Initial years of Sikkimese music in LP Disc

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Every time i look for Sikkim in Google search, unexpected results greet me. My eagerness to learn more about my Sikkim gets a new level of excitation. Like most of the time, I like sharing information with people around, and this time around I am here sharing about "Music Of Sikkim (ABC LP) Music Of The Earth Series", a promo LP ABC Command from the Music of Earth Series. 

The information collected from different pages of websites says that the music for "Music Of Sikkim" was recorded in Sikkim between December 1969 and January 1970. The LP contains 8 selections. Its label number is COMS 9002 ABC Command and published from Los Angeles. The Record was released in 1975. It is very exciting to note down the names of local singers of those days.

The sample is as follows

A1 Ceremonial and Folk Music - Lepcha Band Ceremonial Music 5:28
A2 Sukhbir (A Narrative Singer) 3:34
A3 Lepcha Narrative Song 2:53
A4 Tibetan Folk Song 3:49
A5 Sherpa Folk Song 3:15
A6 Metal and Bamboo Jew's Harps 3:43
B1 Music of the Buddhist Liturgy - Hymns for Shawms and Long Trumpets 8:07
B2 Private Memorial Service [excerpt] 14:46   

This disc is auctioned at popsike.com at 49 US dollars while at eBay it is lowly priced at 8 US Dollars.

This particular Record DISC could be the third one that was released with music from Sikkim. The previous account had little Sikkimese materials in Barenreiter-Musicaphon BM 30 L 2009 (1965) LP Disc that contained music from the Nyingma monastery at Enchi (Gangtok), the remainder music was from the monastery of Tibetan monk at Rumtek. 

Vogue MC 20119 (1968) had some excerpts from the Sikkimese version of mystery dance drama while on side B had items being performed by Tibetans passing through Sikkim. The DISC Record of 1955 in Sikkim was in vinyl format and recorded in Nagra-Kudelski magnetophone at France is titled as "Musique Tibétaine Du Sikkim".  

The credit for Musique Tibétaine Du Sikkim as Directed By [Series] - Gilbert Rouget, Photography - Didier Tarod, Recorded By - Serge Bourguignon, Technician [Sound] - Victor Borlandelli

Photographs from cdandlp.com and popsike.com