Songe Nimasow and Khandu Degio rap in the endangered Aka language of Arunachal Pradesh, India. The rap is about love.. and chili peppers. (2008)

recorded by Dr. K. David Harrison with the Enduring Voices Project with National Geographic

Shankar Jaikishan & Rais Khan — Raga Kalavati

from Raga Jazz Style (1968)

Still combing through the Megaupload-related carnage among the blogs..and so, so bummed to see that the great (now mythical) Holy Warbles is among those fallen. Such a brimming archive of the world’s sounds… now silenced.

I grabbed this mind-blowing album some time ago from Holy Warbles… let this post serve as a sort of impromptu wake for one of the greatest music blogs on the internet. May it be reincarnated somewhere soon.

Doug at WFMU’s Give the Drummer Some played a full three-hour warbling tribute set this morning—check it out. (audio should be up later today)

Ustad Ghulam Sadiq Khan — Raga Lalit

from Versatile Ragas

I was in India earlier this year, and one day I dragged a friend around Delhi looking for records, CDs and mp3 DVDs at street stalls and shops. I saw this disc in a modern, HMV-style CD shop in New Delhi, and picked it up for just a few dollars.

It was a remarkable find, for this man’s voice is truly like no other. In fact, at times it sounds unlike a human voice at all. Here the vocal chords are reinvented as an entirely new instrument. The style is a modern Indian classical genre called khayal, thought to have developed from the qawwali style of singing.

‘Raga Lalit’ is an early morning raga.

Khan in 2009

Runa Laila — Aankh mili aur takraya

from Tiger Gang (1971)

Today I’m going to highlight a few Pakistani movie numbers from the terrific blog Hindustani Vinyl. It’s a treasure trove of gems from 1960s and 70s Bollywood and Lollywood (Pakistan’s movie capital, Lahore), but unfortunately the blog serves as an appetizer for a German rare records vendor of the same name, and the tracks are all cut about 2/3rds through. Don’t let that deter you—some great discoveries await!

This one’s a hip number sung by Bangladeshi playback singer Runa Laila for the film Tiger Gang aka Kommissar X jagt die roten Tiger, a story of drug addicts and gangsters. It was a rare collaboration between Austrian film director Harald Reinl and Lollywood producers, but despite (or maybe because of) the subject matter, it was a box office flop (and has only scored 4.5 stars on imdb). Ouch.

Here’s a video clip of this song from the movie.

Manna Dey — Aao Twist Karein

from Bhoot Bungla (Haunted House) (1965)

Bollywood does the twist, with RD Burman’s cop of Chubby Checker. The star twister is actor/director Mehmood Ali, but playback singer Manna Dey is covering vocals.

Patrick Vian — Sphère

from Bruits Et Temps Analogues (1976)

Well it’s been a long journey through India, ate about 101 curries, visited an impossibly hard-to-find goldmine of an LP shop in Old Delhi and picked up a bunch of cds as well, which I’ll be peppering the blog with now and then. But now I’m back in the city, back to my stereophonic subway trips and music devouring ways.

This track comes from French musician Patrick Vian’s 1976 record for the Egg label. It’s a swirling journey of ‘Marquee Moon’ guitars, chattering triangle, bells and marimba, and the blazing wonderful sounds of Vian’s ARP 2600—aka the Voice of R2-D2. Now you’re speaking my language…

Charanjit Singh — Raga Megh Malhar

from Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat (2010)

Stellar synth work from this Bollywood session player. It’s kind of hard to imagine that he recorded these acid house tracks way back in 1982 — but if you’ve ever fallen asleep to a 21-minute sitar raga, these ragas may be the antidote.

Here’s the original album cover:

And a closeup of the man at work:

Buy it, and a bunch of other groovy Bollywood numbers, digital or LP, from Bombay Connection Records.