Raag and hindi Film Music

Lets start with Pahadi of Naushad Sahab.  Simple tune, minimal orchestration, Rafi's raw voice. The Brilliant "Suhani rat Dhal chuki".  The first and third Antara goes to higher Sa showing Rafi's control at higher scale and second Antara goes as soft it can. For best effect listen to it after dinner on medium volume on a dark rainy night. if  "Suhani Raat" was for classes the next one is for masses. Dilip sahab on Piano and Rafi sahab on rampage. "aaj ki raat mere". Notice the soft teasing Komal Rishabh touch on "dil ki sala ami le le". There are 2 Pahadi based songs in the movie Koninoor. It was a rare movie where tragedy king and queen Dileep sahab and Meena Kumari have come together to do a bit of comedy. The two legends Rafi sahab and Lataji have given the playback.  The song "Do Sitaron ka zameen par hai milan" has more than one meaning. "Do sitaon ka zameen" "Koi pyar ki dekhe" One of ...

Not being a full fledged Raag, Pahadi is often termed as a Ragini. What's the difference between the two? well in simple words a Raag is played in its full form with Alaap, gat, taan etc. A Ragini is usually played in  Thumri, Dadra, Bhajan and other light classical forms. It doesn't mean that Pahadi is never played in full classical form or a Raag can not used in light classical performances.  Pahadi is more like potato of Ragas. With potato you can make various different styled dishes in different forms. It is very much ubiquitous in Indian cooking. Similarly Pahadi is also used in Film music in different shades and also used extensively. The only difference is Pahadi is related to " swar " while Potato is related to "vyanjan".    Pahadi does defines a scale and also an aroh and avroh  but beyond that it pretty much flexible. Pahadi doesn't usually go beyond the Tar Saptak's "Sa" and that's why it is mostly sung from "Ma...