seen the kind of respect l
saw for the Subhanovs. When they appeared in the distance, everyone stood up,
and stood to two sides, bowing their heads and putting their hands over their
hearts. Why were they so respected?... They conducted themselves nobly. They had
very clean souls. Second, what they sang was in a sincere religious style. In
contrast to other singers, who only said the words God, religion, etc., they
approached these words very attentively and chose the most affective texts. They
cornpletely excluded light and worldly texts (...). «Among real, clean
artists, I never saw such people. Real artists lived honestly. They had high
regard for both their art and their faith. Baba-khan-aka, Shah Karim-aka, they
always valued their masters' spirits, their teachers who were deceased. They
prayed to their spirits, they always remembered them. They kept in contact with
their families and took part in all of their family occasions. And that's the way
they raised their children. Look at their children; they're following the path
of their parents. «... Baba-khan-aka and Shah Karim-aka were people who were not
only clean in the soul, but in their actions. (...) After religion, there's
nothing better and more dignified than art»."
Saturday, 25 July 2015
Friday, 24 July 2015
Monday, 13 July 2015
Sharafat Hussain Khan (1930-1985) - 30th anniversary of his death - Part III - Raga Maluha Kedar & Ragas Raysa Kanada & Gara Kanada
Here another set of beautiful radio recordings by the great master.
Sharafat Hussain Khan 3 - CD 1 & Covers:
Sharafat Hussain Khan 3 - CD 2:
Many thanks to KF for the recordings and the covers.
Saturday, 11 July 2015
Sharafat Hussain Khan (1930-1985) - 30th anniversary of his death - Part II - Raga Todi & Raga Rageshri
Here two other beautiful recordings by the great master. On the first CD we have a wonderful demonstration of his mastery over the Dhrupad format including a long Alap. Sharafat Hussain Khan was the last great singer of the Agra Gharana who reguarly performed long Alaps.
Sharafat Hussain Khan - CD 1 - Todi & covers:
Sharafat Hussain Khan - CD 2 - Rageshri:
Many thanks to KF for editing these recordings and creating the beautiful cover.
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
Sharafat Hussain Khan (1930-1985) - 30th anniversary of his death - AIR memorial broadcast on 14th of july 1985
In honour of the great artist, we admire very much and of whose music we are especially fond, we post here a National Program of Music broadcast by All India Radio on July 14, 1985, one week after his sad and premature passing. His first and only LP we had posted in 2011. See here.
Ustad Sharafat Hussain Khan “Prem Rang” (1930 – 1985)
A disciple of Ustad Faiyaz Khan and Ustad Ata Hussain Khan – A great vocalist from Agra Gharana. His approach towards music was always to expand the Raga. Take any Raga-s and Ustad-ji would sing these Raga-s at length. For example Raga Malati Basant, Raga Raisa Kanada, Raga Maluha Kalyan to name a few – He could and would sing them for about an hour plus, on an average. He was always open to greater development of his music and so he was never shy to adopt something from other musicians or their respective styles. And almost always, he was successful in blending those so called foreign elements into the musical structure of Agra Gharana that he used to prefer and perform. And then the concept he would sing would be his own “Khayal”.
He was probably one of the last musicians who performed full-length, full featured Nom-Tom Alap before Khayal. His command on Laya (rhythem) was also great which is visible (audible, I mean) in various pieces that are presented here. He was blessed with a voice which he successfully preserved and cultivated to suite his imagination.
He was never tired of singing because he loved his music. Once a mehfil was organized in Ahmedabad and the organizer requested Ustad-ji to sing without microphone and without Harmonium accompaniment to get the essence of music in untainted form. Ustad-ji agreed. The mehfil eventually turned out to be a whole night concert where Ustad-ji sang Nom-Tom Alap, Vilambit (Traditional Composition) and Drut Khayal (His own composition) in Raga Savani (a variant with Komal Gandhar) followed by Raga Jaijaivanti, Vilambit and Drut, followed by Raga Nat Bihag, Drut Khyal, Raga Sohini, Drut Khayal. As it was about sunrise, He started Raga Ramkali – Vilambit & Drut. In the end he sang a Dadra in Raga Bhairavi. Fortunately this concert was recorded and recently it has been published as a set of 4 CDs by Sangeet Kendra.
from: https://utterjoy.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/ustad-sharafat-hussain-khan-prem-rang-1930-1985-2/
This series of 4 CDs and some other CDs by the artist can be obtained from: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com
On the artist see further:
Thursday, 18 June 2015
Abderrahim Abdelmoumen - Tartil Al Karie - Qur'an Recitation from Morocco
On the occasion of the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan a beautiful Qur'an recitation from Morocco. Abderrahim Abdelmoumen is a well known Qur'an reciter, Munshid (singer of religious and Sufi songs) and a singer of Arabo-Andalusian Noubas. Here he recites the two last Hizbs (sections) of the Qur'an.
Side 1:
Hizb 'Amma: Surates 78 - 86
Side 2:
Hizb Sabbih: Surates 87 - 114
"Natif de Tanger, Abderrahim Abdelmoumen, par ailleurs licencié en droit
privé, a commencé son parcours dans le chant spiritual au sein de la zaouïa de
Tanger, où il a appris les règles du chant soufi et reçu les principes et les
valeurs du soufisme au contact des grands maîtres du domaine. Les liens tissés
entre le chant spirituel marocain et la musique andalouse lui ont permis
d’explorer les secrets de cet art et de former son propre style.
En 1999, il enregistre un CD de musique andalouse à l’Institut du Monde
Arabe, avec le groupe du conservatoire de Tanger sous la direction de Cheikh
Ahmed Zaitouni. Il est membre d'une association Italienne impliquée dans les
traditions du monde, « Multifrazione Projettit », sous la direction du maestro
Luigi Cinque avec lequel il enregistre « Tangerine Café » en 2003. En 2008, il
participe aux semaines culturelles organisées par le ministère de la culture
marocaine en Algérie, en Tunisie et en Syrie. Il enregistre également un CD de
musique andalouse « Al Hadika Adai'a » (El jardín perdido) avec un groupe
espagnol à Valence. En 2009, il enregistre la bande son d'un opéra pour
marionnettes « Davia et le Sultan », avec la casa musicale de Corse, Amina
Alaoui, Francine Massiani, Henri et Idriss Agnel.
Abderrahim a aussi chanté dans différentes villes du Maroc, avec les
orchestres des conservatoires de Tanger (sous la direction de Cheikh Ahmed
Zaïtouni), de Tétouan (avec Mohamed Amine Akrami), de Meknès (avec Tawfik
Himmich), et les orchestres Omar Métioui, El Brihi (sous la houlette de Anas
Attar), Chabab El Andalous (avec Amine Doubi), Abdelkrim Raïs (avec Mohamed
Briouel), Layali Nagham (avec Abdesslam Khalloufi). Il a tourné en Afrique du
Nord, en Europe et aux États-Unis."
http://www.imarabe.org/musique/mawal-un-parfum-de-tanger
Comment by Tim Abdellah on his blog Moroccan Tape Stash (http://moroccantapestash.blogspot.com):
"A lovely album of Qur'an recitation by Abderrahim Abdelmoumen, a Moroccan reciter who is also versed in Moroccan Andalusian Sufi singing. It's rare to hear Moroccan melodies and vocal stylings in Qur'an recitation, so this is a real treat."
Comment by Tim Abdellah on his blog Moroccan Tape Stash (http://moroccantapestash.blogspot.com):
"A lovely album of Qur'an recitation by Abderrahim Abdelmoumen, a Moroccan reciter who is also versed in Moroccan Andalusian Sufi singing. It's rare to hear Moroccan melodies and vocal stylings in Qur'an recitation, so this is a real treat."
Saturday, 6 June 2015
Singh Bandhu: Tejpal Singh & Surinder Singh - Dawn & Dusk - LP published in India in 1980
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Here one of the many LPs by another duo of brothers, Tejpal Singh (b. 1937) and Surinder Singh (b. 1940), popularly known as “Singh Bandhu,” They were quite popular in the 1970s and 1980s.
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"The brothers Tejpal Singh (b. 1937) and Surinder Singh (b. 1940), popularly
known as “Singh Bandhu,” cut their musical teeth under their elder brother G.S.
Sardar. Later, Surinder Singh took taleem from N. Aminuddin Dagar. In 1961, both
the brothers became pupils of Amir Khan. The time spent at the feet of the great
ustad was to play a major role in the transformation of their respective musical
personalities. The Singh brothers are also adept at devotional music, and have
an association with not only with the shabads of the Sikh gurus, but also with
the works of the Sufi saints and the Bhakti saints of south India."
from: Bharatiya Sangeetkar Ustad Amir Khan by Ibrahim Ali (Classical
Publishing Company, New Delhi, 2000)
On the artists see also:
Friday, 29 May 2015
Khan Bandhu: Ustad Mohammad Sayeed Khan & Ustad Mohammad Rashid Khan - Rare Morning Ragas - Cassette published 1987 in India
For more infos on the singers see our earlier post here.
Many thanks to Ed from Amsterdam who kindly shared this cassette. Here what he wrote: "I saw on your blog the LP from Khan Bandhu and people asking if there are
more known published recordings. You answered there was one more LP which you did not have. Last week I found a cassette in a second hand shop from Khan Bandhu for the price of 0,10 euro. Yes, what a surprise, what a miracle. No other Indian cassettes, only this one."
Sunday, 17 May 2015
Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986) at WDR, Cologne, Germany - Broadcasts recorded 1971, 1975 and 1984 - CD 5
Finally we received a complete version of the 5th CD of this set of 5 CDs and posted it. It contains commentaries on Indian music given by Nikhil Banerjee after his studio recording of Raga Desh (see CD 3) (studio recording by WDR on 10.11.1984. Moderator: Jan Reichow).
See here the whole set including the 5th CD.
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