Sunday, February 21, 2010

Sarangi players left sarangi & did something else.

Due to lack of respect & inability to run their family expenses from little income generated from sarangi, many good sarangi players left sarangi & took up other musical activity.

VOCAL

The sarangi players who got converted to very successful vocalists are

U. abdul karim khan of kirana gharana
U. Badegulamali khan of patiala gharana who accompanied Inayatibai deronwali in his early career.
U. Amirkhan of Indore gharana, he was a son of sarangiya shahmir khan

surprisingly abdulkarimK & amirK never liked sarangi as an accompaniment to their vocal performance, instead they preferred harmonium,while badegulamaliK hardly preferred harmonium, he always enjoyed sarangi as an accompaniment to his vocal.

DIFFERENT INSTRUMENT

Now let us know the people who switched to other instrument from sarangi playing.

One was Patiala gharana musician U. Abdul Aziz khan, who played beautiful sarangi with female singer Chhamiya. On getting humiliated by getting too less reward, he broke sarangi & picked up veena, took out all the frets & created new instrument vichitra veena or Batta bin. It was played with big oblong glass or stone (called batta) sliding over the strings. He earned much respect as binkaar too.After partition on India, he shifted to pakistan. His younger brother U. Habibali earned good name as binkar

Another person was U. Ahmed raza, a disciple of U. abdul aziz khan who also took to batta bin. His sarangi can be heard in older tracks with U. ahmedjan thirakwa. He has one or two albums of batta bin to his credit.

Third person though occasionally but definitely played saraswati veena, i.e. U. abdul karim khan (KIrana gharana vocal stalwart). His veena tracks were published commercially too. He was into sarangi playing in his early career.

This is to my knowledge & I will be happy if somebody can add to this list.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Pitch difference in sarangi in pull/push bowing

Any stringed instrument follows one simple law of physics that pitch produced from the string is inversely proportional to its length, provided other factors like caliber of string, tension in the string, material of string are kept same. i.e. longer the string, lower the pitch & vice versa.

Now let us see what happens at the ends where string of resting, i.e. effective length of string. Lower down it is limited by the main bridge with the direction same as direction of bowing.i.e. in pull or push , string is always pushed against the bridge edge.

Coming to the upper boundary of string, it is created by soft skin of finger of convex nature from the side, i.e. in almost perpendicular plane to the edge of main bridge. so during pull movement of bow, the gut- string is initially dragged away from the finger, changing the point of contact of gut with finger i.e.increasing the effective length (=lowering the pitch) of string. Exactly opposite happens during push phase of bowing reducing the length (=raising the pitch). Thus in the beginner there is always a pitch difference in push & pull phase of bowing.

Obviously this does not happen in open notes like Sa, PA, SA as upper bridge is in the same plane as main bridge.

This is unique to sarangi & not found in violin, esraj, or other stringed instrument where string is pushed against the bridges in the same plane. This may make learning the sarangi more difficult apart from other factors.

Then what is the remedy ?


Friday, August 28, 2009

RAAGMALA SET - DETAILS

Label

Category

Title

Artist

Ref. #

$


EMI - PAKISTAN (SET OF 10)

Classical Vocal

Raag Mala - An Anthology of 90 Such Ragas by Prominent Musicians of Pakistan with a Write Up by Khurshid Anwar / English Commentary - Saleem Gilani / Each Raga Is Preceded by a Brief Narration About Its Tonal Structure, Mode, Ascent & Descent, etc. (Set)

Various

TCEMCP 5050 TO 59

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Raag Mala Vol.1 / Salamat Ali Khan - Raag Eman / Fateh Ali Khan - Bhopali / Fateh Ali Khan & Hamid Ali Khan - Bhoopali (Tarana) / Roshan Ara Begum - Raag Shudh Kalyan / Ramzan Khan - Jait Kalyan / Bader-Uz-Zaman & Qamar-Uz-Zaman - Malsri, etc.

Various

TCEMCP 5050

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Raag Mala Vol.2 "Kalyan" / Roshan Ara Begum - Anandi & Maru Behag / Fateh Ali Khan - Sham Kalyan / Umrao Bundoo Khan - Gaur Sarang) & "Bilawal" / Bader-Uz-Zaman & Qamar-Uz-Zaman - Shudh Bilawal / Salamat Ali Khan - Alaiya Bilawal, etc.

Various

TCEMCP 5051

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Raag Mala Vol.3 "Bilawal" / Roshan Ara Begum - Shankra / Salamat Ali Khan - Hem Kalyan, Kaushik Dhuni, Phari - Keherwa / Chhote Ghulam Ali Khan - Deskar & "Khamaj" / Asad Ali Khan - Khamaj / Roshan Ara Begum - Jhinjhoti, etc.

Various

TCEMCP 5052

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Raag Mala Vol.4 "Khamaj" / Akhter Ali Khan & Zakir Ali Khan - Rageshri / Fateh Ali Khan - Naraini / Roshan Ara Begum - Kalavati & Des / Salamat Ali Khan - Gaur Malhar / Chhote Ghulam Ali Khan - Tilak Kamod / Asad Ali Khan - Jaijaivanti, etc,

Various

TCEMCP 5053

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Raag Mala Vol.5 "Bhairov" / Salamat Ali Khan - Bhairov, Gunkali, Jogia / Roshan Ara Begum - Bibhas / Qudratullah Khan - Kalingro / Ghulam Hussain Shaggan - Ramkali / Umrao Bundoo Khan - Ramkali / Bader-Uz-Zaman & Qamar-Uz-Zaman - Lalit, etc.

Various

TCEMCP 5054

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Raag Mala Vol.6 "Bhairov" / Fateh Ali Khan - Bairagi / Badar-Uz-Zaman & Qamar-Uz-Zaman - Zeelaf / "Bhairvi" / Qudratullah Khan - Bhairvi / Asad Amanat Ali Khan & Hamid Ali Khan - Malkaus / "Todi" / Qudratullah Khan - Shudh Todi, etc.

Various

TCEMCP 5055

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Raag Mala Vol.7 "Todi" / Ghulam Ali Shaggan - Gujri Todi / Hameed Ali Khan & Fateh Ali Khan - Gujri Tarana / "Asavari" / Akhtar Ali Khan & Zakir Ali Khan - Asavari / Roshan Ara Begum - Jaunpuri & Adana / Salamat Ali Khan - Darbari, Desi, etc.

Various

TCEMCP 5056

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Raag Mala Vol.8 "Marva" / Asad Amanat Ali Khan & Hamid Ali Khan - Marva / Akhter Ali Khan & Zakir Ali Khan - Puria / "Purbi" / Ghulam Hussain Shaggan - Purbi / Asad Amanat & Hamid Ali Khan - Puria Dhanasri / Salamat Ali Khan - Sri, etc.

Various

TCEMCP 5057

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Raag Mala Vol.9 "Purbi" / Qudratullah Khan - Paraj / Roshan Ara Begum - Basant / "Kafi" / Hameed Ali Khan & Fateh Ali Khan - Kafi Kanhra / Salamat Ali Khan - Kafi, etc. / Asad Amanat & Hamid Ali Khan - Pilu / Fateh Ali Khan - Bhimpalasi & Patdeep, etc.

Various

TCEMCP 5058

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Raag Mala Vol.10 "Kafi" / Ramzan Khan - Suha / Chhote Ghulam Ali Khan - Naiki Kanhra / Roshan Ara Begum - Naiki Kanhra / Fateh Ali Khan - Shahana, Bageshri & Megh / Salamat Ali Khan - Abhogi & Mian Ki Malhar" / Roshan Ara Begum - Bahar

Various

TCEMCP 5059

Part of set

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Gharano ki Gayki Set - Details

Source :- Old stored webpage from a commercial site.

Label

Category

Title

Artist

Ref. #

$

EMI - PAKISTAN (GKG SET)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki (Set of 20 Tapes - Sold As Set Only)

Various

TCEMCP 5060/5079

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.1 "Sham Chorasi" / Salamat Ali Khan - Ragas: Bhairav, Gunkali, Darbari, Abhogi Kanhra / Sarangi: Nazim Ali / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Salamat Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5060

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.2 "Sham Chorasi" Salamat Ali Khan / Ragas: Mian Ki Todi, Alhaiya Bilawal, Gaur Malhar, Mian Ki Malhar / Sarangi: Nazim Ali / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Salamat Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5061

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.3 "Sham Chorasi" Salamat Ali Khan / Ragas: Aiman Kalyan, Hem Kalyan, Desi, Barva / Sarangi: Nazim Ali / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Salamat Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5062

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.4 "Sham Chorasi" Salamat Ali Khan / Ragas: Shudh Sarang, Sri, Durga, Hameer / Sarangi: Nazim Ali / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Salamat Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5063

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.5 "Kirana" Roshan Ara Begum / Ragas: Bibhas, Jaunpuri, Basant, Bahar / Sarangi: Nabi Baksh / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Roshan Ara Begum

TCEMCP 5064

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.6 "Kirana" Roshan Ara Begum / Ragas: Lalit, Bhatiayar, Maru Behag, Adana / Sarangi: Nabi Baksh / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Roshan Ara Begum

TCEMCP 5065

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.7 "Kirana" Roshan Ara Begum / Ragas: Kamod, Shudh Kalyan, Kalavati, Anandi / Sarangi: Nabi Baksh / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Roshan Ara Begum

TCEMCP 5066

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.8 "Kirana" Roshan Ara Begum / Ragas: Des, Shankara, Naiki Kanhra, Jhinjhoti / Sarangi: Nabi Baksh / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Roshan Ara Begum

TCEMCP 5067

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.9 "Patiala" Fateh Ali Khan / Ragas: Bageshri, Naraini, Madhmad Sarang, Multani / Sarangi: Nazim Ali / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Fateh Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5068

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.10 "Patiala" Fateh Ali Khan / Ragas: Bhimpalasi, Shahana, Megh, Shyam Kalyan / Sarangi: Nazim Ali / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Fateh Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5069

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.11 "Patiala" Fateh Ali Khan / Ragas: Bhopali, Kedara, Bairagi, Patdeep / Sarangi: Nazim Ali / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Fateh Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5070

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.12 "Patiala" Asad Amanat Ali & Hameed Ali Khan / Ragas: Malkauns, Behag, Marwa, Puriya Dhanashri / Sarangi: Nazim Ali / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Asad Amanat Ali & Hameed Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5071

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.13 "Qawwal Bachon Ka Gharana" Chhotey Ghulam Ali Khan / Ragas: Sohni, Deshkar, Tilak Kamod, Naiki / Sarangi: Nazim Ali / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Chhotey Ghulam Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5072

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.14 "Sham Chorasi" Akhtar Ali Khan & Zakir Ali Khan / Ragas: Asavari, Ahir Bhairav, Bilaskhani Todi, Rageshree, Puriya / Sarangi: Nazim Ali / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Akhtar Ali Khan & Zakir Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5073

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.15 "Gwalior" Ghulam Hussain Shaggan / Ragas: Ramkali, Gujri Todi, Kafi Kanhra, Poorvi / Sarangi: Nazim Ali / Tabla: Shaukat Hussain

Ghulam Hussain Shaggan

TCEMCP 5074

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.16 "Delhi" Ramzan Khan / Ragas: Jait Kalyan, Khambavati, Hindol, Suha / Sarangi: Mohiuddin / Tabla: Bashir Ahmad

Ramzan Khan

TCEMCP 5075

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.17 "Delhi Gharana" Umrao Bundoo Khan / Ragas: Gauri, Lalit Pancham, Gaur Sarang, Sarparda / Sarangi: Hamid Hussain / Tabla: Amir Sultan

Umrao Bundoo Khan

TCEMCP 5076

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.18 "Gwalior" Hameed Ali Khan & Fateh Ali Khan / Ragas: Kafi Kanhra, Gandhari, Bairagi, Bhopali, Gujri Todi, Puriya Kalyan / Sarangi: Mohiuddin / Tabla: Bashir Ahmad

Hameed Ali Khan & Fateh Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5077

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.19 "Agra" Asad Ali Khan / Ragas: Barva, Jaijaivanti, Chandni Kedara, Chhayanat, Nat Behag / Sarangi: Mohiuddin / Tabla: Bashir Ahmad (Instrumental only)

Asad Ali Khan

TCEMCP 5078

Part of set

EMI - PAKISTAN (SET DETAILS)

Classical Vocal

Gharanon Ki Gaiki Vol.20 "Talwandi" Mohammad Afzal Khan & Mohammad Hafiz Khan / Ragas: Adana Bahar, Mian Ki Malhar, Multani, Hussaini / Sarangi: Nabi Baksh / Pakhawaj: Talib Hussain

Mohammad Afzal Khan & Mohammad Hafiz Khan

TCEMCP 5079

Part of set

Monday, June 22, 2009

Next Issues :

It was a nice experience to share the compliments, criticisms, curiosities from the sizable amount of readers. Next issues in mind are development of the octave in HCM : its fallacies & how it disobeys the laws of physics, reason to settle to this latest octave pattern, what is actually meant by variable shadaj etc.. very very interesting matter. Hope i get enough time in near future to give it a proper word shape.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

JAWARI, Understanding the Mechanism of

The article on 'Jawari... ' is under continuous refinement process to make it more explanatory. Here is the revised article.

My thoughts on Jawari: (refined)

 The Jawari is a unique feature to the instruments used in Indian classical music. It is rarely found in other systems of music. Its literary meaning is somewhere around ‘life’, i.e. here giving life to the musical note.

 Being a physician with very strong science base, mind does not digest the mystic facts from old literature (mostly the subjective translations) or from orthodox musicians. There can be flaws at various steps of inheriting the knowledge. The things should be thought, tested & verified on the basis of available science laws as far as possible. 

 Jawari, though a small looking matter involves multiple branches of knowledge like Music, Physics, Physiology, Psychology & so on.  Anybody having one of these components missing can end up with untoward result in understanding or explaining.

 Let us first try to understand on the basis of physics:-

 Jawari is produced from the flat bridge which is different from all other types of bridges i.e. unlike the one used in mandolin with very sharp point of rest for the string on it. All the instruments like Tanpura, Veena, Sitar, Sarangi, Sarod, Dilruba & few others with sympathetic strings use Jawari bridge in one or the other form. 

Here a small apparent slope is given on the Jawari bridge from the point of contact of string towards it’s another end. It is very precise work & needs high expertise for making it. After giving adequate slope, a small thread is passed between the string & bridge. The thread is adjusted along the string length in contact with bridge to make the emerging sound the most charming. To make the Jawari effective the slope & position of thread needs to be changed in relation to the string (length, diameter & tension, i.e. pitch desired) and the force of plucking.

 Now what difference is made to the sound by making such arrangement? Let us see.

 As everybody knows when a string fixed at two points is plucked it gives a ‘wave’ pattern. Two points where string is fixed, are called nodes; height of wave made by moving string being maximum in the centre part i.e. amplitude, the point being called antinode; two distinct boundaries of the wave, upward curve & downward curve.

 In simple bridge two nodes have fixed position in any cycle of the wave formation. While in Jawari bridge, one node (non- Jawari end of the string, i.e. upper end in tanpura) is fixed but node at Jawari end can be made variable by changing the thread position.  This variability in the node position is not only operative for different pluckings, i.e. in different thread settings; but also applies for a single plucking i.e. in a single thread setting  How?  Here is the answer.

 In a single stroke, with the fading of the sound wave, the amplitude gradually decreases, so in a slope of bridge, the striking point (the point of actual contact of string over the surface of the Jawari bridge) also changes proportionately. Initially at the onset of wave, the amplitude is maximum, so it strikes the deepest part of the slope (effective length = length of the string between two apparent nodes – length between point of contact with flat bridge while playing & point of contact with flat bridge at rest). As the sound fades, its amplitude decreases, so smaller waveform will be striking more ‘near’ to the crude (static) node on the Jawari bridge (as it is shallower). As the sound fades the effective length increases from the shallowest point of contact on bridge up to the point of contact at rest. It continuously changes the length giving an effect of emerging & submerging the resultant sound

 As it is well known that pitch of sound generated by plucking the string is dependant on various factors like length of string, tension in the string, diameter of string etc. This means that (keeping other variable factors same) with the changing effective length, the pitch also should get changed & things should turn ‘unmusical’. Very logical, but wait, some other factors are also coming into the play.

 Apparently, wave generated from the string (standing wave as it is known as) has two components, upward & downward (remember this is very limited two dimensional vision otherwise it can be 3D phenomenon having vectors in 360 degrees).  Vibrating string strikes Jawari bridge only during downward curve while it does not touch it in upward curve. This means Jawari effect is manifest only for the downward component of the wave while upward component is unaffected by Jawari .  So, approximately around 50% component of the wave has fixed pitch while rest 50% has variable pitch. (Again if we think 3-dimensionally the Jawari component of the wave will be much less than 50%). So the major component of the pitch in a single pluck is fixed & only part is variable, The variable component is too fast & too small to be perceived by our auditory system as individual frequencies in a short time (this can be compared with the cinematography that different fixed picture frames if moved at some speed gives our brain an illusion as if it is live & moving, though nothing in fact is moving). Here the limitation of our nervous system (to analyze abundant signals in a very short time) is made use to our advantage.

 So, the Jawari imparts major component of fixed node & minor component of shifting node, the resultant effect being a fixed pitch note with somewhat sustained emerging/fading wave of music giving it a live effect in a single pluck. This ‘wavy’ effect is due to inability of our Nervous system to process excessive signals in a short span of time, though the sounds of varying range of individual pitches do exist as a minor component in addition to major component of fixed pitch. Another effect is gain in the volume of sound by striking against the bridge surface

 The above description applies mainly to Tanpura & somewhat to Veena and Sitar. The main bridges in Sarangi, Dilruba, Sarod are sharp but their sympathetic strings use small Jawari bridges (2, 1, 1 respectively) to get sweet sustained tone.

 The physics of Jawari with thread is still more complicated than it seems. Effect of passing thread is giving many other questions. Is it a convenient alternative to perfect Jawari making for a particular pitch? It needs much deeper thought.

 To be continued in future… along with other issues like ‘variable shadaj’.



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