December 16, 2017

Kishori Amonkar: Malhar Malika [STCS 65033/36] a 4-cassette box set recorded and released in India in 1994

This is a cassette box set recorded by Kishori Armonkar (10 April 1931 – 3 April 2017) in 1994.

 The concept of the set is that she sings ragas that are in the family of Malhar -- hence the title. There were a lot of 4-cassette box sets released by HMV in the late 1980-early 1990s; this is the only one that I know of which was not just recycled material, but instead is all-newly recorded music. I'm sure there were others which were newly recorded; I just don't own them.





Kishori Armonkar: vocal
Appa Jalgaonkar: harmonium
Balkrishna Iyer: tabla
Raghunandan Panshikar: harp
Nandini Panshikar and Mahu Joshi: Tanpura

 Track list:
01 Raga Gaud Malhar (45:16)
02 Raga Nat Malhar (44:02)
03 Raga Meera Malhar (38:11)
04 Raga Soor Malhar (19:44)
05 Raga Anand Malhar (32:10)
06 Raga Adana Malhar (23:06)

 Total time: 202:29 (or 3 hrs 22 min 29 sec)
Equipment used in this transfer:
Cassette Deck: Teac W890R (azimuth was carefully adjusted for each side)
Preamp: Parasound PHP 850
Recorder: Sony PCM-M10 at 16/44 resolution
Software: Audacity and xAct



(after decoding to WAV, suitable for burning to CD)

(highest possible quality mp3 file)

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10 comments:

  1. TawfiqDecember 17, 2017 at 3:18 AM

    Dear Richard, thank you very much for posting these cassettes. They came out at the same time as a set of 3 CDs (1 double CD and a single CD): CDNF 150119/20 & CDNF 150121. I bought them then at an Indian record shop in Southall, UK. The Ragas are differently distributed on these 3 CDs. Later the label reissued them on 4 CDs, I think exactly as on the 4 cassettes.
    There were many boxes of two cassettes at that time. See for example: https://oriental-traditional-music.blogspot.de/2011/07/echoes-from-glorious-past-sardarbai.html
    But also boxes of 4 cassettes. Most time never released before and never after on CD. For example Mallikarjun Mansur (a series of concert recordings), Rajabhau Kogje etc., all released around the same time. I saw them then in Southall, but unfortunately didn't buy anything as at that time there were already many CDs available.

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  2. RensManDecember 17, 2017 at 9:30 AM

    Thank you for this. I had this on tape. But the tape spoilt. So many many thanks for this.

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  3. RoryDecember 17, 2017 at 11:30 AM

    That is WONDERFUL. Thanks a million Richard.

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  4. ljfDecember 18, 2017 at 4:46 AM

    As a further comment to Tawfiq's about the later CD re-releases of this music, I have a 5CD set from Saregama, CDNF 151200/4 (2012). This has all the ragas from the four cassettes, in the same order, plus a long rendition of Miyan ki Malhar. The raga Adana Malhar is indicated on the front cover, but is called Anand Malhar inside

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  5. RichardDecember 18, 2017 at 11:43 AM

    I am not surprised that EMI/HMV/Saregama/RPG has recycled this material as many times as the company has changed names. It is very interesting that they included miyan ki Malhar as this is the most popular raga in the Malhar family.

    Thanks to my astute and knowledgeable readers for their excellent information!

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    Replies
    1. ljfDecember 18, 2017 at 4:20 PM

      Actually the publishing company was the current latest incarnation Sony DADC, so its one more to your list! The Mian ki Malhar CD of my 5CD set is presumably the same as a previously published single CD CDNF 150257, one of the 4 CD's which Tawfiq alluded to. I listened to this again today, and while the cover of my version states that there are two khayals, vilambit tintal 'Karim Naam Tero' and drut ektal 'Ummad Ghumad Garaj Garaj' in fact there are three! The last two seem to correspond to the cover information, but I'm not sure about the first one. I think it's in Mian ki Malhar, but in madhyalaya and it appears to be another version of 'Karim Naam Tero' (though not quite sure as my Hindi is non-existent!)

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    2. KiranDecember 19, 2017 at 10:52 AM

      Louis - You have been sharing a lot of interesting content on Discogs. Keep up the good work!
      Kiran

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  6. KirahDecember 19, 2017 at 10:51 AM

    Thank you so much for these shares Richard, beautiful indeed. The Anand Malhar and Adana Malhar are both Jaipur Atrauli speciality Jod Raagas.

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  7. Valentin MHJanuary 24, 2018 at 9:45 AM

    Many thanks ! She's one of the last true exponent vocalist of Hindustani semi-classical, with an unmistakably sober, austere yet beautiful style

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  8. AnonymousApril 12, 2020 at 5:29 AM

    Thanks Richard for the wondeful records. The download link seems to have some issue. Please if you can check and correct it.

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