Seyed Jalaleddin Mohammadian & Seyed Khalil Alinejad - Ashnayane Rahe Eshgh - Mystical music from Kermanshah, Iran - Cassette from Iran

Seyed Jalaleddin Mohammadian, a singer from Kermanshah, was in the 1980s and 1990s a quite well known classical and mystical (Irfani) singer. He published a couple of cassettes (partly republished as CDs) of classical Iranian music and several cassettes (only one of them published also as CD) with the typical mystical or Irfani music from Kermanshah in Iranian Kurdistan, based on the music of the Ahl-e Haqq sect for which the Tanbur (a long-necked lute) is sacred and plays an important role in their rituals. But in contrast to the ritual music of the Ahl-e Haqq, which is a solist music of a master Tanbur player singing mystical poems from their tradition, Jalaleddin Mohammadian and some other singers like Shahram Nazeri used Sufi poetry by some of the great Persian Sufi poets like Hafiz and Rumi (Molana) and were accompanied by an ensemble consisting of several Tanbur players and several Daf players - the Daf is the big Kurdish frame drum originally used in the Sufi rituals of the Qadiri dervishes. Here we present a very beautiful cassette from the mid 1980s by Seyed Jalaleddin Mohammadian and the famous Tanbur player Seyed Khalil Alinejad (1968-2001). They are accompanied by an ensemble of Tanbur and Daf players.

Side 1 (28:27)
Side 2 (28:59)

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Note that on the cover a Tar is pictured, but the instrument played is the Tanbur.

Here a foto of Seyed Khalil Alinejad with his Tanbur.

Raga Maqam Dastgah (contact: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com) carries a huge selection of CDs of classical Iranian music, music of the Ahl-e Haqq and a number of great Tanbur players. They also have several CDs with the Dhikr rituals of the Qadiri dervishes from Iranian Kurdistan, the origin of the big frame drum Daf. 

Mahmud Mirza & Latif Ahmed Khan - Inde - Musique classique du nord de l'Inde - LP published in France

Probably the first LP by Mahmud Mirza, maybe 

from the late 1960s or early 1970s.

Side A:

Raga Behag (19:24)

Side B:

1. Tabla Solo: Teen Tal (10:16)

2. Kajri (10:04)

Download MP3

Download wave - Pt. I

Download wave - Pt. II

Al-Haj Abd ar-Rahman ben Moussa (1908-1997) - Al-Qur'an al-Karim - TCK 679 - Cassette from Morocco

We post here another cassette by Haj Abd er-Rahman ben Moussa with beautiful Quran recitations, based on so-called "Andalusian" melodies, a style which has almost completely disappeared.

Before we had already published Vol. 1 and Vol. 60 of a complete Quran on 60 cassettes and two of the preceding cassettes (TCK 676 and TCK 677). Cassette TCK 678 is unfortunately in bad shape: in most of it the sound is very muffled. So we omit it here.

Haj Abd er-Rahman ben Moussa was very well known in Morocco as he used to recite the Quran on Moroccan TV and radio for decades. 

This volume is from a series of 8 cassettes. Some volumes were given to me as a gift by some Moroccan friends, some I bought in the late eighties in Brussels. There is also a complete Qur'an on 60 cassettes by him, of which we have posted already the first and last volumes and which I bought in the early or mid nineties, also in Brussels. I don't remember what inspired me in the beginning to look for recordings by him, but I did for many years. Two or three years ago one could still not find anything about him in the internet, but now there are a couple of sites from which one can download his recitations. As this style has more or less completely disappeared, now there seem to be people who feel the loss and are eager to get hold of his recordings.

Side 1:

1. Surat Ibrahim (9:33)

2. Surat al-Kahf (10:40)

Side 2:

Surat Yusuf (18:06)

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Al-Mouloud an-Nabawiya ash-Sharif - The celebration of the birth of the Noble Prophet - Cassette from Tunisia

As the Mouloud, the celebration of the birth of the prophet Muhammad (salallah aleihi wa salam), is coming soon (on the 24th of january) and in some Sufi communities the celebrations have already started, I post here a beautiful Mouloud cassette which I bought in Brussels in the 1980s. 

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Rubab Mangi - Naghma Sazun - Pashto Rubab Music - Cassette from Pakistan

This seems to be Pashto Rubab music from the region of Peshawar in Pakistan, not far from the border to Afghanistan.

Side 1 (30:47)

Side 2 (30:32)

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Many thanks to Danny again for sharing this cassette.

Historical Recordings from Azerbaijan - Part III - Kececi Oglu Mehemmed (1864-1940) - LP published in Azerbaijan in 1991

The third LP of a series of three LPs, published in Azerbaijan in 1991, with historical recordings from the beginning of last century by three of the greatest Mugham singers of those times, contains performances by Kececi Oglu Mehemmed (1864-1940). The recordings were made in 1906.  

Kecəci Oğlu Məhəmməd
(1864 - 1940)

Side 1:
1. Humayun (3:17)
2. Shushtar (3:12)
3. Shushtar Tesnifi (3:03)
4. Coban Bayati (3:05)
5. Heyrati Tesnifi (3:05)
6. Arak (3:05)
7. Segah (3:04)

Side 2:

1. Rahab (3:13)

2. Tac (3:01)

 3. Tehranim (3:02)

4. Yetim Segah (3:17)

5. Osmanli Tesnifi (3:04)

6. Qarabag Shikesti (3:07)

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Many thanks to Danny for bringing this LP from Azerbaijan.

Historical Recordings from Azerbaijan - Part II - Meshedi Mehemmed Farzelioglu ( ? - 1962) - LP published in Azerbaijan in 1991

The second LP of a series of three LPs, published in Azerbaijan in 1991, with historical recordings from the beginning of last century by three of the greatest Mugham singers of those times, contains performances by  Meshedi Mehemmed Farzelioglu ( ? - 1962) (also written as Məşədi Məhəmməd Fərzəli oğlu). The recordings were made between 1906 and 1914.  

Side 1:

1. Budaq Sari Genceli (3:13)

2. Hesar (3:01)

3. Shushtar (3:01)

4. Alma (2:58)

 5. Durn Gedek (3:24)

6. Bayati (3:08)

Side 2:

1. Bayati-Esfahan (3:49)

2. Celal Xaliq (3:14)

3. Ceyranim (3:02)

4. Yeri Dam Üste Yeri (3:05)

5. Bayati Ecem (3:20)

6. Tesnif (3:16)

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Many thanks to Danny for bringing this LP from Azerbaijan.

Historical Recordings from Azerbaijan - Part I - Cabbar Qaryagdioglu (1861-1944) - LP published in Azerbaijan in 1991

We start here to post a series of three LPs, published in Azerbaijan in 1991, with historical recordings from the beginning of last century by three of the greatest Mugham singers of those times. We start with the most famous: Cabbar Qaryagdioglu (his name is also written as Jabbar Garyagdyoglu).

"Jabbar Garyagdyoglu (Jabbar Mashadi Ismayil oglu’s stage name) was born on 31th of March in 1861 in Shusha and died on 20th of April in 1944 in Baku. The khanende (singer) is one of the eminent khanendes who played a big and important role in Azerbaijan music history. A newer stage of khanendes school is closely bound with his name. Jabbar Garyagdyoglu got his education in Shusha in Kharrat Gulu’s class.

Having a very wide diapason and charming voice he was compared with the well-known italian singer Caruso. Russian poet Sergey Yesenin called him “The prophet of Eastern music”. Getting well-known in Karabakh, Ganja, Shirvan, Baku mugam meetings Jabbar also became famous in Iran, Transcaucasia and in Middle East countries. 

Jabbar Garyagdyoglu was the first in music histort who sounded mugam from theater and concert stages. Thus, in 1897 Jabbar Garyagdyoglu was the performer of Majnun in “Majnun over Leyli’s grave” by Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev.

Khanende Jabbar created a trio which included in it tar player Gurban Primov, and kamancha player Sasha Oganezashvili and this trio performed for 20 years. During 1906-1912 Jabbar Garyagdyoglu’s performs was recorded by the “Sport-Record”, “Ekstrafon” and “Grammafon” stockholder companies in Moscow, Warsaw and in Kiev. 

Returning from Warsaw in 1912 he gave “Sharg konsertileri” (“Eastern concerts” name of program) in Moscow. Different from former artists Jabbar firstly sang gazals (poems) in mugams and tasnifs in Azerbaijan language. “Istekanin deshilsin”, “Tiflisin yollari”, “Irevanda khal galmadi”, “Nakhchivanin gediyinden asheydim” tasnifs was created by Jabbar. 

Jabbar Garyagdyoglu was the winner of the Transcaucasia Art Olympiad held in Tiflis (|Tbilisi) in 1934. Seyid Shushinski, Bulbul, Khan Shushinski, Zulfi Adygozelov and many others continued Jabbar Garyagdyoglu’s traditions."

from: http://www.mugamradio.az/performers/khanendes-singers/jabbar-garyagdyoglu

The recordings on this LP were made between 1905 and 1915.

Side 1:

1. Simai-Shems (2:46)

2. Mensuriyye (3:04)

3. Xumar Oldum (3:03)

4. Gyl Achdi (2:55)

5. Yetim Segah (3:13)

6. Deshti Tesnifi (3:03)

7. Manendi-Moxalif (2:44)

8. Mahur Tesnifi (2:58)

Side 2:

1. Qargamisham (3:08)

2. Mahur Tesnifi (3:08)

3. Arazbari (3:02)

4. Bayati Qacar (3:24)

5. Mirza Hüseyn Segahi (3:03)

6. Mahur Tesnifi (3:57)

7. Qarabag Shikestesi (4:07)

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Many thanks to Danny for bringing this LP from Azerbaijan.

Parisa & Ensemble Darvish - Bayat-e Tork - Copy of an Iranian Cassette from the 1970s

Parisa (or Parissa), born 1950, is one of the foremost female singers of Iran. She studied with the famous Radif master Mahmud Karimi (1927-1984) and with Ostad Dariush Safvat (born 1928). We present here a cassette we bought in the 1980s in an Iranian shop in London. This cassette has better sound quality than other edtions of the same recording circulating in the Iranian community, even better than the CD. This cassette, manufactured in England, contains the mode Bayat-e Tork recorded in Iran before the revolution. See more on the artist on her website: http://www.parissa.org/05_biography/biography.htm

The Ensemble Darvish was directed by Santoor player Reza Shafieian (born 1941). The Tar and Setar player might be Dariush Tala'i.

Bayat-e Tork (both sides joined into one track) (38:02)

1. Tasnif Mehrabani

2. Chaharmezrab Santoor

3. Avaz (singing) & Nay

4. Avaz & Tar (in reality Setar)

5. Avaz & Kemencheh

6. Tasnif Hamchu Farhad Shadeh

7. Chaharmezrab Nay

8. Zarbi Tork

9. Avaz & Tar

10. Tasnif

11. Zarbi Reng

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Yunus Rajabi (Rajabiy) (1897-1976) - Yunus Rajabi performs Uzbek National Songs - Double LP Melodiya

A double LP of solo performances, partly from the repertoire of the Shashmaqam (LP 1), by the great master of Shashmaqam (see here his complete Shashmaqam).

Side 1:
1. Bayyot I (Fuzuli) (8:51)
2. Bayyot II (Miskin) (4:18)
3. Dugoh I (Fuzuli) (5:22)
4. Qalandari (Mukimi) (3:20)

Ensemble of national instruments

Side 2:

1. Ushshok (Navoi) (7:14)

2. Chorgoh (Yu. Saryomi) (8:24)

3. Adoyi va Asiri (Furkat and Miskin) (7:04)

Quartet of national instruments (1)

Ensemble of national instruments (2, 3)

Side 3:

Uzbek national songs:

1. Kucha Bogi (Street garden) – I (Mukimi) (6:51)

2. Kucha Bogi (Street garden) – II (Navoi) (5:47)

3. Sarparda (Navoi) (6:52)

Ensemble of national instruments

Side 4:

1. Kuygay (Yu. Rajabi – Kh. Olimzhon) (2:51)

2. Girya I (national music, Navoi and Mukimi) (7:30)

3. Girya II (national music, Bobir) (5:20)

4. Koshki (If only) (Yu. Rajabi  – Navoi) (3:38)

Ensemble of national instruments (1-3)

Orchestra of national instruments (4)

Download LP 1 & Scans

Download LP 2

Thanks to Danny for sharing this double-LP

and to Berdak Bayimbetov for the translations and transcriptions.

Ali Akbar Khan (1922-2009) - The Great Genius of Sarod - LP published 1983 in Germany

Side 1: 

Raga Lome (21:50)

Side 2:

Raga Bihag (21:40)

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Thanks to Danny for sharing this LP.

'Alan Faqir - Vol. 4 - Sufi Music from Sindh - Cassette from Pakistan

Another beautiful casette by the legendary Sufi singer.

Side A (23:57)

Side B (24:01)

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Many thanks again to Danny for sharing this cassette.