Raga Bhairavi – My Favourite Things

Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least? I have this with music—it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. This becomes my “now’”song, and the “nowness” (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.

My now song is the immortal melody in Raga Bhairavi, “Baabul mora naihar chhooto hi jaye”. A popular song in Hindi films, mehfils and among thumri singers, many renderings are available to listen too. Some of the more popular ones are by Jagjit and Chitra Singh, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and K.L. Saigal. And it was Saigal’s version which really made this song popular.

But the version I like and am sharing with you here is sung by Alisha Chinai to the accompaniment of L. Subramaniam’s violin.

I like this version for the jugalbandi of Alisha’s haunting melody, so unlike her other (better known) popular numbers, and for L. Subramaniam’s violin, with both artistes reinforcing and complementing one another, as well as the sombre mood of the song.

This lament was written by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, Nawab of Awadh when he was exiled from Lucknow by the British Raj after the failed Revolt of 1857. In this song, the Nawab uses bidaai (bride’s farewell) from her babul (natal home) as a metaphor for his own banishment from his beloved Lucknow, to far away Calcutta, while he spent the rest of his life.

Do listen to the version I have given here and also the versions by other artistes (you can listen to their version by clicking on their names). Which one did you like?

Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least. I have this with music—it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. This becomes my ‘now’ song, and the ‘nowness’ (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.

My now song is “Raske Bhare Tore Nain”, a thumri in Raga Bhairavi.

I first heard Heera Devi Mishra’s version of the song from the film Gaman, as an 8- or 9-year-old, when my brother got home an audio recording of Gaman’s songs. I didn’t think much of this song then, as the other songs (Seene main Jalan by Suresh Wadkar and Ajeeb sa Neha by Hariharan) were more appealing. As I grew older, it was “Raske bhare tore nain’s” sensuous music and lyrics and Heera Devi’s earthy voice that captured my imagination like no other. So much so, that I learnt this song from the audio tape and it remains in my repertoire of songs that I dare to sing in public ! Needless to say, it remains one of my all time favourite songs.

For a long time, I thought that only Heera Devi Mishra had sung this song, till quite recently I discovered versions of this song sung by Girija Devi and Bhimsen Joshi. In my opinion, both Girija Devi’s and Bhimsen Joshi’s renditions of this thumri is not as nice as Heera Devi’s.

Yesterday, I stumbled across Barkat Ali Khan’s sublime rendition of this song and I knew then that “Raske bhare tore nain” was my new “now” song. Though Khan’s mellifluous voice and Heera Devi’s earthy tones are in sharp contrast to one another, both their renditions delight in different ways — the former playful and soothing, and the latter sensuous and raw. Barkat Ali’s Khan’s version is given below.