Monday 14 June 2010

Pandit Ram Narayan - Inde Du Nord (Ocora)


I really know very, very little about Indian classical music, but there's lots of information about Pandit Ram Narayan, the master sarangi player, to be found over here. This album was recorded in 1971 and features Suresh Talwalkar on tabla and Jhorna Bose on tambura. The music is totally kaleidoscopic and sends the mind spinning off in all kinds of directions.

Here is Raga Kirvani:

The melancholic sound of the sarangi makes for some dark moments in the music and reminds me that the counterpoint to splendour of India's temples and palaces is the naked dancer in the embers of the funeral pyre, that the beauty of the Ganges is coloured by the presence of the dead who float in its waters.

Tracklist:

01 Râga Bairagi-Bhairav
02 Râga Madhuvanti
03 Râga Kirvani

Get It HERE.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is gorgeous stuff. thankyou!

Zer0_II said...

Greetings. I wanted to let you know that I've added your blog to the "World Regions - Various/Eclectic" category of the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blogroll @ http://music-bloggers.blogspot.com as you requested. I also added your RSS feed to the master RSS feed, which publishes updates from all of the blogs on the list. It can be found here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/dmblogroll


I see that you've already added the button for the blogroll. Thank you for supporting me. I also wanted to say thanks for all the hard work and time that you put into maintaining this blog, and especially for the fantastic music you share. Take care.

Zer0_II

Mr Tear said...

Thanks for the link and the kind words Zer0_II, much appreciated. I don't think I put as much work in as you though - Digital Meltdown is an amazing resource!

Anonymous said...

I have the album as a CD release, it's a little clearer but LPs have a flair. Do you have other LP stuff from him? Most of it was not rereleased on CD, sadly. Regarding Kirvani, fun fact: he also recorded a Mishra Bhairavi with that exact composition and also performed that at the BBC Proms 2009. I have a radio recording if you're interested.

Mr Tear said...

Thanks Chris, post a link here to the proms performance, I'm sure loads of other people would love to hear the recording.
I'm afraid I have no other Ram Naayan albums but I'll be sure to pick them up if I happen across them. Like I said I know very little about Indian classical music, but I've found this completely enchanting. I did post a lovely album by Bismillah Khan a while back. You can find it here:

http://snapcrackleandpops.blogspot.com/2008/12/bismillah-khan-party-music-of-india-9.html

It's well worth a listen.

Easy Jams said...

More Ocora here: http://easyjams.blogspot.com/2012/02/various-artists-percussions-afrique-no.html