Shankar Jaikishan & Raj Kapoor's Arabic maqaam inspiration
- Rituraj
- Dec 2, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 30, 2023
Arabic Maqaam and Hindustani classical raag
Throughout the history , Indian classical music has had a give and take relationship with Persian-Arabic music. More so in terms of string instruments and in some raaga patterns.
Before I touch upon the heading of the post, I would like to give a brief introduction to the parallels in these music systems. { Note - Now even if music is universal, it does take some time to acquire the taste of other dish, mainly due to cultural context building subtle psychological barriers..but more on that topic at some other point in time. Fortunate enough that I acquired the taste for music of middle East in last year or so while learning Arabic and it has grown on me. }
An Arabic maqaam and Indian classical raaga have lot in common.
First in terms of their way of transmission to generations, they both rely on oral tradition. The western chromatic scaling system is not incapable of representing quartertones,microtones in both these traditions.
Secondly, both have a mood, feelings associated with a raag or maqaam. They bring about a certain imagery or feelings(ras-bhav in raaga) to a listener.
Thirdly, they have a set pattern of notes , phrases which are associated with each other in succession. While each maqaam has its different set of jins(ajnas in plural) , raaga too has its grammar defined by its ascent , descent (aarohi , avrohi) and it's phrase theme/grip (pakad).
Each performer can improvise the performance based on the occasion, the essence of poetry being sung by having a creative ornamentation in each of these sequences of phrases. So each performance of a Maqaam or raaga by the same artist is different as per the context even if the grammar underlying is same for that particular maqaam or raaga. This quality is quite different than written music of western or european origin.
They do have differences like there is more thehraav (resting on a note, with no temporal scale defined) in Hindustani classical as opposed to a maqaam which hardly rests on a note. According to some experts actually Carnatic classical has taken more inspiration from maqaam than the north Hindustani classical system. The gamak dominated style in Carnatic is always on the move, never resting on a note, similar to Arabic recitations. Also, some of folk music of North India has taken this inspiration from the Middle East.
This post is in no way a detailed pointwise comparison on how these two traditions from different regions are similar or different. I don't claim authority in the domain as I am not an academic scholar to do that. However it is apparent as one listens to both music systems with a little bit keener interest, it appears as if both have improvised off each other, even if both are different languages on their own.
Now coming to the heading of the post: there is a beautiful song composed by Shankar Jaikishan for Raj Kapoor's film Awaraa in 1951. This song has taken the heavy inspiration from a 1935 song by the great Umm Kulthum who is called Kawkab al-Sharq (كوكب الشرق, "Star of the East").
While Umm Kulthum had contralto voice type in contrast to melody queen Lata Mangeshkar's high pitched soprano vocals(though she is comparatively mellow in this particular song and sweet as ever), the grammar and embellishments of the song is same especially the opening tune matching in exact ornamentation.
"Ghar Aaya Mera Pardesi" is based on raag bhairavi while Umm Kulthum's "Ala baladi el-mehboob" is in maqaam bayati.
Apparently the mood of the songs is reflected in first couplet of the lyrics too --
"Ala baladi el-mehboob" :- Take me to the country of my beloved
"Ghar Aya Mera pardesi :- my beloved has returned home.
Both signifying the different moments for a lover - one in passionate remembrance and other one in celebration of return, both intense in their appeal, accentuated by the vocal style of the respective stalwarts.
The songs below:-
by Shankar Jaikishan
by Umm Kulthum ( music Riyad Al-Sunbati)
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