Ali Akbar Khan [EMI ECSD 2587] (1979)

Here we have an excellent LP by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan with Pandit Swapan Chowdury on tabla.

At this point Swapanji had taken over for Zakir Hussain as the main tabla instructor at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, CA, after Zakirji's hectic performance schedule no longer allowed him to fulfill his teaching commitments.

There is a school of thought which posits that Khansahib should have stayed in Calcutta and helped his school there to flourish, rather than spend more and more time in California, where (admittedly) there were more dollars and more sports cars. You can find plenty of articles on the internet describing in minute detail Khansahib's supposed decline in terms of his creativity and playing and bemoaning the "good old days" of the 1940s and 1950s.

It's always easier to be a superhero musician when almost no one is recording your performances. People can tell anecdotes about brilliant private house concerts which put to shame anything recently released, without there being any evidence to contradict them. When you start releasing 4 or 5 albums a year, you are exposed to a lot more scrutiny. Certainly, there is a somewhat commercial aspect to albums entitled "Music for Meditation" and a surprising stopwatch quality to others entitled "The 40 Minute Alap" and "The 80 Minute Raga."

What cannot be denied, however, is that Khansahib was a primary musical force in 20th century Hindustani classical music. He helped popularize it in the West and taught many individuals who themselves would go on to become respected teachers. Besides, when one considers the fact that Nikhil Banerjee considered himself a disciple of Ali Akbar Khan, that is all I really need to know in order to greatly respect him.

This LP, recorded for EMI at an undisclosed location (probably India, but there were recording studios in California at the time, too) was released in 1979. It has an iconic cover with a brilliant repeating design and was pressed at the Gramophone Company's plant in Dum Dum, India.

side1:
Raga Suha-Todi
(Compositions in Jhaptal and Trital)

side2:
Raga Chhayanat
(Alap and compositions in Trital)

Equipment used in transfer: 

Preparation: Ultrasonic cleaning for 10 minutes in water, followed by a  quick vacuum drying with a VPI 16.5 cleaning machine

Turntable:  Audio-technica AT-LP-1240

Cartridge: Shure M97x
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.
Recorder: Edirol R-09HR at 24bit/44.1kHz resolution

Software: Audacity to normalize and carefully remove one or two clicks per side using the "repair" tool. No change in EQ was made. Conversion to 16/44.1 took place in Audacity. xAct was used to convert to FLAC and mp3. So-called "noise removal" was avoided in order to best preserve the dynamic nuances and tone quality of the original sound. 

24 bit 44.1kHz FLAC files

16bit 44.1kHz FLAC files

320 kbps mp3 files

here is a live video of Khansahib, Swapanji and Mary Khan on tanpura

Here is another, different transfer from a blog post published in 2011

Kabir Khan - Mellow Moment on Sitar [Oscar Records PIKA-23] (1978)

Here is my final LP from the somewhat mysterious Oscar Records label. They issued a half dozen LPs in the late 1970s and early 1980s and were based out of New York. There were a few live albums of ghazals from singer Mehdi Hassan. One of popular Pakistani film songs. Then there was no more. It seems they had some sort of contact with EMI Pakistan -- probably help with recording, or else allowing people out of exclusive recording contracts, or something else. There is no evidence for a belief I once held that these were US releases of licensed EMI Pakistan recordings.

There is not much information I could find about Ustad Kabir Khan. He was born in Jaipur in 1924 and died in Karachi in 1980. He is considered to be a member of the Senia Gharana and according to one reference book ("Who's Who: Music in Pakistan"), he counted Ali Akbar Khan and Amjad Ali Khan (both sarod players) as teachers. [Certainly Nikhilji did not mind having two sarod players as gurus.] He appears to have a son who is active musically in Pakistan.

This is from near the end of that dark era when mentioning the name of the tabla player on an LP was considered optional and possibly a waste of time.

The track titles are as follows:

Side 1:
Raga Mian Ki Todi
Peelo (possibly Raga Pilu?)

Side 2:
Raga Multani
Raga Paraj

I would like to thank my internet friend and fellow music lover "Tawfiq" for discussing this label and this LP with me offline. As always his blog is self-recommending and its latest post is noted at right. He also has a superb store on Discogs.com. He might be the most reliable supplier of new-old-stock Indian Classical LPs on the planet. This LP was purchased from a different seller on discogs. LPs from this label only rarely show up on internet sites and only once have I seen one in person before paying for it (that LP was also posted on this blog -- take a look for it!)

Equipment used in transfer: 

Preparation: Ultrasonic cleaning for 10 minutes in water, followed by a quick vacuum drying with a VPI 16.5 cleaning machine

Turntable:  Audio-technica AT-LP-1240

Cartridge: Shure M97x

Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.

Recorder: Edirol R-09HR at 24bit/44.1kHz resolution

Software: Audacity to normalize and carefully remove a few clicks on each side. No change in EQ was made. Conversion to 16/44.1 took place in Audacity. xAct was used to convert to FLAC and mp3. So-called "noise removal" was avoided in order to best preserve the dynamic nuances and tone quality of the original sound. The record is visually in excellent shape but unfortunately there is some faint surface noise still present in the transfer. 

320 kbps mp3 

16bit 44.1 kHz flac

24bit 44.1kHz flac

Debabrata Chaudhuri - [SMFP 2101] Meditations in Indian Sitar Music (1968)

Heads up!

Check out the newly remastered and re-uploaded post for this enjoyable LP.

This particular transfer fell of the zippy share file service and there were several anonymous people requesting a re-upload.

I remastered the original digital transfer, using very gentle setting on "Click Repair. The result should be worth re-downloading and eliminating your old files.

M Balamurali Krishna [ECLP 2324] Classical Songs of MBK (1966)

Heads up!

Check out the newly remastered and re-uploaded post for this enjoyable LP.

This particular transfer fell of the zippy share file service and there were several anonymous people requesting a re-upload.

I remastered the original digital transfer, using very gentle setting on "Click Repair. The result should be worth re-downloading and eliminating your old files.

---------------------------------------

M Balamuralikrishna was born in 1930 and by the age of 8 was singing publicly. He is one of the great Carnatic vocalists of the 20th century and we are lucky to have so many recordings by him. He was not just interested in performing classical and devotional works -- he sang in Indian films regularly between 1957 and 1997. He is still alive and occasionally performs.

This LP is a delightful sample of his work released in 1966. The songs (all in Adi Taal) are as follows:

side 1:
1) Saraguna (raga = Thodi)
2) Mahadeva Sutham (raga = Arabi)
3) Manu Kanna Thalli (raga = Sindu Kannada)
4) Sadhathava Pada (raga = Shanmugapriya)

side 2:
1) Nanupalimpa (raga = Mohanam)
2) Pibare Ramarasam (raga = Ahir Bairavi)
3) Thillana (raga = Brindavani)

Violin is by MS Gopalakrishnan
Mridangam is by TV Gopalakrishna

The technical information is exactly the same as the previous post (I transferred them at the same session).

One charming thing about this copy is the odd inscription in ink on the back: "Borchers from Subu" -- possibly a reference to MS Subulakshmi? Hmm. If anybody has an educated guess, feel free to share it with me.

Debu Chaudhuri: Sitar Maestro [ABK2001] (1970-71)

Here is an interesting find, appearing to be Debu's second LP to be issued in the West and the first in the US. The label, ABK Records, is a mystery. I prefer to imagine it being related to Allen B Klein's ABKO Records, which issued many of the Rolling Stones and (for a time, reissued) Beatles albums. But this seems very unlikely.

What is known is that Debu was born in 1935 and he was a disciple of the great Mushtaq Ali Khan. He still lives in Dehli and performs regularly.

The pieces on this LP include:

side1:
Rageshree

side 2:
Thumri in Pilu
Folk Song

Tabla is by Shyamal Bose

Here is a short youtube clip of Debu playing Raga Pilu

Equipment used in transfer: 

Preparation: Ultrasonic cleaning for 20 minutes in water, followed by a  quick vacuum drying with a VPI 16.5 cleaning machine

Turntable:  Audio-technica AT-LP-1240

Cartridge: Shure M97x
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.

Recorder: Edirol R-09HR at 24bit/44.1kHz resolution

Software: Audacity to normalize and carefully remove one or two clicks per side. No change in EQ was made. Conversion to 16/44.1 took place in Audacity. xAct was used to convert to FLAC and mp3. So-called "noise removal" was avoided in order to best preserve the dynamic nuances and tone quality of the original sound. The record is visually in superb shape but unfortunately there is some surface noise still present in the transfer. Considering the rarity of the reload, I hope my readers will understand.

16bit, 44.1kHz FLAC file

320kbps mp3 file

MS Subbulakshmi: Surdas Bhajans [EMI PSLP 1391] (1986)

This transfer has been superseded by a new transfer -- please check out the following post here.

Also you can find a transfer made by the legendary and very nice blogmeister "Bolingo" here.

Kartick Kumar - Music from India [DG 2726 017] (1968-9)

Here is a 2 LP set from the "DG Privilege" label. It certainly is a privilege to be able to listen to these two LPs of music by sitarist Kartick Kumar. The first LP was originally issued by the Heliodor label [89843] and I am not sure about the original issue of the second LP.

The contents are as follows:

Side 1: Raga Basant Mukhari
Side 2: Raga Marwa and Raga Kafi Dhun
Side 3: Raga Malkauns
Side 4: Dhun Jhinjhoti and Raga Bhairawi

The tabla accompaniment is by SV Patwardhan.

Preparation: VPI 16.5 cleaning machine

Turntable:  Audio-technica AT-LP-1240

Cartridge: Shure M97x
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.
Recorder: Tascam DR-70D at 24bit/44.1kHz resolution

Software: Audacity to normalize and carefully remove a few clicks as well as convert to 16/44.1. xAct was used to convert to FLAC and mp3. "Noise removal" was avoided in order to best preserve the dynamic nuances, instrumental harmonics, and tone quality of the original sound.

mp3 file (320 kbps)

16 bit, 44.1kHz FLAC file

24 bit, 44.1kHz FLAC file

Record Store Day 2015

I guess what I've heard so often really is true: nobody cares about record shops and vinyl LPs anymore. 

As evidence of this sad fact, please see a few photos from Record Store Day at one of the five record stores in my little village. This particular store only sells vinyl (with maybe quite literally a few dozen cassettes and CDs thrown in). 

I got there around 4pm and the owner told me they had been wall-to-wall crowded with customers since opening at noon. I didn't bother going to any of the other record stores because I didn't want to fight the crowds looking for their Kate Bush picture disks. There were two live musical acts and a surprising amount of wine and cheese on offer as well.

So many vinyl releases are planned for RSD each year in the US that pressing plants are booked up solid for the first four months of the year. I've read several articles this year featuring independent label owners bewailing this fact and saying that they cannot release or repress any LPs until May every year. 

I think I should  take this opportunity to mention that the name of this blog is a direct reference to a delightful record store in East Lansing, Michigan: "Flat, Black and Circular" (FBC) opened in the late 1970s and still is in existence. I used to visit there pretty much every single day (as well as the now-gone Wazoo Records) back in the 1980s.

And, to cap off this post, a beautiful video courtesy of the AACM Library in San Rafael, CA.

 

Ali Akbar Khan + John Handy + Zakir Hussain live at the 1972 Berlin Jazz Festival (1972-11-03)

Here is an over-the-air FM recording of a performance by Ali Akbar Khan and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain together with alto sax player John Handy. These three, together with a few guest musicians such as guitarist Bola Sete released two LPs in the 1970s on the MPS label.

Some people will enjoy this sort of material and some won't. Likely you know which camp you are in. For what it is worth, the FM capture is pretty good for being 43 years ago.

This was downloaded from a fairly well known torrent site devoted to live music of all sorts. If one were to Google the word "Dimeadozen," I am sure that one would run into their site pretty quickly.

The original text file (with some editing by me) is as follows:

John Handy & Ali Akbar Khan

November 3, 1972

West Berlin, Germany

Track List (1:02:22):

1. Unknown - 23:34

2. Unknown - 11:58

3. Unknown - 16:11

4. Unknown - 10:37

Musicians:

John Handy - alto saxophone

Ali Akbar Khan - sarod

Zakir Hussain - tabla

Source:

pre-FM

Lineage:

pre-FM reel >? >DAT >HDD via coax to Midiman Audiophile 2496 @48 kHz >CoolEdit Pro 2.0 >CD Wave >Trader's Little Helper >FLAC (level 6, ASB)

I feel that I should point out that the text file claims this to be a "pre-FM" -- that is, a direct dub of the tape that was recorded at the concert and then played on the air. It sounds more like a regular FM capture to me, although it may simply be that there are a number of analog generations (cassette copies of cassettes being traded among collectors) as represented by the "?" in the lineage. There was some static which was carefully removed in Audacity and overall I am fairly happy with the resulting sound.

A youtube video featuring the complete John Handy album featuring Ali Akbar Khan and entitled "Karuna Supreme." 

And this also.

Karuna is usually translated as "compassion" and I think that is close enough to what it means that I don't feel like splitting hairs about it.

16 bit, 44.1 kHz FLAC file (389 MB)

320 kbps mp3 file (142 MB)

Kartick and Niladri Kumar - Where Tradition Meets Innovation [Magnasound Cassette C4HI0066] (1989)

Kartick Kumar is one of Ravi Shankar's most senior disciples and a very talented (if under-recorded) sitarist. His son Niladri appears on this cassette as an eager 18 year old with plenty of promise. He seems to mostly be doing fusion and such these days.

The first side of the cassette suffers from excessive brightness and a quite noticeable volume disparity between the left and right channels. These issues had to be (very reluctantly) addressed with EQ and normalization of both channels independently in Audacity. Otherwise the listenability of the side would be minimal. Side 2 is much better, with a fuller and more balanced (in right to left terms) sound.

Many Magnasound releases seem to be available on Amazon.com as mp3 downloads; I encourage anyone interested in these to pursue those. There is a website for Magnasound which seems to promise more activity in the future -- I hope there can be some CD reissues in the future.

Also posted here is the oddly charming advertisement included with the cassette -- see below.

Equipment used in transfer: 
Cassette Deck: TEAC W-890
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.
Recorder: Edirol R-09HR at 24/44 resolution

Software: Audacity to normalize both channels separately and EQ the first side (reduce high frequencies) as well as convert to 16/44.1. xAct was used to convert to FLAC and mp3

mp3 file (320 kbps)

16bit, 44.1kHz FLAC file

24bit, 44.1kHz FLAC file

Brij Narayan [PolJazz PSJ-89] an LP recorded in India and released in Poland in 1980 (new transfer)

Brij Narayan (born 25 April 1952 in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India) is the oldest son of Ram Narayan and also the nephew of tabla maestro Chatur Lal, under whom he started studies. After the death of Lal he moved to the sarod and continues to perform to this day.

This LP, which was recorded in 1980 at India's National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Bombay, does not seem to have shown up anywhere other than in Poland. It seems to have been issued by the Polish Jazz Society. (I should note that Jazz is still very widely admired in Poland and several of my acquaintances who are jazz musicians have found quite a warm and welcoming reception there.)

I had not heard of the album before my friend Nels loaned it to me for digitalization -- thanks, Nels!

Side A: Raga Puriya Kalyan (19:35)
Side B: Raga Jogiva (13:25) and Raga Misra Pilu (6:30)

Tabla by Suresh Talwalker.

Here is a short video of Brij Narayan playing at a house concert

Equipment used in transfer: 
Turntable: Audio-technica AT-LP-1240
Cartridge: Shure M97x
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780
Recorder: Edirol R-09HR at 24/48 resolution

For the new transfer, I kept the original 24bit, 48kHz files and used ClickRepair at a minimal setting to just eliminate some of the more obvious grunge-y sounds. I then used Audacity to down sample to 1644 and xAct to encode to mp3 and to FLAC.

24bit, 48kHz FLAC

(high resolution file ideal for listening on computer or certain portable players)

16bit, 44.1kHz FLAC

(standard resolution file ideal for burning a CDR)

320 kbps mp3 file

(highest possible quality compressed file ideal for listening on a portable player)

VG Jog - Violin [EMI EASD 1352] (1970)

Vishnu Govind Jog (Maharashtra 22 February 1922 – 31 January 2004 Calcutta) was a very gifted Hindustani violinist whose reputation has unfortunately seemed to have dimmed in recent years. There is not a terribly large number of records that were released during his lifetime and he does't seem to end up on many of the seemingly endless CD collections being produced these days.

Which is a shame. His work is very much worth seeking out and paying attention to.

The EMI LP was published in India in 1970 and features Affaq Hussain Khan on tabla. This particular copy is in near mint condition, as is the sleeve.

Equipment used in transfer:
Turntable: Audio-technica AT-LP-1240
Cartridge: Shure M97x
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.
Recorder: Edirol R-09HR at 24/48 resolution
Software: Audacity to normalize and carefully remove a few clicks as well as convert to 16/44.1. xAct was used to convert to FLAC and mp3

16bit 44.1 kHz FLAC file (230 MB)

320 kbps mp3 file

video of Violin Jugalbandi - VG Jog & L Subramaniam (Yaman/Yaman Kalyan)

Bismillah Khan - A Shehnai Recital [EMI EASD 1413] (1975)

Bismillah Khan (21 March 1913 – 21 August 2006) was born in Bihar. He learned to play the shehnai (somewhat of an oboe-like instrument) at an early age but was able to do something no other shehnai player had done before: elevate the level of playing past that of a folk instrument most closely associated with wedding parties into a full-fledged classical instrument worthy of shining on the concert stage.

He was awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 2001, becoming the third classical musician after M. S. Subbulakshmi and Ravi Shankar to be accorded this distinction.

This particular album was released sometime after 1967 (likely 1975) because the notes mention a concert tour of the USA in 1967. Indeed, sharp-eyed viewers of the film "The Graduate" (1967) can see in one scene filmed in Berkeley, CA a concert poster for "Bismillah Khan and his 7 musicians."

My copy of this album came from a highly recommended seller with access to EMI new old stock and sports immaculate, highly glossy vinyl and a basically brand new outer sleeve. Two or three wayward clicks were surgically removed using Audacity but otherwise this is a fairly quiet pressing (extremely quiet when one considers typical product from the factory in Dum Dum). Feel free to purchase LPs from this seller, despite the fact that it will break my greedy heart (just kidding! Get them while they last!)

Who is the tabla player? This release originates during a time period when the identity of a given tabla player on an LP was a low priority for everyone except other professional tabla players. One acquaintance of mine, an internationally touring tabla player, has told me that when Zakir Hussein started to become more popular in the mid-1970s, two changes happened: 1) the tabla player was placed at the same level on stage as the "main performer" and 2) it started to be considered unacceptable to not credit the tabla player on LPs. He definitely credits the rise of Zakir-ji as star material for these (to me) basic considerations. That is his perspective, and I certainly believe him.

As a final note, I cannot believe that this LP has not been sampled mercilessly by turntablists such as DJ Shadow. I could see an incredibly psychedelic yet relaxing mix being created by relatively simple sampling, looping, and layering.

Equipment used in transfer:
Turntable: Audio-technica AT-LP-1240
Cartridge: Shure M97x
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.
Recorder: Edirol R-09HR at 24/48 resolution
Software: Audacity to normalize and carefully remove a few clicks as well as convert to 16/44.1. xAct was used to convert to FLAC and mp3

A link to mp3 audio from a concert in India June 1973, with some nice pictures and information contained in the (official Sony) video.

16 bit, 44.1kHz FLAC file

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

320 kpbs mp3 file

(highest resolution possible for mp3 file)