Thread by @desmukh

Defining Hindustan Through Raag 🧵

1/ This is the racy iconic Bollywood song "Tu cheez badi hai mast mast". It might not look very classical, but the melody is based in the Hindustani classical music system using Raag Bhimpalasi...

2/ In this thread I want to explore how deeply and widely South Asian musical culture has been informed by the raag system. I want make the case that one can even use it to define the bounds of what we call "South Asia" or rather "Hindustan"...

3/ From Kabul to Chittagong, from Kathmandu to Kerala (or further to Colombo), classical musicians can converse fluently through the language of raag.

Eg this is the Peshawar based Rubab maker and player Ustaz Sarparaz playing in Raag Bhimpalasi also

4/ But raags are not just for classical musicians. If you grew up in South Asia or a South Asian household, you're probably more familiar with raags than you know as everything from folk to devotional to filmi music drink deeply from the raag system.

5/ For the purpose of this thread, I'm going to explore just a single raag -- one of my favourites -- Raag Bhimpalasi. But first, what is a "raag"?
I don't want to get too technical, but briefly, in Indian classical music, a raag is the melodic framework for a musical piece

6/ For each raag there are a set of rules and guidelines on which notes a musician can play, how to move between them, canonical phrases, ornamentation and more. These guidelines can be applied to both compositions as well as improvisational pieces

7/ This is Ajoy Chakraborty demonstrating the canonical musical phrases of Bhimpalasi and how it differs from other related raags such as Bageshree and Kaafi

8/ But beyond the technical rules, each raag is also associated with a subjective feeling or emotion that a musician seeks to convey. For example, Bhimpalasi is usually associated with tender yearning and love (as well long hot late afternoons)

9/ What makes the raag system so remarkable is that it's truly a living tradition. Many raags were created 100s of years ago, and for centuries since, musicians have been engaged in a collective project of building and moulding their understanding of it for their time and place

10/ So let's dive into Raag Bhimpalasi. This is Parveen Sultana giving a brief demonstration of Raag Bhimpalasi in classical khayal style using a canonical composition and verses written by the 18th C Mughal court musician Sadarang

11/ On a sidenote, the verses for this composition, penned 300 years ago, are about a newly wed woman admonishing her husband (presumably) for approaching her in public and risking ruining her reputation in her mother-in-law and sis-in-law's eyes

Crazy how little has changed

12/ Now let's go back to the Bollywood song "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast". If you're not able to make a connection between it's melody and the classical forms of Bhimpalasi I've shared yet, try listening to this instructional harmonium version:

13/ Of course as you probably know, the Bollywood track was brazenly copied from the qawwali Dam Mast Qalandar popularised by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

(So much happening in this video 😂)

14/ There are countless filmi songs based on a classical raag. This is The song "Nainon Mein Badra Chhaye" sung by Lata for the 1966 Bollywood film Mera Saaya, composed in Bhimpalasi

15/ And this is Mehdi Hasan's classic "Zindagi mein to sabhi pyar karte hain" originally composed in Bhimpalasi by Nashad (and written by Qateel Shifai) for the 1973 Lollywood film Azmat, but rendered here in Ghazal gayaki style

16/ But raag has been adopted not only across all the territories and genres of Hindustan, but also by almost all of its religions.

This is a Hindu bhajan written in Kannada by the 15th C Purandara Dasa, performed here by Venkatesh Kumar in in Bhimpalasi

17/ Here's an absolutely beautiful rendering of Raag Bhimpalasi in the form of qawwali by Munshi Raziuddin and Farid Ayaz

18/ And here's a popular Islamic naat in praise of the Prophet written in Punjabi by Pir Meher Ali Shah of Golra and recited here in Bhimpalasi by Qari Khushi Muhammad

Aj sik mitran di wadheri ae...

19/ These are devotional musicians of the Namdhari Sikh movement led by Raagi Balwant Singh reciting verses ascribed to Baba Farid Ganjshakar in the Guru Granth Sahib (in raag bhimpalasi of course)

Farida, amal je kite dunni wich dargay aay kam...

20/ When the Psalms were translated into Punjabi by Rev Imam-ud-Din Shahbaz in 1908, they were also set to melodies composed in raags.

This is Psalm 24 in Punjabi performed in Bhimpalasi by Pastor Subhash Gill in Lahore

"Rab khudawand badshah hai..."

21/ I've barely even scratched the surface of where Bhimpalasi occurs, let alone the broader role of raags in South Asian culture

But point is: If there's anything that unites South Asia or Hindustan across all of its diversity, I think the raag system is a strong candidate

22/ Apologies in advance for any mistakes in the thread. Will end here with a piece from the Carnatic musical tradition of south India, in Raga Abheri, a sibling of Raag Bhimpalasi, performed by Sudha Ragunathan

@bilaltanweer @sepoy @katherineschof8 @karachikhatmal thread you folks might be interested in!