I was at the Kailash Kher concert at the IIM-Bangalore grounds on 29th Jan 2012. This is a fabulous time of the year for music. From October to February as the weather cools down across India, it has been the tradition to get the musicians to strut their wares. This is show time folks. From Indian classical music concerts that start in the evening and end up in the wee hours of the morning, these concerts have seen the launch (and demise) of many a musical career. Some of the conferences like the Dover Lane Music Conference has a cult following. Chennai has its famous Kutcheri circuit where each year the maestros rub shoulders with the young artistes who are unafraid to experiment with form and structure of what has been the traditional definition of Classical music. There are Jazz fests, the universities have their share of rock concerts as part of the cultural festivals. All in all it is a happy time to be around.

I have had the opportunity to hear Kailash Kher live during a concert of AR Rahman in Nov 2007. (Read about it here). During these four years Kailash Kher has become a lot more established as a singer. Thanks to all the Reality TV shows we have seen him on prime time. His band Kailasa has some talented musicians. Kailash is releasing his fourth album Rangeeley (colorful). Watch him do an acoustic version of the song with the two Kamath brothers (Naresh & Paresh) who play rhythm and bass guitar for Kher’s band and do the back up vocals.

Kailash Kher has a few hits to his credit. Saiyyan is certainly one of them. I like the music but I don’t think much of the lyrics of the song. He sings passionately and has an awesome range especially when he hits the high notes he does a great job.

Kailash certainly sounds better in the recorded and mixed tracks that have been processed in the studio than during a stage performance. He has a unique sound. So where is the catch? I think he is a good singer and a poor performer. Every great singer is not necessarily a great performer. Performers have the ability to take the audience along with them. They speak to them, they laugh, they respond to the catcall… it is all of that.

Kailash Kher is awkward to say the least. He switches between the language that he can communicate in ie Hindi to one which thinks he OUGHT to communicate with ie English. He is awkward in English. His humor is puerile and all this takes away from the performance. A performer may have a pre-determined list of songs that he/she intends to perform. If the crowd requests for a specific song, a performer will rework their own sequence. The humor of a performer is spontaneous. Singers tend to use canned humor and it inevitably fails. Kailash struggled to connect with the audience. At the IIM-B concert he tried to and tried too hard but hit the false notes in trying to make up his mind between being a good singer and being a performer. Performers have charisma. They have attitude. They are not afraid to speak their mind. They are not afraid to lead. This is what Kailash Kher lacks.

Lata Mangeshkar is a great singer but she is not a performer. She is an amazingly gifted singer. Three generations of Indians have grown up with her voice. Her sister Asha Bhosle is a natural performer. Asha B will narrate anecdotes, crack jokes, share amusing insights and quirks about her co-singers, pull the leg of other artistes on stage and even mimic her elder sister Lata-didi’s style of singing. Sonu Nigam is a performer. His ever evolving hair style moves from cool to crazy every month while his wardrobe could be the envy of a clotheshorse. That he is an awesome singer makes him a performer par excellence. The other performer is Shreya Ghoshal. I am fan of her voice. It also helps that she is edgy in her views and stylish – all of which makes her much more than a singer. The tabla player was always supposed to be in the background with the sarangi player or harmonium player who accompanied the classical singer or instrument player. That was the case until Zakir Hussain came along. He is a performer par excellence. He brought up the stature of the tabla and moved it from the backdrop to one that got as much of the audience attention as the main artiste. That is what a performer can do to an instrument.

What should a singer do to become a performer? Be unafraid to experiment and have a point of view. I think … for starters.

There are many beautiful morning ragas in Hindustani Classical music. Raga Todi or Miyan ki Todi was the trademark composition of Miyan Tansen the legendary composer in the court of Akbar. Raga Todi is also known as Miyan ki Todi, Shuddha Todi and Darbari Todi. All these names essentially refer to the same Raga Todi. Todi is a morning raga that is sung from 8am to 10am. It has the ability to evoke the same mood of playfulness of a newborn lying in bed content, smiling and playful. In film music, Raga Todi has been largely used in composing songs that depict pathos. I was listening to the songs of the recent Shahid Kapoor film Mausam (to read the review of the film click here) and heard Raga Todi showing up in the song Purey Se Zara Sa Kam Hai (Trans: Somewhat less than complete). It is the loveliest example of the Raga Todi in recent film songs. If you can think of another one, do let me know. The only thing that jarred a bit in the film is that the montage ends up with Shahid lost in thoughts well into the night. I don’t want to nitpick. I am just delighted to hear the strains of Todi that too sung by Ustad Rashid Khan.

The ten thaats (arrangement of notes) in Hindustani Classical Music are Asavari, Bilawal, Bhairav, Bhairavi, Todi, Poorvi, Marwa, Kafi, Kalyan, Khamaj. I use a simple mnemonic (AB-BB-TPM-KKK) to remember the list. My father used to always point out that the scales should not be confused with the Raga of the same name. So the Bhairavi Thaat is quite distinct from Raga Bhairavi. Two ragas with similar notes used could sound very different depending on the how long the performer lingers on the note and in what sequence of appearance. Raga Malkauns is a night raga (performed after midnight till 2am) based on the Bhairavi thaat while Raga Bhairavi is a late morning (10am to 12 noon) raga. Now back to Raga Todi. This time it is Rashid Khan performing Raga Todi in the classical form. Can you discover the song Pure Se Zara Sa Kam hai in this piece?

I want to take you back to Raga Todi being sing by two stalwarts of Hindi Film music – Manna Dey and Mohd Rafi singing Tu Hai Mera Prem Devata (Trans: You the God of Love) from the film Kalpana (1960). Listen to the first minute of the song to get the flavor of the Raga Todi and see if you can hear the strains of the previous song as well.  The dancers are the Travancore sisters – Padmini and Ragini. They were they were three sisters (Lalitha being the eldest) who performed in many Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam films.

There is a composition by Pandit Ravi Shankar for the film Meera made in 1979 which has a superb composition in Raga Todi done by Vani Jairam.

I am too much of a Kishore Kumar fan to not showcase one song in Raga Todi. The song is from the film Lava (1985). It has the lyrics of Anand Bakshi, music by RD Burman and Kishore singing this version of Raga Todi.

There are other variants of Raga Todi that you may like to explore

Raga Darbari Todi – composed by Tansen for the darbar (court) of Emperor Akbar. Listen to Ustad Fateh Ali singing this rare raga (Click here)

Raga Bilaskhani Todi by different singers is listed here (click here)

Raga Gurjari Todi – a lovely and very popular variant of Todi (click here)

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Some more classical compositions in Raga Todi by different singers.

“I woke up to the sound of Raga Ahir Bhairav, the legendary voice of Ustad Amir Khan rendering the morning raga as a variant of the original Raga Bhairav. I looked at my watch. It was four in the morning. I could visualize the scene in the living room. Keya would be sitting by the window, waiting for the first glimpse of dawn. The window would be open and the white lace curtains would be swaying in the cool breeze to the accompaniment of the wind chimes hanging in the corner. They sounded like the cowbells used by the Ahirs, which was what had supposedly inspired the creation of the raga, according to Keya. Ahir Bhairav, she told me, keeps the musical framework of Raga Bhairav but adds a few notes that are reminiscent of cowbells.” – Married But Available

There is an unspoken divide between the musical cognoscenti in India who appreciate the various Ragas of classical music and the masses whose musical staple is the music used in mainstream cinema. There is a historical reason for this. The royalty in India had patronized many musicians. For instance the patronage of the royalty led to the legendary classical musician Baba Allauddin Khan forming the Maihar band. Another patron of classical music was the Nawab of Awadh (the present Lucknow) Wajid Ali Shah who wrote under the pen-name Qaisar. (His famous thumri Babul Mora Naihar Chhuto Hi Jaye is set in Raga Bhairavi) His palace in Lucknow is also called Qaisarbagh Palace. Since very few commoners had access to the palaces, it created a divide between those who knew about Hindustani Classical music and those who didn’t. People who compose music that has mass appeal can then leverage their knowledge of the Ragas and give the masses a taste of what lies behind these closed doors. Classical music needs to be democratized. Given the popularity of Bollywood music in India, the raga based songs in film music deserve special respect because they are bringing royal treasures to the masses. My father used to teach me Ragas by playing film songs and getting me to associate the names of the raga that was the base of the composition.

I want to introduce you to a morning raga – Ahir Bhairav. This is different from Raga Bhairav - another morning Raga I wrote about here. The Ahir are a caste of cowherds, milkers, and cattle breeders widely dispersed across the Gangetic Plain. According to musical folklore, the melody of their cowbells is supposed to be behind this raga. Thank you for giving us this beautiful raga. Ahir Bhairav is a late morning raga and can be sung from 8am up to 10 am. In my second novel Married But Available, Keya is listening to it at 4am. That only shows that it is possible to enjoy a Raga even if the time is not a hundred percent accurate.

Puchho Na Kaise Maine Rain Bitayi written by lyricist Shailendra and set to Raga Ahir Bhairav by SD Burman and sung by Manna Dey for the film Meri Surat Teri Ankhen (’63) will always remain the best example of this raga being used in Bollywood.

Salil Chowdhury used Raga Ahir Bhairav in the film Swami Vivekananda in 1994. The lyrics Chalo Man Jaiyein Ghar Mein Apne is a translation from Vivekanand’s original composition Chalo Mon Nije Niketane. There is a certain pathos in Ahir Bhairav that is common to this song as well as the one you just heard above.

I will now play the same raga sung by Pandit Jasraj. You have to try and see if you can spot the notes of Puchho Na Kaise when you hear the classical version of Raga Ahir Bhairav.

Finally I leave you to listen to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan singing Raga Ahir Bhairav.

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You can listen to this lovely post on Raga Ahir Bhairav based songs here

Jagriti theater in Bangalore featured Swar Katha Upanishad – an interplay of Hindustani Music and theater. The story was about Nachiketa the prince who was given to Yama the God of Death by Nachiketa’s father Vājashrava in a fit of anger. Nachiketa went to Death’s home, but Yama was out, and he waited three days. When Yama returned, he was sorry to see that a guest had been kept waiting. He told Nachiketato ask for three boons. Nachiketa first asked for peace for his father and himself. Yama agreed. Next, Nachiketa wished to learn the sacred fire sacrifice, which also Yama granted. For his third boon, Nachiketa asked to learn the mystery of what comes after death. Yama was reluctant on this question; he said that this had been a mystery even to the gods. He asked Nachiketa to ask for some other boon, and offered many material gains. But Nachiketa replied that material things will last only till the morrow. He who has encountered Death personally, how can he desire wealth? No other boon would do. Yama was secretly pleased with this disciple, and elaborated on the nature of the true Self, which persists beyond death. The key of the realization is that this Self (within each person) is inseparable from the supreme spirit, the vital force in the universe.

This dialog between Yama and Nachiketa forms the essence of Katha Upanishad. Where do we go after death? What remains when the body is gone? How do we live so that we accept death? Sometimes a performance seems to resonate a bit more because it reflects the mood of the audience. I was in Mumbai yesterday evening when the three blasts happened. Having seen the mindless pictures of death, this show couldn’t have been timed better.

45 shlokas (verses) were put to music using 20 Ragas – from Ahir Bhairav to Raga Jaijaiwanti by the noted guru of Dhrupad music Ramakant Gundecha. Twenty four singers of Sunaad (see Sunaad.org) performed this and kept the audience spell bound. Each shloka is explained in English before before being sung in the Sanskrit verse. Anand Kasturi does a remarkable job of being the Sutradhar.

Dhrupad is one of the most pristine forms of Hindustani Classical Music that traces its roots back to the times of the Vedas. You can get an excellent write up on the history of Dhrupad music and its musicians at http://dhrupad.org/

Catch the performance on Friday 15 July 2011 to Sunday 17 July 2011. The show starts at 6:30pm sharp. Go watch it.

Enjoy a beautiful performance by the Gundecha Brothers in Raga Adana – a Raga that is sung between midnight and two am.