Kesar Bai Kerkar - LP reissue of old plates - P.1963

Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar 
- Raga Lalat - Raga Malkauns
EMI India - EALP 1278 - P.1963 



A1 Ghatan Lagi Rain - Lalat - Teental 4'19
A2 Haan Re Daiya - Todi - Teental 3'23
A3 Devi Durge - Kukubh Bilawal - Jhaptal 4'33
A4 Mare Dere Aao - Desi - Teental 4'38
A5 Jaat Kahan Ho - Bhairavii - Deepchandi 3'31

B1 Preeetam Saiyan - Lalita Gouri - Teental 4'43
B2 Nevar Baju Re - Nat Kamod - Teental 4'22
B3 Maan Na Kari - Goud Malhar - Teental 4'23
B4 Main San Meet - Malkauns - Teental 4'10




There are so many wonderful artists I would have loved to post already and after the comment I made in previous post it sometimes feels as if they are all overdue. It will come as a surprise to no one that one of my first loves of Hindustani female vocal was Kesarbai introduced to me by a very good friend who passed on already long ago. I may have mentioned her already in one of my first posts. Yet, I have not had the decency to post anything by her so far. This record, or at least the music on it, may already be in possession by most of you, and so it should, but in case of an unfortunate possibility that it has still been missed by one or two, this shortcoming has now at long last been remedied.

This is one of the very first records I heard of any Hindustani vocal and that I have played the most in seventies.  Very soon, I also just have to fix the flagrant Paluskar deficiency we have been suffering from here.

Kesarbai Kerkar
(b Goa, 13 July 1892; d 1977).

North Indian vocalist. She was attracted to devotional music as a child and began her training at the age of seven with Abdul Karim Khan of the Kirana gharānā. She later studied with Barkatullah Khan, the court sitār player in Mysore and Patiala, and Bhaskar Rao Bakhle of the Agra gharānā, and, most significantly in terms of musical style, with Ustad Alladiya Khan (1920–46), who stipulated that she should always sing with him at concerts. She remained with him until his death in 1946, when her solo career began. She inherited the style of Alladiya Khan, including melismatic tān in performances of khayāl and a preference for improvisation in Tīntāl. She also sang thumrī.

Kesarbai in Concert

Padharinath Kale, harmonium, & her brother Pt. Yeshwantrao Kerkar, tabla

She was dubbed (Sur śrī) in 1938 by Rabindranath Tagore and was known thereafter as ‘Queen of Music’. In 1953 she received the President’s Award for Hindustani Vocal Music from the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and in January 1969 she was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.



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Rwanda II - Musique Vocale - P.1977

Rwanda II - Musique Vocale - Vokale Muziek
Recordings and documentation by Jos Gansemans
Alpha - 5024 - P.1977




Side A

A1a Chants pastoraux - amahamba - indama 4'35
A1b Chants pastoraux - kubangulira 3'00
A2a Chants de chasse - amahigi + thembe (à l'arc) 2'24
A2b Chants de chasse - amahigi + inzogera (à la lance) 2'27
A3a Chants de travail - kwidoga 3'18
A3b Chants de travail - amasare ubwato 2'24
A4 Chant cultuel - Nyagitansi 3'35


Side B

B1 Berceuse igihoso 3'00
B2 Berceuse + ubuhuha 2'22
B3 Poème dynastique igisigo 4'04
B4 Indilimbo z'ingabo 3'12
B5 Chant nocturne igitaramo 2'03
B6 Chants cultuel - Lyangombe aho rero 3'52
B6 Chants cultuel - Umuhara 2'03

Here is volume two of the Rwanda series from Tervuren. This like the other two comes with several pages of documentation about the recordings that were made by Jos Gansemans during the years 1973-1975.

Below is a review of all three volumes from Ethnomusicology January 1981
- vol. 25, No.01, pp 178-179
by Kazadi wa Mukuna. (beware of misspellings resulting from OCR)

Rwanda, Vol. I. Musique Instrumentale/Instrumentale Muziek (Musee Royale de l'Afrique
Centrale/Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, Tervuren). One 12" 33 1/3 rpm disc. 1977.
Alpha 5023. Descriptive notes by Jos Gansemans in Flemish and French bound into slipcase, 6 pp., mus. ex.
Rwanda, Vol. II. Musique VocalelVokale Muziek (Musee Royale de 1'Afrique
Centrale/Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, Tervuren). One 12" 33 1/3 rpm disc. 1977.
Alpha 5024. Stereo. Descriptive notes by Jos Gansemans in Flemish and French bound into slipcase, 6 pp., mus. ex.
Rwanda, Vol. III. Musique de Danse/Dansmuziek (Musee Royale de 1'Afrique
Centrale/Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, Tervuren). One 12" 33 1/3 rpm disc. 1977.
Alpha 5025. Stereo. Descriptive notes by Jos Gansemans in Flemish and French bound into slipcase, 6 pp., mus. ex., photos.

In the past few decades, knowledge of the musical culture of the Banyarwanda (people of Rwanda) in the outside world was dominated by the sound of ingoma drum ensembles, the direct descendants of the royal drum ensembles of the Tutsi dynasty. Since the bulk of what is available on this musical culture is scattered in records devoted to African music in general or a large region of Africa, the release of these records will be more than welcome to music educators, students, and amateurs of Banyanvanda culture. The three albums in the set contain samples of music from three major repertoires: instrumental, vocal, and dance music, representing musical styles peculiar to the Banyanvanda as well as displaying their artistry on musical instruments (mbira, musical bow, drums) also common in other parts of Africa south of the Sahara.

Ethnographic notes on the Banyanvanda and their land are featured in the first record, devoted to instrumental music. These notes, perfunctorily written by Jos Gansemans in Flemish with French translation, provide no vital information
on the Banyarwanda or their culture, nor do they assist in relating the albums to their proper cultural context. One must turn to a description of each selection for valid historical, cultural, and musical information, some of which is supplemented by black-and-white photographs of the event.

RECORD REVIEWS

Record I, Side A opens with two selections of epic songs accompanied by inanga (board zither). an instrument whose zone of diffusion is limited to Rwanda. Another musical instrument used by Banyarwanda to accompany their epic songs is the mbira (thumb-piano), known to have been borrowed from Bakongo in Lower Zaire. The playing (Record I, Side A/5) resembles that of the Bakongo and the Luba of Zaire. characterized by the dampening of the keys with the index fingers after being plucked with the thumbs. Iningidi (a bowed monochord lute) is another borrowed instrument which has gained in importance in the north and center of the country, in spite of its recent anival in the culture. This instrument is also prominent in Uganda, where it is known by the same name. Side B contains predominantly the music of aerophones whose playing technique and overall expression are peculiar to this culture. The best example can be heard in Band 4 on ihembe (hunting horn). The last three bands (5, 6, and 7) represent three distinct styles of ingorzadrum ensembles from Rubungo, Rubavu-Gisenyi. and Mibilizi- Cyangugu regions.

In Africa. the Banyarwanda must be counted among those people whose musical cultures are dominated by unaccompanied vocal songs. This is revealed in Record II, devoted to vocal musical styles. Side A contains songs to accompany both solitary and communal work. In a culture where cattle-raising occupies a paramount position in the "cultural focus," the work-song repertoire is dominated by pastoral songs whose subject matter ranges from milking to praising cattles' lineage. Side B, on the other hand, contains cult songs, drinking songs, and lullabies. A unique feature of Banyarwanda vocal style is the lullaby accompaniment (BIZ), in which the singer produces a muted sound by letting the air through his loosely closed lips.

Record III contains music for four types of dances: dances performed by young girls at wedding ceremonies: warriors' dance: intore (dance of the chosen ones); and those of the Twa pygmies. Concerning field recording technique. some of the dance recordings (A/[. 2, 3) lack implicit noises. such as footsteps. In this case. recording technique (context, number and placement of microphones, etc.) is surely pertinent documentation for those interested in ethnomusicological method and training. Otherwise, Jos Gansemans is to be congratulated for a fine
technical production.

Michigan State University Kazadi wa Mukuna

Young woman accompanying herself on the wan intara singing the song Nyagitansi

Three women from Lyangombe with typical ritual hairdoes.

Singer of Amahamba.

Hunters With Spears Singing Songs Of The Hunt.

Men with painted faces during Umuhara.

Hunters with bow and arrow.

Handtechnique for Ubuhuha.

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M.S. Subbulakshmi - Kashi-Rameswaram Suprabhatam

M.S. Subbulakshmi - Kashi-Rameswaram Suprabhatam

EMI India - ECSD 3282 - P. 1977

Side A

A1 Kashi-Rameswaram Suprabhatam - Varanasi Sanskrit Scholars

A2 Siva-Panchakshara Stotra - Sri Adi Sankaracharya

A3 Annapurnashtaka - Sri Adi Sankaracharya

Side B

B1 Rameswaram Ramanatha Suprabhatam - 'Kavikokila' Dr. V. Raghavan

B2 Ramantham Bhaje'ham - Muthuswamy Dikshitar

Radha Viswanathan, vocal support

Lord Viswanatah of Kashi-Ganga and Lord Ramanatha of Rameswaram-Setu have been integrateing the whole of Bharat from time immemorial, through the constant flow of pilgrims. Everyday Sri Ramanatha at the southern end of the land is bathed in an unending stream of Ganga waters brought by the devout from the North while their counterpart are making a similar offering of sands from the southern seas to the Ganga in the North.

Here Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi who has integrated the hearts of humanity through the magic of her divine music, "awakens" Lord Viswanatha and Lord Ramanatha through two soulful Suprabhatams praying to the Almighty to open His eyes for the welfare and happiness of the world.

M. S. Subbulakshmi (1916 — 2004)

Recording for HMV

The little girl in pavadai chattai, oiled curls pressed into a tight braid, was too timid for noisy games with other children. But she devised a secret game for herself. Rolling waste paper into a cone, she sang into it for hours – pretending to record a ‘plate' for ‘His Master's Voice', then the biggest gramophone company in India.

Little did the child know that one day she would render the company's bestseller in ‘Venkatesa Suprabhatam,' still enjoying the longest shelf life among Indian audio recording. from Recording a Legend by Gowri Ramanyan,

Continue reading the article published

in The Hindu here

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