Gag bag: June 2016

hindi

For a person who tends to listen to a huge variety of songs, this is one Raag which each of us has come across multiple times. It is one of the most fundamental and basic raags in Hindustani Classical music.

For one, it is a raag which uses all seven notes, namely Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni, and because it uses all 7 notes, the combinations are a lot more than what a 5 note raag might have. Hence, the number of songs which are based on Yaman or are pure Yaman are uncountable.

Notice that we use the teevra Ma, i.e. the sharp Ma in this raag. The shuddha ma is avoided, though sometimes in compositions, you might hear a note or two of the shuddha ma, but that is added only for adorning the composition. To stick to the pure Yaman, we completely avoid using the shuddha ma.

Yaman is also called emaan, aimaan. To begin classifying it, lets get to the definition of the Raag Yaman.

Thaat: Kalyan

Jati: Sampoorna

Vadi Swar: Ga

Samvadi Swar: Ni

Time of day: Evening/ Late evening

Aaroh (ascent): Ni Re Ga Ma Dha Ni Re Sa

Avaroha (descent): Sa Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga Re Sa

Most raags will have a recognizable pattern to them, which will almost immediately tell you that oh, this might be so and so raag, just on the basis of the 4-5 note phrase. This is often called the pakad, i.e. the primary phrase or the defining phrase of that raag.

For Raag Yaman, it is the phrase,

Pakad: Ni Re Ga

This phrase will almost immediately pull you towards defining the raag as yaman.

Some other very familiar and often used phrases are:

Ma Ga Pa

Ma Dha Pa

The reason for this is that Yaman rules will push you to not move from Ni -> Sa directly, and from Sa -> Re too. And thats the same case with Pa, wherein Ma -> Pa, and Pa -> Dha isn’t allowed. These three rules kind of define the whole raag structure. Its one of those raags with very less number of rules. The Vadi Samvadi swars are usually the notes which are most emphasized, but yaman is so elaborate, that it doesn’t need to stick to these to emphasize itself. All the notes have almost equal weight, and can be used as per the mood and as per the composition, which gives even more space to play with in the land of the 12 notes (essentially in one octave).

Yaman really brings out a variety of emotions, and most of it depends on the usage of notes in the compositions. It can sound devotional, romantic, nostalgic or just plain happy. It is this wonderful capacity that Yaman has, that has excited composers and has given them the hope that they can create something new yet another time, from one of the oldest raags, i.e. Yaman.

A lot of famous songs are based on this raag, and I will try to explicitly state the Pakad in each of these which make them easy to identify them with Yaman. Who can forget:

Mohammed Rafi’s – Zindagi bhar nahi bhoolegi wo barsaat(Ni Re Re Re Ga) ki raat. This is one good example of how a composer uses the shuddha ma and komal ni to great effect. At the end of the verse, you will see a beautiful usage of these two notes. In the line “Kabhi dekhi na suni aisi, kabhi dekhi na suni(use of the komal Ni) aisi, tilismaat ki(use of shuddha ma) raat”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5GWp3w65s0

Mohammed Rafi’s – Mann re tu kaahe na dheer dhare, wo nirmohi, moha na jaane, jinka(Ni Re Ga) moha kare. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSRN316hGFA

Asha Bhosle – Nigaahe milaane(Ni Re Ga) ko ji chahata(Ni Re Ga) hai. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5SM4D515Jc

Asha Bhosle – Tethe(Ni Re Ga Pa) kar majhe julti. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQWTcEuLucg

Zeb, Haniya - Chal Diye. (You will find the Ni Re Ga in the Sa Ni Sa Ni Dha Ni, Ni Dha Ni Re Ni Dha Pa, Ma Dha Ni Re Ga Re Sa Ni Dha Pa Ma, Re Ga… part of the sargam which he sings) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY_LzIAG4gc

Suman Kalyanpurkar – Jithe Saagara(Ni Re Ga Ga Ga Ga), dharani milte. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX2xeEEXSNw

And so many more! As you will see, the phrase Ni Re Ga is so widely used, yet it is so difficult to distinguish since it is composed and fit so well in the song. And it occurs time and again, yet it always sounds different and just as beautiful each time.

For some reason, the Ni Re Ga for me tends to emote a wonderful emotion to the song. While listening to a song, if I find it, I feel amazed with the skill with which this phrase was hidden in the composition. I just feel like my mind blows away every time I listen to it. And I find it tough to figure out notes by just listening to a sung version of the song, so when I do come to realize that woah, that seemed like a Ni Re Ga there, it is a feeling comparable to finding gold.

Many classical compositions are available, and Yaman has been sung with great splendor in all of them. A few which come to my mind are:

Ut. Rashid Khan - Aiso sughara sundaravaa baalamavaa - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSEuCJSnu94

Pt. Venkateshkumar – Haravaa moraa re devo maMgaae - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Itbwcyaxq4

Nachiket Sharma – Bolo Raam Naam - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwyREIblBwY

Pt. Jayashree Patankar – Jiyaa maanat nahi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6YZRkf5luc

And no list would be complete without..

Pt. Bhimsen Joshi – Eri Ali Piya Bin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf-s2bZNl7w

There are so many transitions which sound so amazing when taken in Yaman. And although the compositions are much more than these small transitions, it is these which make the song all that complex and wonderful at the same time. The Ni Pa Ma Ga Re Sa, Ni Re Ga Re Pa Ma Ga Re Sa, Ga Ma Ga Pa, Ma Ga Re Ma Re Ga Re Sa, Ni Dha Sa, (Sa)Dha Ni Re, are a few which strictly adhere to the rules, and yet give a completely new side to Yaman whenever used. Then there are a few which don’t strictly adhere, but are often used since the application kind of makes it seem that the rule is followed. For example, often you will hear a well trained singer sing Re Ga Ma Pa, but its done so quickly, and by not stopping on Pa, and proceeding onto another note, it kind of shifts the weight from Pa to the next note, thereby almost following the rule of not moving from Ma-Pa. Then often time you might hear a singer sing Ni Sa Ni Sa, which technically shouldn’t be allowed, but again, the right application makes it sound interesting. And by not forcing the use or by utilizing it in just a one off spot, it makes it an interesting and fun to experience composition.

A very fun part which strikes me is the meend. Meend is the transition from one note to another, and is usually taken while playing/singing a note. For example, if I am singing a Ni, I can sing the exact frequency of Ni, and it will sound as Ni. But, I can also start singing Sa, and then sing Ni. And that transition, wherein I just somehow start at Sa's frequency but immediately move to Ni and sing Ni is called meend, and is denoted as so (Sa)Ni. What that does is, it gives an effect as if we are sliding down from Sa to Ni. And that slide creates wonderful musical combinations. Meends can be taken between any two notes, and if the distance between the notes is more than 1, then you will notice that the slide goes and slightly touches all the notes in between and then plays the real note. A very simple example is as stated below, and you will notice how much of a wonderful difference it makes, while playing plain Dha Ni Re Ga Re Sa,
and then playing it with the meend, (Sa)Dha Ni (Ga)Re Ga Re Sa.

Yaman is a fascinating raag, and every time I listen to someone play it or sing it, it takes me to a divine place. Music is an experience, and I wish that I had the vocal capacity to sing as well as the stalwarts, but I suffice that need by listening to any and every thing I can lay my hand on. My wish is that I can sit in an acoustically designed room, and have a singer sing wonderful aalaps/taans and that I just listen to it all day. Till then, I have my headphones and the internet at my disposal.

Yaman to me is like the wind, like the cool breeze. You know its always there around you, you just have to give it a shape, and it will sing to you!

Classical

My view of a राग..

4:08:00 PM

Music has always been something of a mystery to me. Not because it is rare, but more so due to its abundance. It is found in everything, from the living to the non living to the abstract. It is a powerful tool, and has an ability to bring out emotions which only few other art forms manage to bring out in me. And it is no surprise, that people all over the world have tried to understand and unravel the depths of this great art form.

My knowledge is very restricted, and very biased, coming from an Indian family where music is being played at every moment. Music was an answer to everything, and also the perfect excuse to just about anything. I could easily skip studies, work on the pretext of listening to music. And this came from the understanding that listening to music or being somehow connected to music was better than anything else I might have been doing.

Overtime, as the music taste evolved within me, I tried to listen to more and more different types of music. And somehow for some reason, I just kept falling back to Indian classical music. And I may have tried to be the rebellious child by trying to listen to some different music genres just so that I don’t become one of the typical Indian people who will always say that everything Indian is better than anything else in the world, but I seem to have no other option but to come back to this. I have come to realize that with whatever little I understand about music, no one else has made such a deep and vast study of music in general and its implications with respect to mood, emotions and human behavior as the stalwarts of Indian classical music have.

I think that is all I will say about the “why”.

Let me now directly jump into the “what”. So what is Indian classical music? I would say, it is a collective study of probably 2000 years or so of music and the science behind it. Why Indian? Well, that is because it originated within the Indian subcontinent. And this has nothing to do with present day India. Indian classical music has contributions from the whole of the continent, and has a lot of input right from Urdu, Pashto, Arabic, Hindi, Sanskrit languages. Which region wise would cover regions from Persia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.

Over the years, two major forms of music evolved, with each form giving precedence to some details in music over the other, and thereby basing the whole study on those features. I can think of Carnatic and Hindustani Classical music as the two main branches. And since my exposure to Carnatic music is almost equal to zero, I will elaborate only on Hindustani classical music.

Hindustani classical music is based off of 3 major pillars, which make up the music within it.

Sur (swar) - Is the musical note. (can be further broken down into Shruti).

Taal – This is the beat, or the clock which binds the music piece.

Laya – This is the tempo.

Together, with these tools, you can formulate any musical piece. After all, a musical piece is nothing but musical notes bound together in a cyclic beat structure, bound by a natural tempo to make it sound melodious.

It could be something as simple as humming a tune, the heart beating, snoring, or the chirping of birds.

Now without further ado, I will step into the Raag or the Raaga. I don’t want to be a know-it-all, and hence what I intend to do is to post Raag examples over a period of time. And that should make things easier for me to put, and for the reader to understand as well.

As a simple definition, a raag is a combination of swaras. And that implies that the raag can then move only within the boundaries of the notes it is made up of. But that’s not all there is to it. There are rules on how to move from one musical note to another. And rules on how to apply a musical note while playing it or singing it. What that means is that a Rishabh (Re) (D in western) played in Raag Yaman will not be the same as that in Raag Bhoop. And its small intricate details such as these, that make the whole system complex and spell bounding at the same time.

As an introduction, the swaras (notes) are:

Sa – Shadja

Re – Rishabh

Ga – Gandhar

ma – Madhyam

Pa – Pancham

Dha – Dhaivat

Ni – Nishaad

These are the 7 main notes (shuddha), and then there are 5 other notes, which are

Komal re – Soft Rishabh

Komal ga – Soft Gandhar

Teevra Ma – Sharp Madhyam

Komal dha – Soft Dhaivat

Komal ni – Soft Nishaad

As a rule, every Raaga always has Sa (this is because it is the starting point of the Raag, and hence it can’t be avoided. It is the note with whose help the other notes are defined).

To make this clear, it essentially sets the benchmark for the frequency of the notes. Once the Sa is defined, you can say that Re will be 1 note above it, Ga will be 2 notes above it and so on. Without the Sa, you have nothing to base your note off.

Another rule is that you have to have one of Ma or Pa within your raag. Yet another one is that you can’t skip more than 4 notes when defining a raag. And the last rule (well there maybe more) is that the raag should have atleast 5 notes. You can’t have a raag with just Sa Re Ga Ma.

For notations, we will use Sa Re Ga ma Pa Dha Ni for the shuddha swaras, and re ga Ma dha ni for the rest of the komal and teevra swaras.

For the octave below (Mandra Saptak) the usual (Madhya Saptak) , we will use a underline below the note, and for the octave above (Taar Saptak) the usual, we will use an overbar.

Well, that was for starters. I shall keep posting something on Raag as and how I find time.

Gag bag

Om tatsa shree

Thank you God, Asato Maa

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Gag bag

Om tatsa shree

Thank you God, Asato Maa

Lead kindly light

Raag Yaman

My view of a राग..

About Me

Clicker

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