I have over the past decades collected a substantial assortment of classical music recordings. From listening and learning I have my personal favorites. Although Faiyaz Khan’s recordings are sometimes dismissed by those who have heard him live as being from his latter years when he was in poor health, I find the mastery very impressive. Amir Khan in recordings is just mesmerizing. Sharad Chandra Arolkar wasn’t immediately appealing but once I understood what he was doing I was hooked. Vishmadev Chatterjee I can judge only from the 78’s (and the one time I heard him live), and they are, in my opinion, just extraordinary. Mahadev Prasad Mishra is certainly one of the greatest thumri singers ever, the equal of one of my other favorites, Siddheshwari devi. Thank god their superb recordings are there. Begum Ahktar’s too- her thumris are magic. Although I like the 78 rpm records of Kesarbai Kerkar, it is the few long recordings, despite the dismal audio quality that I really love. I once heard a student of Mallikarjun Mansur in Calcutta in the 1970’s and eventhough I didn’t know anything about music those days, I was amazed at the conception. I never did find out who he was- I just remember that he had a very odd name. Later, after finding out about his guru I realized that he was a carbon copy, something that happens often with students of these great singers. Mallikarjun Mansur was not well-known outside of western India in the 70’s but I was a huge fan and heard him many times in Mumbai where I lived for some time 1977-78. His all-India fame came later in the 80’s when I felt his vitality wasn’t the same, I guess because health issues. I also felt that his charisma was best appreciated in mehfil situations and not in the large auditoriums. I am still more interested in his recordings before his son Rajshekhar started accompanying him. Another singer I prefer in concert is Kishori Amonkar. I have been as annoyed as others with her delays, tantrums and mediocre singing, but on those occasions when she is in form she is devastating. I heard Latafat Hussain Khan many times in Calcutta in the 70’s and 80’s when he was with SRA. I didn’t like him then. I was such a fool. Now I love his music, deep, rich, individualistic and full of emotion. Although not classical I love the singing of K.L. Saigal and Mehndi Hassan. I also think that their importance in the history of indian music will be recognized more in the future when the hegemony of classical over lighter forms among the cultural elite could be seen as an aberration. As current examples of this bias, I believe that thumri singers such as Siddheshwari devi or Rasoolanbai are not considered at the same high level as Kesarbai Kerkar not based on being less creative or less talented but because singing “lighter” music. Also for some reason fusion music is considered of a higher quality if it is done by classical artists rather than the western/eastern fusion concoctions of the music directors of Bollywood. Here again, I do not believe it is based on the quality of the music. There is still an odd bias (in my opinion) in classical circles for ghazals or bhajans that are more classical oriented. There are many more singers I love to listen to- K.G. Ginde, Gajananbua Joshi, Kumar Gandharva, Bhimsen Joshi among many others and a very small number who I do not like.
