Indian Talking Machine Part Two: Instrumental Gems From The 78rpm Era Vinyl LP Due Out 27/02/26
Please note this is a pre-order item due for release 27th February, 2026
Tracklist:
- Indranil Bhattacharya (sitar) c.1959
- Mahboob Ali (shehnai) c.1939
- Amir Hussain Khan (tabla) Madhavrao Alkutrar (pakhawaj) 1950
- Rajamanickam Pillai (violin) 1938
- Narayandas Mansukhram (kashta-tarang) 1930
- Bundu Khan (sarangi) c.1939
- T. Balaram (clarionet) 1935
- Ambade Brothers (sitar and jalatarang) 1936
- Hamid Hussain (sarangi) c.1940
- Rahim Baksh (been) 1909
- Vithal More (sundri) c.1935
- Venu (saraswati vina) c.1910
- Imdad Khan (sitar) 1904
- Allauddin Khan (sarod) 1935
- Master Mohan (kazoo, jalatarang, piano) c.1940
- Ahmedjan Thirkhawa (tabla) c.1940
- Palladam Sanjeeva Rao (flute) 1932
- Faqir Habib Khan (vichitra vina) 1938
- TN Rajaratnam Pillai (nadaswaram) 1939
- Brahma Sri T. Appadurai Aiyengar (jalatarang) 1908
- Professor Kaukub (sarod) 1909
- Master Soman (dilruba) c.1932
- Mehta Braham Das (harmonium) 1909
- Mr. K Arumuga Mudaliar (banjo-mandolin) 1929
- Sri Salil Kumar Mittra (violin) 1945
- Professor Ghosh (whistle) c.1925
This double LP of instrumental Hindustani, Carnatic and folk 78rpm shellac records from India comes with a full color 12-page insert of gramophone record ephemera, shops, labels, manufacturing details and graphics. The LPs feature over 25 artists recorded between 1904 and 1959 playing a panoply of instruments: jalatarang, dilruba, sarod, clarionet, pakhawaj, violin, been, kazoo, shehnai, tabla, sarangi, sitar, vina and more.
Artists include Imdad Khan (the first sitarist ever recorded), Ahmedjan Thirkhawa, Bundu Khan, Amir Hussain, Allauddin Khan (who taught Ravi Shankar), and others both forgotten and revered.
The Indian classical instrumental tradition is one of incredible proficiency and expressiveness using instruments and techniques created over generations that seem to perfectly and uniquely compliment Indian culture, landscape and tradition. Sympathetic strings resonate inside sitars and sarangis to manifest shimmering reverberant spiritual spaces; horns, reeds and flutes extend the range, volume and melodic inventiveness of the voice; a mind-boggling array of elaborately turned percussion instruments allow for rhythms as complex or as simple as the flowing Ganges river. Classical music in India was perhaps at its height during the 78rpm period as the Raj era was ending and the world was globalizing.