As I leave Sarkaghat, Himachal Pradesh today, I express my amazement at the amount of enrichment this week has provided me! Nestled in the mountains, this place was a gateway to the countless twists and turns, and all of them had become a part of my aimless walks early in the morning and evening. These walks were to feel the ‘Pahads’ whose glimpse I had got after listening to ‘Pahadi’ compositions by Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia but in the concert auditoriums of concrete jungles!
Anticipating mountains around me, I had filled my phone with ‘Raag Pahadi’ of Shivkumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Rashid Khan and Shujaat Khan. But the moments and experiences of this week far exceeded mere listening to music from the phone. The silence of the mountains is captivating and precious! Except for the occasional passing of vehicles, one can listen to a santoor or a flute under the background of silence, something that is eerily missing in cities. Hence, I played the music in public and navigated the twisty roads, explored new places, scaled little hillocks, and all I had around me were tall trees and overlooking mountains.
The legendary singer Salamat Ali Khan, in one of his recordings of ‘Raag Pahadi,’ explains how the song of the mountains all around the world is similar. He gives the example of the ‘Pahadi’ of India-Pakistan, Arabic-Afghanistan and goes all the way till Europe. Musicologists and researchers cite the pentatonic scale as a common reference in these regions. Perhaps, every region adds a variety to this pentatonic scale, and the music becomes a performing art for that region. This scale, as per the western notes is ‘C-D-E-G-A’ (open to verification), and in the Indian context, it becomes Raag Bhoop. Even many compositions in Chinese music (I have witnessed a few at Kamling Restaurant, Churchgate) are close to this scale.
If the first three days of my stay were spent in listening to music in the company of mountains and dwelling over the pentatonic scale, the fourth day offered me with an experience that was a spiritual, philosophical and a magical icing on the cake! After visiting a government school at Nabahi village, I insisted that we should visit the temple of the local deity. But I was not aware that a beautiful experience was ready for me, and it was going to be a summary of all the thoughts written above.
A group of women arrived at the temple, and they were singing their traditional praise for the Goddess. It was perhaps an overwhelming experience for them, as most of them were in tears. It was a simple tune, but my ears caught it as Raag Bhoop, that is the same scale mentioned above! But the experience did not end there! All of them were collectively touching upon the sixth note very minutely, and that little touch had made it ‘Raag Shuddh Kalyan!’ I pleaded them to sing the prayer again and with their permission video recorded it for close to 80 seconds!
I leave this write-up with a few questions in an amazed state of mind. What could be the source of this tune? How did it become pentatonic, a feature common to many regions around this one? How did the women sing it in sync and touched upon the sixth note collectively? Did they realise or know what they were creating?
To experience music like this is bliss! Political and economic globalisation started around three decades back. But music and other art forms were a part of this process since time immemorial! Standing in Sarkaghat and witnessing those women sing, I found myself as a connection between the Afghanis on my left and the Chinese on my right!
The world, on the other hand, is busy fencing borders and implementing the citizenship amendment act.
