Heard of Baluji Shrivastav?
Jesse Wilson
musician - check out his Dilruba & Sitar recordings at the ARC Music
site - http://www.arcmusic.co.uk
Daniel Fuchs
ARC music belongs to the Scientology.
Daniel
Seshadri Kumar
Yep, I haven't just heard of him, but have heard
him. I bought that same dilruba recording at an
online store, for the only reason that I did not
have any recordings of dilruba and wanted to hear
what it sounded like. I'd never heard of the man,
of course, but then how common is the dilruba?
Well, the instrument sounded much like the sarangi
to me. The artist is interesting. He is blind,
went from Ajmer Blind School to Lucknow University,
where he graduated with a B.A. in Vocal Studies
and Sitar. At Allahabad Univ. he obtained an
M.A. in Sitar and a B.A. in Tabla. (almost
verbatim from the liner notes) ... our man also
has CDs of Sitar and Surbahar. So it looks as
though he has a passion for music and a lot of
determination, but unfortunately I found the
music totally insipid ... I could barely
listen to the whole CD. Maybe I'll like it
better when I listen to it the next time a few
years later.
At the time I bought this CD, I also bought
a number of other CDs ... I had better luck
with many of them:
*****************
JVC World Sounds: Music of the Veena I
(S. Balachander) (JVC VICG-5036-2)
This was very good, a long rendition
of ragam Malahari (alapana and tanam).
There is no mridangam accompaniment ... something
Balachander did fairly frequently (witness all
his 72 melakarta tapes ... personally quite a
disappointment to me ... for one, melakartas
themselves are a little dry, and then when you
don't even have a krithi to hang on to, things
get a bit rough) ... but the performance here is
quite intense, and well done. Balachander just borders
on overdoing things but doesn't. A very creative
performance. Liner notes are rather sparse ...
even the raga is not mentioned.
******************
JVC World Sounds: Music of the Veena II
(Raajeswari Padmanabhan) (JVC VICG-5038-2)
This was the pick of the lot. I came to know
only recently that Raajeswari Padmanabhan belonged
to the Karaikudi family, from a friend. I immediately
ordered this, and was not disappointed. I fell in
love with the Karaikudi bani the first time I
heard it, in an AIR National Program recording
of the great Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer (the only
recording of that great soul that I know so far to
exist) ... every piece in that concert is etched
in my memory. I still remember the time when I had
a roommate who really didn't care much for Indian
classical music ... he would always dismiss my
other recordings, but he said he loved the way
Sambasiva Iyer played that opening nATTai
("sarasIruhAsanapriyE") ... the gait, the elegance,
the sheer beauty of that rendition has to be heard
to be believed. The "varanArada nArAyaNa" that
followed was another treat for the ears, and
I have never heard such a sweet "sarasa sAma dAna
bhEda danDa catura". But the piece de resistance
was the shaNkarAbharaNam AlApana followed by a
not-so-common krithi (I found out what the krithi
was only a couple weeks back, when I heard it on
a vocal tape, but I cannot remember ... maybe someone
can post)
Anyway, as to this CD, I was delighted to see that
Raajeswari Padmanabhan was truly the grand-niece
of Sambasiva Iyer (reminds me of a story I once
read in Dan Neuman's book, I think ... that in the
1920s, the vocalist Sinde Khan, son of the Gwalior
gharana great Amir Khan, met the great Balkrishnabua
Ichalkaranjikar at a music conference and introduced
himself. Balkrishnabua said, "my eyes aren't very
good, why don't you sing something for me?" After
Sinde Khan had sung a couple of cheeza for Balkrishna
bua, the old man said, "hmmmm ... now that you have
sung, I can very clearly see that you are indeed
Amir Khan's son) ... every piece is a gem, from the
opening varnam in nATTakuranji (calamEla) to the
gauLa krithi "praNamAmyaham", to the simhEndramadhyamam
"ninnE nammiti naiyyA" ... actually in this piece
they begin with the anupallavi rather than the
pallavi ... I know musicians sometimes do this, but
does someone know if this is deliberate or an
editing goof? The final piece is titled RTP in
shaNkarAbharaNam ("svara rAga sudhArasa") but there
is no AlApana ... I don't know if this is because
the artists decided against playing an AlApana and
went straight to the tAnam (after all tAnam is the
most important thing in vINA) or whether we have
another editing goof. Does someone know? Anyway,
editing goofs or not, an AWESOME CD ... I want more
of this lady ... does anyone have a discography?
I know Makar has a CD of her, and I think I saw
somewhere that her daughter Shreevidhya Chandramouli
has a recording ... any more? And any more of the
Karaikudi bani around? I saw some postings on this
net talking about Ranganayaki Rajagopal...what do
nettors think of her? I have already heard Karakudi
Subramaniam, and it is reviewed next.
*******************
Music of the World CDT -127
SUNADA: Karaikudi Subramaniam and Trichy Sankaran
I got this too, of course, for the Karaikudi name.
Unfortunately for me, this was a total disappointment.
When I ordered the CD, I was excited because it has
two of those krithis I mentioned in the original
Sambasiva Iyer tape I had ... "sarasa sAma dAna"
and "vara nArada" ... but ... it's hard to give a
quantitative answer ... but the whole performance
just seemed devoid of emotion and too dry to me.
The amount of improvisation was very little, which
is also a big turn-off. Trichy Sankaran, of course,
is his usual excellent self.
********************
The Fast Side of Dhrupad: Bidur Mallik and Sons
(Wergo SM 1517-2)
Absolutely Incredible!!!! I just loved this one.
These people are complete masters of sur! I'd been
curious for a long time about the Malliks ... I
had my first chance about a year ago when I bought
the Playasound CD of Ram Chatur Mallik (Darbari
and Multani, I think), and later when I bought the
AIR release of Ramchatur mallik (Bhoop, Shuddh Basant
and Khamaj) and I was already in love with their
style of singing ... that probably has something to
do with my love for the Agra gharana style ... it
seems like RCM's style is very much like Agra.
Anyway, these recordings are about 7 pieces, an average
of 10 minutes or so per piece. The opening Bhairav
took my breath away...such beauty. Most of
the dhrupads are in jhaptal and sultal. A must-have!
(BTW, that AIR release of RCM is very interesting
because it features a thumri!!! by a dhrupadiya ...
and VERY MASTERFULLY DONE! loved it.)
**********************
Z.M. Dagar, Live in Seattle, 1981
(RAGA Records, RAGA-219)
Great Master, Great Music.
This CD features Todi, Ahir Lalit, and Panchamkauns.
One of the interesting things I noted about this CD
is that ZM Dagar actually plays some serious sounding
fast passages .... normally he eschews fast passages.
(compare with the Shuddh Todi on Nimbus)
The treatment is majestic and austere, as is always
the case with Dagarsaab. Right up there with the best.
***********************
The Music of Islam: Volume Thirteen:
Music of Pakistan
(Celestial Harmonies, 13153-2)
Features Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, who I feel is one of
the truly great masters of the subcontinent. About
75 minutes total, approximately equally divided
between Bairagi, Puriya Dhanashri, and Yaman.
I still haven't come across a recording of Fateh
Ali Khan that disappointed, and this was no exception.
************************
Flute and Sitar Music of India: Meditational Ragas
(Laserlight 12178)
This was a total shot in the dark...the website did
not give any information about the contents, and in
fact even the CD has precious little. The main reason
I got it is that I hoped I might get lucky ... it was
only about $3.50 or so. I guess you get what you pay
for. There was a Malkauns on the flute for about 30
minutes, which I had heard a long time back, by
Vijay Raghav Rao ... when I had heard it then, I couldn't
stand it, and I couldn't stand it now either.
Tracks 2 and 3 were labeled: Suite for Two Sitars and Indian
Folk Ensemble ... seemed like cacophony to me.
The last track was nice ... some Bhairav (don't remember
which) on a sarod that sounded much like Ali Akbar
Khan's. ... but only for about 7 minutes.
Oh well ... overall, a hit rate of 5/8. not very
good...
i'd love to hear any opinions from anyone else who
has heard these.
Happy listening!
Kumar
--
Seshadri Kumar
Ph.D. Candidate, Chemical and Fuels Engineering
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84102
email: sku...@crsim.utah.edu
phone: (801) 585-1235
Todd Michel McComb
Seshadri Kumar <sku...@crsim.utah.edu> wrote:
>i'd love to hear any opinions from anyone else who
>has heard these.
Sure, I have heard all of these except that last one, which does
not strike me as worthy of an hour of my life. The only place I
really differ with you is on the Karaikudi recording on Music of
the World. My initial impression was similar to yours, but I have
warmed up to this recital over time. Some of the subtleties of it
are more than might initially meet the ear, and so I think it was
conceived with the repeated playback function of a recording in
mind. I was also somewhat disappointed by the Z.M.Dagar recording,
not because the performances were less than excellent, but because
it was almost entirely ragas he had recorded previously.
Anyway, I am in the process of redoing, restructuring, and adding
much more annotation to my list of recommended Carnatic recordings...
that will be ready in a month or two. Suggestions in other areas
are not as extensive, and will not be as extensive, but they are
not in the middle of a heavy revision either.
See: http://www.medieval.org/music/world/india.html
Todd McComb
mcc...@medieval.org
Sreenivas Paruchuri
: JVC World Sounds: Music of the Veena II
: (Raajeswari Padmanabhan) (JVC VICG-5038-2)
: editing goofs or not, an AWESOME CD ... I want more
: of this lady ... does anyone have a discography?
I amn't sure if any of her recordings were listed in Kinnear's discography
from 1985. Will look into ....
Theres a (very) good L.P from Haus der Kulturen in Berlin, produced
in early 80s. I doubt whether you can buy it outside Germany (and if
still copies exist).
Regards,
Sreenivas
P.S. an Herrn Fuchs: Wissen Sie wo und wie ich die obige Aufnahme von JVC
in D'land bestellen koennte! Grüsse --Sreenivas
--
E-Mail: sre...@ktp.uni-paderborn.de
Todd Michel McComb
Sreenivas Paruchuri <sre...@ktpsp1.uni-paderborn.de> wrote:
>Seshadri Kumar (sku...@crsim.utah.edu) wrote:
>: JVC World Sounds: Music of the Veena II
>: (Raajeswari Padmanabhan) (JVC VICG-5038-2)
>I amn't sure if any of her recordings were listed in Kinnear's discography
>from 1985. Will look into ....
I haven't seen any reissues, but there is another CD:
http://www.medieval.org/music/world/cds/ssa60.html
This label, Sonic Soul Acoustics, is run by one of the Karaikudi
family and is hoping to release many recordings.
Todd McComb
mcc...@medieval.org
james pokorny
There are 2 nice recordings on the German Nataraj Music Label; the first is
called "Music for Meditation - Indian Classical Music - Raga Yaman" (CD NM
001) by Dakshina Mohan Tagore playing dilruba. He plays a full alap, then
vilambit and drut gats. This is a lovely recording.
The second Nataraj disc (CD NM 006) "Evening Raga - ICM" features a full
performance of Raga Rageshri by Ud. Allaudin Khan (NOT Maihar Allaudin
Khansahb). He plays the "dilrubaesraj" (sic) which as far as I can make out
from the photo is an esraj equipped with a brass resonator like those seen
on sarods. This too is well-recorded and well played.
These CDs are somewhat difficult to find, but I believe that some of the
online music outlets carry them.
Some harder-to-find cassette recordings are:
HMV STCS 850360 "The Magnificence of Esraj" by Ranadhir Roy, a live
recording of Raga Bageshri.
HMV STCS 02B 6254 "In Memoriam - Ranadhir Roy" featuring Shri Raga, Raga
Bhupali, and Raga Sindhu Gandhar.
Magnasound C4HI0219 "The Magic of Dilruba and Tarshehnai" by Pt. Vinayak
Vora, featuring short selections of Shri, Komaldhwani, Jhinjhoti (dilruba)
and Basant and Bhairavi on tar-shehnai. The tar-shehnai, as Amit noted,
does have a shehnai-like quality which comes from the addition of a small
horn on the face of the instrument which serves to increase volume and
resonance.
Swarashree Enterprises GV001 features a jugalbandi performance between
Arvind Gajendragadkar on bansuri and Vinayak Vora on tar-shehnai. They play
a full performance of Raga Puriya Kalyan, then a short Pahadi dhun, after
which each performer has a solo, with Pt. Vora playing Raga Gawoti.
Daniel Fuchs
>
> Some other dilruba / esraj recordings:
>
> There are 2 nice recordings on the German Nataraj Music Label; the first is
> called "Music for Meditation - Indian Classical Music - Raga Yaman" (CD NM
> 001) by Dakshina Mohan Tagore playing dilruba. He plays a full alap, then
> vilambit and drut gats. This is a lovely recording.
>
Side A, yes. But the 2 Tabla players are atrocious... One of them would
have been bad enough...
Daniel
Todd Michel McComb
Daniel Fuchs <dfu...@stud.uni-goettingen.de> wrote:
>Who are you enthusiastic about? Iqbal Ahmed Khan? Or Makar?
I was thinking of the former, and was specifically recommending
the recording, although the latter has done some other very valuable
things too, such as their recording of R. Pichumani on Carnatic
veena.
Todd McComb
mcc...@medieval.org
Daniel Fuchs
>
> In article <36EFAD98...@mindspring.com>,
> Amit Chatterjee <as...@mindspring.com> wrote:
> >I have read that Esraj/dilruba was a popular accompany instrument
> >once. It is still the number one choice for accompanying Rabindra
> >Sangeet (Bengali). I do not know much about Baluji Srivastava but
> >you will find many esraj accompanists in Bengal. Unfortuantely,
> >most of them dont deal with classical music.
>
> As an aside, the recording of Iqbal Ahmad Khan (Delhi Gharana) on
> the Makar label which I wrote enthusiastically about a while back
> is accompanied on dilruba, played by Allaudin Khan.
>
Who are you enthusiastic about? Iqbal Ahmed Khan? Or Makar?
Daniel
