Manna Dey began his career when he sang a duet with Suraiya in the film Tamanna in 1942. A year later he followed with his first solo “Gayi tu gayi Seeta sati” from the film Ram Rajya. He came to Bombay not to be a singer but to be a composer, inspired by his uncle Krishna Chandra Dey. Manna Dey assisted Anil Biswas and Khem Chandra Prakash before deciding to abandon his dream of composing music.
Jaunpur was an independent Sultanat in the 15th century which had a reputation of being a city dedicated to learning (ilm ka shahar). It was considered second only to Varanasi as a hub of music and musicians. Jaunpur’s sultans used to be ‘wazirs’ to the Tughlaq dynasty, but then they broke away and created their own. The late morning raga, Jaunpuri traces its origin to Jaunpur.
Every composer has their favorite raga. A raga that will sneak up regularly in compositions. It is almost like an unfinished task that comes back to haunt you. You attend to it for a bit but there is so much more to be done. If one speaks about Raga Bhairavi, one has to talk about the obsession of the duo Shankar-Jaikishan (called S-J by fans) with the raga. Shankarsingh Raghuwanshi (1922–1987) continued to sign his work as Shankar Jaikishan even sixteen years after Jaikishen Dayabhai Pankal passed away in 1971.
Todi is a morning raga that is sung from 8am to 10am. It has the ability to evoke the same mood of playfulness of a newborn lying in bed content, smiling and playful. In film music, Raga Todi has been largely used in composing songs that depict pathos. Raga Todi or Miyan ki Todi was the trademark composition of Miyan Tansen the legendary composer in the court of Akbar. Raga Todi is also known as Miyan ki Todi, Shuddha Todi and Darbari Todi. All these names essentially refer to the same Raga Todi.
According to musical folklore, the melody of their cowbells is supposed to be behind this raga. Thank you for giving us this gem. Ahir Bhairav is a late morning raga and can be sung from 8am up to 10 am. In my second novel Married But Available, the enigmatic Keya is listening to it at 4am. That only shows that it is possible to enjoy a Raga even if the time is not a hundred percent accurate.
