Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy - Conch Shell Suite
* originally posted on March 2, 2007
From the liner notes:
The Conch Shell Suite (Track 2) was inspired by Antarjyami Muni's remarkable virtuosic performance (Track 10) on two conch shells simultaneously, in which he used gradual pitch changes of the conches separately, manipulation of interference patterns, circular breathing, harmonies, and rapid subdivisions in groups of 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 notes. Antarjyami, a member of the Mali (gardener) caste, gave his primary occupation as "wprship and flower selling for garlanding Lord Siva," for whom the conch is an important ritual instrument. At the time he was 35 years old and lived in Buguda, Ganjam District, Orissa, about 100 miles from Puri. His father played 5 conch shells simultaneously, and was patronized by the late Raja Upendra Bhanj, also a poet. Intrigued by the notion of a consort of five conches, Jairazbhoy attempted in 1965 to expand upon the field recording by creating overdubbing, speed variation, and echo effects using two reel-to-reel tape recorders: a Reflectograph and a revox A77. On this CD, he introduces the Suite and then explains its conception and construction in a series of narrations, illustrated by extracts from the Suite and its sources, as well as original field recordings of surmandal techniques used as self-accompaniment to singing by the late Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, one of the most famous North Indian classical musicians of this century, and Ustad Umrao Bundu Khan, son of the legendary Ustad Bundu Khan, who is generally recognized as the greatest of all sarangi players.
Tracklisting:
1. Preamble {2:04}
2. The Conch Shell Suite {9:59}
3. Conch Source {1:43}
4. Conch in Hindu Ritual {0:55}
5. The Two Conches {0:50}
6. Individual Conches {1:00}
7. Twin Conch Technique {0:27}
8. Twin Conch Demonstration {0:52}
9. More About Technique {0:57}
10. Twin Conch Performance {5:32}
11. Five Conch Shells {1:40}
12. Multitracking Extract {0:59}
13. Bade Ghulam Ali's Surmandal {1:30}
14. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Sings {3:47}
15. Umrao Bundu's Surmandal {0:17}
16. Umrao Bundu Khan Sings {2:09}
17. Surmandal: Suite Tuning {0:49}
18. Surmandal: Improvisation {1:05}
19. CD Cover Painting {1:19}
20. "Death of the Conches" {1:15}
so surreal ... so good. thanks.
ReplyDeleteWe can't thank you enough for bringing this to our attention. Jairazbhoy is, as you may or may not know, a prolific Indian classical music critic, and he is one of the figures we like to keep track of on our web site (as fellow critics). We had no idea something like this existed! =)
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