Xozhixon Boltayev - Old Masters Of Arts of Uzbekistan, Vol. 25 - LP published in Soviet Uzbekistan in 1988 (1967)

Here we present a LP by Xozhixon Boltayev (Xojixon Boltaev, Хожихон Болтаев), a great singer from Khiva, the old city in Khorezm in western Uzbekistan. The recordings were first published in 1967.

Xozhixon Boltayev was in the middle of the 20th century a great master of the Khorezm Maqoms called Alti-Yarim Maqom (six and a half Maqoms). This Maqom tradition is extremely poorly documented. My friend Danny brought from his trip to Uzbekistan a couple of years ago a book in English on this Maqom tradition, in which our singer is mentioned extensively. I read this very interesting book. In the internet one can find information on this tradition here. But after all the reading I did I still don't know for sure if the music on this LP corresponds more or less to this Maqom tradtion or at least to certain aspects of it or not. I guess it does. 

I see that in the Russian liner notes the words Khorezm Makom are mentioned. Perhaps someone is able to translate the Russian liner notes.

Here the only recordings I could find in the interenet named as being examples of Khoresm Maqoms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeLgmn17o6g. There are in total six examples.

Another singer from Khiva, slightly younger than Xozhixon Boltayev, is Komiljon Otaniyozov (1917-1975). He also has a relation to this Maqom tradition. We posted in 2012 two LPs by him. See here.

Additions and corrections added on 5th of March 2017:

Here the track information of this LP in transcription and translation:

Yakparda suvora (folk music - A. Navoy); Savty yakparda suvora (folk music - Bayaky); Kushparda suvora va savty kushparda suvora (folk music - Ahakhy); Ka-zhanh suvora (folk music - Devony); Chapandozy suvora va savty chapandozy suvora (folk music - Makhramy, Mashrab).

The names in the brackets are the poets of the songs. 

The artist accompanies himself on Tar and is accompanied by Akhmad Ysmaylov on Doyra (frame drum). Recorded in 1967. «Stareyshye mastera yskusstv Uzbekystana» (Old Masters of Arts of Uzbekistan), vypusk 25 (volume 25).
As we see from the track information all songs belong to the genre "Suvora" which are spiritual (Sufi) songs, apparently performed in a style close to Maqom music. In the booklet to the CD "Uzbekistan - Music of Khorezm", published in the Unesco Series from Auvidis and now available from Smithsonian as a download in mp3 & flac formats including the booklet (UNES08269) (see here), the two musical forms of Suvora and Maqom (classical music) are explained. There are also 3 pieces of Maqom music and one Suvoro on the CD. The booklet can be downloaded for free.  

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The man in the middle - I guess - is Xozhixon Boltayev, the man on the right Komiljon Otaniyozov.

Munajat Yulchieva - Ey Dilbari Jononim - LP published in Soviet Uzbekistan in 1982

Munajat Yulchieva is outside of her country the best known traditional singer from Uzbekistan. She toured extensiveley worldwide. I saw her in concerts in Germany: Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne and in Holland and Belgium. Unfortunately she has only very few CDs: one on the French Ocora label (1994), one on the German Network label (1997), one published in Uzbekistan, which was sometimes sold at her concerts. There was also a beautiful DVD published in France containing a concert in Paris and a documentary.

I think even in her homecountry she doesn't have a lot published. This here is the only LP I know of (but there might be several more). In the near future I will post an Uzbek MP3-CD by her. I also have a broadcast of a complete concert in Frankfurt from 1998. This I might also post one day.

On the artist see: 

http://munojot.com/

http://www.zamanproduction.com/en/artist/munadjat-yulchieva

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munojot_Yo%E2%80%98lchiyeva

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Here a professional translation of the track information, commissioned either by the former owner of the LP or the dealer from whom I bought it.

Classical Music of Iran - LP published in 1982 in Japan

Here the second Japanese LP from 1982, which we bought recently from Japan. See our previous post. 

Here we have a LP with very beautiful recordings by some of the greatest musicians and singers of classical Iranian music of the last decades: the great singers Parisa and Seyed Noreddin Razavi Sarvestani and instrumentalists like Mohammad Mosavi (Ney), Jalal Zolfonun (Setar) and in the ensembles accompanying the singers greats like Hossein Alizadeh, Parviz Meshkatian and others. 

Parisa is one of the greatest female singers of Iran since the 1970s. See our post of a cassette here.

Seyed Norreddin Razavi Sarvestani was one of the greatest Radif masters of recent times. See more below in the description of a CD set. Unfortunately there are not many CDs by him. In the 1990s I saw him perform in Holland together with the great Tar and Setar master Dariush Tala'i.

This LP was republished on CD in 1988 in a series I also had never heard about till very recently. See: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/6243456?ev=rb.

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These excellent CDs are available from info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com:

 

Razavi Sarvestani (Vocal) & Dariush Tala’i (Tar) – National Vocal Radifs of Iranian Music Tutorial – The First Advanced Tutorial Audio Atlas of Iranian Vocal Radifs with Instrumental Responce, Set of 13 CDs in 2 Boxes, CD 1: Dastgah-e Shoor (60 min.), CD 2: Dastgah-e Mahoor (54 min.), CD 3: Dastgah-e Mahoor (cont.) (60 min.), CD 4: Dastgah-e Homayoon (54 min.), CD 5: Dastgahe-e Chahargah (48 min.), CD 6: Dastgah-e Nava (65 min.), CD 7: Avaz-e Afshari (45 min.), CD 8: Dastgah-e Segah (39 min.), CD 9: Dastgah-e Rast Panjgah (60 min.), CD 10: Dastgah-e Rast Panjgah (cont.) (58 min.), CD 11: Avaz-e Bayat-e Kurd (Kurd-e Bayat) & Avaz-e Aboo Ata (59 min.), CD 12: Avaz-e Bayat-e Turk (Zand) (48 min.), CD 13: Avaz-e Dashti (49 min.), MESHKAT

Excellent recordings of a complete vocal Radif with instrumental responses by two great musicians, announced since about 10 years and now finally published. These recordings not only serve as a tutorial for students of classical Iranian music, but are also an exquisite listening pleasure. Seyyed Nureddin Razavi Sarvestani (1935-2000) was the last great Radif singer. Studied with Nurali Borumand, Abdollah Davami and Mahmud Karimi. Dariush Tala’i (born 1952) is one of the greatest Setar and Tar players today and an expert on Radif. He represents a very traditional style linked to his masters Ali Akbar Khan Shahnazi, Nurali Borumand, Yusuf Foroutan, Sa’id Hormozi and Dariush Safvat. He published several books on Radif and recorded also a complete instrumental Radif on Setar. He was – together with Majid Kiani – the first in the late seventies to introduce a western public to an authentic form of classical Iranian music and gave since then many concerts in the west, several times together with Sarvestani.

Parissa (Vocal), Iman Vaziri (Tar) & Ali Rahimi (Tombak) - Simplicity - Persian Traditional Music: Mahur (56:38), COLOGNE MUSIC

Excellent recording of the most important (next to Hengameh Akhavan) Iranian female singer of recent decades, accompanied by the brilliant Tar player Iman Vaziri. Both are disciples a.o. of the great master Dariush Safvat. Parissa sings here poems by Rumi. Very beautiful.

There are many CDs available by Mohammad Mosavi, Jalal Zolfonun, Hossein Alizadeh and Parviz Meshkatian.

Classical Music of North India - Duet of Sitar and Sarod - LP published in 1982 in Japan

It seems that in Japan quite a number of LPs (and also CDs) were published which hardly ever made it to Europe and probably also not to the US. Here we will post two LPs from 1982 which we recently bought from Japan. It seems that they were never republished on CD.

Even in the Seven Seas Discography on Discogs only 5 LPs are listed from this ethnic series which should have at least 26 volumes and none of the two we post here.

The musicians on this LP are from Nepal. The Sitar and the Tabla players appear on a CD published in 1996 in Nepal. On the Sarod player see here. He has a CD on the French label PlayaSound. Sambhu Prasad Misra, the Tabla player, seems to be known by connoisseurs. There is a very interesting article on him here. He passed away on 12th of march 2002.

Perhaps among the readers of this blog there is someone who knows Japanese well enough to give us a translation of the liner notes or at least the essence of it.

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Lalmani Misra (1924-1979) - Nectar of the Moon - Vichitra Vina Music of Northern India - LP published in the US in 1981

We hesitated first to post this LP as the label had plans to republish it on CD. But this project seems to have died already years ago, probably because of lack of interest by the public. A very beautful LP which was for a while, when it first came out, one of my favourite LPs. It was one of the very first LPs devoted to the Vichitra Veena ever to be published. There were only two earlier Vichitra Vina LPs, both published in Pakistan. 

We had already in 2011 posted a cassette by the musician (see here). Our other Vichitra Vina posts see here.

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On the musician see:

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

http://www.omenad.net/page.php?goPage=%2Farticles%2Fhoneybuds.htm

Dinkar Kaikini (1927-2010) - Raga Nand, Paraj & Bhajan - LP released in India in 1985

Dinkar Kaikini was a well-known singer of the Agra Gharana. Here we present a beautiful LP from 1985. Dhruba Ghosh is providing Sarangi accompaniment. So we have here the third recording in a row involving Dhruba Ghosh: first a LP by his legendary father Nikhil Ghosh, the great Tabla master, with Sarangi accompaniment by Dhruba Ghosh. Then the very first solo album by Dhruba Ghosh. And now as the third post a LP by one of his teachers, Dinkar Kaikini, providing Sarangi accompaniment for the singer.

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Dhruba Ghosh - Soulful Sarangi - Cassette published in India in 1989

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On the artist see:

http://www.dhrubaghosh.com/

http://www.artindia.net/dhruba.html

Indian Talas - Nikhil Ghosh (1918-1995) & Raja Chattrapati Singh (1919-1998) - Unesco Collection - Musical Atlas - LP released in Italy in 1983

Here a rather rare LP with the great Tabla master Nikhil Ghosh (1918-1995) and his sons Nayan Ghosh (born 1956) (Tabla) and Dhruba Ghosh (born 1957) (Sarangi). In addition the LP has two tracks by the great Pakhawaj master Raja Chattrapati Singh (1919-1998).

I still remember vividly a concert of Nikhil Ghosh with his very young sons, playing Sitar and Sarangi, in Cologne on 21st of november 1978. Today both sons are very well known musicians.

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On the artists see:

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

http://www.parrikar.org/vpl/?page_id=251

http://www.raga.com/cds/216/216txt.html

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

http://dhrupad.org/gundecha-brothers/teachers/

Arjun Shejwal - Mridangacharya - Pakhawaj Wadan - LP released in India in 1984

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The great Sitar player Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (1927-2017) passed away on 4th of january 2017. May he rest in peace.

Another great musician passed away on the 4th of january 2017, one of whom I was particularly fond: Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (1927-2017). 

See on him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Halim_Jaffer_Khan.

Over the years we posted nine LPs and a set of two cassettes by him. See here. Here we post in his memory a cassette from 1989. 

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In 2015 Meera Music in Mumbai published two CDs with archival recordings:

Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (Sitar) – Sitar: Raga Abhogi (51:29), Raga Chakradhun (27:32), MEERA MUSIC, mm 121

Wonderful recording by the great Sitar master. Excellent live recordings from 1968. Unbelievably fluid Sitar performance. Outstanding.

Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (Sitar) – Sitar: Raga Kedar (50:34), Raga Gorakh Kalyan (27:21), MEERA MUSIC, mm 120

Beautiful live recording by the great Sitar master. First published years ago by MUSICIAN'S GUILD.

As always, these CDs can be obtained from: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com

Ustad Fateh Ali Khan (1935-2017), the great singer of the Patiala Gharana, passed away on 4th of january 2017. May he rest in peace.

Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, the legendary and very charismatic singer of the Patiala Gharana and grandson of one of the two founders of the Gharana, passed away on the 4th of january 2017. Sometimes he was called Bade (older) Fateh Ali Khan in order to distinguish him from other singers who carry the same name. We present here in his memory some archival recordings. I don't remember anymore from whom I received these recordings. Our friend KF made a double CD out of them. I always was very fond of his deeply emotional voice and listened to many of his recordings literally hundreds of times. He has quite a number of LPs, cassettes and CDs released in Pakistan (nearly impossible to get outside of Pakistan), India, Germany, France and England. Some of them are available from: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com

We posted already several cassettes by him in 2013 here and 2015 here (see there more information on the artist), here and here.

There exists a wonderful portrait - The True Ustad - by Ally Adnan, originally published in The Friday Times in Pakistan in 2013. I made a pdf-file out of it. It can be downloaded here:

The True Ustad

CD 1 & Scans - wave

CD 2 - wave

CD 1 & Scans - mp3

CD 2 - mp3

Comment on 7th of january 2017

The last couple of days I listened several times again to the Megh and Malkauns posted here. These two ragas were - together with Darbari - the favourite ragas of the Ustad and his renditions of them were legendary. I have to say, that even after decades of knowing the music of Fateh Ali Khan, I'm still each time blown away by the sheer intoxicating beauty of these recordings. For me it is an absolute summit of beauty and deep emotion. But, to tell the truth: there are quite a number of summits in Pakistani and Indian Raga music.

What also contributes to it is the exquisite Sarangi and Tabla accompaniment. Unsurpassable indeed. Very particular to Pakistani recordings of that period is that the Sarangi starts the rendition and lays down the atmosphere of the Raga. Only then the singer enters. In India this would be unthinkable. Pakistan always had in the past quite a number of outstanding Sarangiyas: Ustads Nathu Khan, Hamid Hussain Khan, Nabi Bakhsh, Ghulam Mohammad Khan and a few others. In the near future we will post more LPs by some of these great Sarangi masters.