Songs of Krishna - Rec. by Deben Bhattacharya 1954,1968

Songs of Krishna - The Living Tradition

Recordings and sleevenotes by Deben Bhattacharya

Argo (Decca) - ZFB 52 - P.1971

Side A

A1 Raga Bhupali 11'28

A2 Kathak Krishnalila 4'10

A3 Mira, Bhajan 5'08

Side B

B1 Mathur 16'48

B2 Raga Vasant 6'03

A1, rec. in Jhodpur 1968

A2,A3,B2, rec. in Jaipur 1968

B1, rec in Assansol 1954

This is one of my real favourite of all the records that Deben Bhattacharya made. This LP is full of good music and atmosphere that feels close to me and carries many of the signs that I think are the best illustrations of Deben Bhattacharyas philosophy of recording.

It is also the very label that published all of his first recordings and there is a great site, both with lots of information about the label and excellent discographies, so you can whet your appetite guessing what else could be coming in my later posts from their catalogue.

More info on the label Argo check here!

Well, anyhow it belongs to the best ones I have heard sofar! If he made 130 albums like it says on the backsleeve comments then I have still to find a lot more than the thirty, forty I have been able to hear until now. So if anyone has a good copy of any of his recordings on LP I would be delighted if you could consider sharing those with me and if the quality of photos and the rip meets the standards that I like to keep here on Anthems I will be delighted to post it. Anyhow I will continue to collect them here in one way or another.

I still have a handful of the Indian and Middle Eastern and then a few from his East European

excursions but eventually I will go dry. Wonder if his Java Bali LP on Musidisc was any good?

Anyhow this one definitely is and I hope you like it as much as I do. Not only for the Music,

but for the closeness to the surroundings. A car horn honking in the distance right after a song

some outside noices all giving a wider context than the music room, the small tactile ambient sounds I like so much, in no way disturbing the music only making it more breathing and vivid.

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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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