A Veritable Treasure Trove - Raag Yaman On the Lighter Side...

Raag Yaman has given us innumerable songs that have stood the test of time and changing public tastes.  We look at some of the truly 'timeless' numbers from the Hindi Film-world in this post!

Having said that Rāg Yaman is one of the most versatile matrices capable of expressing a range of emotions, we can find numerous songs in the Hindi film and non-film domain. Practically every singer / composer has given us a few gems in Yaman and Yaman-Kalyān, but the melody-queen Latā Mangeshkar still reigns supreme in the domain.

We begin our day with Latā-didi’s ‘Shree Rāmchandra Krupālu’ in the early hours and drift off to sleep late in the night with ‘Beeti nā bitāyi rainä’ (Film: 'Parichay' with Bhupendra). The range of songs in-between is simply amazing! Consider just a few – ‘Sansārse bhāge phirate ho’ (Film: Chitralekha), ‘Lau lagāti’ (Film: Bhābhi ki Chudiyān), ‘Jeevan dor tumhi sang’ and ‘Tum gagan ke chandramā’ (both from Film: Sati Sāvitri), ‘Kinu sang khelu holi’ (Meerabāi’s devotional song), ‘Jāre badarā bairi jā’ (Film: Bahānā), ‘Jiyā le gayo ji’ (Film: Anpadh), ‘Mausam hai äshikānä’ (Film: Pākizāh), ‘Chhupālo yun dil mein pyār’ (Film: Mamtā with Hemant Kumar), ‘Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolegi’ (Film: Barsāt Ki Rāt) and a host of others truly memorable ones!

Other artists from film-world are not far behind. Talat Mehmood, with his velvety voice, has given us ‘Aānsoo samazke kyoon mujhe’ (Film: Chhāyā) and ‘Seene mein sulagate hai aramān’ (Film: Tarānā with Latā) while Mukesh has left behind ‘Tum bin jeevan’ (Film: Anitā), ‘Sārangā teri yād mein’ (Film: Sārangā), ‘Chandan sā badan’ (Film: Saraswatichandra) and ‘Bhooli hui yādon’ (Film: Sanjog) for posterity. Mohammed Rafi, the voice with an incredible range, sang ‘Man re tu kāhe na’ (Film: Chitralekhā), ‘Lagtā nahin hein dil merā’ (Film: Lāl Quilā), ‘Ehsān terā hogā mujhpar’ (Film: Junglee) and ‘Abhi na jāo chhodkar’ (Film: Hum Dono) in Rāg Yaman.

Late KL Saigal, the immortal singer, is also best remembered for ‘Mein kyā jānoo kyā jādoo hai’ (Film: Zindagi), ‘Diyā jalāo’ (Film: Sangeet Samrāt Tānsen) and ‘Do nainā matwāle’ (Film: Meri Bahen / aka My Sister) sung in Yaman-matrix.

Even Kishor Kumar, not particularly known for his classical leanings, has given us ‘Woh shām kuchh ajeeb thi’ (Film: Khāmoshi) and ‘Aāp ke anurodhpe’ (Film: Anurodh) based on this matrix. Yesudās, the southern superstar, is still best remembered for ‘Jab deep jale ānā’ (Film: Chitchor) from his forays in the Hindi film world. And who can forget veteran Mannā-dā  with Ashā Bhosale when they belt out effortless tāns in ‘Re man sur mein gā’ (Film: Lāl Patthar)...!

The younger generation also feels gravitated to the irresistible magic of Yaman’s scale and the evidence can be found in compositions like ‘Aāye ho meri jindagimein’ (Film: Rājā Hindustāni), ‘Ghar se nikalate hi’ (Film: Pāpā Kehte Hai) and ‘Sochenge tumhe pyär’ (Film: Deewānā). Shankar Mahādevan’s ‘Breathless’ composed in Rāg Yaman stayed atop the best-seller charts for a considerable time.

But the icing on the cake, also my personal favourite, in Yaman is ‘Ranjish hi sahi’ sung by Mehdi Hasan, the ghazal-maestro. Oh gosh, what a wealth of compositions and we have not even scratched the surface...!

To round off this lovely riot of songs, here's a 'fun-medley' of some evergreen Yaman songs for your pleasure – a true treasure trove indeed!!!  We will round-off this Yaman-trek with the next post especially devoted to Marathi compositions in this pleasure-domain...

An Amazing Family!

This is unmistakably one of the most unforgettable Lata Mangeshkar melodies from the golden era of Hindi film music. ‘Aeri mein to prem diwäni’ (Film: Naubahar, Music: Late Roshan) bears unmistakable stamp of Raag Bhimpaläs and almost fifty years since it was composed, the song still holds its position on the top of charts. Similarly, Bhimpaläs, an afternoon melody in classical repertoire belonging to Käfi Thät, also retains its popularity amongst vocalists and instrumentalists alike despite availability of other raag-matrices in this time zone.

Some musicologists hold that Bhimpaläs’s originates from Raag Dhanäshri (rarely sung in recent times), but differs from Dhanäshri in its emphasis on Shuddha Madhyam (fourth note). Right from the old maestros like Ustäd ‘Baba’ Alläuddin Khän, Ustäd Faiyäz Khän, Pt Krishnaräo S Pandit, Pt Mallikärjun Mansoor to today’s Pt Kishori Amonkar, Late Dr Vasantrao Deshpände, Pt Jitendra Abhisheki and a host of others have explored Bhimpaläs’s matrix according to individual creativity. The Abhisheki composition ‘Rang chhuye jo kesarake’ is worth mentioning here with the maestro’s creativity highlighting upper half of the Bhimpaläs This composition is available for your listening pleasure in the voice of Vijay Koparkar, Pt. Abhisheki's disciple, elsewhere on this page.

Maräthi nätyasangeet has derived a host of popular numbers from this matrix. Bäl Gandharva’s ‘Swakul tärak sutä’ (Sangeet Swayamvar) is one of the most remarkable and popular compositions in Bhimpaläs. Equally popular is ‘Prem sewä sharan’ from ‘Mänäpamän’ composed by Late Pt Govindräo Tembe in Bhimpaläs. This composition was later given a distinct ‘Multäni’ flavour by Pt Dinänäth Mangeshkar. ‘Marathi rasik’ will also forever remember ‘Amrutähuni god näm tuze devä’ sung by Late Smt Manik Varmä in her inimitable, sweet voice.

There are a couple of other melodies that are close to Bhimpaläs’s structure but with a small variation thrown in. The first that comes to mind is Raag Patdeep, identified separately from Bhimpaläs with the use of Shuddha Nishäd and its emphasis on Pancham. Patdeep has been immortalized in Hindi film-music by Late SD Burman in his composition ‘Meghä chhäye äadhi rät’ (Film: Sharmilee, Music: Late SD Burman) while Veer Säwarkar’s ‘Marma bandhätali thev’ (Sangeet Sanyasta Khadga) has been sung by a number of vocalists over the years and has truly been a treasure-trove.

Another raag-matrix that’s close to Bhimpaläs is known as Raag Dhäni. The emphasis here is on ‘Gandhar’ (third note) and the matrix uses only five notes from the octave. SD Burman once again comes up with a masterpiece in this raag with ‘Khilte hai gul yahän’ (Film: Sharmilee). But the ‘magnum opus’ in Dhani has been composed by Pt Jitendra Abhisheki. His brilliance was evident when he composed an electrifying version of ‘Ghei chhand makarand’ in ‘Katyär Kälajät Ghusali' (also available as a link under "For your listening pleasure..."). Late Jaidev also immortalized Dhäni in ‘Prabhu tero näm’ (Film: Hum Dono)।

Truly an amazing family – Raag Bhimpaläs and its siblings! Then there's Raag Madhuwanti - also from the similar time-slot, but an independent raag-matrix closer to Raag Multäni worth writing a separately on. More about it in some other episode...