The Mughal Prince Dara Shikuh (1615-59 CE), the eldest and favourite son of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, was profoundly interested in mysticism and his writings centre on Sufi topics and poetry. A noted patron of the arts and calligraphy, the prince presented his wife with an album of paintings and calligraphy now known as the Dara Shikuh Album and held in the British Library. The present portrait is compositionally and stylistically very similar to paintings in the album by an artist identified by Falk and Archer as “Artist B” (Falk and Archer 1981, pp. 73, 383). It has been suggested that “Artist B” was influenced by the work of Govardhan, the celebrated Mughal painter whose paintings of sages and ascetics are full of life, psychological depth, a subdued palette and perspective. All of these elements are present in this extraordinary portrait. On the reverse of the album leaf is a calligraphy specimen by Muhammad Husayn of Kashmir, the famous Akbari calligrapher known as “Golden Pen” (Zarin Qalam). —Aga Khan Museum
hai rang-e laalah-o-gul-o-nasrii;N judaa judaa
har rang me;N bahaar kaa i;sbaat chaahiye
the color of tulip and rose and eglantine is each one separate
in every mood/aspect/’color’, a proof of spring is needed
Ali Ahmed Khan – Shahana
Amanat Ali & Fateh Ali Khan – Aimen (tarana)
Amanat Ali & Fateh Ali Khan – Madhuvanti
Asad Ali Khan (Agra) – Purvi
Badar Zaman & Qamar Zaman – Dhani (APMC 2007)
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan – Miyan Malhar
Bundu Khan – Desi
Bundu Khan – Jaijaivanti
Chote Ghulam Ali Khan – Megh (Radio Pakistan)
Fayyaz Khan – Chayyanat
Ghulam Shabbir & Ghulam Jaffar – Hijaz
Habib Ali Beenkar – Hamir
Hamid Hussain – Bheem
Hirabai Barodekar – Todi
Ikram Wahid – Bhairavi (Radio Pakistan)
Kabir – Shree
Kumar Prasad Mukherjee – Barwa
Laddan Khan – Marwa
Latafat Hussain Khan – Megh
Manzoor Khan – Hindol Bahar
Mohammad Akhtar – Basant
Mohammad Salim – Miyan ki Todi (Radio Pakistan)
Moinuddin Khan – Bageshree
Mubarak Ali – Narayani
Mushtaq Ali – Durga
Nasir Aminuddin Dagar – Durga (Khamaj Thaat)
Ram Narayan – Shankara
Narayan Rao Vyas – Gaud Malhar
Nasir Ahmed – Kedara
Parvatikar – Bhairav (Veena)
Parvatikar – Bhopali (Surmandal)
Sharif Khan Poonchewalay – Aimen (Veena)
Ravi Kitchlu – Bhairav
Radhika Mohan Maitra – Chayyabehag
Radhika Mohan Maitra – Kafi
Roshan Ali – Lalit
Roshan Ara Begum – Bageshree (Radio Pakistan)
Salamat Hussain – Gorakh Kalyan
Nazakat Ali & Salamat Ali Khan – Bairagi (live)
Nazakat Ali & Salamat Ali Khan – Gorakh Kalyan (live)
Nazakat Ali & Salamat Ali Khan – Suha Adana
Naseeruddin Saami – Jaijaivanti
Mohammad Hussain Sarahang – Shankara
Sarah Zaman – Hamir
Ghulam Hassan Shaggan – Ahir Bhairav (Radio Pakistan)
Ghulam Hassan Shaggan – Dadra
Shahida Parveen – Shankara (APMC 1987)
Sharafat Hussain – Malti Basant
Shashi Tripathi – Kabhi Kabhi (Bhimpalasi | Faiz tribute)
Sohni Khan – Aimen (Radio Pakistan)
Surendranath – Shankarabaran
Swami Vallabhdas – Gorakh Kalyan
Tarapada Chakraborty – Puriya Kalayan
Uday Bhawalkar – Puriya Dhanasree
Zakir Ali & Akhtar Ali – Marwa (Radio Pakistan)
Noor Zehra & Farukh Bashir – Behag
Thanks Ally Adnan for Amanat Ali & Fateh Ali Khan – Aimen (tarana)
John Campana for: Ikram Wahid – Bhairavi (Radio Pakistan)
Ashfaq Khan: Chote Ghulam Ali Khan – Megh (Radio Pakistan)
and Mohammad Akhtar – Basant
and years of friends…what a nice circle we enjoy!
Dr. Kashyap Dave, Dr. Hassan Azad, Hassan Suhrawardy, Zulqurnain Kalyar, Hazra Saptasrhri, Aniruddha Mitra and many others who are dedicated to keeping the valuable tradition alive!
Wow! What a treasure trove this looks like! My many thanks go out all the contributors and the people of this site for providing this wonderful gift to music lovers.
Now I’m going to get listening, if you don’t mind?!
another superb collection! my favourite out of all these wonderful recordings is radhika mohan maitra’s chhaya bihag. this 10 min version was preceded by 10 mins of shri raag and a 10 min thumri on an AIR broadcast. there is also a longer version of chhaya behag in some collections that we would all love to hear one day.
Vinay,
You are absolutaly right Radhika Mohan babu’s Chhaya Bihag is superb,
All the recordings are outstanding , Hats off Aftab ,you are great.
Jagdish
This version of Radhu Babu’s Chaya Bihag is played on the his Mohan Veena (sarod/sitar hybrid). Thank-you for it: I had not encountered it before. I have a short (5 min.) version on the sarod where the right hand strokes are more pronounced and there is less vistaar. It too is superb. My source of it is Track #2 on a CD of various string instruments of India. I’ll post the precise source after I find it.
If anyone can track down the longer version, that would be helpful.
Vinay! You’re absolutely about the RMM performance. I have both Chhaya Behags. Will correspond.
THanks again for the compliment!
@ Siyar you have been granted permission by the managent to listen to the tracks….i highly recommend Ravi Kichlu’s Bhairav.
Also the Faiyaz Chhayanat is very old. its spliced from 3 tapes at one session. It is really a nice artifact.
Great recommendation on the VK Bhairav, Aftab-bhai! This was a brilliant Agra rendition, from first second to last. Wonderful stuff!
Btw, who’s Prem Rang? Sharafat Hussain Khan?
@ Siyar,
Yes,” Premrang” is Ustad Sharafat Hussain Khan sahib.BTW there is another “premrang” who is actually Pandit Dhruva Tara Joshi. All of them are from The Agra Clan.
@ Aftab
Lots of thanks dear for these great stuffs. The RMM chaya-behag is the main attraction 🙂
Can that Longer Chaya Behag shareable with the world?
Dear Aftaabji,
Spring 2011 springing up aesthetic joy! I liked
madhuvanti
which conveys the true feeling of the raga.Todi and gaud malhar are immaaculate renderings.Thanks a lot for the same.Regards.Nandakumar kururdi
@ John,
So do you know which Premrang’s composition is the Bhairav?
The composition is:-
Asthayee:-” Gori Tumare nain kajrare,kajar bina kare matware”
antara:-“Premrang ko maan haar lino,Tan Man Dhan sab tumpe waare”
Thanks John for providing the text. If I could also trouble you for a translation. So I’m guessing this is a chiz of Ustad Sharafat Hussain Khan?
Ya ya ! There is also a recording of Bhairav of Sharafat H khan (recorded @ Calcutta,December, 1984)
Indeed! It has been a while since I listened to that recording so had forgotten the bandish. Thanks!
Parvatikar Bhopali on the Surmandal ! Inspiring! Thumbs up , hats off !
Aftab Datta for President 🙂
I wish more people played the surmandal as a solo instrument. I have a dozen or so tracks.
I think its more ethereal than a santoor
To my ears, the ‘Faiyaz chhayanat’ sounds very much like a Mushtaq Hussain Khan recording. I could be wrong though.
Hello,
Any one willing to Exchange some Radhika mohon Maitra tracks?
I personally Have Khat Todi,Lachari todi,loor sarang,bangal bhairav & some others.
I would, John….Karim
good morning came to site after a while in the mean time have been interested in western classical music specially operatic arias I would like you all to listen to (O ZITTRE NICHT Edda Moser) just copy paste in youtube search without brackets.classical music endures and inspires beyond ages.western classical is a bit different still enjoyable.thanks.
Ustad Niyaz Ahmed Khan’s Puriyadhanashree-
http://www.mediafire.com/?hdmi0ndkio3
Tabla-Bashir Khan
Hi!
Thanks for all those masterpieces! especially the Hindoli bahar by Manzoor Khan. What a distinct style of taans and layekari plus it has an aura different from the rest of the list. This is how each one of the vocalists is different from others.
My vote also goes to Mr Aftab Datta for the presidentship! 🙂 Thanx for such mesmerizing numbers!
Mushtaque Ali Khan is simply brilliant
In my opinion, the most charismatic of the Agra Gharana vocalists after Ustad Faiyazz Khan Sahab, is Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan. The gruff, masculine tone of the Agra Gharana, seemingly opposed to the rendition of pure wholesome tones, deliberately cultivated by the Sages of this Gharana may appear to be a starting handicap in a race of thoroughbreds. It would seem that the Masters of the Agra Gharana wanted their singers to go on stage and rely only upon their intrinsic and abstarct musical talents with no support from purity of tone, the wholseomness of the pronounciation of the bandish and so on. “Show the audience what music there is in you. Do not reply upon the quality of your voice and the tonal purity and the beauty bof the Raga “.
How magnificently the Masters of the Agra Gharana have excelled under these stiffling constraints. It now seems that this were no constraints but a key to going beyond voice and wordas to the world of the most abstract music. And Ustad Latafat truly excels in separating music from the voice and the tone and produces divine music.
Have others more concerts of Ustad Latafat and Sharaft Hussain Khans in their collections and willing to share ?
Shrikrishna Narayan Ratanjankar also a great member of Agra Gharana.
We do not forget of His unique activities on the field of the Indian musicology. He was one of the very few (serious) scientist after the times of Pandit Bhatkhande’s death.
And here I would like also to thanx the rare recordings.
A great amount sites are existing on Indian Music but very few such generous and valuable. Absolutly pranam.
Laszlo Hortobagyi of Hungisthan (www.guo.hu)
My father late Surendranath Bali sahib was perhaps the only Sitar maestro after his ustad Hamid Hussain who excelled in the ‘Tantkari’ style of playing the Sitar. I would like to share with the members of this site of discerning listenership the only two recordings that I could manage to retreive from his legacy. Kindly let me know how Ican upload the recordings on your website.
looking for begum roshan ara’s bhimpalasi and bilaskhani…any help sahibaan
???
Thanks a lot for these songs