Happy New Year

Dear visitors of this blog, I wish you all a very happy new year with good health, lots of good music and, most important, lots of love and peace in a world which gets crazier every day. It is a pleasure to share so much music dear to my heart with you. I have the intention and hope to be able to continue for a while. There is still so much beautiful and rare music I wish to share with you.

The next projects will be, God willing, first a series of Dhrupad recordings, then an introduction to some almost forgotten masters of the Delhi Gharana. Afterwards some recordings by other singers like Rajab Ali Khan etc. Then there will be a bigger project about LPs obtained from India, with some remarks on their shortcomings due to the climate in India, mostly by less known instrumental masters.

I would also like to share some interesting and astonishing points about the statistics of this blog:

First the 10 most visited posts of my blog: 

1. Older Masters of Rudra Veena (Been) - Part III - Ustad Abid Hussain Khan (1907-1978), posted 16 Nov 2012, 5 comments - visits: 3515

2. Shashmaqam of Bukhara - Box of 16 LPs, published by Melodiya on the occasion of the 3rd International Symposium of Eastern Music, Samarkand 1987, posted 3 Apr 2012, 23 comments - visits: 3053

3. Mohamed Tahar Fergani - Ya Dalma - LP published in Algeria, posted 26 Sep 2013, 4 comments - visits: 2416

4. Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986) at WDR, Cologne, Germany - Broadcasts recorded 1971, 1975 and 1984, posted 2 Nov 2014, 24 comments - visits: 2341

5. Music of Afghanistan - A gorgeous Box of 5 LPs published in Japan in 1975, posted 26 Dec 2017, 17 comments - visits: 1896

6. Vilayat Khan - Sitar - A Treasure from Solomon's Mines SME 1/2 - Very rare Indian LP from 1956, posted 8 Jul 2012, 23 comments- visits: 1861

7. Pandit Pran Nath (1918-1996) - At WDR in Cologne on 8.12.1984, posted 16 Nov 2016, 12 comments  - visits: 1715

8. Annapurna Devi & Ravi Shankar - Some rare Surbahar recordings from the 1950s, posted 26 Aug 2014, 15 comments - visits: 1661

9. Dagar Brothers: Nasir Zahiruddin Dagar & Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar - Dhrupad - Double LP Loft 1006/7 (Germany 1983), posted 23 Dec 2011, 18 comments - visits: 1560

10. 2ème Festival Algérien de la Musique Andalouse 1969 - Vol. 7, posted 13 May 2012, 1 comment - visits: 1381

Some I understand, some I find extremely astonishing, especially the Shashmaqam on position 2 and the very recent post of a box of 5 LPs of Music of Afghanistan already on position 5 (in only 10 days). That there is an almost forgotten master of Dhrupad and Rudra Veena on position one is also quite unexpected. Positions 3 and 10 are probably due to the extreme popularity of these albums or musicians in their home country. 

The highest numbers of visitors come from these countries:

No big surprises here, though I hadn't expected such a big public from India and a bigger one from the United Kingdom.

The number of comments is quite low, if one takes into account the total number of visitors: just 2309.

Here I owe an excuse to the commentators. In most cases I don't respond to the comments, mostly because of lack of time, except when there are valuable contributions or questions or problems. But be sure: I appreciate them all and are often quite touched by their warmth and find them extremely encouraging. Thank you so much.