Hâbil Əliyev - Kamânça LP [Мелодия, 1990]

Мелодия С30-29645
Recorded 1989, published 1990

I üz
Dilkəş və Təsnif - 11.45
çahargah - 9.17

II üz
Bayatı - Həcər və Təsnif - 9.42
Bayatı - Şiraz və Təsnif - 7.57

Habil Aliyev lived a hard & interesting life. Born on May 28, 1927 in the village of Uchqovaq in the northern region of Aghdash, Azerbaijan, he began to study musique at the age of 7 under the direction of Ahmad Aghdamsk. Having acquired the basic techinical knowledge of the kamânça [kamanche] he continued extensive practice alone & elaborated on his own style.

Nicknamed the 'Oriental Paganini' because of his perfect technique, he has been consecrated as 'People's Artist' & showered with the highest honours in Azerbaijan, appearing on television regularly. His style is characterized by great freedom & a quest for precise effects & tones, but always serving the ethos that is specific to each muqâm.

It is the improvised solo that displays his true genius & his interpretations of various muqâm as well as adaptaions of of Azeri dances have made him famous & loved by all. He is widely consiered to have breathed new life into serveral muqâms by virtue of his otherworldly kamânça skills.

the drum you hear on these recordings is called a naqara & features prominently in Azeri classical musique. i have no clue who is accompanying our boy Hâbil on this slab, sorry. daps to zwan & fam for this trismegistique Melodiya offering. have fun in moscow u crazy kids

VA - Традиционная музыка - Бурунди LP [Мелодия, 1987]

Musique Traditonallelle De Burundi LP [Melodiya, 1987]
Традиционная музыка Бурунди
the traditional music of Burundi
recorded & published 1987, Мелодия C80-26393

a1. mbazabugabo
a2. helene wanje
a3. sindirimba
a4. duh' akagwa
a5. umve kira
a6. n'amayugi

l'orchestre traditional [1-6]
batagoye - vocal, inanga
mijiriro matlas - umuduri
ntahomkirye merichior - inanga

b1. akazehe
b2. guhoza umwana
b3. kayenhayenge
b4. hozumwana
b5. ingoma

ballet national [1-3]
nikoroka protais - ikembe [4]
l'ensemble des tambours abatimba [5]

another wonderful & mysterious offering from the russain 'melodiya' imprint who were issuing vinyl well into the 90's. thx to zwan & his klan. totally addictive & alien sounding

VA - Indian Music: Songs of a Golden Age [Мелодия] 1956

VA - Indian Music: Songs of a Golden Age
[1956, Мелодия Д-2681]
Melodiya, 1956, RU

a1. Debabrata Biswas
a2. Suchitra Mitra
a3. Vijay Raghav Rao
a4. Kanak Das & Debabrata Biswas

b1. Suryanarayana
b2. Har Krishna Lal
b3. Surinder Kaur
b4. Krishna Pillai
b5. Suchitra Mitra

Melodiya [Мелодия], the Soviet state record company had in its catalogue a significant number of releases with music from non-Soviet territories. This one is an impossibly rare & wonderful document showcasing stars of 1950's India from all over the region. Whilst renowned in their glory daze, the collective memory of these artists certainly seems on the verge of extinction, even in India.

Debabrata Biswas [Bangla:দেবব্রত বিশ্বাস 1911–1980] was a Bengali singer, one of the best-known performers of the songs of Rabindranath Tagore [Rabindrasangeet] or Tagore songs. He was born in 1911 in Barishal and then later came to Kishorgonj of Mymensing district of British colonial undivided Bengal province of India. His music, though not always technically pristine, was notable for its exceptional depth of emotional expression verging on the dramatic. His early gramophone recordings of Tagore songs brought out in the late 1940s demonstrate soulful full-throated expression of melody with a strict adherence to the rules and norms of tradition, written and unwritten, which he felt obliged to break in the early 1960s - considered by most to be his heyday up to the year 1969. His renderings in this period show amazing power of voice and modulation, compounded with overt emotional expression of a kind hitherto unpractised by his contemporaries. His voice at this period ranged at ease within the three octaves and with varied tempos and rhythms and showed greater variety of emotional expression from the thunderous and rumbling to the soft and mellow. Somewhat audacious and overpowering in his personal feelings, his enunciation of the words of over-used and hackneyed Tagore lyrics extracted new meanings and freshness from the compositions. Some of his numbers which surely goes deep into the heart of Bengalis are Akash bhora surjo tara, Je ratey mor duarguli, Pinakete lagey tonkar, Tomar kache ebor magi etc.

Suchitra Mitra is also a well respected exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, or the songs of Bengal's poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore. As an academic she remained a Professor and the Head of 'Rabindra Sangeet Department' at the Rabindra Bharati University for many years. She has done playback singing and acted in a Bengali films as well.

Surinder Kaur [Nov 25, 1929 – June 15, 2006] was an Indian singer songwriter. She sang mainly Punjabi folk-songs, where she is credited for pioneering & popularising the genre and was later known as the ‘Nightingale of Punjab’; she also sang some Hindi movie songs, between 1948-52. By far my favourite song here.

Pandit Vijay Raghav Rao [born 3 November 1925] is an Indian flutist. He was born in Narasaraopet, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Next to nothing is known of the exponents of Karnatic musqiue herein, Har Krishna Lal, Krishna Pillai & Suryanarayana. any information about these artists or a tracklist of the song titles is most appreciated. thanks to Zwan for preservng this culturally profound historical treasure & to Arvind & Hung Far Lo for your resplendant enthusiasm in the informational dissemination of this precious musique.