Mahomed Husain - Thoomri Kafi (GramCo 5-12725)

With Isaac Angel, Louis Matalon, & Maurice Ganon. Recorded Spring 1926.

Morris Cazes & the Stamboul Quartette - Soyle Djanim

completely worn-out, home recorded acetate made ca. 1950 in Akron, Ohio from the collection of an Armenian family with roots in Marash.

worn out acetate Akron ca. 1950

recorded in Tehran in 1928

I came across a worn copy this 1928 Iranian disc and asked my old pal Kevan Harris to translate the label for me.
He told me it was by the great singer Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri (b. 1905; d. 1959. No relation to the composer and tarist Col. Ali Naqi Vaziri; she named herself after him) who was, famously, the first woman to sing in front of men unveiled.
She made dozens of recordings in the late 20s, but this one is significant and exceedingly scarce. Kevan pointed out a very good English-language entry describing the song's "long and troubled history." https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/morg-e-sahar
To summarize the article, the lyrics to Morg-E Sahar (Dawn Bird) were composed in the early 1920s when their author began to notice the rise of the dictatorship. When the country's new ruler Reza Shah heard Qamar-ol-Moluk sing it at a party in the mid-20s, he banned the second verse, which bemoans militarism, corruption, and tyranny. Over the course of the past century, the song has taken on significant nationalist meaning, through various administrations and hopes for a political new dawn in Iran.
The article, last updated a decade ago, points out there was at the time no evidence of a recording of it by Qamar-ol-Moluk existing. Since then, a copy of the first side has appeared on YouTube but the politically sensitive second side does not circulate online, so despite the poor condition of the disc, I felt obliged to make the entire performance available in reasonably listenable form.
It is presented here in solidarity for the struggle of women in Iran.
The lyrics in English, taken from the above article are: 
Dawn bird, lament!
Make my brand burn even more.
With the sparks from your sigh, break
And turn this cage upside down.
Wing-tied nightingale come out of the corner of your cage, and
Sing the song of freedom for human kind.
With your fiery breath ignite,
The breath of this peopled land.
The cruelty of the cruel and the tyranny of the hunter
Have blown away my nest.
O God, O Heavens, O Nature,
Turn our dark night to dawn.
It’s a new spring, roses are in bloom
Dew drops are falling from my cloudy eyes
This cage, like my heart, is narrow and dark.
O fiery sigh set alight this cage
O fate, do not pick the flower of my life.
O rose, look towards this lover ,
Look again, again, again.
O heart-lost bird, shorten, shorten, shorten,
The tale of separation.
Truth’s life has come to an end
Faith and fidelity have been replaced by the shield of war.
Lover’s lament and beloved’s coyness,
Are but lies and have no power.
Truth, love and affection are but myths
Oath and honour are but vanished.
For thieving, country and religion are pretexts, eyes are wet
Landlord’s cruelty, master’s tyranny,
The farmer’s restless from sorrow.
The cup of the rich is full of pure wine,
Our cup is filled with our heart’s blood.
O anxious heart, cry out aloud
And avoid those who have powerful hands,
Count not on justice.
O rosy-cheeked cup-bearer, give the fiery water,
Play a joyful tune, O charming friend.
O sad nightingale lament from your cage.
Because of your grief my heart is
Full of sparks, sparks, sparks.

Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri - Morghe Sahar parts 1 & 2

Viguen Derderian: two Shadowsy instrumentals

Dr. Gohar was medical doctor (an eye-surgeon) and an officer of the Egyptian military. He was certainly a dedicated player of the buzuq, a little-recorded a steel-stringed folk instrument related to the Greek bouzouki and the Turkish baglama. We are aware only of one other release by him, issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture about 20 years after this disc was issued.

Dr. Mohamed Abdel Latif Gohar - To You, My Life and Love (buzuq taxim)

clown Feng Ergou - "Shuangwanglang" (Shanghai, Mandarin, ca. 1908-10)

actor Zhou Fenglin (hua dan) - "Shanghai Wharf" (Shanghai ditty, Mandarin, early 1905)

Alamphon 2003 Raks Jamili

released on a 7" polycarbonate disc cut by Peter King and released by Earworm in an edition of 200 copies. 
performed by Jason DiEmilio
transferred at 45rpm

The Azusa Plane - Song for Claudia Cardinale

guitar, bass, two reeds, and horn
Bob Abbate, Joe Maneri, Tony Carter, John Pierieni, Tony Adamo

The earliest recording of Maneri, then age 15, from a private acetate disc

Joe Maneri et al - You Are My Sushine; In The Mood - Oct. 12, 1942

May 2013 Widow's Joy Lecture Philadelphia

Nov. 8, 1929 New York City. Composed by Emilio Murillo. 
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/800027954/BVE-57072-Rumichaca

Rumichaca (aka Chamicara), bambuco

Life is Rough lathe by Twig Harper 4 of 6

Flirtin' With the Undertaker : True Vine, Baltimore, June 11 0006

Karl Reich aviary - Song Of A Nightingale (Bremen, 1913)

recorded in 2014. Sarkisian was then 93 years old.

Leo Sarkisian talks about Udi Hrant in the 50s.

Recorded in New York City ca. late 40s. From the forthcoming LP series Don't Let Me Be Lost to You on Canary/Mississippi records.

Nishan Sedefjian - Sabahi Taksim

Nissar Hussain Khan (b. 1909; d. 1993) was one of the foremost exponents of the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana of singing, founded at the end of the 19th century in Uttar Pradesh state by Inayat Hussain Khan of Rampur in the far northeast of India, who was related by marriage to the Gwalior gharana (and thereby to the legendary 16th century poet and composer Tansen). Khansahib studied first under his grandfather Haidar Khan and his father Fida Hussain Khan. Little has been published about his biography in English, but he excelled in the Muslim devotional tarana form, which seems to have originated in the 13th century and is traceable in parallel with the development of the qawwali style, best known in recent decades through the singing of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Aziz Mian, the Sabri Brothers, etc., to 8th century Persia. It is notable for syllabic permutations such as: dar (inside); dara (come inside); dartan (inside the body); tanadara (come inside the body), etc. The form conveys elation from the singer the listeners. The sufi ideal of hal, which is not only a mood but an absolute state of being - an affect which is also a truth underlying reality, an actuality-of-feeling - found a strong connection within Indian musical conception of raga, which understands subtle relationships between frequencies, both in sequence and in simultaneity, as having origins in the cosmos and profound effects on the minds of humans who are prepared to receive them.

Canary Records

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