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Salamat Ali Khan
Metamusik Festival Berlin ‘74 Vol.II
Black Truffle - Cat No: Black Truffle 148
- updated:2026-09-23
Recorded by Michael Henrich—a member of Agitation Free, one of the most important bands of the German experimental, avant-garde, and psychedelic rock scene of the 1960s and 1970s, and also known for his projects with Klaus Schulz and Manuel Gettching— Black Truffle has released Vol. 2—a sequel to the previously unreleased 1974 meditative and poetic masterpiece by Salamat Ali Khan, a Pakistani vocal virtuoso and master of the kayal hailing from the Punjab region of northern India!!
Black Truffle is thrilled to announce a second volume of unheard concert performances from legendary Pakistani kyhal singer Salamat Ali Khan, recorded at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie as part of the MetaMusik festival in 1974. Like the first volume, the immaculate recording by Michael Hönig (of krautrock legends Agitation Free) captures Khan performing a single extended raag in the company of Shaukat Hussein Khan on tabla and Hussein Bux Khan on harmonium. In addition to his stunningly inventive and moving vocal performance, Khan is heard accompanying himself on a specially tuned alpine zither (in place of the traditional swarmandal, an Indian style of zither). The lack of an underlying tanpura drone gives the music its characteristic floating quality, with the three instruments and voice masterfully dancing around one another as they sketch the outlines of this grand, 40-minute Raag Chandrakauns.
If anything, this epic performance of the late-night Raag Chandrakauns is even more seductively spacious and psychedelic than the music heard on the first volume. Obeying the traditional shape of Hindustani classical vocal music performance, a gradual rise in both pitch and rhythmic activity, the music hovers for twenty minutes in a reflective calm, the pulse only gently stated by the tabla while harmonium ornamentation and zither strums float by. In this meditative space, Khan gradually orients us to the contours of the raag, beginning with long notes at the bottom of his register. His improvisation at once builds with a stunningly firm sense of internal logic and seems liberated to explore every melodic and ornamental byway that comes up along the way. By the time we turn to the record’s second side, the music has grown into something far more frenetic, with virtuoso tabla passages at times occupying centre stage between Khan’s increasingly rhythmic melodic variations. Concluding with a sequence of unison tabla and voice passages of breathtaking complexity, the performance is met with rapturous applause. Arriving in a blue-toned variant of the first volume’s sleeve, with acclaimed musicologist Peter Pannke’s liner notes in the original German, Metamusik Festival Berlin ’74 Volume II is not to be missed. Essential listening not just for Hidustanti classic aficionados, but for anyone who needs reminding of the magic of collective music making in the moment.
If anything, this epic performance of the late-night Raag Chandrakauns is even more seductively spacious and psychedelic than the music heard on the first volume. Obeying the traditional shape of Hindustani classical vocal music performance, a gradual rise in both pitch and rhythmic activity, the music hovers for twenty minutes in a reflective calm, the pulse only gently stated by the tabla while harmonium ornamentation and zither strums float by. In this meditative space, Khan gradually orients us to the contours of the raag, beginning with long notes at the bottom of his register. His improvisation at once builds with a stunningly firm sense of internal logic and seems liberated to explore every melodic and ornamental byway that comes up along the way. By the time we turn to the record’s second side, the music has grown into something far more frenetic, with virtuoso tabla passages at times occupying centre stage between Khan’s increasingly rhythmic melodic variations. Concluding with a sequence of unison tabla and voice passages of breathtaking complexity, the performance is met with rapturous applause. Arriving in a blue-toned variant of the first volume’s sleeve, with acclaimed musicologist Peter Pannke’s liner notes in the original German, Metamusik Festival Berlin ’74 Volume II is not to be missed. Essential listening not just for Hidustanti classic aficionados, but for anyone who needs reminding of the magic of collective music making in the moment.
Berlin, 1974. Recorded at the “MetaMusik” festival held at the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery), this performance features not only his astonishingly original singing (but also his playing of the specially tuned Alpine zither— ) while also providing accompaniment), this extended raga performance—featuring tabla player Shaukat Hussain Khan and harmonium player Hussain Baks Khan—includes “Raga Chandrakaus,” which spans a total of 40 minutes across Sides A and B.
Reportedly performed late at night, “Raga Chandrakaus” offers an even more profound psychedelic experience than Vol. 1, weaving a graceful and enchanting spiritual soundscape. Proceed with caution—it’s dangerous. Released by Black Truffle. Includes LP plus download code. Comes with liner notes featuring the art sheet from the Metamusik Festival Berlin ’74 and an essay by German musicologist Peter Panke. (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)