Earliest carnatic music recording?

[rshankar]

Vikram - Gauhar Jaan is intoxicating! THANKS!!

[Vikramsampath]

Vikram - thank you for your detailed history and these clips - they are witnesses to more than just the changes in the practice of CM - they are witnesses to social traditions. Best wishes on your quest in Berlin...
A question though - these 'nautch girls' as they were so dismissively called by the recording engineers, weren't they in reality the custodians of art (classical for the most part) and culture? As I understand it, many of the princes and men from noble families of yesteryear were trained by these women in 'zarAfat' and 'tehzIb'!

Totally agree rshankar! Nobles would send their sons to the kothas as a training school of sorts in etiquette. But the British Govt, the missionaries or even the recording agents didnt realize the subtle hierarchy within which the tawaif community operated and equated them all as nautch girls or mere common prostitutes. The complex pyramid of social hierarchy existed there where the Bais were at the top (sang only), Jaans below (sang and danced) and a host of layers below like Mirasans, Khanajis, Dominis etc and it was the Thakahis /Randis who actually could be equated to a prostitute. But then the makers of the Anti-Nautch Campaign against the Tawaifs and the Devadasis wouldnt care much for these subtleties and banned them all !

Oh yes, she indeed is intoxicating and has possessed me for quite sometime at least !!

[Vikramsampath]

Vikram,
Thanks for the fascinating chronicles!
In posting # 40, you mention that Vidwan B Rachappa had recorded in 1908. I am not sure about his exact time frame but I think he would have been too young to have recorded in 1908, unless he was very close in age to his Guru Bidaram Krishnappa (1866 - 1931), which I doubt.

Kulkarni Sir,
This thread is made for generous people like you and greedy people like me!
I mean, Thank you!
Sreeni Rajarao

Not sure about Rachappa's exact time period. But his records do fall under this time-span--till almost about 1914.(GC- N series). But I would have to check his time period.

[Vikramsampath]

Wonder if smone was able to decipher the words of Salem Godaveri's rendition...hers belong to the earliest of the accoustic era when the singers had to put their head into a big horn and shout as loudly as one could to vibrate the recording equipment on the other end and etch grooves on the shellac ! So in that shrill rendition, the words get totally lost....but the accounts of some of the recording experts, especially those of the Pathe Company (from Paris) on Salem Godaveri are quite spectacular. She seemed to have lived like a queen in Madras, possibly in the George Town area and bargained high salary for her services for recording !!!

[ragam-talam]

Vikram - came across this Hindu article: http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article429071.ece
Are you learning veena with Jayanthi?

It's interesting to note that all these early voices were of women! Do you know who was the first male musician to be recorded - and when?

Also, isn't it a bit ironic that Gauhar Jan was of Armenian descent, later converted to Islam, and sang the first Indian classical song to be recorded!

Are there any recordings of Sashimukhi and Phanibala?

[Balummi]

GN Sir's Ananda Natesa Gramaphone record does not seem to be earlier than 1940 . In older records the boss response is poor and only the high frequency is highlighted . His Himagirithanaye and Radha Sametha appear to be earlier recordings . I have a Cutchery set gramaphone record ( now digitalised ) of MMI recorded in 1936 in which he sings RTP in Kalyani . The Pallavi is "Bhajare Re Chitha " . The accompanists are TK Jayarama Iyer on the Violin , Thanjavur Vaidhyanatha Iyer ( Palghat Mani Iyer's Guru ) on the miridangam and Kumbakonam Velu Naicker on the Kanjira . It runs for more than 15 minutes! This record was got from a mamoth film record collector in Sterling Road , Chennai.

[Vikramsampath]

Vikram - came across this Hindu article: http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article429071.ece
Are you learning veena with Jayanthi?

It's interesting to note that all these early voices were of women! Do you know who was the first male musician to be recorded - and when?

Also, isn't it a bit ironic that Gauhar Jan was of Armenian descent, later converted to Islam, and sang the first Indian classical song to be recorded!

Are there any recordings of Sashimukhi and Phanibala?

Thanks Ragam talam...no im learning vocal music under Dr Jayanthi Kumaresh.
Yes indeed, it is quite a tribute to the grit and determination of women who disregarded lot of superstitions that abounded about recording (things like if you record into that 'evil english instrument' u will lose your voice etc!!) Of course some women like the great Kesarbai Kerkar refused to record even decades after the technology came in to India largely because they didnt want their music to be enjoyed even in 'pan and tea selling shops!" but that is exactly what technology did to our music--democratized it and brought it to the common man's doorsteps at an afforable rate...so to that extent we owe so much to these women, though our modern ears might not find these too aesthetic now!

Well, for all practical purposes Gauhar was almost Indian...she recorded in 20 languages which also included Tamil and Telugu (including a Thyagaraja Kriti Bhajana Parula in Surutti which she learnt from Veena Dhanammal during her trip to Madras for a concert in 1910.) Ariyakudi is said to have learnt several bhajans of hers which were v popular all over the country like Krishna Murari Binati karat etc. Gauhar was also a poetess and composed verses, much like her talented mother Badi Malka Jaan/Victoria Hemmings who wrote an entire Diwan of Urdu poems called 'Makhzan-e-ulfat-e-mallika'. Some of Gauhar's compositions are v popular even now on concert platforms (like Ras Ke Bhare Tore nain in Bhairavi or Kaise yeh dhoom machayi kanhaiya re- thumri in Kafi) though the singers r usually happily oblivious of who the composer is

The first man per se to record was perhaps Lal Chand Boral , the Hindustani musician from Calcutta and a contemporary of Gauhar Jaan. His 10 inch E-series discs were made in the first expedition of 1902-03. In the next expedition Peara Saheb and Ustad Abdul Karim Khan recorded (1904-05).

No as mentioned earlier, the recordings of Fani Bala and Soshi Mukhi were not commercially released in large numbers, though the discography of the times do mention their names. they seem to have sung little verses--almost like rhymes and poems in Bengali and not really 'classical music'.

[rshankar]

(like Ras Ke Bhare Tore nain in Bhairavi or Kaise yeh dhoom machayi kanhaiya re- thumri in Kafi)

An Armenian-Brit hybrid who converted to islAm, and composed on kRshNa in hindi - talk about blurring of cultural, national, linguistic, and religious boundaries!!

[Vikramsampath]

An Armenian-Brit hybrid who converted to islAm, and composed on kRshNa in hindi - talk about blurring of cultural, national, linguistic, and religious boundaries!!

U bet ! Shining examples of the composite character of our music!

[smala]

Such fascinating history, any leads on the influences, how/why this leap of faith, more importantly the specific interest in composition and singing occurred in the case of the eminent Gauhar Jaan ? But then Armenians of her time, by and large, derive from a Muslim heritage so the "conversion" or re-conversion to Islam might be more of an academic nature. It is the leap from Turko-Persian influences to the Hindustani scene that makes her a curious character.

An online source seems to state that Abdul Karim Khan may have an early recording pegged at 1905.

http://homepage.mac.com/patrickmoutal/m ... 905%29.mp3

[Vikramsampath]

Such fascinating history, any leads on the influences, how/why this leap of faith, more importantly the specific interest in composition and singing occurred in the case of the eminent Gauhar Jaan ?

An online source seems to state that Abdul Karim Khan may have an early recording pegged at 1905.

http://homepage.mac.com/patrickmoutal/m ... 905%29.mp3

Hmmmm..thats a long story, for which i would have no other option but to request you to read my book!
http://www.vikramsampath.com/books.html

[smala]

I'll get the book. A quick question - her "conversion" or re-conversion (given Armenian Muslim influences) must have been academic, her chief interests in Hindustani music attributable to one or more large influence?

[Vikramsampath]

But then Armenians of her time, by and large, derive from a Muslim heritage so the "conversion" or re-conversion to Islam might be more of an academic nature. It is the leap from Turko-Persian influences to the Hindustani scene that makes her a curious character.

oh no! certainly not the case! Armenians were all largely Christians...u have Armenian churches to this day in several cities incl allahabad and calcutta.

[Vikramsampath]

I'll get the book. A quick question - her "conversion" or re-conversion (given Armenian Muslim influences) must have been academic, her chief interests in Hindustani music attributable to one or more large influence?

Well she got this interest from her mother who was Anglo-Indian...her grandfather was British and her grandmother Hindu ! So i argue in the book that the grandmother must have been a tawaif herself and it was common for british men to keep Indian mistresses or bibis those days (1850's--pre-Mutiny)..else the tawaif community as it operates necessitates a lineage, had gothras too claiming descent right from Urvashi and some other apsaras and one couldn't get in so easily from the outside and be accepted. So she in a way got back to her roots after circumstantial dalliances with other faiths and languages !! does that help?

[smala]

Yes, it does! the mother-grandmother connection is the key. Thanks.

[smala]

Vikram, they were christians of yore with strong muslim influences too - I know a couple of armenians with Muslim names (Zia, Pasha).

[Nick H]

Muslim? Or simply names that come from places that one associates with Islam?

[smala]

Looks like some Iranian and Khurd populations, albeit small numbers, moved into Armenia.

Wiki says :

Islam in Armenia consists mostly of temporary residents from Iran and other countries. There is no native population reported as Muslim.
.....
During the Arabic conquest, Islam came to the Armenians however, almost all Armenians never converted to Islam, since Christians were not required to convert by Muslim law.....
.....
During 1988-1991 the overwhelming majority of Muslim population consisting of Azeris and Muslim Kurds fled the country as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh War and the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. There is also a significant community of Yazidi Kurds (50-70,000 people), who were not affected by this conflict. Since the early 1990s, Armenia has also attracted diverse esoteric and sectarian groups....

[smala]

The reason for my connecting Muslim influences with Armenia is this. Vikram's heroine chose to convert to Islam, while having a lineage tracing back to a Hindu grandmother. She had an Armenian father, a British grandfather and Anglo-Hindu mother, yet she chose to convert to Islam - rather than re-establishing her Hindu identity through heritage (a heritage she honored in a big way, following up a legacy of music and her compositions on Krishna).

A possibility is that for patrons/artists in HM music, Hindu/Muslim distinctions were not and are not salient.

Vikram may be able to explain this lacuna.

[mankuthimma]

Sadly NONE of these are part of our 'popular' Carnatic music history--which for us begins ONLY on the day Ariyakudi and others got on to stage

Can somebody help me with a quick list of such works of history - apart from the ones that cramp 60 artists into one paperback and the much touted high tech presentations .
My understanding is that there is very little of it . And as a result , Ariyakudi should be , as fascinating a subject as Coimbatore Thayee , from the musical standpoint .
The fact that there is a lack of historical work on a Pre-Ariyakudi generation cannot diminish the fact that Ariyakudis Lifework was indeed a major inflexion point - as far as concert formatting goes .
A pity since since Concerts are almost synonymous with CM , today .

As far as prudery goes . I think it extends to the choice of the artist , even . I have not seen any dare enough to do a biography of a Ariyakudi phase+ post Ariyakudi phase Vidwan - whose memories are recent enough to be able to achieve clarity in the work .
That facet of society which produced the Tawaifs and Nautch girls had the complementary face of the male bastion which indulged in those revelries . Some of whom , we know , were big names in music . But I bet the felicity with which one may pick up a Devadasi's story is matched only by the lack of inspiration to take up the really bold work of the well known high-caste vidwan.

And that is why Society is aware today of Dhanammals pan chewing habits or her rides to the Harrisons Bar , or TNR's expensive perfumes. But not the story of a Vidwan who would drape himself in his angavasthra around his face to drink water , while competing with another for a particular concubine .
Much of this history is painful . Just as the sight of my grand aunt was. Widowed at 16 , forced to shave her head and wear a crimson saree all her life. Sitting in a corner . Right upto an old age of 82.
Bottomline - We have to get out of these double standards quickly if we have to pursue history for the sake of history.

If not , let us just sit back and enjoy the music

[vasanthakokilam]

some of the incidental noise in the clips is undesirable no doubt, but sometimes becomes very tough to eliminate (or atleast i have found so...may be someone here can do better on that front)

I tried to eliminate noise on the Salem Godhavari piece: http://www.mediafire.com/?dk0s0wdfwwffggk ( after 20 seconds the NR performance is better )

And as an experiment, given she probably sang at a higher pitch than usual and faster than usual to fit the record size limit, I reduced the pitch by 2 semi tones and slowed the tempo down just a bit. This is just to imagine how she would have sounded outside that recording studio: http://www.mediafire.com/?pz7qnilkmqhrwqn

[smala]

I think my thoughts on the Islam conversion may be answered ....according to info below, the mother adopted Islam while moving to Benares with her Muslim friend and her daughter.

DK who authored the piece but a name and info. appears below at this very interesting site :

http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/gauhar.htm

Suresh Chandvankar - 16.11.02
Society of Indian Record Collectors
Mumbai - 400 005, India
E-mail: sschand@tifr.res.in

.....
Born to Anglo-Indian parents, her name was Miss Angelina Yeoward. Her father, William Robert Yeoward, was an Armenian Jew working as an engineer in a factory producing dry ice at Azamgadh near Benares. He married a Jewish lady, Miss Victoria Hemming, around 1870, who was born and brought up in India and had learnt Indian dance and music. Angelina was born in 1873 and was baptized in the Methodist church in Azamgadh. This marriage did not last long due to Victoria�s love for dance and music and her relations with a Muslim friend named Khurshed. So after the divorce, she moved to Benares with Angelina and Khurshed, adopted Islam as her religion, and daughter and mother chose new names; Gauhar and Malka respectively. In those days, Benares was not only a sacred place, but also a seat of learning, a centre for all the performing arts, including dance, drama and music. She spent eight years learning the art to perfection and emerged as a well-trained BaijiBaiji - Lady, as she had decided to take up the profession of entertainer through dance and music. She became popular as Badi Malka Jan; badi (elder) because at that time three other Malka Jans were famous (viz. Malka Jan of Agra, Malka Jan of Mulk Pukhraj and Malka Jan of Chulbuli) and she was the eldest among them.

Around 1883, the trio moved to Kolkata, a place of great patronage for music and the other arts. In those days, both Hindu and Muslims Baijis from Benares, Agra and Lucknow used to settle in the Bow Bazaar area. The place was famous for courtesans or Kothewalis who would entertain wealthy Jamindars and BabusJamindar - landlord, and Babu - clerk with their art. Some Ustads would train this community after a proper gandabandhanGandabandhan - ceremony in which a teacher (guru) accepts a disciple. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah had settled at Matiaburj near Kolkata in his last days and his court was full of musicians and artists. Young Gauhar Jan [c.1890]In such an atmosphere Badi Malka Jan soon established herself, and within three years she purchased a building at 24 Chitpore Road for Rs.40,000. Little Gauhar, too, was fond of dance and music and took her initial lessons from her mother. She had a sharp memory, intelligence and learned very quickly, and so Malka appointed special teachers for teaching Gauhar languages, literature, and of course, dance and music. Kale Khan of Patiala, alias 'Kalu Ustad', and Ustad Vazir Khan of Rampur trained her in pure and light classical Hindustani vocal music, whereas Ali Baksh and Brindadin Maharaj taught her the Kathak form of dance. Srijanbai taught her dhrupad dhamarDhrupad Dhamar - style of singing in Hindustani vocal tradition, and Charan Das trained her in Bengali KeertanKeertan - devotional form of music. She also learnt from her contemporaries, viz. Mojuddin Khan, Bhaiyya Ganpatrao and Peara Saheb. She sang Tagore songsTagore - Rabindranath Tagore even before the word Rabindra-Sangeet had been coined. She penned several compositions under the name �Hamdam�, and she also wrote, composed and recorded gazalsgazal - light form of classical music. She could read, write and sing in several languages including Bengali, Hindustani, Gujrathi, Tamil, Marathi, Arabic, Persian, Pushto, French, Peshawari, and English.

......much more at the site.

Awaiting Vikram's input.

[ragam-talam]

VK - the change in speed does make a signficant difference. It sounds less comical, and more musical.

[Vikramsampath]

I think my thoughts on the Islam conversion may be answered ....according to info below, the mother adopted Islam while moving to Benares with her Muslim friend and her daughter.

DK who authored the piece but a name and info. appears below at this very interesting site :

http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/gauhar.htm

Suresh Chandvankar - 16.11.02
Society of Indian Record Collectors
Mumbai - 400 005, India
E-mail: sschand@tifr.res.in

.....
Born to Anglo-Indian parents, her name was Miss Angelina Yeoward. Her father, William Robert Yeoward, was an Armenian Jew working as an engineer in a factory producing dry ice at Azamgadh near Benares. He married a Jewish lady, Miss Victoria Hemming, around 1870, who was born and brought up in India and had learnt Indian dance and music. Angelina was born in 1873 and was baptized in the Methodist church in Azamgadh. This marriage did not last long due to Victoria�s love for dance and music and her relations with a Muslim friend named Khurshed. So after the divorce, she moved to Benares with Angelina and Khurshed, adopted Islam as her religion, and daughter and mother chose new names; Gauhar and Malka respectively. In those days, Benares was not only a sacred place, but also a seat of learning, a centre for all the performing arts, including dance, drama and music. She spent eight years learning the art to perfection and emerged as a well-trained BaijiBaiji - Lady, as she had decided to take up the profession of entertainer through dance and music. She became popular as Badi Malka Jan; badi (elder) because at that time three other Malka Jans were famous (viz. Malka Jan of Agra, Malka Jan of Mulk Pukhraj and Malka Jan of Chulbuli) and she was the eldest among them.

Around 1883, the trio moved to Kolkata, a place of great patronage for music and the other arts. In those days, both Hindu and Muslims Baijis from Benares, Agra and Lucknow used to settle in the Bow Bazaar area. The place was famous for courtesans or Kothewalis who would entertain wealthy Jamindars and BabusJamindar - landlord, and Babu - clerk with their art. Some Ustads would train this community after a proper gandabandhanGandabandhan - ceremony in which a teacher (guru) accepts a disciple. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah had settled at Matiaburj near Kolkata in his last days and his court was full of musicians and artists. Young Gauhar Jan [c.1890]In such an atmosphere Badi Malka Jan soon established herself, and within three years she purchased a building at 24 Chitpore Road for Rs.40,000. Little Gauhar, too, was fond of dance and music and took her initial lessons from her mother. She had a sharp memory, intelligence and learned very quickly, and so Malka appointed special teachers for teaching Gauhar languages, literature, and of course, dance and music. Kale Khan of Patiala, alias 'Kalu Ustad', and Ustad Vazir Khan of Rampur trained her in pure and light classical Hindustani vocal music, whereas Ali Baksh and Brindadin Maharaj taught her the Kathak form of dance. Srijanbai taught her dhrupad dhamarDhrupad Dhamar - style of singing in Hindustani vocal tradition, and Charan Das trained her in Bengali KeertanKeertan - devotional form of music. She also learnt from her contemporaries, viz. Mojuddin Khan, Bhaiyya Ganpatrao and Peara Saheb. She sang Tagore songsTagore - Rabindranath Tagore even before the word Rabindra-Sangeet had been coined. She penned several compositions under the name �Hamdam�, and she also wrote, composed and recorded gazalsgazal - light form of classical music. She could read, write and sing in several languages including Bengali, Hindustani, Gujrathi, Tamil, Marathi, Arabic, Persian, Pushto, French, Peshawari, and English.

......much more at the site.

Awaiting Vikram's input.

I am certainly no social anthropologist to conclude very decisively whether Armenians are more Muslim than Christian. But certainly in my protagonist's case the cause of conversion was more practical than anthropological. The only error in the above extract is when she is mentioned as a Jew which she was not. Her father was an Armenian Christian and in fact i have included the original documents detailing the marriage of her parents at the Allahabad Holy Trinity Church in 1872 and her own baptism there in 1875. But Victoria's interests in music and dance were not quite appreciated by her husband Robert Yeoward as also his view of her infidelity with an artist called Jogeshwar Bharati. Thats when he divorced her and disowned the daughter too who was barely 5 yrs old. (Of course the father makes several painful entries in the daughter's life thereafter) The daughter goes through a bout of terrible sickness and would have almost died if not for her mother taking the help of Muslim benefactor Khurshid---who obviously did not have JUST philanthropy on his mind, especially when the subject in question was smone as pretty as Victoria ! The trio then shift from Azamgarh to Banaras where Victoria adopts Islam and become Malka Jaan and the little one has no option but to follow the mother. but yes your point about these distinctions blurring among HM artists is well-taken. It was certainly a lot more inclusive.

VK---thanks so much ! Salem Godaveri sounds wonderful now !!! Any idea what the Kriti is? Thought i heard 'thyagaraja' towards the end?

[keerthi]

Salem Godaveri sounds wonderful now !!! Any idea what the Kriti is? Thought i heard 'thyagaraja' towards the end?

Godaveri is singing 'Ninnu vinA gati mAkevaru rA' in balahamsa, by mysUr sadAshiva rAo.

[uday_shankar]

shyama-priya

Not to beat on you but a flawed narrative trying to exploit several weak or even non-existent "connections" ?!

William Robert Yeoward <-> Armenian ???. The name reeks of an Anglo-Saxon "conversion". Are we certain he wasn't an englishman, maybe of Armenian descent ? I can bet that there's not a single native Armenian with the last name Yeoward. BTW, about 80% of all Armenian last names end with the sound "ian" spelled variously as "ian"/"yan"/"ien", etc... For example, Indian names like subramanyan and Kurien could pass off for Armenian .

Armenia<-> Islam: Very weak connection. You've quoted some of the history yourself. Armenia is the most ancient Christian country.

Gauhar Jaan <-> William Robert Yeoward: Weak connection. No emotional bond.

Gauhar Jaan<->Armenia: Extremely weak connection. Practically nil.

Lastly Gauhar Jaan didn't even "choose" to covert ! So it's a case of "Pancha pandavar, kattil kaal pole, etc..." !

[smala]

Uday Shankar - agreed.

Post 45 set it off :
"...And well, one is really not concerned whether Gauhar Jaan was Bengali or not right? She was not even Indian by origin and was an Armenian Christian with a British grandfather, born Angelina Yeoward but converted to Islam under difficult circumstances..."

In fact, rshankar's .." an Armenian-Brit hybrid who converted to Islam..." drew the same inference as I did.

With my own digging, post 72 set the facts straight - the mother, Victoria Hemmings (Anglo-Hindu, according to Vikram), converted to Islam, young daughter in tow, due to her liaison with Khurshed...

Yes, the conversion was circumstantial and not by choice for Angelina/Gaurah Jaan is now established. No connection to the father or Armenia either. You are probably on the right track...that "Armenian" father was likely British descent in Armenia, landing in India at some point....see post 72..."Born to Anglo-Indian parents, her name was Miss Angelina Yeoward. Her father, William Robert Yeoward...."

Her singing, the clear audio upload from vintageaudio54 on youtube is addictive, and Gauhar Jaan was a beauty! - captured on the cover of Vikram Sampath's book. She died a young 57 in Mysore, 1930.

[smala]

Vikram Sampath releasing his book in Kolkata - who is the elderly lady?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKAlZ4yiPnk&NR=1

[smala]

Vikram, your link for the book works but not the 'buy online' - is there another way to get this from Rupa & Co. ?

Amazon has copies priced at $42 plus.

[Vikramsampath]

Vikram, your link for the book works but not the 'buy online' - is there another way to get this from Rupa & Co. ?

Amazon has copies priced at $42 plus.

Oh really sorry Shyama Priya ! Didnt know that Rupa & Co had changed the URL of the buying online option.
Here is the one on their website:
http://www.rupapublications.com/client/ ... cian-.aspx
I think the shipping costs to the US really make Indian published books quite prohibitve in the US!
You could also check if this works for u--Smt Shubha Mudgal's Underscore Records which was kind enough to feature a podcast on Gauhar and the book (http://podcasts.underscorerecords.com/) and also put it up on their catalogue. (http://www.underscorerecords.com/catalo ... a-Musician)

Thanks for sharing the Kolkata launch clip of Youtube. The artist there is Padmabhushan Smt Girija Devi--perhaps the last of the glorious Thumri singers of India, hailing from Banaras.

[Balummi]

In my posting on 15th Oct the Pallavi of the oldest Gramaphone record containing RTP - Kalyaniby MMI should be " Bhajare Raghu Veeram " and not " Bhajare Re Chitha" . The error is regretted

[harimau]

Not Carnatic music but recordings in various Indian languages commissioned by the Government of India to familiarize Englishmen who wanted to serve in India with Indian languages:

http://dsal.uchicago.edu/lsi/content/Introduction

Enjoy!

[harimau]

Extracts from the article written for Carnatic Corner by Sri M N Srinivasan, great grandson of Sri Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan.

"RECORDING DESTROYED

"The Mysore Maharaja invited the Sivans to his durbar. There were three such visits. It was customary to wear a coat and a turban while going to the royal presence. Knowing the habits of Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan, the Maharaja ordered a special gown of silk to be stitched and in the turban a special kalki saram was attached. In the concert, while singing Bhairavi raga song "Chintaya Ma", without Sivan's knowldege, the Maharaja managed to record the music on Edison's Phonograph. After the concert was over, the record was played to the Sivans. The Sivans were pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, however, this record got destroyed in the fire outbreak in Jahan Mohan Palace some years ago."[/i]

Full text of the article is available at: http://www.carnaticcorner.com/articles/mvsivan.html

Thanks for this authentic info.
I have also read this info in a Kannada book on Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan.

Well, sorry to give you the bad news.

I read this story in the now defunct sangeetham.org website a few years back. Some days later, the original poster asked folks who were inquiring about the recording to look at the date he posted the story, which was April 1.

Just to be safe, I googled a few relevant pieces of information. Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan lived between 1844 and 1893. Wikipedia states that "Sound recording began as a mechanical process and remained so until the early 1920s (with the exception of the 1899 Telegraphone) when a string of groundbreaking inventions in the field of electronics revolutionised sound recording and the young recording industry". This means that Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan would have had to sing at loud volume into a horn for mechanically recording his voice. This would mean that his voice could not have been recorded without his knowledge. Thus the entire story is suspect.

[ragam-talam]

hari - thanks for the link to Linguistic Survey of India webpage. Quite a few interesting recordings there.

Here's a fascinating recording of Tagore singing his own song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvTim1Kg_F8
And this one of him reciting his poem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLilhR4wQMo

Not sure how old these are. Early 20s, perhaps?

[raghukumar]

On this topic, MyCarnatic had the great opportunity to interview the widely acclaimed author and musician Vikram Sampath. He wrote the book "My Name is Gauhar Jaan!" which chronicles the life of Gauhar Jaan, who recorded India's first known Classical music recording in 1902. The interview can be listened on MyCarnatic at the following link

http://mycarnatic.org/podcast/?title=22

[Pratyaksham Bala]

Thank you!

[RSR]

The thread has been inactive for many years.
I wanted to get some information about Madurai Pushpavanam Iyer in recorded disc. and googled for 'earliest 78 rpm records in carnatic music'.
1905 Narayanasami Iyer, Violin GC 17934, E 3312h & E3313h
https://youtu.be/hCwRYw469fw
-------------------------------------------
1910 Carnatic Band yendaro mahanu bhavaru 13035o GC 8 10026
https://youtu.be/ihQ380as5CM
--------------------------------------------
Brahma Sri Tiruchendur Appadurai Aiyengar ~ Karaharapriya-Athi (1910)
https://youtu.be/-xJPIw3TaMw
-------------------------
youtube itself giving its selection here!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 2182EC75A4
------------------------------
As Sri.Pushpavanam Iyer passed away in 1920's only, there must be many records by him.

[vsn69]

One Mr Kiran Ravindran, author, film director and avid collector of records and gramophone players has said in an article in the Indian Express dated 13th July, 2011 that the earliest dated record he has in his possession, is Rajam Pushpavanam's, that was released in 1930.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/ ... 70950.html

[vsn69]

https://www.amazon.in/Gramophone-Compan ... 8171547281

http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/kKa839p ... mpany.html

[bala747]

The jalatharangam was spellbinding, but all I hear is Kalyani... try as I might the sruthi shift proved elusive.