RJGK 57: Beats on the unbeaten track. PART 2: Clues
Preeti Ranjan Panda
**** RJGK 57: Beats on the unbeaten track. PART 2: Clues ****
(Songs set to Roopak Taal and Jhaptaal)
This post contains the clues for RJGK-57. Please email your entries
to: pa...@synopsys.com by 9 February 2001. Golden rule of RJGK's:
PLEASE DO NOT POST THE SOLUTIONS ON THE NEWSGROUP.
In your entry, please indicate the first line of each of the songs in
the clues. A sample clue follows. The lyrical text is traditionally
followed by some prose that is euphemistically called "sub-clue", but
in reality, exists only to make the length of the posting look
respectable.
---
#0
dekh wo sooraj ki kirane aa raheen hain jhoomti
chal gagan ki odh tera mukh hawaaen choomti
baawre uth gnyaan se makhmal ka ghera door kar
tan hai kaala is liye man ka andhera door kar, door kar
tujh ko bulaata hai savera dekh mukhda mod kar
A bhanwara is the object of a musical tug-of-war. Manna Dey attempts
to drive him away with this S. N. Tripathi composition set to Roopak
taal in the majestic raag Darbari; Lata attempts to pull him back in
the associated song "aaja bhanwar sooni dagar soona hai ghar, aaja".
---
As all of you already know :-), the song in question is:
ud jaa bhanwar maaya kamal ka aaj bandhan tod ke
(Singer: Manna Dey, Film: Rani Roopmati, Music: S. N. Tripathi)
You only need to provide the first line of the song. Additional
comments and criticisms are most welcome. If you have any suggested
corrections to the clues, please email them to me directly. I will
post an updated version of the quiz after roughly a week.
The tables below show the breakdown of the songs in the quiz by
composer, and by singer. These statistics are sometimes useful in
cross-checking, elimination, and other exam-related tactics.
Composer #songs Composer #songs
------------------------------------------------------------
Shankar-Jaikishan 4 S. N. Tripathi 1
Anil Biswas 3 Iqbal Qureshi 1
C. Ramchandra 2 Hemant Kumar 1
Salil Chaudhary 2 Pt. Ravi Shankar 1
S. D. Burman 2 Ali Akbar Khan 1
Madan Mohan 2 Sajjad Hussain 1
Kalyanji-Anandji 1 Roshan 1
Sardar Malik 1 Khayyam 1
Naushad 1 Pankaj Mallick? 1
Singer No. of songs
-----------------------------------------------
Lata Mangeshkar 7 solos 6 duets
Mukesh 4 solos 1 duet
Asha Bhosale 3 solos
Manna Dey 2 solos 1 duet
Mohammed Rafi 1 solo 2 duets
Kishore Kumar 1 solo 1 duet
Talat Mahmood 1 solo 1 duet
Pankaj Mallick 1 solo
Hemant Kumar 1 duet
Mahendra Kapoor 1 duet
The first section consists of fifteen clues set to Roopak taal. The
second section relates to Jhaptaal. On with the quiz!
ROOPAK
======
[Aside: In some of the songs of the Roopak section (#4, #9, #13, #15),
one can hear the percussion playing a 14-beat rhythmic cycle.
Technically, the bols played are those of neither roopak nor
deepchandi, but I have clubbed these songs under roopak anyway, on the
grounds that the melodic structure is similar to that of roopak
songs.]
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#1
teri baat baat hai dilnasheen
koi tujhse badhkar nahin haseen
hain kali kali mein jo mastiyaan
teri aankh ka wo khumaar hai
An immensely popular Talat Mahmood song composed by Sajjad, the song
pops up every time the list of plagiarised songs is reinvented on
RMIM. Rafi's "tujhe kya sunaaun main dilruba", composed by Madan
Mohan, which was inspired by this song, has a similar tune and
rhythm. Yet another Rafi song that has a lyrically similar theme and
is identical in rhythmic structure is "zara sun haseena o naazneen"
(KAUN APNA KAUN PARAYA, Ravi).
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#2
udte panchhi ka thikaana
<chirp chirp.......>
udte panchhi ka thikaana, mera na koi jahaan
na dagar hai na khabar hai, jaana hai mujhko kahaan
ban ke sapna hamsafar ke saath rah gaya
Did you keep track of the <chirp>'s ? :-) This may be the easiest
clue, but is of substantial tutorial value - the chirps can form an
important reference in pinning down the 3-2-2 rhythm - count one beat
for each chirp - the chirps begin at the first beat of one cycle, and
die off near the end of the next. Continue the counting for the
remainder of the song. Happy chirping!
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#3
tere daaman se jo aaye un hawaaon ko salaam
choom loon main us zubaan ko jis pe aaye tera naam
sab se pyaari subah teri sab se rangeen teri shaam
Several years ago, there used to be an on-line music quiz named
Flo-Jo quiz (after the quiz-masters) in which RMIMers participated over
the IRC (Internet Relay Chat). In one such quiz, during a round
similar to the RJGK's, the clue was the second stanza of this song:
"maa ka dil ban ke kabhi seene se lag jaata hai tu
aur kabhi nanhi si beti ban ke yaad aa jaata hai tu"
To which an Aatank-vadi dude came up with an instant answer:
"kabhi bandar ban ke ped par chadh jaata hai tu!"
The Flo-Jo quizzes were fun while they lasted.
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#4
kya qayaamat hai, kya museebat hai
kah nahin sakte, kiska armaan hai
zindagi jaise khoyi khoyi hai, hairaan hairaan hai
ye zameen chup hai, aasmaan chup hai
phir ye dhadkan si, chaarsu kya hai
The song is marked by the distinct accompaniment of the santoor all
through, except for a brief stretch before the line "ye zameen chup
hai, aasmaan chup hai" above, when there is an abrupt and overpowering
silence in anticipation of the words. This is Lata singing a Khayyam
composition.
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#5
maangoon khushiyaan magar gham mila pyaar mein
dard hi bhar diya dil ke har taar mein
aaj koi naheen mera sansaar mein
chhod kar chal diye mujhko manjhdaar mein
haae teer-e-nazar ka nishaana hoon main
This Mukesh song features in a brilliant soundtrack by Sardar
Malik. The title song, also by Mukesh (plus a short version by Rafi),
is a benchmark example of soulful singing. Another possible candidate
for this RJGK from the film is an Asha solo in Jhaptaal, but the
featured song is the better known. While on the topic of Roopak taal
songs from the Sardar Malik-Mukesh combination, I have fond memories
of two others - "wahi udi udi ghataaen hain, ek tum nahin ho to kuchh
nahin" (MERA GHAR MERE BACHCHE) and "sun chaand meri ye daastaan, main
kahoon tujhe ya ki na kahoon" (NAAG JYOTI).
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#6
so ja tu aise mori sajaniyaa
sajiya pe soye jaise dulhaniya
chanda ka teeka maathe lagaaun
taaron ki maala tujhko pihnaaun
tohe sulaaun ga ga ke lori
jhoola jhulaaun nindiya ko tori
This lori is a P-statistician's delight - the P-stats narrow down the
search space considerably. We have Hemant Kumar singing under
Naushad's music direction. Lata joins in the second stanza and sings
in tandem. Several loris tuned to Roopak taal come to mind, most
prominent being "aa jaa ri aa, nindiyaa tu aa" (Lata, DO BIGHA ZAMEEN,
Salil). Other memorable ones are "so jaa tu mere raajdulaare so jaa"
(Talat, JAWAB, Nashad), "chanda se pyaare" (Lata-Manna, SUVARNA
SUNDARI, Adi Narayan Rao), and "aa ja ri nindiya tu aake na ja (mukhda
only)" (Noor Jahan, ZEENAT, Hafiz Khan).
[Although the percussion accompaniment is playing a 7-beat cycle, Ajay
indicates that this song is set to deepchandi (possibly because the
skipped 3rd and 7th beats are strong pointers to deepchandi taal).]
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#7
yaad kar toone kaha tha pyaar ka sansaar hai
ham jo haare dil ki baazi ye teri hi haar hai
sun ye kya kehti hai paayal na ja re na ja, roko koi
The trailing "roko koi" should immediately give the answer away (as if
it wasn't evident already). One of Lata's favourite Shankar-Jaikishan
compositions. This Raj Kapoor film also had Lata's voice reaching for
the skies with the words "aa ja re" in a duet with Mukesh. Halfway
through the 20th century, the Ganga was still associated with purity
and was uttered with a sense of pride, as is evident from this movie's
title. Not for too long. A few decades down the time axis RK himself
would come up with RAM TERI GANGA MAILI.
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#8
na kisi ke dil ki hoon aarzoo
na kisi ki nazar ki hoon justjoo
main wo phool hoon jo udaas ho
na bahaar aaye to kya karoon
Madan Mohan springs a surprise by offering not one, but two Roopak
compositions in Lata's voice in this soundtrack (the other one does
find mention elsewhere in this RJGK). The story goes that Naushad was
so impressed by the featured song that he could give his entire
repertoire just for this single song.
The RMIM-related story goes that a puzzled Naushad fan wondered -
"What's so great about this number?". He was subsequently enlightened
- "Naushad didn't mean the song was great. He merely meant it was
greater than all of his own work put together."
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#9
aaj kitne hi yugon ke baad aisi chaandni
aaj kitne hi sukhon (?) ke baad aisi chaandni
aaj dono avani ambar par madhurimaa chha rahi
chaand ambar mein, avani par tum priye muska rahi
aaj sapnon mein doobaakar sunahare armaan kar lo
A Mahendra Kapoor-Lata duet compsed by C. Ramchandra about which a lot
has been written on RMIM (among others, the use of an afternoon raag
for a raat/chaandni scene). Sensitive poetry, a delicate composition,
and a moving rendition. At places, the singers' voices die down to a
whisper, creating an arresting effect.
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#10
sab ke aangan diya jale re, more aangan jiya
hawa laage shool jaisi, taana maare chunariya
aaee hai aansoo ki baraat, bairan ban gayi nindiya
This Lata solo has an interesting instrumental prelude where the
rhythm shifts mid-way from Keherwa to Roopak. A wonderful composition
by S. D. Burman. Among other well-known songs from this film are two
tandem solos by Kishore Kumar and Lata. Coincidentally, clue #25 also
features a Lata solo from an SDB soundtrack containing another pair of
Kishore/Lata tandem solos.
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#11
main diya hoon aisa jahaan mein
ke jalaa to ho nahin roshni
jo jigar mein hai wo khalish kahin
meri hasraton ko mita na de
This Iqbal Qureshi composition has Mukesh singing the high notes in
the stanzas. One does not get to hear Mukesh at those pitches too
often. While he carries off songs such as "jaane kahaan gaye wo din"
most gracefully, we hear him faltering just a little in this featured
song. Nevertheless, a memorable number from a 1961 film. The movie,
one must assume, had to do with life imprisonment :-)
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#12
raat aaee hai mohabbat ki kahaani leke
chaand nikla hai tamanna ki jawaani leke
din nikalte hi mujhe door kahin jaana
aakhiri raat ki aankhon mein nishaani leke
The above is the prelude to an Asha song with part-choral interludes,
which appears in an outstanding Hemant Kumar soundtrack featuring
memorable solos by three giants - Lata, Asha, and Geeta Dutt. Did
many other films share that distinction? (Perhaps Sardar Malik's CHOR
BAZAAR is one). A Lata solo from this film is also set to Roopak.
However, the most well-known songs from the film are two tandem solos
sung by Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt.
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#13
aas adhoori pyaasi umariya
chhaaye andhera sooni dagariya
darat jiya bechain, ho raama
darat jiya bechain
The excerpt above occurs in two versions of a Mukesh solo, one fast
and one slow, in a movie adaptation of Munshi Prem Chand's literary
classic. The soundtrack, scored by Pandit Ravi Shankar, is a
treasure-trove of folk music, full of rhythmic surprises.
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#14
kya raaz hai, kya raaz hai
aaj parwaane ko bhi apni lagan par naaz hai
kyon shama bechain hai khaamosh hone ke liye
aansuon ki kya zaroorat dil ko rone ke liye
tere dil ka saaz pagli aaj be-aawaaz hai
Sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan is known to have composed music for
two films in the 1950's. One was HAMSAFAR, and the other featured this
exquisite three part Lata solo. While this song may be hard to get
hold of (not so for those who attend RMIMeets!), the Hemant-Asha duet
"wo chaand nahin hai, dil hai kisi deewaane ka" from the same film
is more easily accessible.
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#15
ye kaun aa gaya dil ko karta ishaare
ki mehki faza muskuraae nazaare
qadam badhke tu choom le ae mohabbat
ki dil ko bahut unpe pyaar aa raha hai
The song showcases Asha Bhosale's ghazal singing talents. Madan
Mohan's composition is slow, deliberate, and provides a lot of scope
for the singer to inject her own style and nuances. She comes off with
flying colours. Notice the extremely long metre of the ghazal, just as
in clues #16, #11.
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JHAPTAAL
========
[Aside: Two songs in the Jhaptaal section (#19, #20) have the
percussion playing a 5-beat cycle instead of 10, but I have considered
these to be Jhaptaal for the purposes of this quiz, because the 2-3
pattern is distinct in these songs. Surajit Bose points out that this
rhythm is possibly "Pancham roopak", a 5-beat taal that is a
combination of Roopak and Jhaptaal. Well, the "Roopak+Jhaptaal" combo
suits our RJGK theme perfectly!]
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#16
mujhe kyaa pata tha kabhi ishq mein
raqeebon ko qaasid banaate nahin
khata ho gayi mujhse qaasid mere
tere haath paigham kyon de diya
A very well-known Mukesh solo composed by Roshan. Roshan does have
many interesting Jhaptaal compositions to his credit: "zameen bhi wohi
hai, wohi aasmaan" (Rafi, CHAANDNI CHOWK), "sharaabi sharaabi ye
saawan ka mausam" (Suman, NOOR JAHAN), and Mukesh's "tere pyaar ko is
tarah se bhulaana" (MAINE JEENA SEEKH LIYA), but the featured song is
probably the most popular.
HMV, with its interesting sense of relational algebraic humour, tends
to combine this movie (X) in its tapes, with a Chitragupta film (Y)
bearing its reciprocal title; that is, if I am your "X", then you are
my "Y" :-)
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#17
kaha roop ne chaand hai chaudveen ka
magar chaand kaisa savere savere
We depart from Jhaptaal rhythm (as well as from the ghazal format) as
the last stanza begins:
aate hi ek tarah taar ne dil chheen liya...
...and eventually return to Jhaptaal with the lines:
aankhon mein jaadoo, baaton mein tona
diya kaisa charkha (?) savere savere
The opening line of this Pankaj Mallik song is very similar to that
raagmala on alphabet-romance: "P bin soona G" (Manna+Lata, Anil
Biswas); both are based on Raag Jogiya. Hrishi Dixit once pointed out
the parallel between this and the ham-radeef ghazal sung in recent
times by Jagjit Singh: "koi paas aaya savere savere". The tunes of the
songs are different, but both are set to Jhaptaal rhythm.
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#18
main saanson ke har taar mein chhup raha hoon
main dhadkan ke har raag mein bas raha hoon
zara dil ki jaanib nigaahen jhukaao
mohabbat mein itna na hamko sataao
The Jhaptaal rhythm is introduced very clearly in the opening of this
Lata+Rafi duet. Rafi manages to introduce some obscene mannerisms
into his singing, leaving us with no doubt that he is giving playback
to Prof. Shammi Kapoor. A very popular Shankar-Jaikishan soundtrack
from the early '60s.
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#19
door duniya se koi naheen hai jahaan
mil rahen hain wahaan par zameen aasmaan
chhup ke duniya se phir kyon na mil jaayen ham
This Kishore+Lata duet has to figure in any collection of beautiful
Jhaptaal songs! This is an early Kishore Kumar singing under Anil
Biswas's direction. The subdued singing style and the manner of
enunciation were to undergo a complete metamorphosis in Kishore's
later years, making songs such as this one invaluable treasures.
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#20
teri nazar se ise dekh loon main
dil se mere tum ye mehsoos kar lo
toofan ye mere dil se utha hai
chaaho to tum apne daaman mein bhar lo
toofaanon mein khoya hua ye raasta hai
A raging storm, crackling thunder, and lashing rain form the backdrop
of this Talat+Lata duet composed by Salil Chaudhary, the lyrics of
which are, of course, about stormy, rainy nights. Talat and Lata take
turns in this song early on, with Talat merely reciting the words and
Lata following suit singing the same.
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#21
jo thokar na khaaye naheen jeet uski
jo gir ke sambhal jaaye hai jeet uski
nishaan manzilon ke ye pairon ke chhaale
This Rafi solo is from a Shankar-Jaikishan soundtrack with some great
music. There's no 'limit' to Rafi's emotional outpouring as he infuses
a lot of feeling into his rendition. Yet another classic from this
movie is a prayer song rendered by Manna Dey.
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#22
mohabbat ka anjaam zaahir tha ham par
bahut hamne roka magar dil na maana
This Mukesh+Lata duet composed by Anil Biswas is elegant in its
simplicity, and creates a telling impact. Interestingly, Mukesh seems
to have sung quite a few Jhaptaal compositions, my favourite being
"dil dhoondhta hai sahaare sahaare" (Dattaram). Under Anil Biswas's
direction, I can think of one more - "jawaani ye bharpoor dilkash
adaayen" from PEHLI NAZAR.
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#23
geeton ke phoolon ki maala banaakar
laaya hoon dil aarati mein sajaakar
ye saanson ki sargam karoon tere arpan
aaaaaaa~~
tujhe aur kya doon main thehra bhikhari
daras tere maange ye tera pujaari
Manna Dey opens with an alaap, and continues impressively. This
brilliant soundtrack must rank among Shankar-Jaikishan's best. The
movie contains many memorable melodies, the highlight being a
"duet-duel" between Bhimsen Joshi and Manna Dey which happens to be
among the very few filmi compositions set to Ektaal. Funnily, the
fact that Manna Dey's voice was assigned to Bharat Bhushan, the
singer-hero, meant that Bhimsen Joshi was adjudged the "loser" in
the contest.
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#24
haaye re kalaakar, jaane na sansaar
har raag mein peed hai kis ke man ki
This Rafi+Manna duet is from a masterly soundtrack by S. N. Tripathi,
doing ample justice to this film which concerned the life of a
legendary musician. The soundtrack was unique in that it featured yet
another Jhaptaal composition - a raag tutorial, with six "lakshan-geet
format" stanzas, each lyrically describing, and musically set to one
of Bhairav, Malkauns, Hindol, Shree, Deepak, and Megh.
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#25
mud ke jo dekhoon to bachpan bulaaye, bulaaye,
palkon mein lekin koi muskuraaye
jee ko duhkhaaon ki pee sang ho loon
A very interesting composition by S. D. Burman. A semi-classical core
with a somewhat incongruous, extended prelude that aims to create an
atmosphere of suspense (no doubt, arising from the fact that this is
really background music in the film, not a real prelude). Playful
sargams and crisp taans abound. The ending pulls the singer and
listener into unfamiliar territory involving stutters and unexpected
hops all over the octave, creating a vivid image of a wounded deer's
movements. This soundtrack is well known for two tandem solos by Lata
and Kishore Kumar, and a comic Hemant-Geeta duet.
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#26
ajab ye safar hai teri zindagi ka
ke hai har qadam par andhera andhera
jo teri khushi ho to raahon mein teri
amar deep main apni dil ka jala loon
This Dev Anand-Vyjayantimala starrer, whose name appears in the clue
above, had some very pretty music composed by C. Ramchandra. Other
than the Asha Bhosale solo featured above, there was a two-part
Rafi-Asha duet whose opening line reminds us of "ye mera deewaanaapan
hai".
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#27
laakh umangen liye raat dhalne lagi
meri tanhaai karwat badalne lagi
haaye re bebasi, ab mere saaye bhi
munh chhupaane lage...
door tak mere dil ki pukaaren gayeen
phir na ab kuchh aisi bahaaren gayeen
shaam-e-gham ki qasam ab to mere qadam
dagmagaane lage...
The moon is asleep in the sky, but the heart is restless. There is
sorrow in the air, and memories continue to haunt. A breathtaking
melody, beautifully sung. One interesting aspect of the lyrics is that
the song departs from the standard mukhda-antara format. The refrain
here occurs at the end of each stanza.
The format of this quiz is such that I can get away without providing
any pstatistical coordinates! I am invoking that liberty with this
clue. Hehehehe *devilish grin* :-)
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Here's a brain-teaser before we close. There is a class of
rhythmically interesting songs that employs different taals in
different sections of the song, e.g., mukhda set to keherwa and antara
set to daadra. The one combination of taals that is relevant to our
RJGK is: Roopak + Jhaptaal. Can you find a song that employs both
taals? The one I have in mind is structured more like a
raag-mala/geet-mala than a single song.
Finally, let me reiterate my sincere gratitude to Surajit Bose and
Ajay Nerurkar for patiently explaining several intricacies of rhythm
in person and over the telephone. Verifying the taals of each song in
the quiz involved a LOT of work and their detailed comments resulted
in a much improved quiz. I have learned a great deal about music by
interacting with them during the beta-testing phase.
That's all. Please email your entries to: pa...@synopsys.com
by 9 February 2001.
PLEASE DO NOT POST THE SOLUTIONS ON THE NEWSGROUP.
Good Luck,
Preeti Ranjan