Greeting the readers on the 71st anniversary of our Republic Day with guest article by Subodh Agrawal
(Subodh Agrawal last wrote his guest article in the series on film songs based on classical music about a year ago. That was on Bhimpalasi and her sisters Dhani, Multani and Patdeep. He again writes on a set of sister ragas Bageshri, Rageshri and Malgunji. Most of us do not know and, therefore, do not care. But we are all familiar with film songs in Bageshri. Subodh acquaints us with songs in Rageshri and Malgunji too, which are our great favourites without knowing their ragas. As usual he also presents some exquisite classical pieces. Subodh’s speciality is that he does not awe us with his knowledge. All in all a great way to celebrate our Republic Day. Looking at how the US democracy crumbled and was about to be overrun at the instance of an unhinged leader on January 6, we realise democracy hangs with a slender thread, and we have to constantly work to preserve it. I thank Subodh and greet all the readers on the 71st anniversary of our Republic. – AK)
This article has been in the making for a long time. I had finalized the list of songs to be included more than a year back. But as it happens, of the seven deadly sins, I happen to be guilty of sloth more than any other. What shook me out of sloth was chancing upon a beautiful composition in Bageshri accompanied by a wonderful dance performance. So, let me share that first:
There is detailed information about the artists in the YouTube description. Thank you, Indian Raga and AIM for Seva for shaking me out of my lethargy.
Bageshri was one of the first ragas I learnt to recognize and appreciate, thanks to my friend Pankaj Sharan. It took me quite some time to learn to distinguish it from Rageshri. The similarity between the two ragas is a little hard to understand because there are several important differences between the two: Rageshri completely omits the fifth note Pancham and it uses shudh gandhar instead of the komal gandhar of Bageshri. I became aware of Malgunji much later. Even today I haven’t developed a feel for it – I assume a composition is in Malgunji if it sounds a bit like both Bageshri and Rageshri, and I am right half the time. Bageshri can also be confused at times with Bhimpalasi.
I won’t go into a discussion of the scales of the three ragas. This information is freely available on the net for those who are interested. The best reference, as always, is www.parrikar.org.
All three ragas are very sweet and pleasant – ideal for shringar rasa. Malgunji is perhaps the sweetest, while Rageshri has a touch of gravity. So, let us begin with the songs in Bageshri.
1. ‘Chah barbaad karegi’ by K L Saigal from Shahjehan (1946), music by Naushad, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri
Although the predominant mood of Bageshri is shringar, like all ragas it can also be used to express a variety of emotions. Naushad uses it to express regret and sadness and Saigal gives life to it in his inimitable style:
2. ‘Jaag dard-e ishq jaag’ by Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar from Anarkali (1953), music by C Ramachandra, lyrics by Rajendra Krishna
C Ramachandran and Rajinder Krishan gave us a timeless classic in Bageshri. Shringar is very much there, but with more than a touch of pathos. I am intrigued by the choice of Hemant Kumar as a singer for this classically complex song, but I am glad CR went for him. It is hard to imagine the song having the same impact in the voice of Manna Dey or Mohammad Rafi – the two most gifted male singers for classical songs:
3. ‘Radha na bole na bole re’ by Lata Mangeshkar from Azad (1955), music by C Ramachandra, lyrics by Rajendra Krishna
This is an iconic song in Bageshri, something students of music can use to get a feel for the raga. The mood is teasing, romantic and delightful – the key mood of Bageshri:
4. ‘Jao jao Nand ke lala’ by Lata Mangeshkar from Rangoli (1962), music by Shankar Jaikishan, lyrics by Shailendra
A playful and romantic dance number. I forget the classification AK had done of nayikas in his article. What kind of nayika tells the nayak to get lost, although that’s the last thing she wants: (Subodh, you can take a mix of Khandita and Kalahaantarita in some ratio x1 and x2 where x1+x2 = 1. – AK)
5. ‘Bedardi dagabaaz ja’ by Lata Mangeshkar from Bluff Master (1963), music by Kalyanji Anandji, lyrics by Rajendra Krishna
Evolutionary psychology is a subject that fascinates me – how human behaviour is shaped through evolution by the need to get as many copies of one’s genes into the next generation as possible. One book I read recently classifies men into dads and cads: cads have fun with, and impregnate, a lot of women but don’t stick around to take care of the children; dads settle down with one partner, father fewer children but look after them. Eventually the population stabilizes with a large majority of dads and a fair sprinkling of cads.
If film songs are to be believed, women seem to have a special fondness for cads even when they know they would be left holding the baby – literally. It is an interesting topic to explore. Meanwhile let us enjoy this song from an aptly titled film:
6. ‘Kaise kate rajni’ by Ustad Amir Khan and Pratima Banerji from Khudito Pashan (1960), music by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, lyrics by Pandit Bhushan
A proper classical bandish from the Bengali classic film Khudito Pashan expressing the mood of viyog shringar:
7. ‘Ja re beimaan tujhe jaan liya’ by Manna Dey from Private Secretary (1962), music by D Dilip, lyrics by Prem Dhawan
Another song addressed to a ‘cad,’ this time in a male voice. Like number 5 this one also demonstrates the effectiveness of a false beard as a disguise:
I now come to Rageshri. I have a problem here. I had no difficulty placing the raga for the Bageshri songs, but except for the Mughal-e Azam song I did not easily recognise the raga in the Rageshri list. This was puzzling because I have no difficulty in recognising Rageshri in proper classical pieces. Trying out the sargam of the songs on my flute, despite my limited ability, helped decipher the mystery – the songs at number 9, 10 and 11 have many departures from the standard movement of Rageshri. I don’t understand why film music composers could not come up with songs in the pure version of the raga, when they could do so in Bageshri and so many others.
8. ‘Shubh din aayo’ by Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan from Mughal-e Azam (1960), music by Naushad, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni
As I said above, this is the only song in the list in pure Rageshri:
9. ‘Kaun aaya mere man ke dware’ by Manna Dey from Dekh Kabira Roya (1957) music by Madan Mohan, lyrics by Rajendra Krishna
This is among the most beautiful classical songs rendered by Manna Dey, who has often been relegated to lending his voice to comedians in films. This one is also filmed on Anup Kumar, but he doesn’t seem to be playing a comic role – I don’t know, as I have not seen the film. This one uses pa and komal ga quite freely – two notes not permitted in Rageshri.
10. ‘Maane na’ by Lata Mangeshkar from Jaagir (1959), music by Madan Mohan, lyrics by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
The instrumentals in this song appear quite faithful to Rageshri, but not the vocal – particularly in the stanzas:
11. ‘Mere sang ga gunguna’ by Suman Kalyanpur from Janwar (1965), music by Shankar Jaikishan, lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri
Of the three this one comes closest to the standard movement of Rageshri, but for the occasional use of pa. Good to see Rajshri. We talk of brain drain, but what about beauty drain from India!
I now come to Malgunji. I don’t have a good grasp of this raga, and I have included the songs based on various internet sites. Pardon me if I have included a song not quite in this raga. All the songs, however, have a beauty that is both sensuous and serene.
12. ‘Nain so nain naahi milao’ by Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar from Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955), music by Vasant Desai, lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri
For a long time I believed this song was in Bageshri. Then I heard it in a radio program that used to do what I try to do through this series of articles – introduce listeners to classical ragas through film songs – and I became aware of Malgunji. The remainder of the list followed:
13. ‘Ghar aa ja ghir aaye’ by Lata Mangeshkar from Chhote Nawab (1961), music by R D Burman, lyrics by Shailendra
This one best presents the serene and sensuous mood of Malgunji. This song marked the arrival of young RD Burman a.k.a. Pancham:
14. ‘Naa jiya lage na’ by Lata Mangeshkar from Anand (1971), music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Yogesh
Salil da used the tune of one of his Bengali originals for this beautiful song. The lyricist Yogesh gave a couple of beautiful songs including ‘Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye’ in this film, but one didn’t hear much from him after this.
Hear the Bengali version in Salil Da’s own voice:
This brings us to the end of the list of film songs. Before I present the classical pieces, I would share this folk song by Surinder Kaur. Bageshri is not a raga associated with folk music, but this song combines the earthiness of folk with the sophistication of classical. Our heroine is calling to her beloved to cross over the pattan (ford) of Jhanaan (Chenab). The obvious reference is to the legend of Sohni Mahiwal. An instrumental version of the sthayee of this song used to be the signature tune of one of the programs on All India Radio – I forget which one.
A friend of mine who comes from a long lineage of classical and devotional singers was not convinced about this song being in Bageshri. He then talked to Dolly Guleria – Surinder Kaur’s daughter – who confirmed it was indeed Bageshri. The composer is credited as K Pannalal:
Bismillah’s Bageshri was the first classical LP I bought when I started building my collection in the seventies as a student of IIT Kanpur. It brings back memories of those carefree days:
Kumar Gandharva loved to experiment. Opinion about him is sharply divided among music lovers. Most of my friends in IIT, where I picked up the rudiments of classical music, loved his ‘Sakhi man laage na’ but there was at least one who strongly disliked it. I have been unable to locate a link to that recording. I am therefore giving a link to another performance of his. Thanks to AK for helping me locate it:
Kishori Amonkar’s ‘Biraha na jala’ is a real gem in Bageshri:
For Rageshri Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan is beyond compare:
Ustad Amir Khan’s Rageshri is almost as good:
Ustad Vilayat Khan’s Rageshri has a playful lightness:
Pandit Ravi Shankar’s Rageshri highlights the gravity of Rageshri in comparison to Bageshri and Malgunji. To fully enjoy it you must connect it to a proper sound system, or use high quality headphones:
For Malgunji let’s hear this short and rare recording from Baba Allauddin Khan:
Before concluding I would like to make brief mentions of four related ragas: two close to Bageshri, and two to Rageshri. Abhogi is to Bageshri what Dhani is to Bhimpalasi – omits some of the notes but retains the feel and mood:
Gorakh Kalyan has nothing to do with Kalyan or Yaman – it is closer to Bageshri. Our music Guruji in IIT used to explain it by saying ‘what else do you expect from something named Gorakh!’ For those unfamiliar with the idiom, ‘Gorakh dhandha’ is something that is not quite straight or above board. This piece by Salamat and Nazakat Ali is delightful:
Bhinna Shadj, also known as Kaushik Dhwani or Hindoli can be described as the basic frame on which Rageshri is built by the addition of re and change of shudh ni to komal. The 2014 film ‘Ankhon Dekhi’ had an outstanding song ‘Dhime re re’ in this raga sung by Mansheel Gujral:
There are several classical pieces on Bhinna Shadj by Kishori Amonkar on YouTube. I present here a short one to whet the reader’s appetite. Amol Palekar has made a film on Kishori Amonkar and chose to title it Bhinna Shadj:
Finally, use of the fifth note pa in Rageshri with some change in movement takes us to Hemant. The 1972 film Bawarchi has this song ‘Tum bin Jeevan kaisa jeevan’ in Manna Dey’s voice:
Hemant suits Nikhil Banerjee’s playing style. I haven’t found a better classical piece in this raga:
That’s all friends. Allow me to go back in hibernation until something like ‘Madhur Madhur Meenakshi’ again stirs me into writing the next article.
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer:
1. The song videos have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over these songs which vests in the respective owners, such as Saregama India Limited and others.
2. The thumbnail picture of paiting of Bageshri has been gratefylly taken from oeom.com.
3. YT links of classical pieces have been left as they are without embedding their video format for ease of lading the page.
{ 90 comments }
We have seen in some years that either male solos or female solos may be tepid, but duets never disappoint. That has to do with combinatorics. If there are, say, 3 prominent male singers and 4 female singers in a year, there are 12 possible voice combinations. Even if the music directors use half of them, you get six interesting combinations of singers for duets. This adds extra colour. It also makes some difference whether the male or the female singer takes the lead. Another dimension is added if it is a male-male or a female-female duet, or it becomes a triad or multiple-singer song which I have been treating as a duet.
