#bahauddin dagar

[dustedmagazine]

Dagar Brothers — Berlin 1964 (Black Truffle)

Oren Ambarchi’s Black Truffle label has long been a source for challenging, rewarding music across genres from contemporary composition and free jazz to Thai mouth organ and wah-wah’d out solo bass recordings. Now it is becoming a great resource for Dhrupad music as well. Following up archival recordings of the recently departed Amelia Cuni and rudra veena virtuoso Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar is a revelatory set of lost recordings from the Dagar Brothers, two of the most important figures in establishing the documentation and preservation of this important vocal art form.

Dhrupad is the oldest form of Hindustani classical music, characterized by extensive, drawn-out improvisations. Within this lineage, the Dagar family, which includes the Dagar Brothers, their younger siblings and fellow vocal duo Zahiruddin Dagar and Faiyazuddin Dagar, the aforementioned Z.M. Dagar and his son Bahauddin Dagar,  is not just a family, but an  institution. Historically, the Dagars were court musicians, and to give a sense of how important the Dagar family is to Dhrupad, there are four styles of court (or darbārī) Dhrupad, and one of them is known simply as the Dāgar vānī. Ustad Nasir Moinuddin (1919-1966) and Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Khan (1923-2000) were born into this lineage at a critical period, coming of age as India broke free from centuries of British colonial rule. British colonialism had upended Indian court music and, starting in the 19th century, Dhrupad had begun to decline in favor of different styles of Hindustani classical music such as Khyal and Thumri. The development of recording technology further displaced the music from its regal context, as the music was now being presented to a much larger audience than the courts would have allowed. Indian classical music was extensively recorded on 78 rpm records from the very beginning, but the limited timeframe that the records allowed made documenting the lengthy Dhrupad music practically impossible. In the aftermath of decolonization, Dhrupad was in danger of disappearing entirely, and it was in this context that the Dagar Brothers took initiative to preserve their family tradition.

Crucial to this mission was the rise of long-playing records in the 1950s and 1960s, which provided much more space for the expansive improvisations of the Dagar Dhrupad. There were also a number of record labels emerging around this time, such as Ocora and Lyrichord, which were dedicated to producing ethnographic recordings without consideration for commercial appeal. In the mid-1960s the Dagar Brothers made the very first Dhrupad record for the EMI-Odeon label, and went on a tour of Europe organized by the eccentric French historian Alain Daniélou. Daniélou recorded the Dagar Brothers in Berlin during this tour, which remained unreleased until now due to the tape abruptly cutting out just before the brothers finished their performance of Raga Jaijavanti. Fifty years later that recording, along with a live recording made in Berlin around the same time, is now being released by Black Truffle.

The Dagar Brothers participated in these recordings with the intention of documenting and preserving a musical tradition in danger of disappearing (and promoting it to a new audience), but this doesn’t make them any less singular as artists. Perhaps the most striking thing about these releases is the intensity of the brothers’ performances, which ought to single handedly dispel any preconceptions of Indian Classical music as new-agey “chill-out” music. On the performance of R��ga Miyān kī Todī from the live recording, that intensity is present from the very beginning and doesn’t let up during the nearly 40 minute run time. The Dagar Brothers sing in beautiful droning overtones, but when the energy hits peak levels their vocal ornamentations sound like deep, commanding shouts, all perfectly on rhythm. The court music context may make one expect otherwise, but this is deeply powerful, trance-inducing music.

In the present day, Dhrupad is often associated with what is now known as drone music. La Monte Young, who is perhaps more associated with drone than any other composer, famously studied under Pandit Pran Nath, as did Terry Riley, and those two composers helped set the stage for future works exploring long tones. But what makes Dhrupad music so important in understanding the “Western” experimental music it paved the way for isn’t just the drone, but the way in which its practitioners showed the endless sonic possibilities of such seemingly “static” music. There are even some moments of vocal overlap between the two brothers that are somewhat reminiscent of the phasing techniques utilized by Phill Niblock.  But even beyond its importance to experimental music, these recordings are a testament to the living, breathing power of this ancient vocal art form, and the power of music in moving both the mind and the body. The voice, after all, is the original instrument.

by Levi Dayan

[bambioleo]

I listened to Bahauddin Dagar’s rudra veena performance on a friend’s headphones I’m having bassgasms now

all his performances are actually crazy fr

also it makes it even more special when you know there are literally only a countable number of rudra veena’s left in this world so you really will not be able to find that many people performing it either

[mysticalblizzardcolor]

Masters of Dagarvani | Ustad Bahauddin Dagar & Pelva Naik | Raag Vardhan...

[driftair]

Trance Dhrupad | Ustad Bahauddin Dagar | Raag Kausi Kanada | Music of India

[one-track-daily]

Bahauddin Dagar Rag Bhairavi (Part 1: Alap) (2006)

From the album: Live from Darbar Festival (Sense World Music)

[hariharan5901]

The making of a Rudra Veena

The making of a Rudra Veena

Kunal Joshi and Bahauddin Dagar are restoring a 50-year-old rudra veena, and also working on a new one Kunal Joshi and Bahauddin Dagar are restoring a 50-year-old rudra veena, and also working on a new one At a three-day workshop that delved deep into what ‘tradition’ stands for (the first of a series that has been flagged off by Bhaitak Foundation and Dakshina Dvarka Foundation), participants…

[musicashram]

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#flashback #2010 Ustaad Bahauddin Dagar #rudraveena a #privileged #day for our Music Ashram. #remember #drupad @bahauddindagar ❤🎼 https://www.instagram.com/p/B5Er1QbhUMh/?igshid=ll4tsclbr0d0

[mysticalblizzardcolor]

Trance Dhrupad | Ustad Bahauddin Dagar | Raag Kausi Kanada | Music of India

Trance Dhrupad | Ustad Bahauddin Dagar | Raag Kausi Kanada | Music of India 

*Darbar Festival *Hindustani Classical Music *Indian Music *India *Meditation Music *NYC *Brooklyn *Queens *Bronx *Staten Island  

[upfromtheskies8]

Masters of Dagarvani | Ustad Bahauddin Dagar & Pelva Naik | Raag Vardhan... https://t.co/PrkOlHd2ET via @YouTube

Masters of Dagarvani | Ustad Bahauddin Dagar & Pelva Naik | Raag Vardhan... https://t.co/PrkOlHd2ET via @YouTube

— Lars Rosager (@LarsRosager) June 24, 2019

from Twitter https://twitter.com/LarsRosager June 24, 2019 at 12:26PM via IFTTT

[ajnabi57]

Bahauddin Dagar: Scion of Dhrupad

Bahauddin Dagar I can’t get enough of the rudraveena. So to share the glory here is an older recording of the scion of the Dagar family, India’s guardians of the dhrupad tradition. I’ve copied a short interview from The Hindu newspaper for you to read as you listen to his (Bahauddin Dagar) music. Rudraveena exponent Ustad Mohiuddin Bahauddin Dagar, torchbearer of the Dagar legacy of Dhrupad, says…

[one-track-daily]

Bahauddin Dagar Rag Bhairavi (Part 2: Jor / Jhalla) (2006)

From the album: Live from Darbar Festival (Sense World Music)

[unsungtunes]

Soulful rendition in Rag Patdeep by Bahauddin Dagar on the Rudra Veena. (Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxtUT8fUOS8)

[adventuresofamusicalpsychopath]

Ustad Bahauddin Dagar:Rudra Veena recital: Rag: Bhairavi

my favorite guitar player. so unbelieveably good.

[dhrupadfestival-blog]

Dragon of the month - August

Counting down to Dhrupad Festival Netherlands on Feb 2 & 3 2013: check out the headstock on this rudra veena, India’s most ancient of stringinstruments.