some recent finds...

i've been overwhelmed with life in general the last few months, not to mention all of the exhibition activity... but of course, the obsessive collector gene does not exactly have a shut-off switch... here are a few of my favorite finds of the past month or so...


a cabinet photograph of an east indian violin player. the seller thought she might not actually know how to play the violin based on her hand and finger positions... personally, i like the relationship between the fabric of her clothing and the couch and faux background - not to mention the piece of jewelry on her cheek, and the fear and/or longing in her face... taken in india, circa 1890


a 1920's snapshot of two convicts playing their butts off in stripes in a rural florida prison. all i can say is i'm stunned i managed to snag it...


RPPC circa 1915 featuring musical saws. even though they are clearly posing, the fact that they are "in the act" makes this one stellar. i've seen images of saw players, but never actually playing or even pretending to, and the fact that it is a real photo postcard makes it even better.


nice snapshot of a victrola on the back of a boat, probably 1920 or a little earlier, hopefully there is a record or two hiding somewhere in this mess.


stellar 8" x 10" promotional photo for a hawaiian guitar player and a guy with a harp guitar - and quite a strange one at that, circa 1912 or so. i love when old prints like this get all silvery and clouded...


possibly an american indian posing with his instrument collection, also possibly i have absolutely no idea what is going on here, but it was taken in a studio in philly, and is gosh darned wonderful.

Natanam Adinar

ram gopal (1912 - 2003) was one of the pioneers of modern dance in india (along with uday shankar). in the 1930's and 1940's he toured with a troupe of musicians and dancers, and was referred to as india's nijinsky. you can read more about him here.

the 78 pictured above features the 'ram gopal orchestra' playing part one and part two of a piece entitled natanam adinar, which is a dance devoted to shiva. the dance and music tells the following story...

"Once wickedness and evil accumulated on the earth people were killing each other, a few good-hearted men went to the forest and prayed to Shiva so that he appeared and did something. Shiva appeared and told them not to worry that everything would be arranged. People returned to the forest at the time given and shaw that as Shiva was dancing, he was destroying all the evil on the earth. Everything and everybody was afraid, even the snakes came out. After a while everybody, even the gods, were asking him to stop, but Shiva carried on dancing and destroying till all evil disappeared".

i don't know about the dancing, but the singing, particularly after the first minute of this track, is certainly stunning enough to banish all evil from my little room here, if not the greater pasadena area, or more. it's an unbelievable performance by a musician whose name i, unfortunately, could not find on the label, nor online...

click here to listento side 1, which is also part 1.

of celestial musicans and dancers of the skies...

awhile ago i posted a side from a 78 set of pieces from uday shan-kar. above is a recent find, a 1937 program from one of shan-kar's performance tours, featuring the incredible color image inside.

according to the program, shan-kar was born in udaypur and was sent by the maharaja of jhalawar to the london college of arts to study in 1920. the young shan-kar studied painting, and began to be interested in the dance forms found in ancient indian sculpture and painting. he graduated with a painting exhibition in 1923, but the seed of dance was already growing inside of him. eventually, torn between painting and dance, shan-kar was introduced to anna pavlova, who convinced the young artist that he was "a born dancer" because "god never gives such rhythmic bodies to painters and sculptors!"

shan-kar entered the world of dance as part of anna pavlova's company and starred in her radha krishna ballet - one of her most successful - as her partner. in the mid 1920's he successfully started his own touring dance company, but became unhappy with indian music played on western instruments, and a dance company mainly made up of european dancers. he eventually returned to india in the early 1930's and began to develop his "hindu ballet" with a company that included hindu musicians and dancers...

it is interesting to note that uday's younger brother is ravi shankar the famous sitar player and also that my favorite indian film director guru dutt began his career as a young dancer in uday's hindu ballet.

the track here is from a dance called gandharva. according to the 78 sleeve: "the gandharvas are the celestial musicians and dancers at the court of indra, the vedic lord of the skies. this is a solo dance of uday shan-kar. the name of this tune is raga malkounsa; and it is played by vishnudass shirali, dulal sen, rabindra and brijo behari. raga malkounsa is one of the greatest and loveliest ragas in all the music of india. shan-kar is exceedingly fond of this tune. this music is quite akin to the music of bach - the very essence of music."

click here to listen

a hill of the sprites, the dance of the drums, and some muted strings...

well, i'm off to norway for the 100th anniversary of grieg's death, to gather material for a piece that will happen in the fall. the distance means that the archives here will be gathering dust until may 7 when i return. it is unlikely i'll have email or internet access... so here's a few gems to tide things over...

first is an old RPPC of edvard grieg's cabin at troldhaugen (which translates as the "hill of the sprites"). i am hoping the end of my visit will include this small cabin where grieg composed much of his work. there's a nice story from an old article i found on grieg that said he liked to leave notes for potential burglers inside the small writing cabin asking them to leave the manuscript papers and take whatever else they might want... i'm hoping to make some recordings there.

the second is left turn from norway, from a 78 set of music by uday shankar that i picked up last week. shankar was an indian dancer/choreographer, and also ravi shankar's older brother. the thing that got me interested me in him was the fact that guru dutt got his artistic start as a young dancer in shankar's troupe. the recordings are probably from around the time shankar's troupe toured the states in the late 1930's / early 1940's. all of the sides are amazing, but "tabla-taranga" is absolutely unbelievable! the liner notes say it "is almost a musical miracle"... and i think they might be right! it is played by vishnudass shirali while sitting in the center of 12 tablas each turned to a different pitch, playing with "the grace of seagulls on wing". it almost sounds like a string instrument and is totally from another world (i'll probably post the whole set on juju when i get back in town...)

click to listen to tabla-taranga

the last bit goes back to norway and one of my favorite writers... a quote from knut hamsun's a wanderer plays on muted strings:

"i stood for a long time upon the hillside, listening to the sough from heaven and earth; there was nothing else to be heard. then there might come a rustling sound, which would prove to be a shriveled, curled up leaf fluttering down through the frozen branches; it was like listening to a tiny fountain. then heaven and earth would sough again, a mildness enveloped me, as though all my strings were muted."