Guest article by Subodh Agrawal
(When Subodh came back after a long hiatus with his post on Bihag, he had promised us that he would now be more regular. He keeps his promise with another excellent piece on Mand and Shivranjani. ‘Kesariya balam’ has made everyone familiar with Mand. As for Shivranjani, the readers may recall a scene in ‘Bheja Fry’ when Vinay Pathak and Milind Soman go in raptures discussing Shankar-Jaikishan’s special fondness for this raga. It is Subodh’s creativity to find a connection between the two ragas. I have to also especially thank his wife Renu for the beautiful painting ‘Rajastahani flute player’ which I have used as the thumbnail for this article. Incidentally, the readers must have noticed that 2017 has turned out to be a Festival of Guest Authors, with entire January and February taken by guest articles. Our venerable Arunkumar Deshmukh has already acclaimed it as SoY’s growing popularity among serious music lovers. – AK)
There is not much in common between Mand and Shivranjani as far as their structure goes. The reason I have clubbed them in this post is the mood they both evoke – like a spirit calling out to another across the divide that separates this world from the other. Both strongly evoke longing and the pain of separation. Another raga that evokes the same mood is Pahadi, and I had once thought of clubbing the three in one post. However, Pahadi is a great favourite of Hindi film music directors and one full post (third in this series) dedicated to that raga could barely accommodate a fraction of great songs in it.
Mand is one of the three main ragas that have their origin in folk music, the other two being Pahadi and Pilu. Pahadi belongs to the hills, Pilu to the Gangetic plain. Mand belongs to the deserts of Rajasthan, where life is hard and men have to stay away from their families to earn a livelihood. Calling out to one’s beloved is a recurring theme in this raga. It is also not a coincidence that the three songs I have included are all in female voice.
1. Jo main janati bisrat hain saiyan by Lata Mangeshkar from Shabab (1954), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad
Naushad and Shakeel Badayuni have adapted a traditional composition ascribed to Amir Khusro to create this beautiful song of regret. I always think of this song along with Main yeh soch kar uske dar se utha tha from Haqeeqat. Both songs show how playing games of roothna-manana can go wrong in love. This one could well have been sung by the girl who failed to stop the boy in Haqeeqat from walking away:
2. Tu chanda main chandni by Lata Mangeshkar from Reshma Aur Shera (1971), lyrics Balkavi Bairagi, music Jaidev
The lovers are together, which is not the typical setting of Mand, still the raga suits the ambience of rendezvous among dunes at night. Another gem by Jaidev.
3. Kesariya balama by Lata Mangeshkar from Lekin (1991), lyrics Gulzar, music Hriday Nath Mangeshkar
No post on Mand is complete without Kesariya balam – the definitive folk melody in this raga. There is a little variation from the traditional lyrics with ‘padharo mhare des’ giving way to ‘Bawari bolen log.’ Yet the film version retains much of the appeal of the folk melody.
I came across some more songs in Mand on Chandrakantha.com but they don’t bring out the flavour of the raga that well. I will now move on to Shivranjani. This is a favourite raga of many music directors and I could easily locate some twenty-odd songs making the job of selection difficult.
Shivranjani shows how change of one note can completely alter the mood evoked by a raga. Its scale is the same as that of Bhupali: sa, re, ga, pa, dha, sa; with komal ga instead of the shudh ga of Bhupali. This one change alters the mood from the playful one of Bhupali to the poignant one of Shivranjani. The poignancy is enhanced by using the shudh ga along with the komal one, as the composers of film music often do.
4. Dharti ko akash pukare by Mukesh and Shamshad Begum from Mela (1948), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad
This is not a full song, but a fragment of one. I do have a vague memory of hearing a stanza once, but have failed to locate it on the net. However, the fragment is too good to be left out and creates a haunting ambience the way only Shivranjani can.
5. Laage na mora jiya by Lata Mangeshkar from Ghunghat (1960), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Ravi
This could well be called the iconic song of Shivranjani. My introduction to this raga was through this song. The film was probably based on Tagore’s ‘Nauka Dubi’, which has recently been made in Bengali with Raima and Riya sen, and also dubbed in Hindi as ‘Kashmakash’.
6. Piya milan ki aas by Lata Mangeshkar from Piya Milan Ki Aas (1961), lyrics Bharat Vyas, music S N Tripathi
I had to choose between this song and Pyar ke pal chin from Kunwari, also set to music by S N Tripathi, and finally decided to include this one being from an older film. The song begins with the classic invocation of the virahini: Kaga sab tan khaiyo, chun chun khaiyo maans; Do naina mat khaiyo, mohe piya milan ki aas.
7. More naina sawan bhadon by Lata Mangeshkar from Vidyapati (1964), lyrics Prahlad Sharma, music V Balsara
It is interesting that two songs in the same raga separated by 12 years have almost the same Mukhda. The one from Mehbooba (1976) has Mere naina sawan bhadon. The later song is better known, but this one arguably succeeds better in evoking the haunting mood of the raga.
Vistasp Balsara gave music in a handful of Hindi films, before moving to Kolkata to work with Gyan Prakash Ghosh. He was known for his command over musical instruments. I was once trying to locate the names of instrumentalists who played the prominent instruments in songs like ‘Awara hoon’ and ‘Ae mere dil kahin aur chal’. I couldn’t get a clear-cut answer. It is ascribed in some places to Goody Seervai, but there is also a claim from Balsara that he produced the sound of accordion in these songs on a harmonium!
8. O mere sanam by Mukesh and Lata Mangeshkar from Sangam (1964), lyrics Shailendra, music by Shankar-Jaikishan
Shivranjani was a favourite raga of Shankar-Jaikishan and Raj Kapoor. The use of both shudh and komal ga in succession creates an effect similar to western music (SSW may have something to say on it). SJ have used it effectively for this party song.
9. Jaane kahan gaye wo din by Mukesh from Mera Naam Joker (1970), lyrics Hasrat Jaipuri, music Shankar-Jaikishan
Another one from Shankar Jaikishan and Raj Kapoor. SJ used Shivranjani a lot in the background during poignant moments in films. They anticipated the most famous song of Mera Naam Joker in this extract from an old Raj Kapoor- Nargis film. I have no idea which film it is, but I am sure learned readers of SoY will be able to help. (This scene is from ‘Aah’, 1953. As has been mentioned earlier by KS Bhatia and other readers, one finds tunes of several of SJ’s famous songs in RK films in the background music of their earlier films. – AK)
Coming back to Jaane kahan gaye wo din, it is one of the songs in which Mukesh handles higher notes quite well – a couple of others being Jhoomti chali hawa and Sajanwa bairi hogaye hamar. This song proved to be the waterloo of many amateur singers, yours truly included, during my student days. A very dear friend of mine could, for some reason, handle Saaya hi apne saath tha but his voice would slip into a falsetto when he tried Mujhko rula rula diya. I am sure he will remember that with a smile as he reads this.
10. Karoge yaad to har baat yaad aayegi by Bhupinder from Bazaar (1982), lyrics Bashar Nawaz, music by Khayyam
Bhupinder is one of the most underrated singers. His voice can convey pathos like few others. He excels in this song.
Before presenting the classical pieces in this raga, I would like to present a few examples of folk compositions in Mand. I stumbled upon this beautiful rendering of Kesariya Balam on YouTube by the Mast Kalandars. They have used the guitar along with traditional instruments to create a fusion effect, but the singer’s voice and singing style is pure Rajasthani folk.
This piece by Padmashri Allah Jilai Bai touches the heart. She was born in a family of folk artists and started singing in the court of Maharaj Ganga Singh at the age of ten. According to a learned friend of mine, this piece is in Bikaneri Mand. It refers to a Rajasthani folk legend of lovers Moomal and Mahendra.
One more folk piece for its pure earthiness:
There are no major classical vocal pieces in Mand. Regular classical artists prefer to go to Mishra Mand which brings in a lot of other ragas. This sarangi and sarod jugalbandi between Ustad Sultan Khan and Ustad Ashish Khan does retain a lot of the original flavour of the raga.
Now to Shivranjani: Sanjiv Abhyankar presents this raga in his rich, sonorous voice. A disciple of Pandit Jasraj, he has the same relaxed, unhurried style.
Shivranjani sounds beautiful on the flute, as Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasiya demonstrates.
In the end I would like to make a brief mention of the popularity of Mand in the South and its adaptation in the Carnatic tradition. My own knowledge of Carnatic music being severely limited, I will leave it to Mr Rangan, Mr Vekataraman, SSW and other knowledgeable readers to expand it further. I was amazed by the large number of Carnatic pieces that showed up in my YouTube search. I found this one by Jayanthi Kumaresh on saraswathi veena very good:
That brings us to the end of this piece. I hope the learned members of the SoY family will enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed researching and writing it.
{ 69 comments… read them below or add one }
Great,Great,Great…….All time Great…….
Subodhji,
A wonderful, scholarly article. Songs are also beautiful. I think there are many “BhavGeet” songs in Marathi based upon Maand. I post a link of a very famous song by Hirabai Barodekar – http://geet.fm/song/116657/millennium-marathi-1-hirabai-barodekar.html (it’s an audio link). This song became so famous, that due to public demand she used to sing it in public concerts , for duration of anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes.
Thank you Mr Kelkar for your comment and for the excellent link. I think the reason Hindustani classical music is so popular in Maharashtra is that Natya Sangeet and Bhavgeet act as bridges between popular and classical music. Rabindra Sangeet plays a similar role in Bengal.
I know very little about ragas but remember reading that AIR signature tune was based on Shivranjani.
Subodhji
What a piece of classical writing on this theme. You are one of a rare breed of scholars fully conversant with Hindustani classic and its nuances and intricacies. It is fully reflected in this post. It brought tears of joy to me. What was endearing is the manner of its narration without delving too much into technicalities of swaras, which would probably be understood in full by only a microscopic minority. Please continue to cover more ragas on a regular basis, i.e. at least one post a month.
I do not know whether the song by Saigal in maand would conform to the spirit as enumerated above. – Andhe ki laati.
https://youtu.be/YtVqyBTDeCw
The great music soprano MS Subbalakshmi had cut a 78 rpm record on this raag. Title – Vaanathin meedu mayilada kanden. It means the observer saw a peacock dancing in the sky. It is a song on Lord Muruga. No You tube link is available. I have mp3. version but do not know how to post it. I give below a substitute which is way below par.
https://youtu.be/wL0nsnYLXhM
Late Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, a carnatic violin mastereo had composed lot of thillanas in various ragas and they are being sung in concerts regularly. Here is a piece from Maand.
https://youtu.be/zioUxMBO9YA
About 4), it comes a few times in the film, first time with subtitles when Shamshad Begum starts the singing. Searching by google search gives more versions than YouTube search.
Subodh Agarwal ji;
Wonderful , crisp , clear and very enjoyable article . Moreover ‘ song selections in support of ragas discussed are all time fav.of fanfare listeners. My congratulations to you and your wife who in support enhanced the beauty by the article by the nice painting very relevent to the article .
I must confess that I have no in depth knowledge of Ragas but I do enjoy a lot listening to them . Some time I do come close to my guessing .
I wish to know wheather
[1] raag Darbari do come close to Pahadi , Pilu or Shivranjani ?
[2] the background score/ piece of Mera Naam Joker, posted below , is based on raag Shivranjani ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyPtMS7bbpM
Mr Rangan, Thank you for your comments and the wonderful links. If the ‘way below par’ version of MS’s song is so good I can’t wait to hear the original. Maybe you could mail it as an attachment to AK at ak@songsofyore.com and leave him to devise a way to share it with others.
Mr Gaddeswarup, many thanks for your comments. As for Dharti ko akash pukare, please do post a link if you locate a longer version.
Thank you Mr Bhatia for your appreciation. As for your queries: no, Darbari is not similar to any of the ragas you have mentioned. The background score of Mera Naam Joker doesn’t seem to be based on any specific raga, but somewhere a phrase or two does give a glimpse of Shivranjani.
Thank you, thank you and thank you Mr Naik.
I should have made a mention of Raga Asa while talking of Mand. The two are very closely related and frankly, I can’t distinguish between them. Asa is very common is Sikh devotional music. Here is a link to an instrumental piece in Asa by an Ustad of Sikh devotional music:
https://youtu.be/2_Uyqw6SR98?list=FL3YzOFakzYxZQsKOnsQkMDA
I also wanted to talk of a very interesting composition of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan: ‘Maran muthe yun daar’ in Sindhi Kafi in the context of Mand. I dropped it when I couldn’t find a working link to the song. Since then, however, many audio links have come up. Here is one:
http://geet.fm/song/28371/thumri-bade-ghulam-ali-khan-ustad-bade-ghulam-ali-khan.html
Now Sindhi Kafi is not related to Kafi raga. In Punjab and Sindh ‘Kafi’ is a generic name for Sufi compositions. Almost all composition of the most famous Sufi poet of Punjab – Baba Bulle Shah – are called Kafis, although they are sung in various ragas. I had a discussion on this song with a knowledgeable friend of mine who confirmed that this is indeed a Kafi, i.e. a Sufi composition, based on Asa/Mand.
AK, thanks a lot for making good the omission of lyricists’ name in my draft. We mustn’t overlook their very important contribution.
Bhatiaji
Sivaranjani is also sung in carnatic concerts, but not as a main piece. It is added in the end mostly in thillanas. I have heard late Maharajapuram Santhanam, a veteran singing a thillana in this raag. The link is given below :
https://youtu.be/cWI1z8pRycU
It will sound a lot like AIR signature tune.
Another notable hindi film song is – Tere mere beech mein,.
The last piece on veena by Jayanti Kumaresh on maand is the one composed by Lalgudi G. Jayaraman. I will send the original mss piece on maand to you.
Here is Maharajapuram Santhanam composed thillana in Sivaranjani played on the violin by a noted artist Nagai Muralidharan
https://youtu.be/uJXL2kzMR6s
Thank you once again Mr Rangan for the wonderful links. Shivranjani suits the Carnatic style a lot more than many other ragas.
Subodh Agrwalaji certainly deserves all the praise of love that is being bestowed on him for more than making up his rather long absence from the stage.
Renuji’s painting is like a photograph, so accurate in details.
Whilst on the subject of Shivranjani, Shri Bhagwan Thavrani in his article on the subject on Web Gurjari informs that one of the most (ill)discussed song on SoY – Baharon Phool Barasao also belong sto this raga.
He also has added a beautiful ‘Patrani’ composition by SJ – Chandrama Mad Bhara Kyun Jhoome in this august list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L3vQ7Ta3f4
Nice to see these ragas Subodh. I have not read the article in its entirety just sampled it a bit and will come back for more.
However I wanted to post two pieces in Shivranjani . This piece in Mishra Shivranjani by Nikhil Bannerjee is one of my favourites. I used to have this cassette till it broke down with repeated playing. I bought it and a Khamaj rendition by him together. I do not have either with me now but they were both fabulous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHDPzeBlB30
And that piece leads me to this lovely composition of LP sung by Lata.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8w8F7w-LoY
I quite like the variation by the tabla at 1:44 right after “kaliyaan roye” in the first antara. In the second antara which is pitched lower it re-appears.
A Tamil song that Ashwin might be familiar with based on Maand, composed by A R Rahman and sung by Nithyashree Mahadevan who comes from an illustrious line. She can claim both D K Pattamal and Palghat Mani Iyer as her grandparents .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt4z_RQcf28
A Malayalam tune by one of my favourite composers Raveendran , it has a tinge of Maand , this one sung by Yesudas when he was still in his pomp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdB7PmqQ1jc
And here is a female version sung equally well by Chitra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbq8zQv1xWY
Thanks SSW for the two pieces. Nikhil Banerjee always sounds very sweet. In fact, some people berate him for being excessively sweet – like a cook who adds sugar to every dish! But his style suits this raga eminently.
I heard ‘Bahut din beete’ after ages. I had completely forgotten it. Thanks for bringing back this sweet memory.
Looking forward to your comments in particular on song ‘O mere sanam’ – is it only the use of the two gandhars together which gives this song a western air, or something else.
Occasional fragments of pieces in Marwa and Puriya Dhanashri also evoke the mood of Shivranjani. There is nothing common in their structure. I suspect that the komal ga – shudh ga relationship of Shivranjani gets transposed to sa – komal re relationship of these ragas by a change of scale. I have not been able to analyse it in detail.
SSW, I saw comment no. 21 after I had written number 22 – don’t know how that happened. All three links are excellent. I find that Shivranjani sounds very similar in Hindustani and Carnatic music; while the Carnatic Mand has a very different mood. The Hindustani version creates the mood of longing by holding a note for a time and then ending it by pulling it up to the next note. The movements in the Carnatic version are more smooth.
Hi Subodh
I listened carefully to O mere Sanam O mere Sanam but to be honest it did not trigger any relation to western classical music for me. The chromatic movement of the two gandhars don’t really carry any special significance. From a chord viewpoint the movement between the two would be a minor major shift but that is not something that is usually done. Again a few composers like Debussy, Ravel, Dvorak have used the pentatonic scale but they usually drop the Rishabh (supertonic) and go straight to the gandhar (mediant).
It is interesting that the shudh ga is used sparingly in the mukhda but is emphasized when Mukesh sings “kya gair vahan apnon…”
Incidentally I was thinking of some songs not of yore and Ismail Darbar has one composition in Maand (sort of)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzJE78-dlcA
and one in with a sort of I think Mishra Shivranjani effect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaPKkSrOTQM
Very interesting orchestration in both and some lovely backing vocals in the second song.
SSW, I tried the notes of ‘O mere sanam’. The second ‘..mere sanam’ in the mukhda has shudh ga at ‘mere’ and komal at ‘sanam’. The same progression from shudh to komal ga happens in the antara also. Somehow, this sounded Western to me.
Both compositions of Ismail Darbar are very good. Shivranjani shows more clearly in the second one as compared to Mand in the first.
Dear Mr Vaishnav, sorry for the delay in responding to your comment. First of all, thanks for the compliments. Thanks again for ‘Chandrama madbhara…’ It is a beautiful song.
Yes, unfortunately ‘Baharon phul barsao’ is also Shivranjani!
Subhodh ji;
I , being still a learner , wish to know the raag of a rare song from Barsaat….
Prem nagar mein basne walo……Lata….SJ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNVYxVq_uY4
Yes you are right Subodh it is a fleeting touch it always reverts to the komal ga . The same thing happens in “do armaan hai hum” where it goes “pa ga komal ga”. Interestingly the sa is sparingly used, western music composers use that technique to denote an incompleteness.
Mr. Bhatia ‘prem nagar me ” is Shivranjani.
Subodh I would like to present an interesting song by my favourite composer. It is the Shivranjani scale but the treatment is not standard.
Salilda composed this song in Malayalam first in a minor scale. The basic scale of the melody is Mishra Shivranjani but has interesting quirks. He uses the Madhyam and Komal Nishad liberally at times to fit into his chord structure. Note how the guitar and flute and electric organ play the counterpoint to Yesudas’s vocals. This is my favourite version and arguably the best sung.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT5DaHNdxw8
He used the tune again later in Tamil as a more upbeat version and in a Bengali film as a duet with a completely different orchestration that is quite lovely, sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jglZ-aX0hi8
Mr Bhatia’s question has been very ably answered by SSW. Thanks.
Poomanam may not be standard Shivranjani, but the mood is very much there. Agree with everything SSW has said about the two songs on the same tune by Salilda. Thanks SSW.
Subodh I like the lines in your wife’s painting and the shadows of the pillars. Why did she paint a left handed flute player? Is it because of Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia?
Here are two very well-known naatya geets based on Maand. The first one is from ‘Maanaapamaan’ for which the music was scored by Govindarao Tembe, the great harmonium player, while the second one is from ‘Swayamvar’ for which the music was scored by the legendary Bhaskarbuwa Bakhle. Both were originally sung by Bal Gandharva but I could locate a recording of only the first song in his voice.
1. ‘Khara to prema’ rendered by Bal Gandharva:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shQHUKigwkU
2. ‘Naravar krishna samaan’ rendered by Malini Rajurkar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St8ImoekGiA
Two film songs based on Maand that come readily to mind:
1. ‘Bachpan ki mohabbat ko’ from ‘Baiju Bawra’ (Lata/Naushad/Shakeel):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-LE6FfkaK4
2. ‘Do dil toote’ from ‘Heer Ranjha’ (Lata/Madan Mohan/Kaifi Azmi)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-gPGCHxL-k
Two examples of how Shivaranjani has been used in the devotional genre. The second one departs from Shivaranjani at 5:00, though.
S.P.Balasubramaniam sings the ‘Lingaashtakam’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_z4oRinK3E
‘Shivaaya parameshwaraaya’ by T.S.Radhakrishna:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vqe-PTv-Ak
One of the songs identified with MS was ‘Kurai onrum illai’, which was written by Rajaji. The song is set in a Ragamaalika with the first raga being Shivaranjani. The links at the top of the heap returned by a search on YT yield recordings from the last years of MS’s career and her voice is not in fine fettle, therefore I would recommend that readers listen to the recording at the very bottom of this link:
http://www.e5music.info/mp3/kurai-ondrum-illai-ms-shivaranjani-with.html
Readers can read more about this song, including its meaning, at this link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurai_Onrum_Illai
Here is a thumri in Mishra Shivaranjani by Lakshmi Shankar in which the artiste has brought out the pangs of separation of a virahini very well:
https://mr-jatt.com/download-tdyu/yaad-sataye-thumri-lakshmi-shankar-lakshmi-shankar.html
This piece was almost the only vocal piece in Shivaranjani that used to be played on the ‘Swar Sudha’ and ‘Sangeet Sarita’ radio programmes in the 70s and the 80s.
Another Shivranjani an interesting treatment by RD (AK’s favourite composer 🙂 :-)) . I had not mentally registered this till I started playing the notes on my guitar. A seductive Shivranjani if you will and very well done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zzaslekEPM
Sorry I don’t think I am right with #38, I think I got the tonic wrong. Mea Culpa.
SSW@32: The painting depicts the flute player in Mehrangarh fort Jodhpur. That’s how he plays.
I am right handed, but when I learnt to play the flute at the age of 10, my teacher got me started with the left handed grip. I have practiced it off and on over the years, but continued with the same grip. Now I hope to be more regular in my retirement.
Ashwin Bhandarkar, as always you have added a wealth of wonderful links. Thank you very much.
The Laxmi Shankar thumri is interesting. The ga-komal ga pairing in ‘…sataaye’ is somewhat unusual. If mentally one changes komal ga to sa, then it does start sounding like something from the Marwa – Puriya family.
Thanks, Subodhji. In fact, there is something similar happening with the beautiful Bhipinder song that you have posted. In fact, I must admit that until I played the song on the harmonium, and read your comment, I could not put my finger on what exactly was happening in that song.
Another Maand-based Bal Gandharva song from ‘Maanaapmaan’:
‘Malaa madana bhaase haa’
https://youtu.be/J3ffSpscWGI
Dear Ashwin, thanks again for the Bal Gandharva link.
Without going into fine details of musical ratios, a rough analysis shows that if Shivranjani’s komal ga is taken as sa then re, shudh ga, pa and dha become shudh ni, komal re, ga, and tivra ma respectively – that’s where the similarity with Marwa family comes in.
I came across this remarkable rendering of a Sufi composition by Hamid Ali Bela – sounds largely based on Mand:
https://youtu.be/s7hvJuryslk
Let me also share another Sufi composition by the same artist in Yaman. I heard it on radio nearly forty years back and you can’t imagine my joy when I finally found it again. The richness of the voice is truly amazing:
https://youtu.be/_NxN68tNbSI
Ashwin, another thing I noticed about ‘Karoge yaad to’ is that shudh ga is used more often than komal ga – particularly in the stanza. That’s probably what makes this song a little hard to figure out.
Subodhji: Agree with you wrt #45 & #47
And here’s another example of Maand – lines 17-24 of Sant Tulsidas’s Hanuman Chaalisa as sung by MS, corresponding to 04:06 to 05:36 of this recording:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18d83a_hanuman-chalisa-by-m-s-subbulakshmi_music
Subodhji at #10. Wikipedia article on Mela says “The song “Dharti Ko Aakash Pukaare” was originally put in as a title song, but it became extremely popular forcing the producers to have the full song added in the film.[9]”. This was by Shamshad Begum. This may explain why there are only snatches of it at various places given here https://youtu.be/wIhmsF6bXfY
I saw the film when I was a kid before 1950 but do not remember much except for Jeevan brushing his teeth with a neem stick or some such and of course I do not understand the meanings of the stanzas.
Thank you Mr Gaddeswarup for the YouTube link. I haven’t found any stanzas of ‘Dharti ko aakash pukare’ in a quick scan, but I will go over it in detail later.
Subodh ji ;
As a kid , as a youth and as of now ; I have seen Mela a number of times and I , being a passionate follower of Naushad , Dilip Kumar , Nargis movies , have in possession its cassettes , CDs , VCD , DVD which I see and listen to its beautiful songs during my leisure time . One thing I am sure is about its title .Yeh zindgi ke mele ….by Rafi was there right from the day one .
So far as Dharti ko Aakash Pukare…..is concerned , the song was picturised four [ or more ] times and have four versions by
1. Mukesh and Mukesh….singing both the stanzas [ dharti ko ….is duniya ko chhod….] shot for happy times.
2.Mukesh and Shamshad…..singing first and second stanza respectively…..again shot for happy times .
3.Mukesh…singing the first stanza and flute, violin completing the second stanza indicating the sad moment , Nargis unable to meet Dilip as she is to marry an old man as proposed by Jeevan and his maaussi.
4. Shamshad singing both the stanzas at the end of the movie and orchestra takes over till Dilip’s death . The song …Yeh zindgi ke mele…..sums up the story of the movie.
Thank you Mr Bhatia for your detailed and perceptive comments.
Subhodh ji ;
Browsing and listening to the wealth of music in various forms based on raag shivranjini . Came across a beautiful Gurbani Shabad and a master flute recital . Posting the same for every one’s pleasure.
1.Mere preetama…..by …..Bhai Ravinder singh ji
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjjf0BMSMSc
2. Dhun in raga Shivranjini on flute by…. Prasad Bhandarkar…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QuDEx3_Ygo
Thanks again Mr Bhatia for these links.
A couple of pieces in Maand on the guitar. First one by the Brij Bushan Kabra wbo as far as I know was the first to play the guitar on an Indian classical platform. He has an interesting couple of things to say at the begining. I see him drift into Pahadi at times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIDUxPFPO4I
And Vishwa Mohan Bhatt here playing Kesariya balam
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14rwjj_raag-maand-guitar-pt-vishwa-mohan-bhatt-indian-classical-instrumental-lure-of-desert_music
Thanks SSW. I first became aware of Brij Bhushan Kabra through his record ‘Call of the Valley’ done with Shiv Kumar Sharma on santoor and Hari Prasad Chaurasiya on flute. He faded away pretty quickly and then Vishwa Mohan Bhatt occupied the scene.
SSW
One Prasad from Karnataka has been playing guitar in carnatic music and has given several performances in India and abroad. I have mp3. recordings. Very good to listen to.
Thank you Mr. Rangan. I think you are speaking of Sukumar Prasad. He was the first I think to play Carnatic music on the electric guitar. I have heard a couple of his pieces. It is interesting that all Hindustani guitar players use a modified version of the guitar to play while most of the Carnatic musicians use an unmodified guitar to play. Perhaps it is because in Hindustanic concerts there is no supporting violin though I have heard Carnatic guitarists play un-accompanied. Here is a South Indian who plays Hindustani music on a modified guitar which is reminiscient of the Weissenborn instruments of the early and mid 1900s. In her speech before she starts playing she talks about two types of guitars Spanish and Hawaiian (the Hawaiian was actually a modified spanish guitar with a higher action played with a steel bar) but there is a third type of guitar called the Portuguese guitar which is not so famous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odbCv6WEvgU
There is one R.Prasanna in Chennai who gives carnatic music concerts with guitar
Yes Prasanna is well known. He spent some time here in Boston at Berklee college. One of my neighbours at that time was a professor at Berklee teaching courses on counterpoint, harmony etc and mentioned that Prasanna was student.
Here is a Saigal song that is based on Maand:
‘Karun kya aas niraas bhayi’ from Dushman (MD – Pankaj Mullick, Lyricist – Arzoo Lucknawi)
https://youtu.be/0z9c86l_9-A
Thanks Ashwin. I never realized this song is in Mand.
Even I hadn’t, Subodhji,till the realization struck me like a ton of bricks when I heard it on ‘Bhoole Bisre Geet’, the Vividh Bharati program, a few days ago
Very nice article Subodh!Well done. One Maand that is very close to my heart is this – Hope you like it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYYFX3AZemU
Thank you chitrapatsangeet. Shobha Gurtu’s voice is made for Mand. This composition is excellent.
Subodhji
Here is a song sung in Maund by M S Subbalakshmi from the film Sevasadan.
https://youtu.be/nCdYzvex_Uw
Subodhji
P U Chinnappa was a leading actor in Tamil filmk in 1940s. He was well versed in carnatic music and had sung many memorable songs. Here is one in Maund from the film Kannagi. He is singing the praise of his mistress – Madhavi.
https://youtu.be/Wpee0zMcKes
Wonderful post.
Thanks for the fragment from Mela (song 4)- just mind blowing. Naushad doing an SJ-esque orchestration!!
And the Mand by Mast Kalandar is so raw and beautiful
Here is a piece of Mand from Music of the Deserts by Zakir Hussain – it also has Sarangi as well as vocal by Ustad Sultan Khan. (Mand starts at 46 minutes, if am right) Sultan Khan’s vocal is much before that. But this is a much more sanitized version compared to the Mast Kalandar’s version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNycyVJx43s
All the shivranjini songs chosen above are great. In addition , Baharo phool barsao deserves a mention.. Such lovely song. Then
Dil ke zharokhe mein tujhko baithaakar is another gem and not to talk of Kahin deep jale kahin dil by Lataji in bees saal baad…