South Asian Classical Music

April 17, 2008 4:42 PM

Hundreds of hours of classical music from the Indian subcontinent (realplayer files). Bonus youtube videos of Ashwini Bhide Deshpande , an extraordinary North Indian classical vocalist. Finally, one of the most ancient styles, dhrupad, by Ustad Wassifuddin Dagar
posted by ferdydurke (8 comments total)

Bismillah Khan! Thank you so much. I haven't listened to this stuff in years.
posted by alexwoods at 4:48 PM on April 17

Wow neat. Can anyone who knows more about this stuff than I do [my knowledge is limited to "I like raga when I hear it and some people have sent me some stuff before..."] make suggestions as to what's good to start with.
posted by jessamyn at 5:04 PM on April 17

I love the Dagar brothers -- primordial blues from the dawn of the world.

If you dig classical Indian vocals, also check out this newly-unearthed astonishing recording by Pandit Pran Nath, teacher of composer/minimalist pioneer Terry Riley and trumpeter/ambient pioneer Jon Hassell. Both men launched entire genres in their own way (Hassell appears on many recordings by Eno and Talking Heads), but hearing Pran Nath's voice is an incredible experience. It's much more "modern" sounding than the Dagars, in a way that approaches jazz, but it's still ancient music.

Thanks for this link.
posted by digaman at 5:29 PM on April 17

this is good
posted by pyramid termite at 6:03 PM on April 17

Jessamyn: If I had only a couple of hours to listen, and wanted to get a "feel" for the variety of Indian classical music, I'd do the following:

Raga: Listen to the samples under Malkauns (they aren't full compositions, but really nice nevertheless), which is a raga with a nice "bluesy" feel to it. The approaches are very different.

Pick at random a longer piece (45 minutes to an hour or more) because those are true improvisatory compositions, rather than samples. It's like a long drive through beautiful scenery, except you imperceptibly speed up each minute until you are speeding through a blur of green. There's remarkably little mediocre material in this archive, and I've listened to a bunch here.

And finally, listen to Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, because she rocks the mic so hard.

Of course, there's lifetimes worth of learning one could do to "understand" this music, but I don't think any of it is necessary to love it.

Thanks for the recommendation, Digaman!
posted by ferdydurke at 6:31 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]

Big thanks, ferdydurke! This great.

jessamyn writes: Can anyone who knows more about this stuff than I do [my knowledge is limited to "I like raga when I hear it and some people have sent me some stuff before..."] make suggestions as to what's good to start with.

I'm pretty partial to Carnatic vocal music myself, and here's a post (in case you missed it) I made a little while back featuring some great artists.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:23 PM on April 17

Earlier. Sorta.
posted by Gyan at 1:35 AM on April 18

Very nice, and quite cool.

As an aside, I'm surprised to find an entrenched bias - I automatically think "European composers" when I hear the words, "classical music." Odd, and not a pleasant surprise.
posted by FormlessOne at 10:13 PM on April 18