Zia Mohuiddin Dagar ~ Gangeyabushan LP [Alvarès, 1968]

Dhrupad on Rudra-Vina
Alvarès/La Boîte à Musique
LD114
France
1968

* it should be noted that initially this lp was mistakenly issued as 'Mangeyabushan' *

Raga Gangeyabushan in three movements

A1. Alap
B1. Jhod - Jhala

Recording by Benet Berger
Bombay, January 1968

'Zia Mohiuddin Dagar [1929 – 1990], popularly known as Z. M. Dagar, was a North Indian [Hindustani] classical musician, one of the 19th generation of Dagar family dhrupad musicians. He was largely responsible for the revival of the rudra vina as a solo concert instrument.

Z. M. Dagar was born in the town of Udaipur, Rajasthan and began musical study with his father, Ustad Ziauddin Khan Dagar, court musician for the Maharaj of Udaipur. He was trained both in vocals and in the rudra vina, an instrument used by vocalists to practice melodies. The vina was traditionally not played in public, but the young Zia Mohiuddin adopted it as his primary instrument, giving his first recital at age 16.

Although he was discouraged by his father from experimenting with the structure of the vina, he nevertheless modified the instrument after his father's death to better equip it for solo performance, transforming it into a larger bass instrument [sometimes called a Dagar vina]: With the help of the instrument house Kanailal & Brother, he enlarged the tumbas [gourds) and dhandhi [hollow neck] to create greater resonance and to allow the notes to sustain longer and so better reproduce the techniques used in dhrupad singing. Because of these modifications, the instrument was too heavy to be held in the standard Northern posture [with one tumba on the left shoulder], so he played instead in the Southern posture, with one tumba on the ground and one on the left knee.' ~ wiki



'Dhrupad is the oldest surviving form of Indian Classical music and traces its origin to the chanting of vedic hymns and mantras. Though a highly developed classical art with a complex and elaborate grammar and aesthetics, it is also primarily a form of worship, in which offerings are made to the divine through sound or nāda. Dhrupad can be seen at different levels as a meditation, a mantric recitation, a worship , a yoga or tantra based on the knowledge of the nādis and chakras and also purely as a performing art portraying a universe of human emotions. It is mainly a vocal tradition based on the practice of nāda yoga, but is also performed on instruments like the Rudra Veena and the Sursringār. For the past five centuries Dhrupad has mainly thrived under the patronage of Mughal and Rajput kings but is rarely heard today.'

gorgeous recital from master & maverick of dhrupad, Ustad Zia Mohuiddin Dagar. recorded by Benet Berger in Mumbai [Bombay], January of 1968 & released on the french Alvarès imprint the same year. the way he bends the low notes is totally noodle-baking & transportational. old school vinyl rip at 256. heady!