Archival Audio

This page gives a sampling of archival audio in my collection. Many more audio recordings can be found on players' individual pages such as those of the immortal Bundu Khan, Munir Khan, Shakoor Khan, Ram Narayan, Gopal Mishra, Sabri Khan and Hanuman Prasad Mishra. The first playlist below contains a number of rare gems. Continuing from Ustad Bundu Khan's page on this site, there is his friend and student Ustad Abdul Majeed Khan playing Kesar Bai Kerkar's famous Bhairavi thumri "Jadu Kahan". Kesar Bai's 78-rpm record of this beautiful song left the confines of our solar system around five years ago onboard the Voyager 2 spacecraft as a sample of human culture for extraterrestrial consumption. Majeed Khan, who excelled at the old-style jor ang of sarangi playing, was Kesar Bai’s faithful accompanist for many years, but she abruptly fired him in retribution for teaching some of her precious Jaipur gharana compositions to his sons, the singing duo Abdul Sayeed Khan and Abdul Rasheed Khan.

There are also some recordings of Ustad Masit Khan who was Majeed Khan's student. Masit Khan was in high demand as an accompanist in the 1970s. He can be heard playing beautifully on Kishori Amonkar's early records.

Next a special surprise: Ram Narayan doing a duet with Bismillah Khan on shehnai—rag Malkauns. For other recordings of Panditji please go to his dedicated player further down this page.

Then we have an early recording of Ustad Sultan Khan, pre-1970, playing Bhairavi, a soulful piece which inspired me in my early days with the sarangi.

There are also a few recordings of my first teacher Ustad Sabri Khan, also from the 1970s, including an entire concert in San Diego, California.

And finally two recordings of the great Kirana sarangiya Ustad Shakoor Khan. Not optimal recording quality, but important evidence of an outstanding player.

Enjoy!

NEW! April 2015: New additions to this playlist: 1) my guru bhai Ghulam Sabir of Moradabad playing on Delhi radio in 1978, 2) the outstanding sarangi player, I believe from Rampur, Ustad Haaji Ghulam Sabir, recorded in  the 60s—a wonderful Darbari, and 3) Ustad Munir Khan, a great sarangiya of the Sikar gharana, the brother of the wonderful table player Ustad Faiyaz Khan, playing Jaunpuri on Delhi radio in the 1970s.

NEW JUNE 2015! Treasures of historical sarangi: a 78 of Ragunath Prasad Mishra from 1920—the earliest known recording of solo sarangi—he plays Malkauns and a wonderful tappa-ang Bhairavi; a 78 of Zire Khan of Panipat playing Lalit and Bhairavi in 1940; a 78 of Chhote Khan playing Pilu Barva and Tilak Kamod in 1950. Note: there have been many Chhote Khan sarangi players, and we don't know which one this is. Courtesy of the the Society of Indian Record Collectors.

RAM NARAYAN AUDIO

Here is a collection of rare and special recordings of Pandit Ram Narayan's most exquisite playing. It starts with Panditji's two amazing 45-rpm EP records recorded in 1961 and 1962. This is followed by lengthy recordings of Jaunpuri and Jog from the 1960s. Next we have Maru Bihag, Chandrakauns and Pilu from Panditji's celebrated 1969 AIR National Programme of Music.  Many believe this performance  to represent the highpoint of Ram Narayan's stylistic development.

Next we have three pieces from the LP, "Voice of a Hundred Colours" which was the first sarangi music I ever heard and which inspired me to go to India and learn sarangi at the age of 18. My life went sideways! Thank you Panditji!

Finally there is a 1950 recording of Yaman accompanied by the Banaras tabla wizard Pandit Shanta Prasad (Guday Maharaj).

NEW JUNE 2015! The oldest examples of Panditji's wonderful sarangi playing: a 10-inch LP record recorded in 1950 and released in 1957, and three 78-rpm records released in 1955. Courtesy of the the Society of Indian Record Collectors.

SULTAN KHAN AUDIO 

April 1, 2015) Here are some jewels of the maestro's sarangi playing and also some of his sleepy singing. It is incredible to see that audio cassettes that are more than forty years old are still playing nicely—when digital media of all sorts degenerate more quicky. So we have some lovely examples of Ustad Sultan Khan's playing from the 1960s when he was known as Sultan Ali Khan, was jolly and humble and had henna-red hair. I first met him in a seedy hotel by the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi. There are also recordings from a UK concert in the 1980s, during which he sang a Lori and a Rajasthani folk song. The Durga is magnificent.

GOPAL MISHRA AUDIO

Here are some of my most precious recordings: pearls from the bow of my second teacher, the legendary Pandit Gopal Mishra. See his page on this site for more information, photos and also video. NEW July 2016 a superb rendition of rag Madkauns (9a) courtesy of John Campana.

And some incredible duets of Gopal Mishra and VC Jog on violin:

HANUMAN PRASAD MISHRA AUDIO

The "grand old man of the sarangi", Pandit Hanuman Prasad Mishra was the elder brother of Gopal Mishra. Here are a selection of rare recordings from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Five pieces including discussion from a function at Banaras Hindu University are followed by six assorted rags from three occasions, and then we have some extraordinary vocal performances from a 1973 Tappa Samelan at BHU. See Hanumanji's page for a large selection of videos.

AMIYA GOPAL BHATTACHARYA

Pandit Amiya Bhattacharya, widely known as Amiya Babu, was my first teacher of vocal music. When he saw the fruits of negligent instruction in my sarangi playing, he insisted on teaching me through the medium of singing, and through his teaching I discovered my voice and discovered the world of methodical rag elaboration. Amiya Babu was a student of the great sitarist Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan and gurubhai of Ustad Mustaq Ali Khan. Amiya Babu was most in his element playing the surbahar. His surbahar was an unusual all-wood instrument beautifully crafted by his student Nalu Chakraverty. Here we have three recordings which survived remarkanly well on a much-abused 1972 cassette: