31 March 2010

Sink your teeth into a juicy mango. Half-instrumental, half-vocal show this week.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:30am

1. Raga Amrit
37:22
(Click here for a disquisition on amrit.)

2. Raga Jog
37:30

Tracks 1-2 (rec. 1998)
G. S. Sachdev - bansuri flute, Swapan Chaudhuri - tabla, Elb Souders - tanpura, Gay Kagy - swar-peti [drone box]
Jasmine Nights
Audiorec Classics, 766032 1033-2

3. Mrdangam solo in misra chapu tala (rec. 1990)
Trichy Sankaran - mrdangam [double-sided drum], Lalitha Sankaran - tanpura, Andrew Timar - finger cymbals
Laya Vinyas: The South Indian Drumming of Trichy Sankaran
Music of the World, MOW120
10:32

Set #2 - 9:30am - 11:00am

4. Raga Jaunpuri (rec. 1992)
Parveen Sultana - voice, Appasaheb Jalgaonkar - harmonium, Subhash Kamat - tabla, Krishna Mukherjee & Rajashree Gore - tanpuras
Live from Savai Gandharva Music Festival, Pune '92
Alurkar Music House, CDAM 105
20:27

5. Raga Bageshri (rec. 1990)
Ajoy Chakrabarty - voice, Sultan Khan - sarangi, Samar Saha - tabla, Biresh Roy - harmonium, Loveleena Labroo - tanpura
Navras Records, NRCD 0011
40:35

6. Dadra in Raga Khammaj (rec. 1991)
Bhimsen Joshi - voice, Ananda Gopal Bandopadhyaya - tabla
Moment Records, MRCD 1002
17:18

24 March 2010

Serious classical ragas return to the Komodo Dragon Broadcast. We start in the morning, find ourselves at midnight, and work backwards to afternoon.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:30am

1. Raga Nat Bhairav (rec. 1996)
Tarun Bhattacharya - santur, Shib Shankar Roy - tabla
Biswas Records, BIS 58
24:27
(Play time = Morning.)

2. Raga Darbari (rec. 1987)
Imrat Khan - surbahar [bass sitar]
Nimbus Records, NI 5118
48:38
(Midnight. AKA Darbari Kanada. The foremost raga of 16th and 17th century Mughal court. Serious and dignified.)

Set #2 - 9:30am - 11:00am

3. Raga Shree
Rajender Prasanna - bansuri flute, Athar Hussain - tabla, Rajesh Prasanna - swarmandal [zither]
Tribute to Pandit Raghu Nath Prasanna
Super Cassettes Industries, SICCD-132
41:20
(Just after sunset. Lots of "odd" intervals in this one, i.e augmented third between Db and F# in ascending melodies.)

4. Raga Purvi
Vidyadhar Vyas - voice, Sandip Bhattacharya - tabla
The Raga Guide Disc 4
Nimbus Records, NI 5536/9
4:34
(Sunset.)

5. Raga Patdip (rec. 2003)
Allyn Miner - sitar, Samir Chatterji - tabla
Virama (Repose)
Neelam Audio & Video, NICI 145
30:13
(Afternoon.)

6. Kiran Ahluwalia & Kafi Azmi: Main Dhoondta Hoon [Eternal Search] (rec. 2003)
Kiran Ahluwalia - voice
Beyond Boundaries
Kiran Music, KM-2003
7:20

17 March 2010

Classical ragas return next week! Until then, some Indian and Indian-inspired soundscapes suggestive of her "heartbreaking, gorgeous, hallucinatory, dazzling, kaleidoscopic, mind-blowing grandeur and loud reality" (Anne Lamott).

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. The Inevitable (2000)
All India Radio: Martin Kennedy, Aidan Halloran - Indian street recordings
Inevitable Records, INV001
58:17
(Apologies for the occasional square drum machine track.)

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

2. Dawn at Reewalsar Lake (2007)
Recorded by Peter Kutin
Giza í ruh: Field Recordings from Northern India
http://www.khora.org.uk/pages/Peter_Kutin/Kutin_Lercher.html
7:32

*3. Hildegard Westerkamp: Gently Penetrating: Beneath the Sounding Surfaces of Another Place (1997)
14:03

4. Disco Bhangra: Wedding Bands from Rajasthan (rec. Jaipur, India 1989)
Disk Union, AVAN 031
33:16
(Prakash Band, Choutou Band, Village Band, Babu Band, Gulab Panjab Band, and Temple Boy.)
33'

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

5. Doug Cox, Salil Bhatt & Ramkumar Mishra: Fish Pond (2006)
Doug Cox - resophonic guitar, Salil Bhatt - satvik veena [modified guitar], Ramkumar Mishra - tabla
Slide to Freedom
NorthernBlues Music, NBM0039
8:34

*6. Hildegard Westerkamp: Into the Labyrinth (2000)
15:04

*7. Hildegard Westerkamp: Attending to Sacred Matters (2002)
26:24

*Tracks 3, 6 & 7
Hildegard Westerkamp: Into India: A Composer's Journey
Earsay Productions, es02002

10 March 2010

In honor of Tibetan Uprising Day (March 10th) I'll be airing two hours of sacred Tibetan music, including cuts from most of OgreOgress's Tibetan titles.

There is no mistaking the piercing reeds, crashy cymbals, guttural horns, and overtone chanting of Tibetan music.

Be sure to check out the links to the online store. Proceeds from sales support Tibetan monks in exile.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Gyaling I
1:26

2. Offering to Buddhas
0:45

3. Gyaling II
1:01

4. Ting-Shak 1
1:21

5. Welcoming Respected Teachers
6:39

6. Gyaling III
1:09

7. Invoking the Protector
1:28

8. Ting-Shak 2
1:38

Tracks 1-8
Tashi Lhunpo Monastery: Sacred Instrumental Music
OgreOgress productions, 643157 175827
("Gyaling (Tibetan oboes) are often played when receiving respected teachers and for inviting and making offerings to enlightened beings.")

9. Palden Lhamo (Fierce Protectress)
5:24

10. Yamantaka (Terrifier of Death)
29:00

Tracks 9-10
Gyuto Tantric University: Chant Retrospective 2000
OgreOgress productions, 643157 071228

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

11. Philip Glass: Kundun (1997)
Michael Riesman - conductor, Gyuto Monks, Monks of the Drukpa Order
Kundun: Music from the Original Soundtrack
Nonesuch, 79460
60'

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

12. Chen Gya (Gyaling Duet)
4:21

13. Refuge & Bodhichitta
10:24

Tracks 12-13
Tashi Lhunpo Monastery: Sacred Prayers for H.H. the Dalai Lamas & Panchen Lamas
OgreOgress productions, 643157 296621
(Ladakhi monks playing gyalings at Spituk monastery, near Leh, Ladakh, India. Photo by Joseph Morris, http://xenotropic.net, joe (at) xenotropic (dot) net.)

14. Chogyala [Dharma King]
Gyudmed Tantric University: Voices of Buddhism
OgreOgress productions, 643157 157823
6:30

15. Mandal (Making Sacred Universe Offering to Enlightened Beings)
6:10

16. Lama Choepa Tsok (Ritual Offering Feast)
15:18

Tracks 15-16
Drepung Tehor Khangtsen: Tour 2000 Prayers
OgreOgress productions, 643157 071129

03 March 2010

You can hybridize pea plants, roses, and musics. Tune in for Indian-Arab-Persian convergence.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 10:00am

1. Raga Miyan ki Todi (rec. 1988)
Imrat Khan - surbahar [bass sitar], Vajahat Khan - tanpura
Nimbus Records, NI 5153
38:14
(The North Indian equivalent to Grieg's sunrise from Peer Gynt, only way more subtle. The basic scale of the morning raga Todi: C Db Eb F# G Ab B emerges from the darkness, and as the sun rises in the sky, the note G begins to shine metaphorically?/symbolically? in the upper register.)

2. Saltanah (rec. 1994)
Simon Shaheen - ud & violin, Vishna Mohan Bhatt - mohan vina [modified archtop guitar], Ronu Majumdar - bansuri flute, Sangeeta Shankar - violin
Water Lily Acoustics, WLA-ES-51-CD
67:49
(The whole album. A blending of Hindustani raga and Arab maqam takes you through a whole day, from dawn to dusk.)

Set #2 - 10:00am - 11:00am

3. Raga Hemavati (rec. 1990)
Amjad Ali Khan - sarod, Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari - tabla, Asawari Pawar - tanpura
Touch of Class
Audiorec Records, ACCD 1009
22:48
(An "odd" melancholy raga, originally from the South, adopted by North Indian musicians. Some Persian influence may be afoot. Scale: C D Eb F# G A Bb doesn't fit neatly into any theoretical models.)

4. Traces of the Beloved (rec. 1998)
Kayhan Kalhor - kamancheh [spike fiddle], Shujaat Hussain Khan - sitar & voice, Rafiuddin Sabri - tabla
Ghazal: As Night Falls on the Silk Road: Persian & Indian Improvisations
Shanachie, 66011
27:06
(That's a kamancheh -->)