Music in the Karakorams of Central Asia - LP published in the US in 1974

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See for more information:

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

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgit%E2%80%93Baltistan

Kashinath Mukherjee (1925-2011) (Sitar) & Swapan Chaudhuri (Tabla) - Raga Puria-Kalayan & Raga Bhupali - LP published in 1979 in Japan

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"Pandit Kashinath Mukherjee, a profoundly accomplished Hindustani Classical instrumentalist of the Etawah Gharana, has successfully kept aloft the taalim of the great Ustad Vilayat Khan. He has enthralled veterans, amateurs and the uninitiated alike over the years with the sheer merit, dexterity and the irresistible appeal and force of his music.

Kashinath Mukherjee was born in Kolkata into an aristocratic family with a rich cultural heritage. Inspired by his father Shital Chandra Mukherjee, a learned Dhrupad exponent, Kashinath trained under Srinivas Nag (a disciple of Ustad Enayet Khan) for twelve years. His elder brother, the late Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who went on to become a renowned filmmaker, was also a student of Srinivas Nag, learning Esraj.
After the passing away of his guru, he continued his taalim under the legendary Ustad Vilayat Khan, son of Enayat Khan. For the five years that he remained with the Ustad, he kept away completely from public appearances, as directed by his master. His insatiable hunger for learning later led him to luminous maestros such as Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Keramatullah Khan and Ustad Amir Khan. He also learned from Amir Khan until the latter`s death.
Pandit Mukherjee has participated in major concerts both at home and abroad. He is the recipient of the ITC Award among others. Ramprapanna Bhattacharya and Abhik Mukherjee are among his most prominent disciples."
from: http://www.itcsra.org/aom/artist_ofthe_month.asp?id=114

Nasir Aminuddin Dagar (1923-2000) & Zia Fariduddin Dagar (1932-2013) - Alap Dhrupad and Dhamar - LP published in France in 1969

Quite rare LP on which Nasir Aminuddin Dagar, after the demise of his older brother Nasir Moinuddin Dagar in 1966 - together they were the legendary Senior Dagar Brothers (see our post) - formed a duo with his cousin Zia Fariduddin Dagar (see on him our post).

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Abdul Halim Jafar Khan and his Disciples - Sitar Quintet - LP published in India in 1968

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Ghulam Hussein Khan - Musique Classique Indienne - LP published in 1968 in France

Ustad Ghulam Hussein Khan belongs to a line of Bin and Sitar players, based in Indore and going back to the legendary Bande Ali Khan (1855-1922).  

Side 1:

1. Dadra in Raga Pancham Se Gara

2. Raga Priti Hindoli

Side 2:

Raga Jhinjhoti

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Ustad Ghulam Husain Khan was born in Indore in 1927. Since his father died shortly after his birth, he took his musical training from his elder brother, 'Usman Khan. He began by playing the bin, but gradually realized that in the changing musical climate of India the sitar held a more promising future, and he eventually concentrated on the latter instrument in his lessons with his brother. As a general rule when he was young, he mischievously neglected his practice for typical childhood preoccupations (kite-flying, bicycle-riding, and the like). Only after a program in which a cousin was highly praised for a fine performance on the sitar--while Ghulam Husain, wearing (as he vividly remembers) his customary short pants, was sent to fetch water for the guests did he feel a motivation, born of pangs of humiliation and envy, to begin practicing in earnest. With much riyaz and mahnat (practice and industriousness), he progressed rapidly,and was appointed a Court Musician at the age of eighteen or nineteen, shortly before Independence; after 1947 he accompanied his brother 'Usman to Bombay, where he quickly began to establish a reputation as an outstanding sitarist. He remained in Bombay after 'Usman Khan moved to Ahmedabad, and performed there very successfully until he was summoned to Ahmedabad by 'Usman, who was returning to Indore at the invitation of the Maharaja. Ghulam Husain was thus required to take over his elder brother's teaching responsibilities, and he reluctantly left Bombay for Ahmedabad.

He was clearly the best sitarist in that city, and he soon developed a considerable, if geographically limited, reputation. He was able to discontinue the classes he had taken over from his brother, and to earn a comfortable income from radio performance, local programs (both public and private), and the private instruction (in "tuitions") of a few wealthy devotees of Hindustani music. While not performing often in other parts of India outside Ahmedabad, he did make a European and American concert tour, sponsored by the Pan Orient Arts Foundation of Boston, in 1968, followed by a second European tour in 1973. His reputation in India has now spread beyond Ahmedabad, and he has performed on one long-playing record released in India and three other records issued abroad.

To a great degree, Ghulam Husain Khan has adhered to the traditional principles of ustadi which have already been discussed: riyaz (practice) and mahnat (industriousness); the development of a distinctive style, arising out of traditional elements, in what he calls binkar baj (playing the sitar in the style of a binkar); the maintenance of mithas (musical sweetness) so treasured by 'Usman Khan as the hallmark of the instrumental style of Bande 'Ali Khan; a sense of dedicated khidmat (service) to the gharana; and a basic respect for sadagi (simplicity) in style of life. Moreover, his sense of the traditional instructional roles of the ustad is highly developed; he has not participated in the establishment of any music classes, as have many of his contemporaries, but remains dedicated to the principle of intensive individual instruction and has limited the number of his formally bound shagirds (disciples) to a few individuals who have clearly demonstrated their dedication and seriousness.

While he has been creative in developing his own style of binkar baj and in developing, after several years' effort, a new rag (Priti-Hindoli)l it is rather in the larger social realm beyond pure music that Ghulam Husain Khan has expanded his role as an ustad. He has, one might say, become his own patron, and something of an entrepreneur, partly out of economic necessity, but also partly out of a sense of khidmat to music and to the gharana. In one sense he has developed a philosophy of how to live the "artist's life"; in another he has defined for himself a role as a visibly productive and responsible citizen. In short, Ghulam Husain Khan has become the most accomplished musician of his generation in his immediate family, and the most renowned as an ustad. A discussion of the various aspects of his life--both musical and extra-musical will be of assistance in understanding the reasons for his renown. extra-musical

Ghulam Husain Khan has a strong sense of the importance of riyaz and mahnat for a musician, and he laments in a published interview that he, like other contemporary musicians, does not have as much time for practice as he would like: "Without patronage and respect, the musician cannot devote the whole of this time and self to the music. In the old days--even as recently as thirty years ago--it was not the same. His attitude toward practice, however, is refreshingly realistic, partaking hardly at all of the usual pious claims and pronouncements. While acknowledging that intense practice was essential in the formative stages of his career, he recognizes the equal importance of other elements as well:

Patience, obedience, industry, and intelligence are the qualities necessary to a good musician. Through learning the ragas by heart the power to play them comes. One becomes almost hypnotized by the discipline of practice, and this reveals the growth of the inner strength necessary for music.

In the development of his sitar style, Ghulam Husain ,as combined the bIn style learned from his elder brother with traditional elements of sitar performance in what he feels is a somewhat novel approach to sitar playing--bInkar baj --thoroughly grounded in precedent in each of the two individual instrumental styles. As already mentioned, 'Usman Khan identifies his bIn style, derived from that of Bande 'Ali Khan, as being distinguished by the introduction of a khaval sensibility and technique into the traditionally dhrupad-oriented style of the bin. Thus Ghulam Husain feels his music to have a strongly vocal quality for which he uses the phrase gayaki ang (used as well by some other musicians, notably Ustad Vilayat Khan) ; and he adds the further qualification that his performance includes elements of thumrI and dadra (forms of light classical music) as well. In the specific flavor of his playing, he, like 'Usman Khan, has tried to maintain the quality of mithas (musical sweetness) through the use of srutitI (microtonal variation), murki (a delicate quaver at the end of a note before a descent), and zamzama (a particular type of occasional tremolo.) His performances are enriched by his knowledge of a large number of old gats ( compositions), including many rare double gats (compositions, in the Raza KhanI or fast pattern, having two parts and lasting two-full-cycles of tIntal, the rhythmic cycle which has sixteen beats) from past ustads in the gharana.

Ghulam Husain Khan's sense of khidmat (service) to the gharana is clear. He has remained more concerned than his brothers about the fate of his musical tradition, and a conversation with him often reveals some hope or anxiety prompted by this concern. (This aspect of his ustadi will be treated in an elaboration of his educational philosophy, and in the section on the gharana itself). On the personal level, Ghulam Husain sent his firstborn son, Afzal Husain, to live with and be raised by 'Usman Khan, Who had no son of his own (it was only from a third marriage years later that 'Usman was to have two sons). In fact, out of a general deference toward and sympathy for his older brother (who very much wanted children of his own.), Ghulam Husain has had all his own children call Usman Khan Babba (roughly equivalent to the English papa), while he himself is addressed as bha'i miyan (respected brother). He also has a clear sense of social khidmat--to be discussed presently--as a citizen of his community in contemporary India.

While not an ostentatiously pious man (he has a wry sense of humor and an engaging personal warmth) Ghulam Husain Khan does observe certain principles of sadagi. On almost all occasions he wears a plain white kurta and pa'ijama (loose, flowing shirt and pajama-like trousers) made of simple cotton, neatly pressed. He takes very seriously attendance of ceremonies at the tombs of saints (the roza of Shah 'AIam in Ahmedabad is a favorite visiting place for him), and he prays regularly before his performances. When he was congratulated by a few close friends after a particularly moving and successful debut performance in the United States, he shook his head with stark and genuine humility and said, "maih ne kuch nahin kiya khud ne sab kuch kiya" ("I did nothing--it was all done by God"); one had the distinct impression that he believed utterly that the music had flowed through him from a divine source.

But it is in his dedication to teaching that Ghulam Husain Khan has shown some of the most dominant aspects of his ustadI. The importance of posterity in the maintenance of a gharana is evident to him, and for this reason, with a sense of khidmat to the gharana, he has taken the process of teaching very seriously. A distinction has already been made between an ustad's attitude toward uncommitted students and serious disciples. Casual students he treats casually, but his few shagirds (he has taken perhaps eight such disciples, exclusive of his sons, in thirty years of teaching) are the recipients of his utmost dedication. In the interview from which he has previously been quoted, he describes his view of the relationship between ustad and shagird:

The ustad gives his pupil the maximum personal attention possible. He spends from five to ten hours a day with him, until the disciple understands the mind as well as the movements of the teacher. The teaching of music is the creation of a complete understanding between the two.

Sometimes the ustad disciplines his pupil to be certain that the disciple is serious. An American boy came to me several years ago, wanting to study the sitar. I was not sure of him so I called him at midnight, at five in the morning, in rain and sun, to test his discipline and patience. Finally I was satisfied and took him. Now he is like a son to me. Ghulam Husain Khan takes his obligations to his shagirds not only as a musical relationship, but as a spiritual and very personal one as well. Certain features of his preceptive philosophy are similar to those of the Sufl tariqa (path), in which the relationship between shaikh and murid often parallels that of ustad and shagird. The aspect or-trial and testing by the ustad shaikh has already been mentioned, as has the aspect of suhbat(literally, company, but in Sufism, spiritual conversation), in which ustad and shagird become well acquainted through extensive conversations and long periods of time spent in each other's company. Writing of the symbolic use of clothing in Sufism, Schimmel (1975:102) has observed that "by donning a garment that has been worn, or even touched, by the blessed hands of a master, the disciple acquires some of the baraka, the mystico-magical power of the sheikh." In numerous instances Ghulam Husain has followed this particular symbolism as well by presenting his male shagirds with both new clothes, particularly kurtas, and clothes which he himself has worn. This last custom in particular is typical of his generosity to his most trusted disciples.

In a more public context, as mentioned earlier, Ghulam Husain has become something of a musical entrepreneur. He has realized that with the loss of courtly patronage, it is difficult for a musician to survive with the degree of passivity that often results from an adequate monthly stipend; he has therefore developed in himself, quite against his ultimately shy and self-effacing nature, certain entrepreneurial capabilities that have borne significant results. In 1962, for example, he gained publicity, prestige, and merit as a citizen by arranging his own benefit program for the national defense fund instituted during the border dispute with China. He personally canvassed the city of Ahmedabad to sell tickets to the wealthier residents of the city, and when he was refused entry because of his modest appearance, he would gain audience with his patrons-to-be after passing with

much good humor through the servants' entrance. "I am not a proud man," he would say, laughing; "this is the artist's life"--and then, "you must buy tickets to my program. It will be a good program, in a good cause." He sent a very substantial sum received from the concert to the fund, and is still remembered for this in Ahmedabad.

Feeling, as many traditional ustads would not, this sense of public interest and duty, Ghulam Husain Khan has thus become something of a patron himself--dispensing, if not money, at least moral and tactical support. During his early days in Ahmedabad, when there was little musical activity in what was primarily the business-oriented center of an expanding textile industry, he was cofounder of "Alap," a music circle organized to bring visiting artists, to the city and thereby enrich its cultural life. He has also participated conscientiously in anniversary programs honoring the memory of two of the major figures in the modernization of Indian music education, V.D. Paluskar and V.N. Bhatkande; in this connection he received a special reception and award, presented by the Finance Minister of India, from the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal. a well-known modern music school.

This last point suggests not so much that Ghulam Husain Khan participates in current trends in the modernization of classical music, as that he wants to acknowledge the fact that such trends exist. To remain informed on various musical developments, he subscribes to at least one musicological journal published in Hindi. In many respects, his reading of this journal has the same motivation as his reading of newspapers: diversion, with an intelligent interest in the events--musical or otherwise of the day. (While maintaining that very little of practical value can be learned from books on music, he does occasionally consult a nineteenth-century Urdu treatise on music, Sarmaya-e-'israt, (sadiq 'Ali Khan 1895) particularly regarding aspects of instrumental maintenance and repairs in which he takes a keen interest. His apparent trust of this book is possibly due to the fact that the author, Sadiq 'Ali Khan, has the same name as the father of Bande 'Ali Khan, the founder of Ghulam Husain's gharana, and may well be the same person.

In most respects, Ghulam Husain Khan approaches his public role as an ustad with a particular savor and witty nonchalance that characterizes what he calls "artist's life"--the life of an individual seen, as a Muslim musician, as being somewhat on the periphery of traditional Indian society no matter what the degree of art. When he lived in Bombay, Ghulam Husain moved in a polyglot community of painters, poets, 'and other musicians: he lived for a time in a flat on Malabar Hill where the famous Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz had recently lived, and which had a history of tenants arrested for offenses ranging from gambling to political terrorism. He still remembers those days and those individuals with pleasure. Yet, coming to Ahmedabad on his brother's instruction, he left the Bohemian life when he realized that it would ultimately be detrimental to his stature as a musician, and to the stature of the gharana, in the public eye; instead of squandering a growing income, he began to invest in the future through the cultivation of a distinct image and selective acquisition of property.

Traditionally, Muslim musicians who, before independence, were associated with the courts of princely states, have tended in many respects to imitate the manners and pursuits of their patrons, the Hindu maharajas and the Muslim navabs: hunting, Epicurean dining, a fondness for elegant clothes, and a great pleasure in the adventure of travel. Ghulam Husain is very much of a gourmand, and for some years met regularly with a group of fiends, known as the Murghr (chicken) Club, who would take turns hosting meals In which no effort, and sometimes ( depending on the means of the host) no expense, was spared. During his four-month stay at the University of Chicago, Ghulam Husain cooked sumptuously for his numerous guests, and ate frequently in the city's different ethnic restaurants. Even today, he is fond of going, at five o'clock in the morning, for breakfast to the narrow, smoky, congested street in Ahmedabad known as bhathiyara gali, where bara handi ("twelve pots"--viscid and spice-ridden curries of all edible portions of the goat: brain, tounge, heart, liver, tripe, lung, trotters, and all the usual cuts) is served by the light of kerosene lamps to a motley of dozing Muslim laborers and idlers, and the occasional ustad. Traveling, too, is diverting for Ghulam Husain, who can be an enthusiastic tourist, particularly when he is abroad, unlike some Indian musicians who have difficulty in foreign cultures. As already mentioned, his ordinary dress is simple, though conspicuously long and flowing in its cut, typical of ustads; his taste for clothes worn in performance--still a courtly occasion for him--tend toward pale but expensive raw-silk kurtas and elegantly embroidered Kashmiri woolen shawls, for he believes that if an ustad looks confident and successful, he will more likely be taken as such.

In his own words, his dress is "a question of prestige" (prestij ka saval hai) , as are his watch--with its spectacular metallic blue face--and his automobile. His first automobile, purchased with painstakingly gathered funds in 1964, was most of the time under repair; but when it was running, it became famous in Ahmedabad as the lal pari (the red fairy). The vehicle bears description. Ancient and British--perhaps a vintage Austin or Morris-- it was a quaint, stylish two-seater convertible, painted a dark but highly visible crimson. Ghulam Husain always dove the car to tuitions, and often took his children ( three sons, two daughters) or friends for a conspicuous tour of the city. Ramshackle though the automobile was, the fact that it was driven by a musician was not lost upon Ghulam Husain' s friends and the public at large. Few professional musicians in India can afford automobiles, and it is probable that in 1964 no other musician in the state of Gujarat had a car of his own. Though he enjoyed. the notoriety of the lal pari for a time, Ghulam Husain sold the car when its mechanical difficulties became too troublesome, and he purchased a somewhat newer Indian-manufactured Fiat which, though still needing frequent repairs, was certainly more practical and dignified than its whimsical predecessor. But the point had been carefully made: even people who did not attend his concert" knew that Ghulam Husain Khan was a visibly successful Ustad

This is not to say that Ghulam Husain makes ostentation a way of life. His modest flat in Ahmedabad consists of two rooms and a partitioned verandah; it is located behind a petrol station in the old part of the city, in a large fifty-year-old compound that includes ~ miscellany of families of extremely diverse religious, regional, and even national backgrounds. Nor has his return from his foreign tours significantly changed his style of life. It seems more a function of the passage of time than of self-conscious change that his wife no longer keeps rigid parda (the traditional Islamic veiling of women); that he recently obtained a telephone to facilitate communication with his students, disciples, and friends; that he occasionally wears suits (as he did be: his tours) to social occasions; and that he now eats at small metal table with one or two of his children (though when guests come to his home, tea and dinner are still served on the traditional dastarkhwan spread on the floor.) He remains in touch with most of his close friends of fifteen years ago, though he has made many new friends as well. In all these respects, his life as an ustad has seen not so much a radical alteration as an expansion and enrichment of the traditional roles. 

from: http://patric-marks.com/ghulam.html

Ram Narayan & Chatur Lal - Ragas du Matin et du Soir - Re-edition of a LP published originally in France in 1964

This is a 1976 re-edition of a 10" record published by the same label originally in 1964. See below the original covers (taken from Discogs). The 1976 edition has less surface noise.

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Covers of the original 1964 edition:

Munir Khan - Indian Classical Music - LP published in the Netherlands in 1974

The first LP by the great Sarangi master. See also our earlier post here.

Side 1:

Raga Desi

Side 2:

Raga Purya Dhanashri

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Mohamed Tahar Fergani - Ya Dalma - LP published in Algeria

LP probably published in the 1960s or 1970s. It contains one of his most famous songs, Ya Dalma (the unjust), in an extended version.

See our earlier posts: 

2ème Festival Algérien de la Musique Andalouse 1969 - Vol. 7

2ème Festival Algérien de la Musique Andalouse 1969 - Vol. 8

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About the artist, see also: http://musique.arabe.over-blog.com/article-19746413.html

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

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Tahar_Fergani

Siddheswari Devi (1908-1976) - Light Classical Vocal - From the archives of All India Radio - LP published in India in 1985

Side 1:

Thumri - Misra Tilang

Side 2:

1. Tappa - Bhairavi

2. Dadra - Gara

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Smt. Siddheswari Devi

With the passing away of Siddheswari Devi on March 18 1977, the last of the four great pillars of Hindustani light classical music is gone. First went Begum Akhtar in 1974 at the age of 60, and then her older contemporaries, Rasoolan Bai, Badi Moti Bai and Siddheswari Devi. All four of them were inheritors of great traditions of music from a glorious era of the past when music dominated the lives of musicians from childhood to death. They were musical `stars' who shone brilliantly in the courtly era; but when the `darbari' era ended they did not hesitate to step out into the glare of public acclaim. 

Thumris were once sung with abhinaya. When classicists began to frown down on this type of music with abhinaya, the singers took to the Bol-Banav-ki Thumri in which the emotional contents of songs are effectively brought out through vocal expressiveness only, that is, beauty of notes, voice modulations swara-combinations, and a specially emotion-charged style of singing. Bhaiya Ganpatrao, Moizuddin, and Shyamlal Khatri were some of the trail-blazers who gave this modern orientation to Thumri. Among those who have kept up these traditions till now in full glory, the outstanding names of this century have been Siddheswari Devi, Rasoolan Bai, Badi Moti Bai, Begum Akhtar, Mahadev Prasad Misra, and Girija Devi. Girija Devi is far younger than the others, and is of a different generation.

Born into a famous musical family in Varanasi in 1903, Siddheswari traced her musical lineage to her maternal grandmother Maina Devi, a reputed singer of Kashi of nearly a century ago. She was the inheritor of great musical traditions from a family which produced several famous singers like Maina Devi, Vidyadhari Devi, Rajeswari Devi and Kamaleswari Devi. As Siddheswari lost her mother when she was barely 18 months old, she was brought up by her maternal aunt, Rajeswari, who was a famed disciple of Maina Devi, Mithailal, and of the great Moizuddin himself. Brought up in this musical atmosphere, Siddheswari absorbed a great deal of the art right from her infancy. Her childhood was an unhappy one as she lost her father also very soon. About this period of her life, she once said : "We did not have luxuries like the gramophone. But our neighbours had one. I used to go to them to listen to the records of popular singers like Janaki Bai, Gauharbai and several others. How their music used to captivate me!".

Noticing the talent and eagerness of the young girl, Siyaji Maharaj began to teach her. Siyaji's father Shyamacharan Misra, and uncle Ramcharan Misra had been good musicians. About her guru, Siddheswari used to say : "No one could possibly get a more generous and affectionate guru. Having no children of his own, he treated me like his own daughter. He taught me all the basic ragas and a large number of Khayals, Tappas, and Taranas. He taught me with all his heart, and I practised my music with intense concentration and devotion. Nowadays, alas! the students are all in a hurry to acquire a diploma or a degree; they have no lagan."

After the death of Siyaji Maharaj, she learnt for a while from Ustads Rajab Ali Khan of Dewas, and Inayat Khan of Lahore. However, her greatest guru, the one to whom she attributes most of her musical training was none other than Bade Ramdasji of Varanasi. Her face glowed with pride and veneration whenever she spoke about this generous guru who taught the eager disciple magnanimously. Nostalgically recalling those times of close guru-shishya bonds, Siddheswari once remarked to me : "The age of such great and generous gurus seems to have gone. No longer does one come across the really devoted type of pupils either. Today they are all in such a hurry----"

Later on in life, when she joined the Bharatiya Kala Kendra in Delhi as a professor, she earned the reputation for being a sincere and conscientious teacher. When I mentioned this to her, she simply remarked : "Why not, Beti? Let something of my treasures remain with others after l am gone".

Siddheswari made her unforgettable debut at a Calcutta conference many many decades ago. Young Siddheswari's name was billed along with those of many of the veterans of the time, such as Pt. Omkarnath Thakur, Pt. Dilip Chandra Vedi, Ustad Faiyaz Khan and others. Her khayals in Malhar and Suha-Sughrai, and her thumris, elicited high praise and medals galore from Pt. Omkarnathji and Ustad Faiyaz Khan. Another glorious performance of her's was in the All India. Music Conference in Bombay in which Ustads Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Faiyaz Khan also were to sing. Siddheswari concluded her superb recital with such an intensely emotional rendering of the Bhairavi-Thumri (Kaahe Ko daari re gulal Brajlal Kanhayi) that the Aftab-e-Mausiqui refused to sing after her! He said to her : "After such music there is no room for any more. After Gauhar Malika, the crown of the Thumri rests on your head". Such was the grand magnanimity of the musical giants of the past!

After her first concert appearance at the age of 18, she began to receive invitations for performances in Rampur, Jodhpur, Lahore, Mysore and various other states which used to patronise classical music during that time. In the next 4 or 5 decades, she sang in many royal durbars, music conferences national programmes, radio concerts and so on until she became "an institution by herself in view of her enormous repertory and heritage of a rich musical tradition." In recognition of her valuable contributions to the enrichment and perpetuation of the Banaras (Poorab) ang of light classical music, Siddheswari was honoured with the Presidential Award in 1966, the Padmasri in 1967 the D. Litt from Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta, and the title of "Desikottama" from the Viswa Bharati University. When we felicitated her on the Award, her humble and philosophical reply was : "It's all very well; but I shall continue to deserve these, only as long as I can go on singing well enough to please you all". In spite of all the fame that she earned, she remained simple, unassuming and homely till the end. Among contemporary musicians, Kesarbai Kerkar and M.S. Subbalakshmi were the artistes she admired most.

Few musicians in recent times had such a vast repertoire as Siddheswari had. Her rich storehouse included a large number of Khayals, Thumris, Dadras, Tappas, Kajaris, Chaitis and Bhajans. "A feeling heart, a fecund mind, and an expressive voice" are the prime requisites for a good light classical singer. Even when her voice had become "temperamental and thick" in old age, she could make up for it by a rare emotional fervour, and she could hold her audiences by her mood of intense absorption and her ability to bring out the emotional contents of the romantic or devotional themes. Siddheswari's music brought out all the salient features of the Banaras style, such as simple charm, intensity of feeling, and effective expression of emotions through sheer purity of notes, "meends" and voice modulations. She said to me once : "Although my thumri is fully of the Banaras ang, I incorporate elements of the Khayal into it. You may say that my thumri- singing is Khayal angapradhan". She added spice and charm by sprinkling short, swift tappa-like taans and trills. In her early days, she was deeply impressed by the singing of Gauharjan, Zohrabai, and Malikajan. As a member of cultural delegations, Siddheswari gave recitals in Rome, Kabul, and Kathmandu.

Siddheswari cherished not only the songs galore that she had learnt from her revered guru Bade Ramdasji, but also the lofty principles that he impressed on his disciples. He used to advise her: "Music is the medium for pleasing and attaining God. You should never feel proud of any success. Always remain humble. The day your tears flow during your sangeetsadhana, your music will have attained mellowness and maturity".

No wonder she always believed that both "Siddhi" and "Ishwar" can be attained through devoted sangeet-sadhana. Her deeply religious temperament had a great impact on her singing. In the last years of her life, the Pukaars in her Thumris and Bhajans were like cries from an anguished devotee's heart. With eyes closed, mind absorbed, and left hand cupping her left ear (to receive the full drone of the Tanpura), she used to pour her heart out through her music. Siddheswari remained a most warm-hearted, simple, and loveable person, "an extraordinary amalgam" of innocence, courage, humour, generosity, youthful zest for life, and a rare dignity. Her life was, by no means, a happy or smooth one. She had an unhappy childhood and "an emotionally tumultuous" youth, and she had to undergo many bitter experiences in life. But all of these seem to have added to her natural dignity, strength and wisdom. One of her admirers described her as "a vast reservoir of warmth, an unfailing fountainhead of inspiration, a manifestation of humanity at its most compelling and earthy.... and yet a being full of sparks and sudden vertical ascents to the mystic regions where inspiration has its divine origins". She did not have the facilities to devote herself to sadhana; living like a recluse. She practised her music all the time, while she was cooking, washing clothes, or doing any of the ordinary household chores. Music was her very Iife.

The death of Siddheswari Devi has left a big void in the world of light classical music. Shanta Devi, her elder daughter whom she had trained up to follow her footsteps has remained in obscurity owing to poor health. Surprisingly, it is her younger daughter Savita Devi who has zoomed into the limelight as a delightful and popular singer, and it is Savita who shows every sign of taking her illustrious mother's place. Versatile and attractive Savita is not only a graduate (an M.A, and Sangeetalankar) and a good Sitariya, but she has also shaped into a confident and popular vocalist with a wide repertoire of Khayals, and light classical varieties. Gifted with an appealing, melodious voice covering 3 octaves or more, she has undergone years of training in khayals under Pt. Moni Prasad of the Kirana gharana. She has a natural flair for the light classical varieties in which she was extensively trained by her mother whom she used to accompany as a supporting singer in many concerts. While working as Head of the Department of Music in Daulatram College (University of Delhi), she is continuing her own music riyaz tirelessly.

Many years before her death, Siddheswari had once told me : "My greatest ambition is to die while singing a perfect taan. I feel closest to God when I am lost in my music." Begum Akhtar also had expressed an almost identical wish which was fulfilled because she died in the peak of her glory, giving a memorable performance before the dropping of the final curtain.

But Siddheswari who lived till her seventies, had no such luck. She had been helplessly bed-ridden for many months prior to the sad end. In a TV interview prior to her last illness, she had confessed with dignity:- "There was a time when I used to sing for the public. Now I sing to please my God. My soul craves to go back to its original abode".

Malini Menon, one of Siddheswari's pet-pupils who had become more like a daughter to her, writes:- "Maa remained a student all her life. . .She had a child-like thirst for knowledge and she was ever so generous as she could not bear to see anybody in want... Maa was turbulent as the waves, and yet calm like the distant sea. She was at peace with herself and had prepared for the journey of the soul to eternity. When the moment came, she accepted it with grace."

Siddheswari Devi's last brilliant recital was in the Radio Sangeet Sammelan (a couple of years before her end) in which she sang with a bubbling, youthful zest, accompanied on the Sarangi by Pt. Gopal Misra (who is no more), and on the Tabla by Ramji Misra. Eyes twinkling, the solitary diamond in her big nose ring flashing points of light, a warm smile on her paan-reddened lips, Maa's homely figure emerges in one's memory. But as soon as she sat on the stage for a recital, one realised that she belonged to an entirely different world, and that her life had known "no horizons other than music". As I recall that last inspiring recital of hers in the Radio Sangeet Sammelan, memories of several other great past concerts of this music-devotee come to my mind, and her plaintive Jogiya echoes in my memory:"O Jogi ! Constantly uttering the name of Rama, you have become one with Him, leaving your little hut so empty---".

Posted on RMIC by Rajan Parrikar as part of Great Masters Series.
From: "Great Masters of Hindustani Music" by Susheela Misra.

From: http://www.chembur.com/anecdotes/siddheshwari.htm

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddheshwari_Devi

Jotin Bhattacharya - Sarod - LP published in 1974 in India

Side 1:

Raga Marwa

Side 2:

Raga Sampurna Kanada

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Jotin Bhattacharya

"Renowned Sarod player and direct disciple of Baba Allaudin Khan
Biografie:
Pt. Jotin Bhattacharya was born in Varanasi on 1st Jan, 1926. His quest for music and Philosophy lead him to seek two greatest teachers of all time in their respective fields, one being Dr. Radhakrishnan and the other being Ustaad Allaudin Khan (Mahiyar). After completing his Masters in Philosophy from BHU, his unquenched thirst for Indian Classical Music, ultimately lead him to Mahiyar. He spent almost 16 years learning from Baba.
The enormous treasure that he accumulated from Baba, was evident during all his public performances. There were series of concerts all over India and all music pundits and critics acknowledged that indeed the legacy of Baba has been truly preserved by this talented musician. His first album brought out by HMV in 1972 (more correct year: 1974) was one of the rarest gems in Indian Classical Music comprising of Raag Marwah and a self composed Raaga called “Sampurna Kanhara”.
He created more than 40 Ragas some of the popular ones listed here: Mouni, Sampurna Kanhra, Amarawati, Mateswari, Sardeswari, Mohini, Chandra Mouli, Lachmi, Biyogini ...
Panditji’s constant dedication towards his Master prompted him to write some memorable books which are greatly appreciated not only by music connoisseurs but also by musicologists all over the world. His first published book on his Guru “Ustaad Allaudin Khan and his Music”, was an authorized biography of Baba Allaudin Khan. This was followed by 2 books which were published in Bengali and Hindi named “Allaudin Khan O aamara” i.e “Allaudin Khan and Us”. These two books were also greatly appreciated by Music connoisseurs."

from: https://www.facebook.com/Sarodguru/info

Folk Music from Neyshaboor (Nishapur), Khorasan, Iran - Cassette published in Iran end of 1980s or beginning of 1990s

Chaharomin Djashnvareh Mousiqi Fajr 

(4. Fajr Music Festival)

Neyshaboor - Mahali (regional or folk music from Neyshaboor or Nishapur)

Beautiful recordings of regional or local music (Mahali) from Neyshaboor in northeastern Khorasan. We had already posted a number of recordings from Khorasan before, one from northern and two from eastern Khorasan. American edition of a cassette originally published in Iran. 

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About Nishapur see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishapur

or: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/413358/Neyshabur