RASA OF A RAGA

Musical prayer and love in Raga Yaman

Zahangir Alom @ The  Daily Star

Raga Yaman expresses the ultimate humility. The raga has an untainted appeal or urge of shaking off ego, haughtiness and arrogance. One can completely surrender one’s soul to the ultimate, through immersing in the ecstatic melody of Yaman.
Prayer and love are complementarily expressed through the rendition of the raga just like the inseparable connection between the moon and moonbeam, or between fish and water. Both the artistes and the audiences can reach the absolute nothingness through meditating the raga.
All the swar (notes) except Madham (‘ma’) of Yaman are shuddha. This is Yaman’s distinctive quality of peace and tranquility that is diffused from tivra madhyam or kodi ‘ma’. If the swar ‘re’ is komal, the raga then converts to Puriya Kalyan, of which Purbanga is ‘Purya’ and Uttaranga is ‘Yaman’; if the note ‘dha’ is made komal along with it, then the raga formed is called Puriya Dhaneshree.
Yaman is the called the king of the entire raga, while “Puriya Dhaneshree” is termed as the king of the entire evening ragas. Yaman means the full moon. Hazrat Amir Khusrau composed the raga at the time of Khilji dynasty. Hazrat Amir Khusrau (real name Abul Hasan) is the only one termed ‘Hazrat’ in the realm of Music; as he is the creator of Khayal, Ghazal, Raga Yaman, Gulnux (a genre of music), sitar, tabla and baya.
Raga Yaman is performed at a time when the nature or the universe creates an ambience of complete surrender to the ultimate, after a hectic day. The rasa of Yaman emits when the nature takes all the living beings in her lap with kindness and generosity. Yaman is a raga through which one can purify oneself with the holy hum of evening prayer at a mosque, temple, pagoda or church.
Raga Yaman is an evening raga which is romantic in nature. The raga is often taught to beginners in Hindustani classical music. Some say its origin is from the Persian mode “Ei’man” from which “Yaman” was derived. Others say it has Vedic origins as Raga Yamuna which over time altered as Yaman.
Raga Yaman generates bhakti, gambhir, shringar, serene and suggestive rasa. Yaman is the defining raga of its own thaat Kalyan, meaning the full moon. Its similar ragas are Yaman Kalyan and Maru Behag.
There are virtually limitless variations in this raga and each of them is so different that one thinks the canvas of this raga is as colossus as the horizon. The deeper you go, you find it fathomless; the higher you see, it remains a dashingly over and above the rest of the world of music.
A Tagore composition “Dariye Achho Tumi Amar” is set on raga Yaman while our National Poet’s compositions “Bulbuli Nirob Nargis Bon-e” and “Mon-e Porey Aj Se Kon Janome” are evocative of the raga.
Master vocalists including Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir Khan, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Rashid Khan, Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty, Pt. Tushar Dutta have showcased their musical prayers through performing raga Yaman, alongside eminent instrumentalists including Ustad Vilayat Khan (sitar), Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia (flute), Pt. Nikhil Banerjee (sitar), Pt. Ravi Shankar (sitar) and Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Mohonveena).
The ghazals “Aa Gayi Yaad Shaam Dhalte Hi”, recorded by Ghulam Ali; “Ranjish Hi Sahi”, recorded by Mehdi Hassan and “Chand Angraiyan Le Raha Hai”, recorded by Anup Jalota are set on the raga.
Eminent artiste Manna Dey’s record of the songs “Shundori Go” and “Deep Chhilo Shikha Chhilo” are set on the raga. Raga Yaman has been frequently used in film songs including a duet “Re Maan Sur Mein Ga”, recorded by Asha Bhosle and Manna Dey and “Kuchh Na Kaho, Kuchh Bhi Na Kaho” recorded by Kumar Shanu.

Published: Tuesday, October 22, 2013