Music from the Shrines of Ajmer & Mundra

Music from the Shrines of Ajmer & Mundra

recordings by John Levy

Tangent Records - TGM-105 - P.1970

[ also published by Lyrichord - LLST 7236 - P.1970's.]

Side A

A1 Classical Naubat Shanā'i (Mundra) Prabhāti, Dīpchandī 6.49

A2a Classical Naubat Shanā'ī (Ajmer) Rāgamāla, Tīntāl and Dādra 4.58

A2b Classical Naubat Shanā'ī (Ajmer) Rāgamāla, Tīntāl and Dādra 7.51

Side B

B1 Kacchi Kāfi - Dārbarī Kānāda, Dadra 5.47

B2 Popular Naubat Shahnā'ī (Jabbalpur) Thumrī 10.26

B3 Mashak (Indian bagpipes) Folk-tune 1.54

B4 Popular Naubat Shahnā'ī (Bhopal) Thumrī 4.21

N.B. Track 2a and 2b appear as one track on the record.

The shrine at Mundra

The shrine at Ajmer 1941

The gateway at Ajmer

Naubat Shahnā'ī (Jabbalpur)

Here is one more excursion by John Levy into the formal music of Naubat Shahnā'ī. And Kacchi Kafi, a rare piece of vocal music accompanied on the shahnai. There is even one short piece for bagpipe.

Kacchi Kāfi

Naubat Shahnā'ī (Bhopal)

Although we had the music preserved much of the meta information was hard to find and this time we have to thank another good friend in music who generously shared from his extensive information and helped with the scans. Just to keep the accompanying inlay leaf from getting lost over the years is a feat only achieved by good archival routines and we thank him much for cultivating these skillful means that add to the quality in no small way.

Sulaiman Jumma (Naqqara)

Maula Bakhsh, Shahnā'ī player

Mumtaz Ahmad with Tabal (Ajmer)

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Classical Music of India - Recordings by John Levy P.1969

Classical Music of India

Featuring renowned soloists

Recordings by John Levy

Nonesuch Explorer - H 72614 - P. 1969

Side 1

A1 Bansri (tranverse flute) Yaman 8'10 Devindra Murdeshwar

A2 Sarangi (fiddle) Puriyadhanashri 6'12 Fateh Khan

A3 Jaltarang (cup-harmonicon) Bhupali 4'35 Chintamani Jain

A4 Thumri (love-song) Bhairavi 6'11 Mohammed Ismail

Side 2

B1 Rudra Vina (stick zither) Chandrakauns 5'40 Zia Mohiuddin Dagar

B2 Haveli Sangit (devotional song) Gauri 14'25 Amarlal

B3 Naubat Shahna'i (Royal Gateway Music) Todi 7'40 Suleiman Jumma & Sumar Jumani, Abdullah Ramatulla

This LP comes with an accompanying leaflet with annotations by John Levy and Jairazbhoy.

Graciously recieved by his Excellency, who was in very good spirits, I partook in an unplanned and most impromptu repast at his mansion some afternoons ago. As on previous occasions music is always omnipresent, and in the continued sitting that ensued, where selfless presence were being expounded while leisurly sipping tea contemplating the there and now, we came upon the topics of many good artists that have long passed. And sighing, that even thou there are many young budding talents, the reasons for making the music seems to have fundamentally changed.

Suleiman Jumma & Sumar Jumani, Abdullah Ramatulla

His Excellency suddenly mentioned the Naubat Shahna'i piece represented on the LP in the latest blogpost, the John Levy compilation on CBS. I was bemused that he took time to follow my blog and even more so when he said he had been inspired by the idea to preserve these old records and I was very happy indeed to see him pulling out another record, saying that those recordings, also by John Levy, must have been made around the same time as the one in my post. To my big surprise there was not only tracks with Naubat Shahna'i, but one more track with jaltarang, also by Chintamani Jain, a sarangi track by Fateh Khan and above all, a short but very good Chandrakauns, played on the been by Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar

Chintamani Jain

Hidayat Khan

Mohammed Ismail

He kindly lent me his copy of the record and I hope you will all enjoy. He was even kind enough to let me botanize on my own in the shelves, so I can assure you that there are several other good and rare records that will follow. It was also understood that our meetings could maybe be elevated to a jour fixe, set aside for music and contemplation.

Devindra Murdeshwar

Fateh Khan

Amarlal

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Hindustani - A Panorama of North Indian Music

Hindustani - A Panorama of North Indian Music - Sounds of the World

CBS - CBS 63519 P. 1969 (recordings by John Levy)

A1 Surbahar - Rag Kirwani - Chandrashekar Naringrekar

A2 Mirabai Bhajan - Rag Madh - Mohanlal Rayani

A3 Jaltarang - Rag Gunakri - Chintamani Jain

B1 Naubat Shanna'i - Rag Sindhu Bhairavi

B2 Tabla solo - Fayyaz Khan

B3 Sarangi - Raag Maru Bihaag - Sabri Khan

I'll share some more instrumental Hindustani Classical before I move on to the vocal.

I passed by the editorial office of Panchamkauns the other day and as they were all out for lunch, I started to skim through the dimly lit shelfs in a storageroom behind the office when I stumbled upon this absolutely forgotten wax. It was standing there with some Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, a few Balachanders, and generally items that no one seemed to have given a thought about for ages.

As I had never seen it before and as it contained a track that I had never heard by my friend Chandu, the Sitar & Surbahar player who prematurely passed away only a few years ago. I decided to quickly save that and some of the others for posterity and as it turns out, no one at the office has missed them yet. I guess they are all busy writing critiques of newly released CD's anyhow. I will return them of course, but not until I've digitized them and shared them here...

Chandrasekhar "Chandu" Naringrekar 1936 - 2004

Sabri Khan 1927 -

Naqqara & Shahnai - The Royal Gateway Music

Here is the first of the records I lifted off their shelfs ...

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