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Short Takes: Jog and Jogkauns Rajan P. Parrikar Rajan P. Parrikar is a recognized expert on Indian Classical music and shares his knowledge freely with those interested in the subject. He has written a series of articles on Classical Indian Music some of which have been archived on Sawf. Click here to read Rajan's earlier articles.

Rajan P. Parrikar

Namashkar.

The highly pleasing Raga Jog has, in recent times, attracted wide attention. The old dhrupad, prathama mAna Allah, set in the rAga and credited to Haji Sujan Khan has been circulating among the Agra musicians for the past several decades. Sujan Khan (the Rajput Sujan Singh, before his conversion), counted among the forebears of the Agra Gharana, was a court musician of Emperor Akbar. Whether Raga Jog actually goes that far back is a matter of conjecture. Perhaps Sujan Khan's text was adapted to the newly conceived rAga at a later time. Be that as it may, Raga Jog is a huge Agra fave and a necessary fixture in that school's armoury. Throughout this note M=shuddha and m=teevra madhyam.

Raga Jog

Raga Jog takes Tilang for its base (for Tilang see In the Khamaj Orchard). The Carnatic Raga Nata (nATa) has some resemblance to Jog's contours. The key idea here is the insertion of the komal gandhAr in Tilang's flow through a vakra avarohi prayoga. Consider the following Tilang phrase:

G M P n P, P N S" n P M G

To that if we add M (S)g->S there obtains an AvirbhAva of Raga Jog ("->" represents a meeND).

The rishab and the dhaivat are absent. The Agra musicians use both the nishAds thus underscoring its Tilang antecedents. Elsewhere, musicians dispense with the shuddha nishAd completely and treat Jog with the komal nishAd only. Some key tonal sentences are now written down. We will adopt the two-nishAd version for the purpose of illustration. The frequency of their relative occurrence may vary but the usage almost always adheres to an old Indian principle: when two shades of the same swara are present in a musical sequence, the higher shade appears in Arohi and the lower shade in avarohi prayogas. The switch to a single nishAd (komal) version is straightforward. The ucchAraNa in Jog is leisurely and drawn out with meeNDs; it can scarcely be conveyed via the written word.

S, S n' P', M' P' N' S, g->S
The meeND g->S is a signpost of this rAga.

S G M P, nnPMP, P, M P G, M S (S)g->S
The pancham is a nyAsa swara.

G M P n P N S", S" G" G” M" (S")g"->S"
A typical uttarAnga launch.

S", P n P M P, M P N S", S” n P M G, G M G->g->S
A carefully calibrated slide G->g is sometimes deployed.

Those were the highlights of Raga Jog seen primarily from the perch of the Agra folks. Other musicians have introduced variations. The use of only one nishAd (komal) clears the deck for a stronger Kauns anga via, for instance, S, n’-g-S. That, in turn, may be further reinforced by empowering M and displacing P as the location for nyAsa. Indeed, this has been the tendency in recent times especially among those wielding the komal nishAd-only Jog. Some argue that this manner of treatment of the ‘original' Jog de facto turns it into a kind of Jogkauns. This recension of Jog, however, is not only here to stay but is considered as the dominant interpretation today.

<-- Pandit Ramashreya Jha "Ramrang" and the author

We set ball rolling with Pandit Ramashreya Jha “Ramrang." These ruminations were picked off the telephone line and are compelling as always -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/jha_jogspeak.ram

Lata Mangeshkar’s number from SAWAN (1959) composed by Hansraj Behl: naina dwAra se -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/lata_nainadwara.ram

No sooner had Jha-sahab touched down in Goa in Dec 2001 than he announced, "do-teen achhi rachanAyeN abhi bani hai Jog meN, chalo tumko aaj sunA denge" (I want to sing to you a couple of compositions in Raga Jog that have recently occurred to me). He explained that he had been "living and breathing Jog" the preceding two weeks. The childlike joy and fervour exuded by this great 73 years-old vAggeyakAra and vidwAn brought home to me the import of Einstein's memorable words: "Only in Science and Art are we permitted to remain children all our lives."

These are then the freshly minted (and, as yet, unpublished) compositions Jha-sahab sang that evening. The vilambit, jAnata ho mana ki -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/jha_jog_vil.ram

Druta bandish in teentAla, dhare dhyAna jogi yati -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/jha_jog_druta1.ram

Druta bandish in ektAla, avaguna nA gino nA gino -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/jha_jog_druta2.ram

Jha-sahab explains the textual import of the preceding compositions -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/jha_jogbandishspeak.ram

Jitendra Abhisheki -- >

Jitendra Abhisheki’s inspirited performance at the 1985 Kesarbai Kerkar Samaroh in Panjim, Goa, advertises the Agra view of the two-nishAd Jog. Both the compositions are Ramrang’s older creations, the vilambit roopak, jAne na dehoN, and the druta cheez, mori maDhaiyyA sooni lAge ri -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/abhisheki_jog.ram

<-- Vilayat Hussain Khan 'Pranpiya'

A solid, traditional Agra sortie by Agrawale Vilayat Hussain Khan (“Pranpiya”). He presents Daraspiya’s kHayAl, peeharvA ko biramAyo, and then his own bandish, ghaRi pala chhina -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/vhk_jog.ram

Latafat Hussain Khan assays what is perhaps the most famous composition in Jog, Aftab-e-Mousiqui Faiyyaz Khan’s sAjana more ghara -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/lhk_jog.ram

The selfsame cheez by the Agra lady Anjanibai Lolienkar -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/anjanibai_jog.ram

(l-r): Chidanand Nagarkar, K.G. Ginde, Alla Rakha (with Zakir Hussain), Vilayat Hussain Khan, Azmat Hussain Khan, Latafat Hussain Khan -- >

The komal nishAd-only Jog by the Pandit brothers, Maniram, Pratap Narayan and Banditji -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/pandits_jog.ram

Amir Khan’s rendition is komal nishAd oriented. Well, almost. Notice the blip of the shuddha nishAd at 2:07. The vilambit kHayAl is O balama aba ghara Aa’o, the druta is the familiar sAjana more ghara -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/amirkhan_jog.ram

A Dhrupad statement, courtesy Uday Bhawalkar -

< -- Amir Khan

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/bhawalkar_jog.ram

The final two items are instrumental selections. First, Ravi Shankar -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/rs_jog.ram

Vijay Raghav Rao -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/vrr_jog.ram

Raga Nandkauns

Nandkauns represents a happy marriage of Jog with Malkauns (it bears no relation to Raga Nand). The poorvAnga of Jog - S G M, (S)g->S - is grafted onto Malkauns. The powerful madhyam dominates the proceedings. A sample chalan is:

S, (n’)d’ n’, n' S, S n’ g, g->S
S G G M, G M (n)d (n)d n d, M P G M, S G M P, G M (S)g->S

Parveen Sultana’s recording in Nandkauns is exquisite: the vilambit vyAkula nainana is followed by paRooN tore maiN paiyyAN -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/parveen_nandkauns.ram

Raga Jogkauns

The rAga was conceived in the late 1940s by Jagannathbuwa Purohit “Gunidas". It made a splash on the concert platform in 1951 when Kumar Gandharva signed on as an active protagonist. Gunidas originally called his inspiration simply ‘Kaunshi’ but a subsequent discussion with B.R. Deodhar lead him to re-baptize it as "Jogkauns" given its harmonious blend of Jog and the Kauns-anga.

Jagannathbuwa Purohit "Gunidas" -- >

Gunidas’s key insight was to base his melody in Malkauns but with a twist - he advanced the shuddha nishAd and assigned a cameo to the komal nishAd. Modern rasikas will say that the melody is based in Chandrakauns (recall that in those days what we now refer to as Chandrakauns was a novelty). Jogkauns is a masterpiece of musical thought, all the pieces conforming to one another and to an organic whole. Gunidas has been justly credited with fathering one of the greatest melodies of the 20th century.

The core of Jogkauns may be encapsulated in the following prayogas:

S G M P M, M (S)g->S, G G M, G M (N)d, d N, N S”
S" N S" (N)d, P d n d M P M G M, M (S)g->S

Notice the powerful role of the madhyam. The komal nishAd comes along occasionally - but with delightful impact - embedded in a phrase of the type: P d n d (P)M. The shuddha rishab is alpa and may appear as a grace in, for instance, S G (R)G M.

Jha-sahab offer a concise commentary -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/jha_jogkaunsspeak.ram

An early recording in Jogkauns belongs to Manik Verma, among Gunidas’s valued disciples. Gunidas first reified his vision through two compositions: the vilambit, sughara bara pAyA, and the druta teentAla bandish, peera parAyi, the latter cast in honour of his guru Pranpiya (Agrawale Vilayat Hussain Khan). The text of the druta is as follows:

peera parAyi jAne nahiN bAlamavA
Pranpiya tuma aise niThura bhaye
'Gunidas' ki sAri Asa gamA'i

Manik Verma -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/manikverma_jogkauns.ram

The reader may have noticed the introduction of the komal nishAd (and hence the expression of a key lakshaNA) right away on the first syllable of the mukhDAs of both the compositions. In addition to being a brilliant and highly imaginative musical mind, Gunidas was a devoted teacher (see Appendix). His contributions to 20th C Indian music cannot be overstated. Another disciple, C.R. Vyas, plies sughara bara pAyA -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/crvyas_jogkauns.ram

The melody quickly took root and spread across the land. Here we have Husanlal singing it at a Jullandar conference. This is the same Husanlal of the “Husanlal-Bhagatram" composer duo, famous in the 1940s and 1950s for their film scores. Notice here the fleeting but explicit use of the shuddha rishab in the tAra saptaka (for instance at 0:20). Once again, sughara bara pAyA -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/husanlal_jogkauns.ram

We round off the Jogkauns session with Vasantrao Deshpande’s crackling rendition of khelana Aro ri and seese ri seherA bandha le -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/vasantrao_jogkauns.ram

< -- Vasantrao Deshpande

Raga Chandranandan

This is a conception of the dark and dimunitive (naked) Emperor of San Rafael, Mr. Alubhai Khan. Its constituent elements draw on Nandkauns and Jogkauns, the former to a far greater degree. Once Nandkauns and Jogkauns have been grasped, Chandranandan is then seen as a relatively minor extension, not the stupendous feat of musical legerdemain that Alu would have his firangi minions believe (Alubhai has spun a yarn about how he was challenged to produce something that nobody had heard before). Some of Alubhai's bells and whistles under the Chandranandan umbrella are indeed interesting and in his long lost prime he could whip up an arresting melody -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/alu_chandranandan.ram

Also, Alubhai's 78 rpm recording of Chandranandan -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/alu_chandranandan_78rpm.ram

Some of Alubhai's "advanced" (biologically) students have been known to mud-wrestle "Shandra-nyen-done" to the ground. Alubhai is encouraged to first instruct the blighters in the art of molesting Malkauns.

Raga Malav

This is an admixture of Jog in the poorvAnga and elements of Malkauns elsewhere. The scoop here is a special prayoga involving the shuddha dhaivat: P D D n DPM G M.

C.R. Vyas sings the traditional Radhe Radhe in dheemA teentAla and then offers a tribute to his guru, Gunidas, in a crisp self-composed cheez, tu hai rangeelA merA -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/jog/crvyas_malav.ram

Appendix

Read G.N. Joshi's article on Gunidas.

Read Vamanrao Deshpande's article on Gunidas.

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