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.
