Discovering Raag Maand

To a packed house that just wouldn't go home last week at the National Centre for Performing Arts' (NCPA) Bandish festival, coming in after Shubha Mudgal, who presented a range of dadras composed by Lalan Piya, Pt Ajoy Chakrabarty offered a rendition of thumris by his guru, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan sahib, in his inimitable teacherly lessons laced with humility and playing with range style.

Among them was the famous "Yaad Piya Ki Aaye" from Mughal-e-Azam, said to have been composed by the Ustad on the death of his wife, which he thought apt for a film-crazy Bombay crowd. Ever the futurist, Pt Chakrabarty paused to introduce his students, amongst them the supremely talented debut-making Somen Sarkar, from Kolkata, accompanying him for the first time, and who reminded one of a certain other maestro with a penchant for shaking his ringlets with an eccentricity of talent.

But this time Panditji took the lessons a rank above the obvious introductions to raag and taal. Around 20 years ago, he noted, he was first introduced to Raag Maand. Not many have heard of it, and it is a high-on-energy raag, which conjures festivity, romance and fun, and while it also occurs in Carnatic music, its origins, are located in the traditions of Rajasthani folk music. He was told that the original Rajasthani Maand had 24 versions. At first, Panditji said, he spent time asking senior artists like Shobha Gurtu, if they knew or had heard all the 24 versions, but came up drawing blanks. Then, he decided to go to the source.

His project of 20 years, of comprehensive research, and, probably only, recording of all the 24 versions of Raag Maand in their original folk forms, is now complete. For the first time, he aired two versions of Maand - singing "Yaad Piya Ki Aaye" in both to demonstrate their growth - and hoped he said, time permitting, to do a concert in which he could perform all 24.

And why is Maand so special at all? "All our modern raags derive in truth from the folk traditions of the hill raags. Whether Himachali or Rajasthani, the pahadi raags can be traced to be the roots of all modern raags," Pt Chakrabarty explained. To comprehend the evolution of our music and to trace it back to its living roots, not just its theoretical ones, but the music still sung and now fading in the tribes of Rajasthan, is an important aspect of passing on the legacy of raags to the next generation.

We are already standing in line for whenever someone decides to host that concert of the 24 root Maands.