Hindustani: A Panorama of North Indian Music

various artists compilation - Hindustani: A Panorama of North Indian Music

Excerpts from the liner notes:

To most people in the West, Indian music is played either on the sitar or the sarod, and of course, the tabla. That other instruments exist is hardly suspected, while singing, in many ways the most important aspect of Indian music, is wholly ignored. And so in this record, in order to give a wider view of what India has to offer, I have included music for several lesser known (in the West) instruments or combinations of instruments, and a typical devotional song, most of which will never be heard outside their country, and even their region, of origin.I have avoided the word "classical" in the title, because it would apply strictly to only 4 of the recordings [tracks side1 track1, side1 track3, side2 track2, side2 track3).

Surbahar, Rag Kirwani

The surbahar is a larger version of the better-known sitar, and because of its deeper tone and slow tempo, is seldom accompanied by drumming. It has the same number of strings, four playing, three tuned to the tonic and serving as a tonic drone, and up to 13-sympathetic strings which are struck across like a harp from time to time, but mainly at the beginning.These are tuned according to the rag to be played. It has frets and is plucked with a wire plectrum. Both the surbahar and the sitar, in their present forms, date only from the mid-19th century.

Mirabai Bhajan, Rag Madh

This is a music of the heart, not of the head. He [singer Mohanlal Rayani] is accompanied by a dugal, the name used in Kathiawar (on the West coast, just above Bombay) for a pair of small kettle drums, similar to the tabla; a ramsagar, a one or two-stringed drone used in those parts instead of the tambura; and two men each playing two pairs of small cymbals.

Mirabai (1403-1470), a Queen of Udaipur, is revered by Indians as a great saint and for her marvellous devotional songs. One has no idea to what tunes she sang them. She left her kingdom, going to live in Dwarka on the West coast, a famous place of pilgrimage associated with Krishna.

This is a rough translation of the song:

1. I am from every point of view unhappy
2. I have been caught in a whirlwind and blown over into this world, though really I belong to another place.
3. I am not a dweller in these shallow waters and cannot survive here as I am a creature of the great unfathomable ocean.
4. Truly I am in love with that great One of the other world. Here I am a foreigner. My eyes are swollen with my constantly gazing at Him.
5. Mirabai says that (she) has an unswerving faith in His excellence, and as a result, she has become blissfully happy by the mere repetition of His holy name.

At this private performance before a small audience of music lovers, there are the usual enthusiastic cries of pleasure.

Jaltarang, Rag Gunakri

The jaltarang, consisting here of 15 porcelain cups of decreasing size, are filled with water to the precise level to give the correct pitch. They are said to be of ancient origin and originally of metal. Either they are struck with sticks, as here, or else the lips are rubbed with a finger to produce a note.

Naubat Shahna'i, Rag Sindhu Bhairavi, Tintal

Here the word 'naubat' means keeping watch and in particular, the sounding of drums to mark the hours. It has in fact become synonymous with 'naqqara', the drums used for this purpose. 'Shahna'i' is the North Indian oboe, so that 'Naubat shahna'i' denotes a specific kind of music for oboes and drums played to announce the eight watches into which the 24 hours were divided in India before the introduction of clocks. The musicians are seated in a gallery (naubat khana) over the outer gateway of palaces and shrines, and this recording was made at the most famous Muslim shrine in India, that of Moyinuddin Chishti (1142-1256) at Ajmer, in Rajasthan.

Tabla Solo, Tintal, Rag Pilu

'Rag Pilu' uses all the notes of the chromatic scale: in this case, since the rag is not developed, the player confines himself to the notes that form its characteristic constituents.
'Pilu' is said to express pity and sorrow.

Sarangi, Rag Maru Bihag

The sarangi is a fiddle carved out of a single block of wood, having 3 gut playing-strings, and up to 36 metal sympathetic strings. Its front is covered with a skin. The player, instead of stopping the strings with the finger-tips, from the front, uses the finger-nails, from the side. It is held with the neck pointing upwards.
'Maru Bihag' is a night rag, and its creation is attributed to the late Ustad Allaudin Khan.


Tracklisting:

Side A

1. Chandrashekar Naringrekar - Surbahar, Rag Kirwani {8:43}

2. Mohanlal Rayani - Mirabai Bhajan {7:33}

3. Chintamani Jain - Jaltarang, Rag Gunakri {8:25}

Side B

1. [uncredited artist] - Naubat Shanna'i, Rag Sindhu Bhairavi {11:28}

2. Fayyaz Khan - Tabla Solo, Tintal, Rag Pilu {5:31}

3. Sabri Khan - Sarangi, Rag Maru Bihag {9:02}

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