Bengal - Musical Atlas - Unesco

Bengal - Musical Atlas - Unesco

Recordings, Commentary and Photographs by Manfred Junius, Alain Daniélou, Samir Naguib

EMI-Italiana - 3 C 064-17840 P.1972

Purna Chandra Das & Haripado Deva Nath

Side A

A1 Baul song - Purna Chandra Das and Party 5'11

A2 Baul song - Purna Chandra Das and Party 4'37

A3 Baul song - Haripado Deva Nath 3'17

A4 Bhatiyali song - Haripado Deva Nath 3'20

A5 Flute - Debu Bhattacharji 6'42

A6 Flute - Ahmad Shafui 2'40

A7 Flute - Ahmad Shafui 2'13

Side B

B1 Bhajana - Rathin Ghosh and Party 11'40

B2 Kirtana - Rathin Ghosh and Party 12'07

B3 Song - Firdausi Begum 3'01

B4 Song - Sham Sunhar Karimar 3'09

Here is another album with music from Bengal this time recorded not by Deben Bhattacharya but by Manfred Junius, Samir Naguib and with the hand of Alain Daniélou in the notes and selection. Deben was working for Alain Daniélou around the 1950's before going to London. I wonder what kind of work that was and how much music it was an influence to either party. I have not run out of Deben's recordings , nor have I ran out of recordings of Bauls and Bengali music, I just thought it would be good with some change like "same same" but different... There are so many good records and so much good music I often do not know where to continue. Anyhow rest assured that there will be many more field recordings not only by Deben Bhattacharya but by many others. Anyhow I always considered the music of much bigger importance than who recorded it. Not that I am not full of gratitude to the people who did make it possible for us to hear this but the river that flows on and on is always bigger than a drink of water no matter how refreshing. Some of this music actually does not quench my thirst but makes me more thirsty and wanting to drink more and more...

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Music from Bangla Desh - Recorded by Deben Bhattacharya

Music from Bangla Desh - The Living Traditions

Recordings and sleevenotes by Deben Bhattacharya

Argo - ZFB 74 - P.1971

Side A

A1 Dotara 2'43

A2 Song of the Freedom Fighters 7'33

A3 Folksong from Noakhali 3'43

A4 Baul song 4'07

A5 Patriotic song 6'15

Side B

B1 Seasonal song 4'57

B2 Love song 6'17

B3 Wedding song 5'53

B4 Song from Chittagong 5'05

B5 Bamboo flute 2'50

All recordings were made in 1971 during the months of October and November.

Children at the orphanage Khelaghar in Calcutta founded by

Srimati Maitreye Devi.

The back of the record sleeve, that was published the same year as the big homicide, also contained a plea for donations to an institution for orphaned children that where survivors after victims of the massacre of intellectuals.

The atrocities committed against several groups of East Pakistan, like Hindus and Bihari minorities by the Pakistani army and their collaborators were reported with disgust all over the world ... read more

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Musique Religieuse de l'Inde -recorded by Deben Bhattacharya

Musique Religieuse de l'Inde

Documents sonores recueilles et enregistrés à Bénarès par Deben Bhattacharya

Bôite à Musique - BAM LD 015 - P.1964

Side A

A1 Bhajana (chant de dévotion)

A2 Gajan (danse en l'honneur de Shiva)

A3 Chant de Ramprasadi (en l'honneur de Kali)

A4 Mélodie Baul (Dotârâ)

A5 Chant mystique de Baul

Side B

B1 Closhes de monastère

B2 Mangalacharana et Trisharana (Prière bouddhiste)

B3 Jayamangala Astagatha (Bénédiction de mariage)

B4 Ghambhira nritya (Danse de Kali)

B5 Palavali kirtana (fragment)

B6 Pala kirtana

Yet another rarity of the earlier sixties recordings by Deben Bhattacharya. Liner notes are again in french only. For those who only read english it will get a little better once I start posting the LP's on the Argo label, but music is the universal language so I am sure you will enjoy anyhow. I put a lot of work into supplying as full documentation as possible and I try to refrain from rewriting shorter summaries, as I hope you will find enough information in the liner notes. There is always the aid of automatic translations if we are eager enough to find out.

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Religious Songs from Bengal recorded by Deben Bhattacharya

Chants religieux du Bengale - Religious Songs from Bengal

enregistrés aux Indes et édités par Deben Bhattacharya

Bôite à Musique - BAM LD 099 - P.1970

Side A

Songs of the Bauls

A1 The new man of love and faith 8'40

A2 On understanding oneself 3'40

A3 Cultivate the human land 7'00

A4 Release your worldly weight 4'45

Purna Chandra A3

Bhaktadas Baul A2

Haripada Debnath A1, A4

Side B

Poèmes de Chandidas (XIV• siècle)

B1 Poèmes de Chandidas 22'20

a) Instrumental opening

b) Extempore song and commentary about Krishna's greatness

c) A version of Chandida's song "O firend, who made me hear the name of Shyam?

d) Improvisation, song and commentary about Krishna's encounter with Brinda duti

e) Chandida's song: "It is a disgrace"

Shri Nabagopal, vocal

This is the first of a series of posts where I will pay homage to the work of Deben Bhattacharya to make so many musical traditions known. A well deserved tribute to a remarkable person who was responsible for preserving so much music mostly of the popular traditions from so many different countries but never neglecting the musique savante. I will start by posting some of his early Indian recordings, mainly because the first real contact with live concerts of Indian classical and folk music that I ever had was through the concerts he had helped to arrange together with Rikskonserter while he was living in Sweden from the 1960's - 1970's. It was not just art music but also folkmusic like the Rajastani music of the Langas. That was the first Indian folk music I had ever heard and to hear that live in repeated concerts several hours long with singers and musicians like Alladin, Noor Mohmad and Shumar Khan. Some of these concerts were recorded and broadcasted by the Swedish Radio. I will post some of those broadcasts a little later on. Here is a little something about those times that Deben Bhattacharya spoke about in a most interesting interview that he gave to Kevin Daly in 1982.

"Between ’61 and ’62 I went to live in Stockholm. Sweden was very fruitful for me; Stockholm Radio began to take fairly regular programmes from me. Soon after that, a new organisation called Rikskonsert started in Stockholm. It was run by a man called Nils Wallend, and its job was to impart musical education in Swedish schools, from playgroup to adult – all paid for by the state. They invited me to produce the extra-European music and also I got involved with music of the socialist countries because I had done a lot of work in those countries, and I had a fairly large collection of music from most of the socialist countries except Russia. I brought musical groups from various countries to Sweden, to appear at concerts and in schools to show them what music of other countries was like." You can read the full interview here...

Also don't forget to take a stroll over to the excellent post on the recordings made by Deben Bhattacharya in Israel in June and July in 1957 at the blog here, The World's Jukebox...

A very young Deben Bhattacharya with a gopijantra-playing Baul.

Anandalahari

Shri Nabogopal Mithra Shakur

The true sleeve backside

Substitute scavenged from the inside flap.

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