Ali Akbar Khan And Asha Bhonsle - Legacy, 16th - 18th Century Music of India Options

[Bhavita]

Beautiful bandishes from this album released in 1995. The introduction to the Album as written by Ken Hunt


In August 1995, Ali Akbar Kan and Asha Bhonsle, two of India's foremost musicians, met to prepare for this historic collaboration. Their circumstances had changed momentously since their paths first crossed, meeting while working on director Chetan Anand's film "Aandhivan" (1952). Asha Bhonsle and her older sister Lata Mangeshkar were there as playback singers - the nightingales who put song in the lip twtiching voices of Indian actresses. Ali Akbar Khan was working there as a music director and composer.LIke it has for many classical musicians before and since, Bollywood - Bombay's lucractive film industry was keeping body and soul together. They kept up their friendship. She recalls now how she and director R D Burman would make a point of seeing the Sarodist play whenever he gave recitals in Bombay. She would become one of the hottest properties in film music. He would forge a peerless career as a classical vituoso and educationist.

Ali Akbar Khan traces his heritage back to Mian Tansen, a nigh-mythic figure in the living cultural tradition that is Hindustani (Nothern Indian) classical music. Ali Akbar Khan's father Allauddin Khan, entrusted him with the innermost secrets of the Seni gharana or school - school in a dynamic sense rooted in a specific geographic location, the knowledge and stylistic discipline of which is transmitted from Guru to Shishya, master to pupil. He recalls how his father trained him in many, many compositions, carefully noted and written out for their personal reference. Raga is now a word in common parlance worldwide. Less than fifty years ago, raga wasa cant word rarely heard outside musicological circles in the West. Even though western scholars such as A.H. Fox Strangways had written sensitively about the music of Hindustan at the begining of this century and Uday Shankar's dance company had criss crossed continental USA in the 1930's, it was only in 1955 that New York saw its first major public concert of Hindustani Music. That was a recital given by Ali Akbar Khan. Appreciation of Hindustan's classical hertiage has increased exponentially since then. However, Bandish - a fixed composition throughthe medium of which a singer or instrumentalist adds voice to a Raga - is still an unfamiliar word. Onl somebody deemed worthy can be initiated into its mystery. Only somebody initiated into the Gharana. As a condition of learning these arcane, exacting and beautiful bandishes, Asha Bhonsle underwent the formal gandabandhan or symbolic thread tying ceremony in August 1995. "He put a ganda (thread) on my wrist, so now i call him baba (father). By her own admission, the learning process proved highliy demanding, but she proved utterly worthy of his faith in her

Legacy, therefore is the combination of two numinous talents ranked Olympian in their respective disciplines. More than that however, Lagacy truly represents hisotry in the making. But his eyes twinke : "We've only done eleven songs this time. There are many thousands and thousands of compositions that I learned which my father's disciples don't know..."

- Written by Ken Hunt, October 1995.

[Bhavita]

Cassett rips , all in 128 kbps


1. Guru Bandana - Raag Desh Malhar
Gurur brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Gurur Devo Maheshwara
4.99 mb; length - 5.27

2. Hari - Raag Kukubh Bilawal
Mana harana chele
5.60 mb; length - 6.07

3. Taraana in Adana
U dey tana dere nata dim
2.05 mb; length - 2.14

4. Taraana in Raag Bhimpalasi
U dani ta dani dim
7.17 mb; length - 7.50

5. Khayal in Raag Gour Saarang
Bola rey papiha
3.47 mb; length - 3.47

6. Dhupad in Shankara Bharan
Waki gata niyari nyari
9.41 mb; length - 10.16

7. Sadra in Shankara Karan
Ananda mukha chanda
5.89 mb; length - 6.26

8. Taraana in Mian Ki Malhar
Tu na na na biya biya jani mo (mixtire of taraana and punjabi wording)
4.35 mb; length - 4.45

9. Taraana in Raag Bhimpalasi
U dani ta dani dim
6.26 mb; length - 6.50



This post has been edited by Bhavita: Mar 21 2010, 04:30 PM

[Bhavita]

10. Taraana in Raag Bhupali
Dim dara der der tana nete tana
6.31 mb; length - 6.53

11. Hari in Raag Bhairavi
Bansuri baja rahi, dhun madhura
6.41 mb; length - 7.00

12. Prayer in Raag Bhairavi
Sharada Vidya Dani
2.50 mb; length - 2.44

[madsur]

Dear Bhavitaji,
Thanks for a wonderful album.
Best Regards,
suresh

[sita]

Nice upload Bhavita, Thank you. -Sita.

[kamalamohanty]

Thanks a lot Bhavita Jee for this beautiful Album.

Wonderful.

Kamala Mohanty

[Bhavita]

Dear Sureshji, Dear Sita, Dear Kamala Mohanty ji

Glad to know you have all enjoyed the album. Happy to share, anytime

Warm regards
Bhavita

[rpnawani]

Thanks Bhavita for sharing this wonderful album.

rpnawani