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Listen to Indian music, Country music, or almost any genre of music,
and you will be amazed by the strong aesthetic appeal that some of the
musical phrases have on you. Such phrases are basically short melodies,
often enriched by beautiful musical arrangement. Such an arrangement
may consist of support from one or several instruments, simple
counterpoints, or apposite chords, or extensive parallel phrasing.
The improvisation of a raga in Indian classical music is a series of
aesthetically pleasing, elaborate, intuitionally arranged, large number
of short and long phrases. Each such phrase leads to the next, often
terminating on the Sa, the tonic. Coming from a skilled performer, such
phrases can be too many and too beautiful to be easily dissected for our aesthetic studies. However, beyond doubt, if we do analyse those
phrases, they would prove to be a veritable, fertile and plentiful
source of everlasting exposition of divine grace and beauty. So also,
for othr genres of music.
Having said as much, let us move on to some such eternally enduring
phrases. let us try to find what, how and why, about them. Let us
also try to discern any undercurrents in them, of aesthetically valid
generalisations which can be supported, sooner or later, by theoretical
considerations.
The first such phrase, which death dare not defy, nor can time tarnish,
is uppermost in my mind; it is:
m' G' S' D P
F' E' C' A G on the keyboard/harmonium.
Its variations: m' G' S' P D, etc.
I am not able to say whether and which raga this piece is based on, if at all: it is not necessary that a phrase has to belong to a raga.
I have been hearing this very often in songs in Country music, ever
since I settled in the U.S. ten years ago. The only time I have been
able to detect this phrase in Indian movie songs, is an almost
inaudible piece in violins, in the song "Meri kahani bhoolane waale",
sung by Rafi saheb, film Deedar, music by Naushad.
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