The Boogey In Raga Bhairavi Options

[Pradeep]

By Ratna Rajaiah (ratna.rajaiah@gmail.com)
http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayit...ing&rLink=0

‘’If the King loves music, it is well with the land.’’ â€" Mencius

The appeal of music is universal. Well, some music, at least. We all sway to “Oye Bubbly� as we sip our colas and munch our fries. And we know how to bhangra-boogie to Juggy D as our hearts go dhadak-dhadak at the sight of Bunty and Babli. But we cant’ say the same thing about classical music, can we? I mean, we don’t want to be rude or anything, but that’s really “alternative� stuff, meant for eggheads and geeks. Oh, we’re willing to listen if a telegenic, yuppie, ethnic-chic celebrity gana-bajana type explains the mathematics of a melakarta raga in convent-school accented English 2-minute sound bytes. And to a Jhankar Beats version of Raga Jaunpuri. Or then, of late, classical music has become fashionable as “alternative medicine�. I mean if we’re popping raw garlic at breakfast for our cholesterol and twisting into Ardh Matsyendraasana for our nagging backs, then why not a shot of Raga Bageshri for that insomnia or Chakravaham for that chronic indigestion? For the rest, classical music is the rarified stuff of yawns, background music at exhibitions and for national mourning on Doordarshan when somebody dies.

At least that’s how many of us may think. When, in actual fact, the appeal of music is truly universal â€" including classical music.

And I make my case today with the Hindustani classical raga, raga Bhairavi. Named after one of the eight Ambas, the name itself is sonorous and gambhir. And its bio-data is as gambhir and stately. One of the biggies, it is sampoorna jaati raga because it has all seven notes in the aaroha and avroha (ascending and descending scales). It is also the mother raga of one of the 10 families of ragas in Hindustani classical music. And the final stamp of its importance is that every Hindustani classical concert must end with raga Bhairavi.

I know you’re thinking that this is her idea of “universal�? Who but a handful of people will understand this double dutch about jaatis and aarohas? Well, my dear 2-minute munchkins, be patient because I’ve only just begun.

The glorious musical collaboration of Raj Kapoor with Shankar-Jaikishen began with the film Barsaat in 1949. It was a super hit â€" not just the film, but also the music. The sales of the records were so huge that HMV for the first time was considering Hindi film music as much of an industry as Hindi films. It was one of the five films instrumental in making the till then unknown Lata Mangeshkar into a household name. And one of her biggest hits was the film’s title number â€" Barsaat Mein Humse Mile Tum. Based on raga Bhairavi. Later Raj Kapoor is reported to have said, “We, Shankar-Jaikishen and I, picked out this bountiful raga, right at the beginning with Barsaat, because all three of us knew that it would lend itself to a number of variations.

And thus, raga Bhairavi went on to become Shankar-Jaikishen’s favourite raga, spinning hit after musical hit for RK films, each composition now an evergreen favourite.

Awaara hoon from Awaara (1951). Mera Joota Hai Japani, Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua and Ramaiyya Vastavaiyya from Shri 420 (1955), Mera Naam Raju and Hoton Pe Sachhayi Rahati Hai from Jis Desh Mein Ganga Baheti Hai (1960). Bol Radha Bol Sangam Hoga Ke Nahin and Dost Dost Na Raha from Sangam (1964) to name just a few. But it wasn’t just for Raj Kapoor that raga Bhairavi flowed from Shankar Jaikishen’s baton in such a awesome flood. Would you, for example, imagine that the achingly sweet Ai Mere Dil Kahin Aur Chal from Daag (1952), one of Talat Mahmood’s greatest hits, has the same mother raga as the two songs that epitomised Shammi Kapoor’s electric screen presence -- April Fool Banaaya (April Fool, 1964) and Chahe Koi Mujhe Jangli Kahe (Junglee)? Or that the enchanting Mai Chali Mai Chali in Professor (1962) the exquisite title song of Dil Apna Aur Preet Paraye, the wistful Sab Kuch Sikha Hamne and the haunting Tera Jaana from Anari (1959), the sad lonely heart of a clown in Jeena Yahan Marna Yahan and Kehta Hai Joker from Mera Naam Joker (1970) are all children of the beautiful Bhairavi? Shankar Jaikishen won nine Filmfare awards â€" a record that no music director has broken to date. Only three of those nine films did not have raga Bhairavi compositions. No wonder then that Jaikishen named his daughter Bhairavi!

It is said that Devi’s munificence is an infinite ocean and Raga Bhairavi is no different. It is the same raga from which RD Burman coaxed Chingari koi bhake (Amar Prem, 1971) and O P Nayyar made foot-tapping bhangra Reshmi Salwar Kurta Jaali Ka (Naya Daur, 1957). Manoj Kumar’s Mr Bharat image began with Mera Rang De Basanti Chola in Shaheed (1965) and was cemented by Mere Desh Ki Dharti in Upkaar. Madan Mohan’s Kar Chale Ham Fida from Haqeeqat went on to become one of our country’s most emotional anthems. All based on raga Bhairavi which gave Manna Dey three of his most memorable numbers â€" Naache Man Mora from Meri Surat Teri Aankhen (S D Burman), Phool Gendwa Na Maaro from Dooj Ka Chaand (Roshan, 1964) and Laga Chunari Mein Daag from Dil Hi To Hai (Roshan).

And this is only the tip of the Bhairavi iceberg that crosses country and genre. Strains of Bhairavi are heard in the folk music of the Mediterranean and the Middle East â€"flamenco, Greek rembetica etc. In fact, Shankar Jaikishen adapted the superhit Ghar Aya Mera Pardesi (Awara) from a number by the famous Lebanese singer and dancer Asmahan. (Rajan Parrikar on www.sawf.org) The famous astronomer, Carl Sagan and his associates assembled 27 pieces of music from all over the world to be carried on the Voyager. They included Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Loius Armstrong’s “Melancholy Bluesâ€�. And Kesarbai Kerkar’s Jata Kahan ho in Raga Bhairavi.

You’re thinking â€" okay, so there’s a boogey-woogie lurking in a raga Bhairavi and Yana Gupta’s next item number maybe based raga Yaman but what’s the big deal about that? (And psst â€" what the heck does all this have to do with New Age living?)

You know, they say that we share 99 percent of our genes with mice. It’s kinda the same thing with music â€" all from the same genetic pool, be that pop or jazz or Indian classical. But, to see how a raga can parent a cabaret number, you have to first spend time with the raga â€" learning it or listening to it. You can only know what water tastes like if you drink it. But who has the time anymore to listen to â€" or should I say “seeâ€� â€" anything longer than a Chadhti Jawani remix on MTV? And more importantly, of what use is all this stuff? Will knowing the finer points of raga Darbari Kanada look good on my bio-data or get my son that IT job ticket to the USA? My music guruji used to teach music to a small group of children at a local school. It was his private effort and the school kindly allowed him a room for an hour after school hours, twice a week. He charged each student the grand sum of Rs 150 a month, the cost of a small pizza or 2 litres of cooking oil and he had to often remind the parents to pay. Recently, the school management told him that he could no longer have the room free and to pay a monthly rent of Rs. 500. Why? With the introduction of semester system, he was told, the number of students from the school wanting to learn music had dwindled.

How much room have we made in our and our children’s lives? Music, art, dance and literature â€" these are increasingly seen as useless things in education, knocked out of the syllabi because there are no takers. Much more sensible, is it not, to spend an hour in a computer class than learning the finer points of a raga?

Perhaps. But imagine a world without music. No Mohammed Rafi, no Geeta Dutt, no Balamuralikrishna, no Hari Prasad Chaurasia, no Beethoven, no Beatles, no Maria Callas, no RD Burman, not even the Balle Balle Boys exhorting us to nach le. A ghastly thought. But for music to exist, somebody has to make it. For that, somebody has to first learn how to make it. And most importantly, somebody has to be there to listen.

So, Raga Bhairavi anybody?

Brain wave!

Frances Rauscher, a research psychologist who, a decade ago, made waves with the discovery that listening to Mozart improved people's mathematical and spatial reasoning, now shows in a recent study that 6-year-old children who were given music lessons, got a 2 to 3-point boost in IQ scores. After 2 years of music lessons, pre-school children scored better on spatial reasoning tests than those who took computer lessons. And she has to say this. "It is an anomaly that while music is undermined in our public schools as a legitimate subject for serious study, there is a rise in the body of research demonstrating that music is a valuable tool for educators. But it is ironic and perhaps unfortunate that we may be forced to resort to science to show the value of music to education. Data from this research in no way takes away from the value of studying music for the beauty and expression it offers in and of itself. This work does not diminish music as an art, but rather it increases the status of music as an educational tool..."

This post has been edited by Pradeep: Sep 10 2006, 12:59 PM

[archimoz]

Dear Mr. Pradeep,

Thanks for the article. It made great reading.

Just a small pointer. In the place where Manna Dey's 3 songs are written, 'nache man mora' is sung by Rafi-saab.

Also isn't the original version of 'ghar aya mora pardesi' sung by Umm Kulthum (perhaps an Egyptian singer)? I stand to be corrected.

Some more great SJ-Bhairavi compositions.

kisi ke muskurahaton pe ho nisaar
zindagi ek safar hain suhana
suno chhoti si gudiya ki lambi kahani
chhoti si yeh duniya pehchaane raaste
nakhre-waali...dekhne mein dekh-lo hain kaisi bholi bhaali
sajan re jhoot mat bolo
tu pyar ka saagar hain (though attempts have been made to force-fit this song as raag Darbaari, it slips in the bhairavi groove much more comfortably)
raja ki aayegi baraat

There are so many more of theirs! No wonder they used to call it the 'sada suhaagan raag'.


Some other beautiful bhairavi's in hindi film music (the unconventional ones)

mana janaab nein pukaara nahin - sdb
aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hain - sdb
aankhon mein kya ji - sdb
dharti kahe pukaar ke - salil c
mujhko is raat ki tanhai mein awaaz na do - ka
ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si - sdb
jeena to hain par aye dil kahaan - rdb (kk in an obscure movie 'paanch dushman/daulat ke dushman')
mere mehboob qayamat hogi - lp
yeh raat yeh chandni phir kahaan, sun jaa dil ki daastan - sdb
dheere dheere aa re baada dheere.....mera bul-bul so raha hain - anil b
dil aaj shayar hain gham aaj naghma hain - sdb
pyar hume kis mod pe le aaya - rdb (amazing, but bhairavi it is!)
tanha tanha yahaan pe jeena yeh koyi baat hain - a r rehman (lovely number)
arre yaar meri tum bhi ghazab ghoonghat to zara - sdb.
lehron pe leher..... snehal bhatkal (a near note to note lift from Dean Martin's 'man with the mandolino' but unmistakable strains of bhairavi, Ample proof that this raag comprising essentially of all the seven flat notes of the sargam transcends all geographies of this globe)

The undisputed master of bhairavi is surely Rabindranath Tagore. The kinds of variations that he has is mind boggling.

Great to learn about Kesarbai's 'jaat kahaan ho'. Besides hers, the finest bhairavi short pieces that I have heard are:

kahe ko daari - kesarbai (Broadcast Records) - at par with 'jaat kahaan ho'.
jamuna ke teer - abdul karim khan - just the last word
sarangi piece by Bundu Khan
banaao batiyan chalo kaho ko jhute - faiyyaz khan
sun-ri maine nirbal ke balram - surdas bhajan - d v paluskar


Hope this thread on bhairavi's influence on our popular music continues. Looking forward to inputs from the knowledgables of HF.

Regards-Archie.

[r&d]

Great to learn about Kesarbai's 'jaat kahaan ho'. Besides hers, the finest bhairavi short pieces that I have heard are:

kahe ko daari - kesarbai (Broadcast Records) - at par with 'jaat kahaan ho'.
jamuna ke teer - abdul karim khan - just the last word
sarangi piece by Bundu Khan
banaao batiyan chalo kaho ko jhute - faiyyaz khan
sun-ri maine nirbal ke balram - surdas bhajan - d v paluskar

Regards-Archie.

Love it here some of these. especially 'jaat kahaan ho'

Thanks,

Rajnish

[gaikiakash]

Great to learn about Kesarbai's 'jaat kahaan ho'. Besides hers, the finest bhairavi short pieces that I have heard are:

kahe ko daari - kesarbai (Broadcast Records) - at par with 'jaat kahaan ho'.
jamuna ke teer - abdul karim khan - just the last word
sarangi piece by Bundu Khan
banaao batiyan chalo kaho ko jhute - faiyyaz khan
sun-ri maine nirbal ke balram - surdas bhajan - d v paluskar

Regards-Archie.

Love it here some of these. especially 'jaat kahaan ho'

Thanks,

Rajnish

Rajnish -
Here is "Jaat Kaha Ho" by Kesarbai Kerkar.
Thanks.
Akash

[r&d]

Rajnish -
Here is "Jaat Kaha Ho" by Kesarbai Kerkar.
Thanks.
Akash

Akash,

Thanks for reminding of Patrick Moutal's website
http://homepage.mac.com/patrickmoutal/macmoutal/rag.html

There is also a concert by Kesarbai on Bhairavi
http://homepage.mac.com/patrickmoutal/macm...raviconcert.mp3

I have only downloading the big files from that site
His radio program on different raags is also quite interesting
even tough it is in French.