Darbhanga - Pandit Abhay Narayan Mallik - Dhrupad - Live in Concert

We present here some more beautiful recordings by Pandit Abhay Narayan Mallik. This CD probably was never published. I even don't know if this label ever existed. It seems that an Indian collector made out of these recordings from unknown sources a private CD and created covers for it. This person seems to take a great pleasure in creating covers and to let them look like real ultra rare releases. Which is sort of funny and sympathetic. And looks nice.

I received these recordings from an Indian collector based in the US. Many many thanks to him for his kindness to share these.

flac

mp3

Abhay Narayan Mallick - AIR programs broadcast recently on Raagam

Here we present three beautiful broadcasts from All India Radio, recently recorded from Raagam, the internet radio of AIR, which broadcasts classical Indian music 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

1. Abhay Narayan Mallick - Raga Alahiyah Bilawal - Alap-Jod-Dhrupad Chautaal 

& Raga Abhogi - Alap-Jod-Dhrupad Dhamar Taal (57:52)

flac
mp3

2. Abhay Narayan Mallik - Raga Ahir Bhairav - Alap-Dhrupad Choutaal - Bol: Praatah Samay Shyam Sunder Ko Roop Niharak & Raga Todi - Alap-Dhamar - Bol: Pari Aaleeri (57:39)

flac
mp3

3. Abhay Narayan Mallik - Dhrupad Gayan - Ragas Bhoop Kalyan, Basant & Rageshri (59:02)

flac
mp3

Abhay Narayan Mallick - Dhrupad at its Best - Cassette published in India in 1990

Abhay Narayan Mallik, born 1937, is today the leading artist of the Darbhanga Dhrupad Gharana. He is the master disciple and successor of Ram Chatur Mallik.

We posted in 2016 another cassette by him. 

On the artist see:

http://www.gharanafestival.com/a8.html

https://www.facebook.com/Pt-Abhay-Narayan-Mallick-119698491554492/

http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/citation_popup.php?id=79&at=1

flac

mp3

Nicht einmal Gott steht höher als der Klang - Dhrupadas aus Darbhanga - Recordings from the Dhrupad-Mela Vrindaban 1982 - WDR broadcast from 1982

Abhay Narayan Mallik, accompanied by Ramkumar & Premkumar Mallik 

during their concert on 26th of march 1982 in Vrindaban

Here we present a broadcast by Peter Pannke with recordings of Dhrupad singers of the Darbhanga Gharana, recorded at the Dhrupad Festival in Vrindaban, India, in march 1982. The announcements by Peter Pannke are in German. Some of these recordings were later published in their complete versions on several CDs. A neighbour recorded it for me back then from the radio on the two sides of a 90 minutes cassette. Here the details:

Side 1:

1. Mangalacarana by Siya Ram Tewari (1:30)

2. Announcement by Peter Pannke (5:07)

 3. Siya Ram Tewari - End of Alap (5:02)

4. Announcement by Peter Pannke (3:08)

5. Siya Ram Tewari - Raga Jaijaiwanti - Dhamar (19:10)

6. Announcement by Peter Pannke (7:26)

7. Ram Chatur Mallick - Raga Sindura - Dhamar (4:56)

Side 2:

 1. Ram Chatur Mallick - Raga Sindura - Dhamar, continued (6:50)

2. Announcement by Peter Pannke (1:13)

3. Abhay Narayan Mallik - Sadav Vasant - Dhamar (11:10)

4. Announcement by Peter Pannke (2:01)

5. Ramji Upadhyaya - Pakhawaj - Parants (1:12)

6. Announcement by Peter Pannke (1:52)

7. Bidur Mallik - Raga Jay Jayvanti - Dhamar (11:47)

8. Announcement by Peter Pannke (0:56)

9. Ramkumar & Premkumar Mallik - Raga Bhup Kalyan - End of Alap (4:56)

10. Announcement by Peter Pannke (0:22)

11. Ramkumar & Premkumar Mallik - Raga Bhup Kalyan - Sul Tala (2:26)

12. Abspann (0:15)

Side 1 - flac
Side 2 - flac

Side 1 - mp3
Side 2 - mp3

Siyaram Tiwari (1919-1998) - Recording (1979) from the archives of All India Radio

Here we present a beautiful recording by Siyaram Tiwari, the legendary singer of the Darbhanga Gharana. The recording is from 1979 and contains Ragas Todi and Mian Malhar. I recorded it in november 2017 from Raagam, the internet radio of AIR, which broadcasts classical Indian music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Unfortunately at that moment I was only able to record in mp3 format.

In 2011 we posted his only LP. We added now flac files.

On the artist see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siyaram_Tiwari_(musician)
https://siyaramtiwarinadvistar.wordpress.com/2016/08/25/padmashree-pandit-siyaram-tiwari-smriti-sangeet-samiti-nad-vistar-a-journey-so-far/

mp3

Ram Chatur Mallick - All India Radio recordings (1983) published as a cassette in India in 1990

These recordings exist also on LP: PMLP 3070 (1990). The LP is extremely rare like most of the AIR releases published in 1990 and 1991 by The Gramophone Company of India. As the publication year was already a couple of years beyond the end of the LP in the west, these LPs never made it to the west and even in India apparently they didn't find a wide distribution anymore.

But in India - and sometimes even in the west in Indian shops - in the 1990s one could get these releases as cassettes. This way music lovers who visited India then were able to obtain them and bring them home. From one of these music lovers I purchased recently this cassette.

I apologize for having posted the wrong version of the cassette. In effect I had forgotten that the cassette I purchased recently was quite damaged in the beginning of side 2 as sometimes happens with cassettes. But I have already for many years a rip from my friend KF. And this one is in good shape. I had the intention to post this version together with the scans of the recently bought cassette.

Here now the correct version of the files as originally intendet. Sorry for the inconvenience.

flac
mp3

Ram Chatur Mallick (1902-1990) - Chant Dhrupad & Dhamar - LP published in France in 1977

Up to now we presented in our Dhrupad Series only members of the Dagar family. Now we turn to some other Dhrupad traditions, first to the one from Darbhanga.

I still remember very vividly how happy and surprised I was when this LP was released. For the first time one was able to hear a completely different Dhrupad tradition. This was a very strong and robust style compared to the one by the Dagars. I loved it immediately. Later, in the 1990s, I was able to visit many concerts by later masters of this Gharana, namely Vidur Mallik and Premkumar Mallik. These singers were so enthousiastic and energetic. It was always a great experience to see them in concert. It was Peter Pannke who brought these musicians reguarly to Germany and Europe and produced quite a number of fantastic CDs by them, first of Ram Chatur Mallik, then by other members of the Mallik family.

But this LP preceded all the work of Peter Pannke. Around the same time I discovered the LP, released in India, by Siyaram Tiwari, another great master of the Darbhanga Gharana, which we posted in 2011. These two LPs were for quite a while amongst my favourite LPs and I still like them very much.

Ram Chatur Mallik was the great old master of the Darbhanga Gharana. The German author, journalist, composer, musician, ethnomusicologist and producer Peter Pannke produced in the early 1980s broadcasts by Ram Chatur Mallik and other singers of the Darbhanga Gharana, recorded at the Dhrupad Samaroh in Vrindaban, India, in 1982. Out of these recordings later a number of CDs were published: first in 1988 the fantastic CD by Ram Chatur Mallik - The King of Dhrupad (unfortunately no longer available for many years) and later a number of other CDs by other members of the family like Vidur Mallik and his sons Ram Kumar Mallik and Prem Kumar Mallik.

Peter Pannke made also a whole series of recordings by Ram Chatur Mallik in 1984/5 in Vrindaban which he released in 2002 as two boxes of 6 CDs each in a very limited edition of only around 35 copies. There were attempts to make them available more widely but unfortunately it never happened.

Next we will post a cassette of AIR recordings by Ram Chatur Mallik, some recordings by Siyaram Tiwari and a number of recordings by the excellent Abhay Narayan Mallik, the disciple and successor of Ram Chatur Mallik, who always gave vocal support to his master during concerts and recordings.

On the artist see:

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

http://www.dhrupadmusic.org/darbhanga.html

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo15701317.html

https://www.amazon.com/King-Dhrupad-Pandit-Ramchatur-Mallick/dp/8184573332

On the Darbhanga Gharana see:

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

https://sreenivasaraos.com/tag/dhrupad/

http://www.paperbackswap.com/Dharbanga-Tradition-Drupada-Selina-Thielemann/book/8186569014/

http://www.itcsra.org/Gharana-Details.aspx?SubId=26&GharanaId=37&Type=B

On Peter Pannke see:

https://www.india-instruments.de/peter-pannke-tagore-preis.html

flac
mp3

Ustad Rahimuddin Dagar - Raga Shudh Sarang & Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar - Compositions in Ragas Kedar & Malkauns

Yesterday Raagam, the internet radio of All India Radio, which broadcasts 24 hours a day 7 days a week classical Indian music, had a Dhrupad program with Ustads Rahimuddin Dagar and Sayeeduddin Dagar. 

Raga Shudh Sarang by Ustad Rahimuddin Dagar (1902-1976) was wrongly announced as being by Dagar Bandhu (Dagar Brothers). But it is performed by the great Rahimuddin Dagar, probably with vocal support by his son Fahimuddin Dagar (1927-2011). Another great performance by the great master.

flac

mp3

This program was preceded by a performance of some Dhrupad compositions by Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar (1939-2017): 

Raga Kedar - Dhrupad & Dhamar

Raga Malkauns - Dhrupad

flac

mp3

For Raagam see:

http://www.airbengaluru.com/cue-sheets/raagam-2/

http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Default.aspx

The Younger Dagar Brothers: Nasir Zahiruddin Dagar (1933-1994) & Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar (1934-1989) - LP released in India in 1968

Here we present a quite rare LP by the Junior Dagar Brothers, their very first LP. I recently was able to obtain a copy of this LP, which has certain shortcomings. First the cover had the correct back side, but the front had the cover of a Bollywood LP. In the internet I found a good scan of the correct front cover. But this front cover is from the original LP EASD 1334, whereas our LP and the backcover is from the export edition S/MOAE 181, both released in 1968. Secondly, the LP was not in good condition: it had some cracks and sidenoises.

Our friend LF from Scotland was so kind to clean the recording. Here what he wrote:

"I've just uploaded the processed files into your dropbox. You sent me 24-bit WAV files and I've returned them in the same format. The only problem was with side 2 track 1 where at around 1:28 there is a loud crack in the original. I think that there is a jump there. I expect that no amount of cleaning will get rid of this, unless there is some visible lump of grot stuck on the record.

The repair has no audible crack, but the rhythm suffers a slight jump, but not too awful I think? There are no cracks or pops in the rest of the music, except at very low level.  The recording is very stereo with one brother, with the slightly raspy voice in the left channel and the other brother with a sweet softer voice in the right channel." Thank you very very much, LF.

The voice on the left channel is the one of Zahiruddin Dagar and on the right channel it is Faiyazuddin Dagar.

In 2011 we posted a double LP by the Junior Dagar Brothers. We added now (28th of february) flac files.

About the artists see: 

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

flac
mp3

We will try ADrive now again

As there seems to exist no solution for the Dropbox problems we decided after some reflection to go back to ADrive. ADrive seems to have almost no limitations to downloads. It allows up to 1.000 downloads at the same time which will probably never be reached on our blog. Let's hope things work now without any problems. Step by step we will transfer all Dropbox links to ADrive. We did already the two most recent ones and will still this evening post a new entry.

Dropbox downloads exceeding the limit of 200 GB per day

Dear music lovers, recently it happened several times that Dropbox downloads from my blog were not available, due to the fact that the download volume exceeded the limit of 200 GB per day. If this happens Dropbox blocks downloads for a day. As Dropbox doesn't offer any way to get around this, the only solution is to post in the future less, as I used to do over the last years. Only recently I posted more frequently. Perhaps I will do now only one post every 5 or 7 days and hopefully this will keep the amount of downloads beneath the 200 GB limit. For those who were not able to download I just can only ask them to be patient and wait till things get back to normal. I also ask you, not to share downloadlinks on other platforms as this can generate an enormous increase of downlaods. Thank you.

Rahimuddin Khan Dagar (1901-1976) - Raga Rageshri-Kanhara - Recording (1960) from the archives of AIR released as a cassette in India in 1990

We continue our Dhrupad series with an outstanding recording by Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar. Our blogger friend Bolingo had posted in 2011 the LP which was released the same year, but unfortunately only in mp3 format, as was normal at that time when storage space was still a big issue. Here we offer the cassette both in flac and mp3 formats.

We bought this cassette in the same shop in Little India in Mahattan, NY, as the Mushtaq Ali Khan cassette. I still remember very vividly how happy I was to find these two cassettes as I had heard of these musicians a lot before, but never was able to obtain any music by them.

Last month we had already two posts by the artist. There you can find more information on the artist.

flac

mp3