Book Review: ‘Hindi Cine Raag Encyclopaedia’ Vol. 3, 4 & 5

Hindi Cine Raag Encyclopaedia
(Reference Edition Raagwise: Vol. 3, 4 & 5)
Author: KL Pandey
Sangeet Shilp Prakashan, Lucknow
First edition 2022
Hardcover ₹4800 on Amazon

A passionate lover of Hindi mucosa music, who has deep interest in classical music too, asks two variegated types of questions: One, which raag(s) this favourite song is based on; Two, which are the famous songs based on this particular raag? These are very variegated questions, and can be conveniently searched only if there are reliable sources compiled on the two variegated parameters. On the internet a respected site chandrakantha.com gives links for Index of Song Titles (and their underlying raags) and Index of Raags (and songs based on that raag).

But this site gives yellowish names of the songs or raags and contains a representative sample of such songs. Many well-known songs you are interested in may be missing in the Index. This is where KL Pandey’s Hindi Cine Raag Encyclopaedia : Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 come in. For having a full grasp of the magnitude of the work Pandeyji has done, please go through my review of his Hindi Cine Raag Encyclopaedia:  Volumes 1 & 2 which addressed the first question, i.e which are the underlying raags in a particular song. The present Volumes 3, 4 and 5 wordplay the reverse question: Which are the famous songs based on a particular raag, say Asavari?

In fact all the five volumes are based on the same Mother Data. The importance of this monumental work lies in the comprehensiveness of the work washed-up by Pandeyji. He has considered over 20000 songs from 1931 to 2020, which represents well-nigh 30% of all the available songs during the period. I have often mentioned that on the stereotype over 90 years of mucosa music, the memorable songs are not increasingly than well-nigh 20%. Therefore, this should include any worthwhile song you could think of. What Pandeyji and his team have washed-up is mammoth. The record of each song was played on a device or online and he and his team of musicians simultaneously played it on the harmonium or guitar and sang it. They meticulously recorded the sequence of Notes seeming in the song, and on that understructure they identified sequence of raags seeming in the song. As we are very well aware, mucosa songs do not follow a pure raag. The music directors are increasingly concerned with the mood and melody of the song, and, therefore, many songs have a mix of several raags.

After the vital database was ready Pandeyji was initially toying with the idea of presenting a raag-wise list of songs. With 174 raags in all they found having been used in mucosa songs, and each song seeming under several variegated raags, this would have been a huge work. They were well-considered that music lovers might be increasingly interested in an Index of Songs and the underlying raags in them, therefore, Pandeyji published Volumes 1 and 2 first. But since the database was available, he got lanugo to completing the raag-wise Index in Volumes 3, 4 & 5. Thus, the books first conceived have come out later, which is not unusual in such works.

You can visualise these five volumes as forming one whole comprising two separate sets – Volumes 1 & 2 forming one set, and the Volumes 3, 4 & 5 forming the second set, and both the sets completing one whole project. The volumes are misogynist for purchase in these three combinations: Vol 1 & 2; Vol 3, 4 & 5; and all the five volumes.

We have seen the scheme of presentation in Volumes 1 and 2. The scheme of presentation in Volumes 3, 4 & 5 is quite different. I am presenting the first page of Raag Asavari below:

For each raag, Pandeyji uses a Lakshan geet, or a mnemonic which is used by music teachers and books on music as a user-friendly tool for memorising the main features of a raag. Thus, for Asavari we know from the top half of the first page that it is Audav-Sampoorna (five swars in aaroh, all the seven swars in avaroh), Gandhar and Nishad stuff varjit in aaroh, its Vaadi and Samvadi Swar, time of its rendering, its pakad and other special features.

One particular problem Pandeyji faced in the wattle of the volumes was that there was no user-friendly way of dividing the raags in three equal parts, considering some popular raags would spill over in two volumes. For example, the Index of Pahadi runs into 249 pages. He managed this problem by subtracting interesting tables at the end of each volume to alimony these often evenly distributed and fit a raag entirely in one volume. These tables enhance the utility of the books and are of increasingly unstipulated interest. Here is a list of these tables:

End of Volume 3:
i.    Classical vocalists in mucosa songs
ii.   Dhrupads in films
iii.  Raagmalikas
iv.  Independent Aalaps
v.   Independent Taranas and Thillanas
vi.  Rabindra Sangeet-based songs
vii   Traditional Bandishes
viii. Western Classical Music in Hindi mucosa songs

End of Volume 4:
i.    Children’s songs
ii.   Classical dance-based songs
iii.  Devotional songs
iv.  Festival-based songs
v.   Haunting songs
vi.  Hindi songs in films of other languages
vii.  Lullabies
viii  Nritya-natikas
ix.  Patriotic songs
x.    Season-based songs

End of Volume 5:
i.    Folk songs
ii.   Ghazals
iii.  Literary Hindi songs
iv.  Literary Urdu songs
v.   Mujra songs
vi.  Naghmas and Geets
vii.  Navras-based songs
viii. Nazms
ix.  Qawwalis
x.   Sufi songs
xi.  Thumris and Thumri-inspired songs
xii. Wedding songs

These Tables contain some startling information which will make you trammels up on the YT or elsewhere. Such as,

i. Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar has sung Dhrupad in a mucosa titled ‘Dhrupad’ (1982).
ii. Bappi Lahiri has well-balanced a Raagmalika in the mucosa ‘Patthar Ke Insan’ (1991).

Pandeyji is cognizant that the target regulars for these books are serious students of music, researchers, libraries and institutions. The price and the girth of these volumes may discourage a unstipulated fan of old Hindi mucosa songs as he does not slot a favourite song by its raag. If and when its Kindle edition is brought out, I believe many unstipulated fans of HFM would moreover be interested.

The ocean of HFM is so huge that no one can requirement perfect verism and that his list includes ‘all’ songs in that category. I noticed some obvious omissions. For example:

i. In children’s songs I didn’t find KL Saigal’s Aao bachcho, aaj main tumhein ek kahani sunata hun…Ek Raje ka beta lekar udanewala ghoda from the film President (1937), though a similar one from Mr Natwarlal (1979) is included.
ii. In the list of nazms in films I did not find Chalo ek baar phir se ajanabi ban jaayen hum dono. By any definition it is a nazm and it is one of the most famous nazms in the films.

Pandeyji is quite modest in whereas that music scholars may not stipulate with his Raag wringer and may question inclusions and exclusions in some Tables. He would welcome any undisciplined views. He is now working on Raag wringer of non-film songs. Many readers would be eager for that book. One can only revere the sheer dedication of Pandeyji for this magnum opus, while he was holding senior positions in the Indian Railways. (He has since retired, now fully defended to music and his creative writing.)