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Review

This four cassette album of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi is a excellent compilation of old recordings. The most popular Hindustani vocalist of last three decades and doyen of Kirana Gharana, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, was the disciple of Ustad Sawai Gandharva. Powerful voice and great stage presence made him the most influential vocalist after the untimely death of Ustad Amir Khan in 1974. There are numerous compilations of Joshi's old recordings, but, for the quality and range this collection is my favorite. Tragedy of Indian classical music recordings is that great music is old bad recordings. So we have to chose between good music or good recording. Here we have predominantly good music and bad recording.

The first cassette starts of with Raag Gaud Sarang, an afternoon raaga which uses all Shudh notes as well as the Theevra Madhyam. The alaap lasts only a few seconds after which Joshi sings sayyo mainu dhathari in Vilambith EkTaal. Raaga vistara is slow culminating in long and powerful taans after about 9 minutes. It is for these taans that Pt Joshi is well known and he does not let us down here. After about 14 minutes, music switches to Dhruth TeenTaal with, veya nazar nahi aawundha. Even here Pt Joshi excels in great taans, reaching high notes he could do only in his hey days. The next track and the last on Side A of cassette I is the thumri, piyaa tho maanath naahi re, in Mishra Kafi. This is probably a later recording, with better recording but with a slightly tired sounding Joshi.

Side B of the first cassette starts with Raag Kalashri. The first bandish taken up is, dhan dhan mangal ho, in slow Jhaptaal. Kalashri is a combination of Kalavati and Rageshri, a creation of Pt Joshi. The stereo recording is slightly better and Joshi seems to be good mood and gives a powerful performance, singing mostly in upper register. As usual he sounds best when he comes down to madya and mandra saptaka-s, though. Aroud 14 minutes, he switches to Dhruth TeenTaal with the bandish, Dhan dhan dhan bhaga suhag tero. The next Dhruth TeenTaal track sakhi sham nahi aaye in raag Chhaya Malhar is a lilting presentation and best of vintage Joshi. Taans are powerful and long, while the singing of the lyrics is subtle with lots of variations.

The second cassette starts with a Marwa bandish in Vilambith EkTaal, ab mil aayi apni piya ko, a composition of Mohammad Shah Rangeela. Marwa is a shadav-shadav raaga, employing teevra Madhyam but no Pancham. The recording is in stereo but with lot of tape hiss, though otherwise it is good. This again is vintage Joshi, singing with great emotional impact. Taans starting around 10th minute area again powerful and reach great heights. Later Joshi switches to Dhruth TeenTaal for a short but sharp rendition of bangari mori moorak gayi chando na. Side A ends with the short Darbari composition, jhanak jhanak va more bichva, set to TeenTaal.

Side B of the II cassette starts with a Shuddha Kedar composition in Vilambit EkTaal, Sohe Laraa Ri . Again a stereo recording, this is a composition Pt Joshi spends a lot of time in the upper octave. Dhruth TeenTaal bandish take up next is sawan ki bhoondaniya. This is the better of the two Shudha Kedar compositions, with Joshi singing a several powerful taans. The last track on the cassette is an older recording of Vilambit EkTaal composition of raaga Abhogi, charan dhar aayo. Abhogi is a night raaga with komal gandhar and missing pancham and nishad. Though too short for a Vilambit EkTaal exposition, the taans towards the end make this a great track.

The third cassette is full of Malhars with the major tracks on both the sides presenting two varieties of Malhars. Side A starts with an old recording of Miyan Ki Malhar, karim naam tero, in slow tempo. Miyan ki Malhar, famous as one of the Raag-s attributed to legendary singer Tansen, is a late evening raaga, here emphasizing the Bhakthi bhaava, though you could almost hear the dripping raining in the background. Pt Joshi slowly moves to higher notes and longer taans, with some very well executed high note taans around 14th minute, you don't want to miss. The Dhruth bandish ghumar aayi badariya almost starts with some taans and continues to pour fast taans. Side A ends with a famous Jaijaiwanti composition, jhanan jhanan jhanan paayal baaje set to dhruth ektaal. This is a lilting and lively composition and Joshi does full justice to it.

Side B of the third cassette starts with a Sur Malhar composition set to Vilambit EkTaal, badarva garjat aaye. Sur Malhar is attributed to Saint Surdas (also called Surdasi Malhar), and has bhakthi as the predominant bhava. The second track continues Sur Malhar with a similar Dhruth TeenTaal composition, badarwa barasan lage. Both the compositions are later stereo recordings and Pt Joshi gives powerful performances. The cassette ends with a short fast composition in Suha Kannada, tu hai mohmadsha, attributed to Sadarang. This old recording has some enchanting taans.

The fourth cassette starts with a later stereo recording of raag Durga, too ras kan re. It is a late evening raaga which does not use Ga and Ni. Again Joshi gives a powerful performance moving to chatara sugar balamwa in Dhruth TeenTaal. This has some enchanting descending phrases and taans by Pt Joshi. Side A concludes with an old recording of one of Joshi's all time favorites, piya milan ki aas, a thumri in Jogiya. Side B starts older recording of Shudh Kalyan bandish in Vilambith EkTaal, Tum bina kaun khabariya le. After a restrained performance towards the end Pt Joshi opens up with a series of fast taans concluding the raaga with the Dhruth TeenTaal composition, ras bheeni bheeni.

The album concludes with the compulsory Bhairav bhajan, jo bhaje hari ko sadha, rendered soulfully by Pt Joshi.

Overall 4.5 stars for the music and 3.0 stars for the recording. Recommended.

Album Information

Tracks

Nu.	Title	Taala	Lyrics	Time	Music	Recording
I.A.1	Gaud Sarang	Vilambith EkTaal Dhruth TeenTaal	Sayyo mainu dhathari Veya nazar nahi aawundha	17:59
I.A.2	Mishra Kafi Thumri		Piyaa tho maanath naahi re	6:20
I.B.1	Kalashree	Jhap taal Dhruth TeenTaal	Dhan Dhan Mangal Ho Dhan Dhan Bhaga Suhag Tero	19:10
I.B.2	Chhaya Malhar	Dhruth TeenTaal	Sakhi Sham Nahi Aaye	5:34
II.A.1	Marwa	Vilambit EkTaal Dhruth TeenTaal	Ab mil aayi apni piya ko Bangari mori moorak gayi chando	18:13
II.A.2	Darbari	Dhrut TeenTaal	Jhanak Jhanak Va More Bichva	6:21
II.B.1	Shuddha Kedar	Vilambit EkTaal Dhruth EkTaal	Sohe Laraa Ri Sawan ki Bhoondaniya	18:20
II.B.2	Abhogi	Vilambit EkTaal	Charan Dhar Aayo	6:28
III.A.1	Miyan Ki Malhar	Vilambit EkTaal Dhruth TeenTaal	Karim Naam tero Ghumar aayi badariya	18:43
III.A.2	Jaijaiwanti	Dhruth EkTaal	Jhanan Jhanan Jhanan Payal Baje	6:25
III.B.1	Sur Malhar	Vilambit EkTaal	Badarva garjat aaye	13:50
III.B.2	Sur Malhar	Dhruth TeenTaal	Badarwa Barasan lage	6:01
III.B.3	Suha Kannada	Dhruth EkTaal	Tu Hai Mohmadsha	4:46
IV.A.1	Durga	Vilambith EkTaal Dhruth TeenTaal	Too Ras Kan Re Chatara sugar balamwa	17:29
IV.A.2	Jogiya Thumri		Piya milan ki aas	6:21
IV.B.1	Shudh Kalyan	Vilambith EkTaal Dhruth TeenTaal	Tum bina kaun khabariya le Ras bheeni bheeni	18:13
IV.B.1	Bhairavi Bhajan		Jo bhaje hari ko sadha	6:09

Liner Notes

There are no liner notes, even for such a collection. Just the list of tracks, forcing us to guess the vintage of each track.