Label: Folkways Records – FE 4425, Ethnic Folkways Library – FE 4425 Format: Vinyl, LP Country: US Genre: Folk, World, & Country Style: Field Recording
Deep folk and field recordings from Pakistan, with booklet. (NM/VG+)
Pakistan was created by the partition of British India in 1947; Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, gained independence in 1971. This 1951 recording presents selections from both present-day countries and documents songs for many occasions — marriage, harvest festivals, village fairs, and courtship. There are a river boatmen’s song from the east and several songs and dances from the northwest, as well as Sindh and Punjab. The music features instruments typical to the Subcontinent, such as the sitar, tabla drums, and bansri, a type of flute. Liner notes include a brief history of Pakistani music, a description of the songs and instruments, and some translated lyrics.
Note: Some names and spellings referenced in the song titles have changed since these recordings were made. Sind province is now known as Sindh, the Northwest Frontier Province is now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the language Pushtu is now more commonly spelled Pashto.
Tracklist A1 Munawar Sultana, Iqbal Banso– Dholak Geet (Punjab Folk Song) A2 Ali Bakhsh Zahoor, Munawar Sultana– Mahiya Punjab: Love Song Duet A3 Abdul Halim Chowdhry– Bhatiali: Boatmen's Song A4 Unknown Artist– Frontier Melody, Played On Sarinda A5 Unknown Artist– Folk Dance, Region Of Sind A6 Ali Mohammed And Group– Kohiyari, Region Of Sind B1 Unknown Artist– Dholak Geet B2 Unknown Artist– Tangtakore: Pushtu Ballad Sarinda B3 Unknown Artist– Pushtu Love Song B4 Mumtaz Ali Khan– Bhawaiya B5 Unknown Artist– Folk Tune, Algoza And Matka B6 Unknown Artist– Khatak Dance B7 Unknown Artist– Khatak Dance
