Introducing Yourself to Indian Classical Music 15: Bhajan Break
I am taking a break from the concepts of swara, shruti etc to listen to some clips and discuss the burdgeoning “devotional” genre of music and the contribution of classical musicians to it.
I reserve a part of my brain to file away music into the category of Tinkle Tankle. A large amount of so-called devotional music falls into this category, with terrible orchestration and even more horrible group singing. Add to this a layer of treacle. You can almost see the strings of syrup forming a halo around everyone’s head.
Classical compositions have an enormous “devotional” component. That is, a lot of them are addressed to the Divine, speak of the relationship with the Divine (often referred to as the Beloved), may address various deities etc. But when we speak of the “devotional” genre in this post, I am largely speaking of lighter forms of Indian music, that don’t strictly adhere to classical grammars.
Classically trained musicians have always sung what are called the “lighter” genres, but have recently entered the “light music” /”devotional” market in a big way. They are singing stotras, shlokas, bhajans,mantras, kirtans, abhangas and other forms of devotional songs and/or setting them to music.
Some of the devotional music rendered by classical singers suffers from the ailments described above. But there has been some that has come out that is very enjoyable, and full of bhakti without diabetes.
Note: The bhajan (devotional song) appears in many different varieties, and can be performed in different ways.
Later posts will examine the different forms of the bhajan etc. For now lets just concentrate on listening samples (I hope to do lots of these “in-between” posts, featuring singers from both the Northern and Southern traditions, my day job and other issues permitting).
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Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is one of India’s most well known classical singers. He is a Khayal singer and belongs to the Hindustani, or North Indian tradition of Indian classical music. He has also sung in the South Indian language, Kannada (he was born in Gadag, Karnataka). Below are a few of my favourites Bhimsen Joshi bhajans (with some reservations on the orchestration). I suggest turning up the volume a little, these are no good on a low setting:
Chalo Ri Murali Suniye (Surdas Bhajan)-Bhimsen Joshi
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Sun Surat Rangili(Charandas Bhajan)-Bhimsen Joshi
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Aaarambhi Vandin Ayodhyecha Raja (Ramdas Bhajan in Marathi)(lyrics)-Bhimsen Joshi
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Madhukar Shyam Hamare Chor-Bhimsen Joshi
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A whole lot of Panditji’s Kannada Bhajans are available to hear on youtube.
He is also famous for singing Abhangas in Marathi. I hope I can do a separate post on Abhangas.
USEFUL LINKS:
To Read:
Bhimsen Joshi-A Profile
If you want to buy some of the above they are available as shown below:
To Buy (from amazon.com):
Madhukar Shyam Hamare Chor
Aarambhi Vandin Ayodhyecha Raja
Indu Yenage Govinda-Pt. Bhimsen Joshi
Amazon UK:
Madhukar Shyam Hamare Chor
Aarambhi Vandin Ayodhyecha Raja
would love a post on Pandit Bhimsen Joshi’s abhangs
and I share your feelings about the syrupy bhajan genre
one day soon!
“….with terrible orchestration and even more horrible group singing. Add to this a layer of treacle. You can almost see the strings of syrup forming a halo around everyone’s head.” Ha ha, that’s the best description of devotional music I’ve read! So true, and so sad that this is what it has descended to. MS’s devotional music was something else – it truly transported you. Thanks for all the links – I am looking forward to listening to all of them.
Thanks. I wondered if I was being too irritable!
The background color being pink, makes the test kind of hard to read.I have to click on individual page link for it to load with white bg..
That intended?
I meant text, not test.
Strange, that doesn’t happen for me. It should be white behind the text regardless. But will change it all back to white. Thanks for letting me know
We have a CD with Bhimsen Joshi’s rendition of abhangas in Kannada and Marathi. Thanks to my husband, who grew up listening to them at the temples they used to visit in Cochin, I got to know about these beautiful abhangas. There is one I remember by Saint Purandardas: Bhagyada Lakshmi. Though I don’t understand the words, it’s still great to listen to it. Then Pandit Ravi Shankar’s compositions of Meera Bhajans are also nice. I like them perhaps because i understand the words a little: “Raja ruthe, nagari rakhe. Hari ruthe, kahan jaaon…” I also like Kumar Gandharva’s Kabir bhajans.
“…You can almost see the strings of syrup forming a halo around everyone’s head….”
Different people find oneness with One in different situations e.g. it is not uncommon to find vaarkaris rolling about on the road in dirt singing bhajans when they are on a vaari.
Few gems worth mentioning:
Mharo Pranaam – Kishori Amoknar
Ram Ratan Dhan Payo & Chala Vahi Des – Lata Mangeshkar
Didn’t like her Rangi Rangala Shrirang much though…
Govind Damodar Madhveti – Pandit Jasraj
Pandir Bakre’s album by Swarashree Enterprises (rare and priceless)
Countless bhajans by Kumar Gandharva, Pandit Paluskar…
D, yes. What I wrote is my totally biased opinion.
In Rangi…I like Jani Jaay Paaniyasi very much. The rest is ok, didn’t like it much either.