Tuesday 23 August 2011

Kajari : A feeling of Timelessness Classic soundpiece.


I was listening to some of the classical music and happens to like one of the genre of Hindustani classical Music. I read about it and wanted to share few things.

According to a folk tale of Mirzapur, there was woman called Kajli whose husband was in a distant land. Monsoon arrived and separation became unbearable. She began to cry at the feet of the Kajmal Goddess and these cries took the form of the popular Kajri songs.
Come monsoon... and it brings relief from the sizzling hot summer.
Come the black clouds... and separation from the beloved become unbearable.
Each bolt of lightning hits straight at the heart and makes it beat faster.
Kajri, the songs of longing are the outbursts of a woman overwhelmed by desire.

Derived from the word Kajal meaning Kohl, Kajris are sung by classical and semi classical musicians. There are two forms of Kajri singing in UP, one that is sung on a performance platform and the other sung by women dancing in a semi-circle, the 'Dhunmuniya Kajri'.

Noted Singers of Kajari are : 
Girija Devi 
(A small introduction to a living legend)

Girija Devi (b. May 8, 1929, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India) is an Indian singer and represents the Banaras Gharana of singers. She is adept at different genres of Hindustani vocal music including Khyal, Thumri, Dadra, Chaiti and Kajari, but she excels in the Poorab ang Thumri. She has been described as the last living queen of thumri. Her father Ramdeo Rai was a local Zaminadar and interested in classical Indian music. He initiated his daughter's musical training when she was five years old. Her gurus were Pandit Sarju Prasad Mishra and Shrichand Mishra. Her first public recital (1949) from All India Radio, Allahabad, followed by recitals from stage at Arrah, Bihar, were highly appreciated. During her active singing career, she has rendered her recitations in several parts of India, as also in other parts of the world, including the U.S., the former USSR, and several countries of Europe. Girija Devi was rendered Padma Shree in 1972, and the Padma Bhushan in 1989, which are among the highest civilian awards of the Republic of India. A documentary - Girija, has also been made in her honour by the government of India.

Litsen to this classic timeless music of all time




Channulal Mishra

If you have seen Aarakshan and liked this Song:




then may be you know, Who is Channulal Mishraji. Pandit Chhannulal Mishra is one of the greatest and most gifted classical vocalists of India. He can be reckoned among the all time great vocalists to hail from the ancient city of Varanasi, Playing on the ‘Swarmandal' Shri Mishra holds his audience spell-bound with his mellifluous rendition, He has the distinction of being a Versatile Vocalist, equally proficient in classical and light classical music such as Khayal, Dadra, Thumri, Chaiti, Kajri, Sawani, Holi and Bhajan.

Pt. Chhannulal Mishra was born on the third of August 1936. He had his first lessons of classical music from the late Pt. Badri Prasad Mishra, his father, Having been initiated into the nuances of music by his father, he moved from his place of birth (Village Hariharpur in district Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh), to learn music at the feet of Ustad Abdul Ghani Khan of the Kirana gharana until the renowned musicologist, the late Padmabhushan Thakur Jaidev Singh offered to groom his adolescent prodigy into the subtleties of Indian Classical music. This bond of the teacher and the taught, the master and the pupil was nurtured in the time honoured tradition of Guru-shishya parampara'. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandit_Channulal_Mishra)



Indian Government needs to spend more on classical music academy and its training. Our culture and past is subliming into the broad lightening of modern advancement. Despite new toys like computers, space missions and Cellular phones, our inner self doesn't changes. Our classical music has been more Divine! 

to be continue....


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