INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC: A LEGACY OF TIMELESS TREASURE

What is a Rāgā?

   Vocal notes which, when played in a definite order, are capable of coloring your feelings is called a rāgā. Every one of us is born with music embedded in our hearts. When a rāgā is played, this music emanates in the form of a particular emotion corresponding to that rāgā. How many rāgās are there? The answer to this question is same as that of how many colors there are. We are humans because whenever something comes into our contact in physical form, we always react in three ways - physical, cognitive or interpretative and metaphysical or spiritual way. This is true for all the sensations like touch, taste, sight, smell and sound. Rāgā is composed of notes (swaras) which are nothing but physical vibrations of sound produced at a certain pitch with a certain frequency at a certain rhythm. But it is capable of evoking a gamut of moods and sentiments like the joy of union, the agony of separation, the ecstasy of devotion, restlessness of anticipation, pangs of bereavement, tenderness of love, the gallantry of nationalism, nostalgia of bygone moments and much more.

Songs Based on Rāgās: Points to Remember

   This is the introductory article in the series of eight articles addressed to various rāgās, their timings, their characteristic moods and old Hindi songs based on them. The various articles will comprise of golden melodies pertaining to:

   Early morning rāgās
   Late morning rāgās    
   Early evening rāgās 
   Late evening rāgās 
   Early night rāgās
   Late night rāgās
   A separate article on rāgā Pahadi

It should be borne in the mind that the rāgās we are going to rejoice in the series of these articles that follows, aren't pure classical songs. They stand between classical and folk songs, call them 'semi-classical'. The musicians of the yore have done a wonderful job in composing these songs, keeping the average mass population in mind who are not aware of the technical knowledge of the rāgās. It really doesn't matter, the heart is always there, waiting to respond to good music. Going too much into the technicalities or aiming to utmost perfection can harm the melody of a rāgā. These songs may not be a classical representation of its particular rāgā, as our musicians have taken liberties to deviate and drift from the classical face of the rāgā in order to mold the lyrics and semblance of the song according to a particular story or situation. A bit of mixing could occur here and there but it doesn't come in the way of expression of the beauty of that rāgā being expressed out of that song. The eminence and grandeur of each of these songs speak for the amazing insights and intuition the musicians had while composing a rāgā-based song.

The Tradition of Indian Classical Music

   The repository of Indian classical music is vast, varied, rich and as ancient as time itself. It is the oldest treasure house of performing art known to the world. In the contemporary era, there are two distinct styles of Indian classical music - Hindustani classical music (North Indian style) and Karnataka classical music (South Indian style). The tradition of classical music is preserved by lineages which are indigenous to a particular location e.g. Agra, Jaipur, Gwalior etc. Each gharana has a distinct style of rendering music depending upon the use of instruments and particular style of singing. A rāgā should have a minimum of five vocal notes and a maximum of twelve. Calculated mathematically, the various permutations and combinations of these notes give rise to 34,848 rāgās. Furthermore, various permutations and combinations of the rāgās produce innumerable different rāgās whose number runs in the millions. At present, around 500 rāgās are in actual practice and out of those 150 to 200 are most popular. When a rāgā is embellished with rhythm and lyrics incorporated by various instruments and a vocal singer, it becomes a song.

Music Directors and Rāgās

   One distinguishing feature of Indian film music is that different musicians had predilection towards particular rāgā, e. g. Kalyanji-Anandji loved Pilu and Charukeshi, Shankar-Jaikishan preferred Bhairavi and Shivranjani, Naushad loved Pilu and Khamaj, S. D. Burman was inclined towadrs Yaman and Bahar, Madan Mohan was fond of Chhayanat and Bhimpalasi while Khayyam was fond of Pahadi.

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Rāgā as an Extempore Art

   Playing Rāgā is an extempore type of performing art. The performer has to learn simply the basic anatomy of a particular rāgā. After this, he is free to perform unrehearsed with a lot of improvisations within prescribed limits enjoying sufficient freedom. Neither do the audience gather to listen to a predetermined or preset form of a rāgā. Because it is nowhere written or composed before, every rendition of a particular rāgā by different performers is quite different. It involves singing a line or weaving notes around that line or singing various phrases related to that particular line in multifarious ways, thus evoking an atmosphere of a particular mood in the musical concert with the cadence. This is the characteristic of a successful rendition.

The Association between Rāgā and Time

   It is the experience of all of us that certain emotions predominate during certain times or seasons. The ancient Indian Science of medicine (Ayurveda) tells us how depression looms large in the morning and rainy season and how anxiety reaches peak during the evening. As rāgās convey emotions, there are designated times or seasons for rāgās which means that they are most effective when sung or heard during that time period. Such is the beauty of Indian classical music.

Discussion Between Two Nobel Laureates on Indian Classical Music

   In 1930, two Nobel laureates met in Germany and they had an interesting discussion on classical music. One of them was the great artist in the field of science, Einstein and the other was the great scientist in the field of arts, Rabindranath Tagore. One dealt with the mechanical field of equations and hypotheses and the other larked in the realm of feelings. Although both of them hailed from diverse environs, their quest to explore the infinite brought them to the common frontiers of spirituality. Moreover, who denies the fact that music is one of the subtlest and most effective ways to experience the glimpse of that metaphysical world which lies beyond? Einstein who had great reverence for the country of the Ganges, Gita and Gandhi, was equally curious when he enquired about classical music of India. Rabindranath Tagore told him that Indian music offers full liberty of self-expression to the artist. He said that melody and harmony are like lines and colors in a photograph. Colors, in combination with the lines, create an appealing picture, so does harmony in combination with melody. Einstein applauded the rich melody in Indian music which has blossomed from age-old artistic tradition. The bearer of great intellect, who always tried to explore the root cause and effect relationship of every phenomenon, said about music, in general – The uncertainty always exists in our reaction to everything fundamental that we experience. Good music, like any other art, whether of the East or of the West, cannot be analyzed. True, an art is never meant to be analyzed, it is meant to be savored, treasured and sought to find salvation.

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