Inside No. 9, Season 4, Episode #46: Sharad ritu ki shaam
Here comes an India full of crackles, hisses, energy, love and genius. Many of the recordings on this mix are taken from vinyl which is between 50 and 60 years old. So expect surface noise. This is my time machine gift to you, my Darjeeling Limited; a westerner’s love of Indian art. I am English and have a close tie to India through not only the history of my country and its colonial rampage, but through food, culture, friends and music which is a big part of life when growing up in south London.
I always scour the bins for Indian music whenever I enter a charity shop or secondhand record store. I was first introduced to Indian music via my father who was a massive Beatles fan. I then discovered the books of Rudyard Kipling as a child, followed by the movies of Satyajit Ray as an adult, which led me to the works of Rabindranath Tagore and D.H. Lawrence. With so much conflict and wrongdoing there is still a wonderful connection between the two nations that can still be felt; even today. At its worst it is toxic, but at its best it fuses a love of sport, food, dance and music.
This mix contains one of my favourite pieces of music from one of the greatest films ever made, Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali. Ravi Shankar is a superstar for good reason, his compositions are on another level. I also wanted to include some players that touch me deeply through not just showmanship, but through soulful, empathic delivery. There are three of the greatest vocal performances here from Sadhana Kalpana Mazumder, Pandit Prannath and Rajdulari Aliakbar Khan, the latter becoming one of my go to haunting listens. Ram Narayan’s Paris concerts are also very dear to me and have soundtracked my life for many years. His playing is so tender he plays the strings like they’re born from his heart. When Sadhana Kalpana Mazumder sings her midnight song I am left floating in the heavens, yet anchored by her deeply grounded vocals. There is little music that matches the power of the rag/raga/raag. Steeped in history, warped by chaos and fused by global accessibility this music is such a rare phenomenon.
As the heavy autumn rains hit Switzerland and humidity remains high I look upon the Alps in neighbouring France in wonder as clouds create tableaus and contours unseen for months of dry heat. I’ll take a sip of my tea, listen to these sounds and find beauty in the distant voices and present vistas. Each song paints rich images in the mind that echo the beauty of my surroundings. I close my eyes and travel hundreds of miles through a checkered past of shared hate and love. Autumn skies bleed and seep into the fabric of my soul.
Raga Hemant [part one] (Rythme Teen-Tal – 16 Temps)
Roopkumar Soni, Sadanand Naimpalli and Srinivasa Santhanam
L’Inde (Richesse du Folklore No. 6)
1966
LP on Rivier
Improvisation On The Theme Music From Pather Panchali
Ravi Shankar
Improvisation & The Theme Music From Pather Panchali
LP on Liberty
1968 (originally 1962)
Rag Shankara : Alap, Jor, Jhala, Bandish, Drut (1979)
Ram Narayan
Ram Narayan En Concert
LP on Ocora
1984
Raga Rage Shree
Sadhana Kalpana Mazumder
Raga and Songs
LP on Ashish Production
1977
Kriti: Gōpālaka Pahimām
Palghat Raghu, V. V. Subramaniam and K. V. Narayanaswamy
Dhyānam/Meditation
LP on Nonsuch
1969
Raga Imni Bilawal
Rajdulari Aliakbar Khan
Raga Kirwani & Raga Imni Bilawal
LP on Connoisseur Society
1967
Raga Maru Bihag: Khyal, Ektala, Teentala
Nazir Ahmad and Kedarnath Bhatt
Inde Du Nord: Unesco Collection, Anthologie Des Musiques Traditionnelles
CD on Auvidis
1989 (r1972)
Raaga Bhoopali
Pandit Prannath
Earth Groove: The Voice Of Cosmic India
LP on Mississippi Records
2008 (r1968)
Rag Kafi
Ustad Mahmud Mirza
Rag Darbari, Rag Kafi
LP on Tangent Records
1976
Inside No. 9 is an attempt to share unique narratives through the mixing of 9 songs. Every episode will showcase a new theme, opening up new tributaries of discovery. Inside No. 9 is presented by Peter Taylor, a former features writer for Foxy Digitalis from back in the late 2000s. Peter is a visual artist and musician and has been creating music as MAbH since 2008.
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