Salamat Ali Khan

Metamusik Festival Berlin '74

Genre: WORLD

LP (Black Vinyl)

Boomkat Product Review:

Black Truffle continues its series of South Asian archival releases with this previously unheard live set from Pakistani vocalist Salamat Ali Khan, recorded by Agitation Free's Michael Hönig. A free-flowing performance of the Raag Megh, it's deeply moving, fully transcendent material.

Taught to sing in the Hindustani khyal tradition by his musician father, Khan was a child prodigy who rose to fame at home in the Punjab before achieving wider international success. And by the time he passed away in 2001, Khan had traveled the world and become known as one of the greatest classical singers of the Indian subcontinent. 'Metamusik Festival Berlin '74' was recorded at an interesting time; not only was Khan sharing the stage with Nico, Tangerine Dream and Roberto Laneri's Prima Materia, but synth pioneer and Hollywood producer Hönig, who played with Klaus Schulze and ended up working with Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Philip Glass and others, handled the mix. It was captured at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie, and is particularly notable for featuring Khan on a specially-tuned alpine zither in place of his usual swarmandal; Shaukat Hussein Khan joins on tabla and Hussein Bux Khan plays harmonium.

But it's Khan's voice that carries this set. After a brief announcement, he begins the monsoon raga with a 21 minute vilambit or slow introduction in twelve (ektal), improvising over sparse tuned hits and wheezing harmonium drones. It's a meditative, celestial start that freezes Khan's technique in amber before he accelerates on the medium tempo or madhyalaya section, and seems to mimic the tabla runs with quivering vocal runs and breakneck wordplay. And we're still only scratching the surface - the raag ends on a sixteen beat teental rhythm that shows off each musician's virtuosity with start-stop patterns that wind together seamlessly. Even at high speed, the set seems remarkably open and spacious - Hönig's recording is so detailed that you can hear the rattling jewelry on stage and the familiar squeak of the harmonium bellows. If you've enjoyed any of Black Truffle's bounty of excavated gems from the subcontinent, this one's essential listening.

LP (Black Vinyl) (0)