INDIA – PAKISTAN Raag Rang Berang – Thumriyan-Light Classical Vocal – EMI STC 5040

INDIA – PAKISTAN
Raag Rang Berang – Thumriyan-Light Classical Vocal – EMI STC 5040, released in 1980 (Cassette)

I am delighted to share this excellent compilation of Thumri, a form of semi-classical Hindustani music that flourished in 19th-century northern India. Often called the "song of the heart," this vocal genre is known for its emotive expression, lyrical beauty, and a connection to romantic and devotional themes, particularly the love story of Radha and Krishna. 

This engaging program showcases Thumri luminaries Siddheshwari Devi (1908-1977), Rasoolan Bai (1902-1974), Nirmala Devi (1927-1996) and Hira Devi Mishra. It also features legendary Khayal vocalists from India and Pakistan who incorporated thumris into their repertoire: Bhimsen Joshi (1922-2011), Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (1902-1968) and his younger brother Barkat Ali Khan (1908-1963), as well as brothers Nazakat (1932-1983) and Salamat Ali Kahn (1934-2001).

Je suis ravi de partager cette excellente compilation de thumri, une forme de musique hindoustani semi-classique. Développée dans le nord de l'Inde au XIXe siècle et souvent décrite comme le « chant du cœur », le thumri est avant tout un genre vocal. Il se caractérise par son expression émotionnelle, sa beauté lyrique et son lien avec des thèmes romantiques et dévotionnels, notamment l'histoire d'amour entre Radha et Krishna.

Ce programme captivant réunit les figures emblématiques du thumri : Siddheshwari Devi (1908-1977), Rasoolan Bai (1902-1974), Nirmala Devi (1927-1996) et Hira Devi Mishra. Il présente également des chanteurs légendaires de khayal d'Inde et du Pakistan, qui ont intégré le thumri à leur répertoire : Bhimsen Joshi (1922-2011), Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (1902-1968) et son frère cadet Barkat Ali Khan (1908-1963), ainsi que les frères Nazakat (1932-1983) et Salamat Ali Khan (1934-2001).

A1 – Hari Om Tatsat

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (1902-1968) was a prominent vocalist of the Patiala gharana. He brought immense technical brilliance and emotional depth to his Thumri renditions.

 

A2 – More Saiyan Bulawe Adhi Raat
Hira Devi Mishra was a Thumri vocalist of the Banaras gharana.

A3 – Saiyan Bin Soona
Brothers Nazakat Ali Kahn (1932-1983) & Salamat Ali Kahn (1934-2001) were outstanding vocalists of the Sham Chaurasi gharana,

A4 – Ro Ro Nain Ganwye Sajna Na Aaye 
Nirmala Devi (1927-1996), also known as Dulari, was an actress and a vocalist of the Patiala gharana.

 

B1 – Ras Ke Bhare Tore Nain
Siddheshwari Devi (1908-1977), a vocalist of the Banaras gharana, was revered as ‘The Queen of Thumri.’

 

“[A] glorious performance of hers was in the All India Music Conference in Bombay in which Ustads Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Faiyaz Khan [1886-1950] 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 [the Sun of Music/ Faiyaz Khan] 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!”*

 

*From Great Masters of Hindustani Music by Susheela Misra, 1981. Devi’s performance here refers to the memorable 1944 All India Music Conference in Mumbai, which also featured Kesarbai Kerkar and Pannalal Ghosh.

B2 – Jad Kadar Nahin Bold

Barkat Ali Khan (1908-1963) was a vocalist of the Patiala Gharana and master of the Punjabi Thumri. He was the younger brother of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.

 

B3 – Kankar Mohe Lag Jaihen
Rasoolan Bai (1902-1974) was a vocalist of the Banaras gharana.

B4 – Jadu Bhareli Kaun Albeli

Bhimsen Joshi (1922-2011) was a vocalist of the Kirana gharana.

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Many thanks to our friend D., who spontaneously offered to share some of his favorite Indian Carnatic and Hindustani cassette tapes that he had digitized, including this rare album.

More posts:

Siddheswari Devi – HMV – EALP 1436 here

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan – Odeon MOAE 5004 here

Nazakat & Salamat Ali Kahn – 7 EPE 1356 here

Nazakat & Salamat Ali Kahn – HNBL 1332 here

Bhimsen Joshi HMV – 7 EPE 1246 here

Bhimsen Joshi HMV – ECLP 2264 here

The Great Tradition – HMV – EALP 1453/1452 here

 

The photograph below is from India: Art and Culture, 1300-1900 by Stuart Cary Welch, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985:

 

Krishna and Radha: Love in a Dark Wood from a manuscript of the 

Gita Govinda (The Song of the Herdsman) of Jayadeva 

Punjab Hills, Kangra, c. 1780:

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THAILAND – THAÏLANDE Department of Fine Arts Bangkok – 33PIX-102

THAILAND – THAÏLANDE
Department of Fine Arts Bangkok – 33PIX-102, released in 1962 (LP)

I am delighted to share a second fascinating album of authentic, time-honored Thai classical music from the essential collection of the Department of Fine Arts, released between the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Department of Fine Arts (Krom Sinlapakon), which operates under the Ministry of Culture, works to safeguard and promote the country's rich cultural heritage.

This album showcases three piphat ensembles (A1, B1, B3), which provide the vibrant accompaniment for Thai classical music, traditional masked dance dramas, dances, shadow puppet theater, and various ceremonies and rituals. First created during the Sukhothai era (13th–15th centuries), piphat ensembles include quadruple-reed pi nai oboes, ranat xylophones, tuned khong wong gongs, various barrel drums, and ching hand cymbals. The Pi Phat Mai Nuam Ensemble here (B3) also features vocals.

In contrast, tracks A2 and B2 present solo, two-string bowed saw u fiddles. Their deep, mellow tones offer a minimalist counterpoint to the dense sound of the ensembles.

 

J'ai le plaisir de vous présenter un deuxième album de musique classique thaïlandaise authentique, puisé dans la collection essentielle du Department of Fine Arts publiée entre la fin des années 1950 et le début des années 1960. Agissant sous l'égide du Ministère de la Culture, le Department of Fine Arts (Krom Sinlapakon) œuvre à la sauvegarde et à la promotion du riche patrimoine culturel de la Thaïlande.

 

Cet album présente trois ensembles de piphats (A1, B1, B3) qui accompagnent la musique classique thaïlandaise, les spectacles de théàtre masqué, les danses, le théâtre d'ombres chinoises, ainsi que divers cérémonies et rituels. Originaires de l'époque de Sukhothai (XIIIe-XVe siècles), ces ensembles de piphats comprennent notamment des hautbois pi nai à quatre anches, des xylophones ranat, des gongs khong wong, divers tambours et des cymbales à main ching. L'ensemble Pi Phat Mai Nuam (B3) comporte également une voix.

Les pistes A2 et B2 présentent des vièles saw u à archet à deux cordes jouées en solo. Leurs sonorités profondes et douces offrent un contrepoint minimaliste aux ensembles plus denses.

A1 – Veera Chai Yak (The War Dance of the Demons)

Pi Phat Yai Ensemble of the Fine Arts Department.

A2 – Khêk Mon
Bowed two-stringed saw u solo by Luang Pairaw Siang Waw.

B1 – Veera Chai Ling (The War Dance of the Monkey Warrior) 
Pi Phat Khrueng Yai Ensemble of the Fine Arts Department.

B2 – Phya Soke (lament)
Saw u solo by Luang Pairaw Siang Waw.

B3 – Lao Kum Hawm (from northeastern Thailand)
Pi Phat Mai Nuam Ensemble of the Fine Arts Department,
Vocals by Pravej Kumut (1923-1999).

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Our other classical Thai music posts:

Chui Chai – Department of Fine Arts Bangkok – 0008 here

Track A8 in Musik in Asien – BM 30 SL 5107 here

Photographs below are from The House on the Klong: The Bangkok Home and Asian Art Collection of James Thompson by William Warren & Brian Blake, privately published, 1968, and The Art of East Asia by Gabriele Fahr-Becker, Koneman, 1999:

Hindu Harihara bronze sculpture, Sokothai style.

Harihara figures convey the philosophical idea that 

Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara) are different  

aspects of the same ultimate reality (Brahman).

Buddha statue in the ruins of the Wat Mahathat (Monastery of the Great Relic) complex, completed in 1345, Sokothai, Thailand.

The blending of Hindu and Buddhist traditions have shaped

Thai culture over centuries:

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JAPAN – JAPON Japanese Masterpieces for the Shakuhachi – Lyrichord – LLST 7176

JAPAN – JAPON

Japanese  Masterpieces for the Shakuhachi – Lyrichord – LLST 7176, played by masters of Meian, Kimpu, Tozan and Kikusui Ryus at Darumaden of Nanzenji and Melanji Zen temples, Kyoto, Japan, 1967 (LP)

The bamboo end-blown shakuhachi flute is closely associated with Japanese Zen Buddhism. In the 17th century, monks of the Fuke-shū sect–known as komusō, literally meaning "monks of emptiness" or "priests of nothingness"–adopted the shakuhachi and played a repertoire of pieces called honkyoku as a tool for meditation and spiritual practice.

Though the Fuke sect was abolished in 1871 during the Meiji era, the spiritual tradition of the shakuhachi persisted, often in secrecy. While the shakuhachi is now used in various genres, including classical, folk and jazz, its deep connection to Zen Buddhism and suizen (“blowing Zen” meditation), remains a significant aspect of its cultural and spiritual identity. 

This 1967 LP, recorded at the Darumaden of Nanzenji and Melanji Zen temples in Kyoto and released on the essential Lyrichord label, features solos and duets of shakuhachi flutes, of different sizes and pitches, accompanied by chanting, bells and gongs.

 

This haunting music treats each note as a resonant, meditative breath. It is composed of a wide range of textures and timbres, from soft, low tones to high-pitched, piercing shrills. 

La flûte shakuhachi en bambou est étroitement associée au bouddhisme zen japonais. Au XVIIe siècle, les moines de la secte Fuke-shū, connus sous le nom de komusō (littéralement « moines du vide » ou « prêtres du néant »), ont adopté le shakuhachi pour jouer des pièces appelées honkyoku utilisées comme outil de méditation et de pratique spirituelle.

Bien que l'ordre Fuke fut interdit en 1871 pendant l'ère Meiji, la tradition spirituelle du shakuhachi a persisté, souvent dans la clandestinité. Si le shakuhachi est aujourd'hui utilisé dans différents genres musicaux, notamment la musique classique, folklorique et le jazz, son lien profond avec le bouddhisme zen et la méditation suizen (ou « souffle zen ») reste un aspect important de son identité culturelle et spirituelle.

 

Ce disque de 1967, enregistré au Darumaden, des temples zen Nanzenji et Melanji à Kyoto, et publié sur le label incontournable Lyrichord, présente des solos et des duos de flûtes shakuhachi de tailles et de hauteurs différentes, accompagnés de chants, de cloches et de gongs.

 

Cette musique envoûtante traite chaque note comme une respiration résonnante et méditative. Elle est composée d'un large éventail de textures et de timbres, allant de tons doux et graves aux sonorités aiguës et perçantes.

A1 – Koku 

Composed by Kyochiku (12th century)

Two shakuhachi flutes and gong – Masters of Meian, Kimpu, Tozan and Kikusui Ryus at Meianji, Kyoto.

 

A2 – Sekiheki No Fu (name of the Chinese poem The Feeling of the Red Wall)

Composed by Seizan Shibata

Vocals, bells, shakuhachi flute (three sizes) – Masters of Meian, Kimpu, Tozan and Kikusui Ryus.

 

B1 – Matsukaze (the wind through pine trees)

Composed by a member of the Tsugaru family c. 300 years ago

Unknown performer

 

B2 – Ajikan ("seeing the original sound," a vision associated with enlightenment in Zen meditation
Composed by Nyozan Miyagawa (1868-1946)

B3 – Oshusanya (describes valleys in the Oshu, northern Japan)

Traditional Oshu folk music 

3.3 ft (1 meter) long shakuhachi flute – Masters of Meian, Kimpu, Tozan and Kikusui Ryus.

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Our other Japanese music posts:

Il Canto Buddhista / Buddhist Chant – Albatros ALB/12 here

Musique Traditionnelle du Japon – Disques Vogue CLVLX 326 here

Gagaku – The Kunaichō Gakubu Ensemble – Toshiba Records TH-9020 here

Gagaku Collection 2 – The Kunaichō Gakubu – Victor SLJ-59 here

Musiques Traditionnelles du Japon – Des Origines au XVIe Siècle here

Photograph below is from 2000 Years of Japanese Art by Yukio Yashiro and Peter Swann, Thames & Hudson, 1958:

 

Portrait of Ganjin or Jianzhen (688-763), Nara Period, 

made shortly after his death:

Ganjin was a highly revered Tang Chinese monk who helped propagate Vinaya Buddhism in Japan. During his remarkable and arduous efforts to reach Japan, which took him six attempts spanning over a decade from 743 to 754, he lost his eyesight in a storm and shipwreck. “The sensitive modeling of this figure reveals a man calm of soul, resigned to misfortune and at the same time tireless in his missionary zeal.”

Wooden statue of the priest Baozhi with an internal Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva emerging as he reaches nirvana, Heian Period, 11th century, Kyoto National Museum here

Daikokuji-Sasayama Komusō Shakuhachi Daikoku-ji Temple (Sasayama City) Tanba Tea Festival, June 2011 (Wikimedia Commons):

"The shakuhachi flute was used for spiritual purposes by the monks of the Fuke Zen sect, a branch of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism. These monks—many of them ronin (masterless samurai)—were wandering, non-monastic, lay Buddhists. Known as komusō or “monks of emptiness,” they used the shakuhachi to perform a type of musical meditation called suizen, or “blowing Zen,” and they played the flute for begging and alms as part of their practice." Komusō were characterized by the straw basket worn on the head, manifesting the absence of ego.

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IRAN Classical Music of Iran – Dastgah Systems – Volume Two – Folkways Records FW 8832

IRAN
Classical Music of Iran – Dastgah Systems – Volume Two – Folkways Records FW 8832, released in 1966 (LP)

I am delighted to present volume 2 of this seminal double LP released in 1966 on the great label Folkways Records which introduced Persian classical music to Western listeners. 

 

Like Indian raga and Arabic maqam, Persian dastgah—which is organized into seven dastgah systems and five secondary avaz systems—are primarily melodic systems that provide a framework for improvisations meant to evoke particular moods and emotional expressions. These complex musical forms are traditionally transmitted orally from teacher to student.

 

These recordings showcase exquisite vocals by Hossein Fakhtei (1935-1987) (A1) and Khatereh Parvaneh (1930-2008) (B2), as well as delicate and timeless solos by outstanding masters, including Ali Tajvidi (1919-2006) (A1) on the violin, Mohamad Heydari (1939-2016) (A3) on the santur, Houshang Zarif (1938-2020) (A2, B1) and Ahmad Ebadi (1906-1993) (B3) on the long-necked tar lute, and Naser Eftetah (1935-1987) (A1) on the tombak drum.

J'ai le plaisir de présenter le volume 2 de ce double album, sorti en 1966 sur le grand label Folkways Records, qui a fait découvrir la musique classique persane aux auditeurs occidentaux.

 

À l'instar du raga indien et du maqâm arabe, le dastgah persan, organisé en sept systèmes de dastgah et cinq systèmes d'avaz secondaires, est avant tout un système mélodique offrant un cadre pour des improvisations évoquant des ambiances et des émotions particulières. Ces formes musicales complexes sont traditionnellement transmises oralement, de maître à élève.

Ces enregistrements présentent les voix exquises de Hossein Fakhtei (1935-1987) (A1) et de Khatereh Parvaneh (1930-2008) (B2), ainsi que des solos délicats et intemporels joués par les virtuoses Ali Tajvidi (1919-2006) (A1) au violon, Mohamad Heydari (1939-2016) (A3) au santur, Houshang Zarif (1938-2020) (A2, B1) et Ahmad Ebadi (1906-1993) (B3) au luth tar à long manche, et Naser Eftetah (1935-1987) (A1) au tambour tombak.

A1 – Dastgah of Segah

Ali Tajvidi, violin, Naser Eftetah, tombak drum, and Hossein Fakhtei, vocals.

 

A2 – Avaz of Bayate Tork (Secondary Dastgah of Shur)

Houshang Zarif, long-necked tar lute.

 

A3 – Dastgah Of Rast – Panjgah

Mohamad Heydari, santur.

 

B1 – Avaz of Abu Ata (Secondary Dastgah of Shur)

Houshang Zarif, long-necked tar lute and Khatereh Parvaneh, vocals.

 

B2 – Dastgah of Nava

Mohamad Heydari, santur.

 

B3 – Avaz of Dashti (Secondary Dastgah of Shur)

Ahmad Ebadi, long-necked tar lute.

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The essential Smithsonian Folkways recordings here

Our other Persian/Iranian music posts:

Traditional Persian Music – Ahang Rooz Record Company here

Four Strokes – Parviz Yahagi & Ali Tajvid – Royal RT 430 – RT 706 here
Music of Iran – Seven Seas – Ethnic Music of the World Series – GXC-5004 here
Iran Musique Traditionnelle – Disques Alvarès EX 1514 here
Musique Persane Vol. 2 – Vogue EXTP 1034 here
Music of Iran – Santur Recital – Nasser Raster-Nejad – Lyrichord LLST 7135 here

Music from Baluchestan – Mirror and Song – Cassette 11 here
Musiques d'Orient – Les Mariés du Bout du Monde – LDX 74478-79 here

Photograph below is from Falnama: The Book of Omens by Massumeh Farhad & Serpil Bagci, Thames & Hudson, 2009:

 

Sun from the H.1702 Falnama. Iran, Safavid period, 1580s:

“Carried aloft by four angels, a majestic, human-faced sun disk illuminates a cloud-streaked sky with its golden rays. According to Islamic astronomy, the Sun is the fourth of seven planets, a calculation based on its distance from Earth in ascending order. It rotates within one of the seven spheres (falak) while the constellations, including the twelve signs of the zodiac, occupy the eighth. During the course of twelve months, the Sun also travels through the zodiac. This movement, in part, forms the basis of astrological investigations, the most popular form of divination, which allegedly also affects human behavior.”

Woman playing a santur, by Ahmad, c. 1830, Qajar, Iran:

(Wikimedia Commons)

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