Film songs based on classical ragas 2 A date with Yaman. Guest article by Subodh AgrawalSubodh Agrawals second article in this series has been a long time in coming. I am responsible for part of the delay as it came when I had scheduled my post on the Best songs of 1. But when you read it you would agree it has been well worth the wait. Subodh bears his scholarship lightly, and writes in a style as lucid and fluent as the Raga Yaman itself. Here is his piece on one of the most popular ragas which would delight both connoisseurs as well as lay listeners. AKI have never understood why Yaman is the first raga to be taught to students. Yes, it does have a simple structure in the sense that it has no komal svaras, but its simplicity is deceptive. Creating beauty in Yaman requires a high level of skill and sensitivity. It sounds bland and pedestrian in the hands of a novice or an artist of average capability. There is, however, no limit to the heights it can attain in the hands of a master. No wonder it is one of the favourite ragas of our film industrys composers, some of whom Roshan for example have given their best in this raga. Yaman and Kalyan are two different names of the same raga. Yaman Kalyan, interestingly, is slightly different, as it uses shuddha madhyam occasionally along with the teevra madhyam of Yaman. The difference is not much, and in this article I would use Yaman to mean both Yaman and Yaman Kalyan. The predominant mood of Yaman is tranquility shant rasa. Another great raga Malkauns is also known for evoking shant rasa, but there is an important difference between the two. The tranquility of Malkauns has a Yogic, meditative quality about it. Yamans serenity is much closer to everyday life. It evokes the kind of peace one feels when one is happy at home and with family, in the company of friends, watching a beautiful sunset, or doing something one enjoys. The shant rasa of Yaman combines well with bhakti rasa. It is an ideal raga for devotional compositions. Let me therefore begin with one of the best known works of Roshan, Man re tu kahe na dheer dhare, from the film Chitralekha. A few years back Outlook magazine had polled some leading music personalities to come up with a list of twenty all time great songs from films, and this song topped that list. I wouldnt quite go that far, but there is no doubt that this is one of the great songs of Hindi films. Mohammad Rafi sings Man re tu kahe na dheer dhare from Chitralekha 1. Sahir Ludhiyanvi, music Roshan. Because of its capacity of combining bhakti and shant rasa, Yaman is ideal for recitation of Sanskrit slokas.
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