Shivaranjani is an elegant raga that seems to convey the moods of equanimity and despair all in one unhindered, unbroken, symmetric scale. What could be more expressive? The tilt is usually on sadness and pathos, because of the combined effect of the swaras. There are moments of hope, rare moments of joy, which are unfortunately, apparently, masked by sadness. There is probably no musical scale (or more accurately, raga) that conveys the feeling of pathos as uniquely as Shivaranjani does.
Here is my experiment in this elegant raga:
10 Comments
August 31, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Is this the raga of that old hindi song which begins jane kahan? Your piece reminded me of that song (and this would be the few hindi songs I know
)
Arun
August 31, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Arunk, my thoughts exactly, about Shivaranjani and Jaane Kahaan. I don’t know whether this Hindi song uses the mishra N3, but it does follow the Shivaranjani raga to a large extent, I think.
September 1, 2008 at 11:38 am
Also ‘Dil ki jharonko mei tujko bitakar’ from ‘Brahmachari’ by Rafi is again Shivaranjani as is ‘Mera Naam Joker’s ‘Jaane kahan’.
September 1, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Maami,
I didn’t know about the first song (or the movie Brahmachari, either). Thanks for that. There is, of course, one Ilayaraja classic in this raga – Vaa Vaa Anbe Anbe.
September 1, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Try to chase the Bhramachari song on UTube. It’s a favourite sung by Rafi.