Romancing the Seasons - II

‘Varsha’, the rains! After the scorching heat, the monsoons bring the much required succour to the parched soul and Earth. Every drop of rain brings with it a musical note; the Earth is lush with greenery, the peacock dances with joy, the toads express their happiness through their croaking, indicating the onset of the season of fertility and reprieve. Indian poetry and literature oft describe this season as being the most romantic and the fact that we are, yet, a predominantly agrarian economy, cannot emphasis enough, the importance of this season! A number of songs create a vivid representation of the sound of the rainfall, the arousal of romantic emotions, the childlike ecstasies of playing in the rains and the woes a ‘wrong’ monsoon could bring with it.

In Hindustani Classical music, the ‘Malhaar’ Ragas (Goud Malhaar, Surdasi Malhaar, Megh Malhaar, Miyan Malhaar…) ‘sing in’ the expression of the season.

I choose, here, to share Raga Megh. A raga that is sung in the monsoons, but one that has given rise to two schools of thought with respect to its nomenclature. Without going too much into the technicalities, I would like to mention that this is believed to be the same as Raga Megh Malhaar, by one school, while the other treats it as an independent Raga. This Raga has a flavour of the Sarang family of Ragas when influenced by the treatment of certain notes in the Raga, while, on the other hand, is identified as being a 'Malhaar', due to the dominance of certain phrases of notes.

I would like to interpret this as, a Raga that acts like a prism, refracting the various emotions brought by the rains, while indicating the shift from the summer or ‘Grishma Ritu’ (Sarangs) to the monsoons or 'Varsha Ritu' (Malhaars)...!

‘Umad ghumad ghan garaje,

Kaare kaare badara darawe;

Ghanana ghanana ghan barase,

Damak damini darawe…’ by Pt. Sanjeev Abhyankar..

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A song from the Hindi film ‘Chasme Baddoor’ in the same Raga

‘Kahan se aaye badaraa…’ 'colours' the listener with one of the various hues of emotions associated with this season.

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