Can Yaman

The Music of Armenia is a superb, 3 CDs the amazingly diverse music of Armenia. There are chants, folk tunes, instrumental music and rich choral harmonies in a collection that underscores the stunning and far too little acknowledged creative density of Armenian culture.

Representing the sixth generation of a family of musicians and sarod masters and it's tradition known as the Senia Bangash Gharana, Ustad (maestro) Amjad Ali Khan is steeped in the classical Indian tradition of ragas and talas, which he learnt first from his father and guru Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan from the court of Gwalior, a true capital of North Indian classical music since the height of the Mughal Empire. In turn, Amjad Ali Khan has been guru to his two sons, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangaash, so the family tradition continues with a seventh generation and flourishes on the world stage as never before.

The Armenian monk Soghomon Soghomonian, better known by his priest’s name of Komitas, collected hundreds of folksongs around 1900 during the course of his travels through the Armenian highlands between Van Lake, the Black Sea and the southern Caucasus. These songs, handed down orally over the centuries, express all the archaism of this ancient people’s unmistakeable culture – a culture than was nearly extinguished in the genocide of the Armenians during the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1917…

Ravi Shankar - Sitar Concertos and Other Works (1998) {2CD Set EMI Classics rec 1966-1982}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 647 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 337 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 261 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1966-82, 1998 EMI Records / EMI Classics | 5 72655 2
Raga / Indian Subcontinent Traditions / Indian Classical / Sitar

EMI's double-CD collection of Ravi Shankar's works including Western instruments, however, is one of the exceptions, for it adds a great deal even to the conversation carried on by those who have paid attention to the career of the man widely considered modern-day India's greatest musician. The attraction here, in a nutshell, is that this CD set brings together music recorded between 1966 and 1982, much of it only sporadically available up to now. There are two concertos for Shankar's sitar (a large Indian lute with sympathetically resonating strings) and orchestra, plus works he wrote for collaborations with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal. For purposes of comparison, there's also one performance by Shankar alone.