Friday, June 19, 2009

Ritu aaye, ritu jaaye: piya nahin aaye

The previous blog discussed the theme of "Sajan ghar aa ja, balam ghar aa ja" against the backdrop of changing seasons and their characteristic weather patterns. The two songs were rut basant aiyee from Jhanak Jhanak Payal baje (Indian film) and Man tarse balam ghar aa ja from Pukare mera dil (Pakistani film). These songs were paired with Shelley's poem "Ode to the West Wind" which has the famous last line "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

Well, sometimes the optimism does not translate into results. Even with earnest pleading "Sajan ghar aa ja, balam ghar aa ja", and with seasons changing ("ritu aaye, ritu jaaye"), the beloved does not come ("piya nahin aaye"). This theme is explored below. I present two film songs which are so classical in structure that they can be regarded as Hindustani classical pieces instead of film music. One of them is a Raagmalika as in the previous blog and both songs are sung by master singers of the sub-continent.

Let me first present a song from the 1962 Pakistani film "Darwaza" titled "piya nahin aaye" and sung by Ustad Amanat Ali Khan and Malika-e-Tarrannum Noor Jehan. It is based on Raag Kalavathi and set to Teental. The music composers are Salim-Iqbal.





An outstanding and classic Raagmalika was composed by the master Indian music composer Anil Biswas in 1953 for the film "Humdard". Many consider it to be his finest composition. Lata Mangeshkar and Manna Dey added divine touches to this lovely song "ritu aaye ritu jaaye sakhi re, man ke meet na aaye" written by Prem Dhawan. The song has three parts in Raag Gaud-Saarang, Gaud-Malhaar and Jogiya, respectively. A fourth part appears separately in the film and is set in Raag Bahaar. (Ref:http://www.mishraraag.blogspot.com/)





A short poem "Come home" by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, an English poet and novelist (1861 - 1907) completes the earnest plea of the beloved.

When wintry winds are no more heard,
And joy's in every bosom,
When summer sings in every bird,
And shines in every blossom,
When happy twilight hours are long,
Come home, my love, and think no wrong!

When berries gleam above the stream
And half the fields are yellow,
Come back to me, my joyous dream,
The world hath not thy fellow!
And I will make thee Queen among
The Queens of summer and of song.

I thank you for visiting and reading the blog. Please leave any comments or suggestions. Thank you.

5 comments:

  1. Respected Gulab Ji,you are doing a wonderful job of bridging the two schools of Hindustani Classical Music with proper references to English poetry pieces.Hats off to your efforts for bringing the supremacy of classical raga based songs fom films,to the knowledge of the new generation.
    Dr.R.C.Mishra,www.mishraraag.blogspot.com

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  2. Dear Dr. Mishra ji,

    Namaskar! Thank you very much for your kind words of appreciation. I am indebted to you and many others for the excellent blogs you prepare to educate folks like me. I have also been fortunate to have several friends here in the U.S.A. who constantly educate and encourage me and to several newsgroups where I learn a lot about beautiful songs and poems. It is a pleasure to hear from you and I will look into other blogs you have. Thank you very much. With warm regards,
    Gulab

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  4. Hello Gulab. I am a very unintelligent individual who while looking for Madam NoorJehan's song, found this blog on the internet. It is a total pleasure to read your posts and heartening to see the knowledge of music you posses to compare these songs and all the finer nuances. Especially when you juxtapose English poems along with these songs.

    Looking forward to a lot more such posts which enlighten beginners like me.
    Thanks , Manpreet

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  5. Dear Manpreet ji,
    Thank you very much for enjoying the blogs and for your comments. I appreciate them and they are certainly inspiring me to add more to this blog. I got busy with other activities that I have not been able to write on a regular basis. But with enthusiastic readers such as yourself, it is essential that I add soon. I will try my best.
    I took a quick look at your blogs which are also very interesting. I will read the in detail soon.

    Warm regards,
    Gulab

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