Selected Recording
Dhrupad in rāg Kambhoji and tāl Cautāl
N. Zahiruddin Dagar and N. Faiyazuddin Dagar (singers) with Mohan Shyam Sharma (pakhāwaj) and Mussarat Dagar and Wasif Dagar (tambūras)
The Dagar Brothers: Rag Kambhoji, Music of the World CDT-114
Ustad N. Zahiruddin Dagar (1933-1995) and Ustad N. Faiyazuddin Dagar (1934-1989) were the sons of Ustad Nasiruddin Khan Dagar (1895-1936).
The Dagar Family represents one of the oldest and most popular styles of dhrupad presentation today. Indeed, the style of dhrupad they present is called the Dagar bani ("Dagar style").
Rag Kambhoji is originally a South Indian rāga (see Meer 1980: 177) but fits the Hindustani thāt, Khammaj Thāt which has a flat seventh (i.e., komal nisād) and is very similar to the Hindustani Rāg Khambhavati. The vādi appears to be gandhār and the samvādi, dhaivat. [The melodic shapes here are from my own transcriptions of the performance.] This rāga is a specialty of the Dagar family.
 
Rāga Kambhoji
 
Cautāl Thekā (Pakhāwaj)
 
Sthā'ī
Mānus hun to wahi Raskhan,
Brij Gokul mein gwālan.		 If I, Raskhan, must be reborn as a human being,
Let it be in Brij Gokul, among the cowherds of Nanda.
 
Antarā
Jo pasu hu(n) to kahā bas mero,
Charo nit Nanda ki dhenu majharan.		 But if I am born an animal,
Let me graze each day with the cows of Nanda.
 
 
Notes
  1. Raskan is the pen name (mudra) of the composer of the verse.
  2. Brij Gokul is the region in which Krishna grew up as a boy and adolescent.
  3. The legend of Krishna describes how his coming was prophesied and how he would destroy the evil king, Kamsa. Accordingly, Kamsa arranged for the child to be killed. However, at birth, the babe Krishna was switched with the child of cowherds, Nanda and Yasoda, and that child was subsequently murdered by Kansa's agents. Krishna, then, grew up as a cowherd--albeit a rather unusual one. In this text the devotee is asking that if he is to be reborn, please let it be as one of Krishna's fellow cowherds; if not a human rebirth, then please let him be one of the cows in Krishna's herd.
  4. Original dhrupad set by Ustad Bairam Khan.
 
Sthā'ī of Dhrupad Bandis: Rāga Kambhoji
Cautāl
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
X   0   2   0   3   4  
 
PERFORMANCE ORGANIZATION
Time Event
00:00 alap
ambitus is expanded downwards towards the lower ga note by note (beginning with a cell comprising of the notes sa, nib, dha, and re)
01:45 pa (lower octave) introduced
01:57 ma
02:09 ga
02:50 ambitus is expanded upwards note by note
03:42 ga introduced
09:05 ma
10:46 pa
15:54 dha
17:50 nib
23:23 sa
26:11 ri
26:24 ga
30:15 ends
 
30:19 nom-tom
ambitus is expanded downwards to ga
32:10 ambitus is expanded upwards (first to ga)
34:57 ma introduced
35:55 pa
36:54 dha
37:24 nib
39:41 sa
40:20 ri
40:40 tarana-like section
43:35 tarana-like section ends
45:57 alap and nom-tom section ends
 
00:00 bandis
00:18 stha'i
01:22 antara
02:02 stha'i refrain
02:14 sañcari
02:55 abhog
03:28 stha'i refrain
 
03:51 bolbanao
04:29
  • stha'i refrain
    		•
     
    04:40 bolbant
    bolbant improvisations often finish with the mukhra of the stha'i refrain
    06:35 stha'i refrain (sung twice)
    06:54 bolbant in laykari style
    06:30 stha'i refrain (sung twice)
    06:54 bolbant in laykari style
    07:59 stha'i refrain (sung once)
    08:09 bolbant
    08:50 stha'i refrain (sung once)
    09:03 bolbant in laykari
    09:50 stha'i refrain (sung once)
    10:03 bolbant in laykari style
    11:17 stha'i refrain (only a portion of the mukhra)
    11:19 bolbant in laykari style
    11:45 stha'i refrain (sung once)
    11:55 laykari
    13:06 stha'i refrain
    13:15 boltanlaykari
    14:24 stha'i refrain (mukhra)
    14:28 boltanlaykari
    14:50 stha'i refrain
    14:59 boltanlaykari
    15:42 stha'i refrain (sung once)
    15:50 boltanlaykari
    16:15 stha'i refrain (mukhra)
    16:19 boltanlaykari
    16:42 stha'i refrain (mukhra)
    16:45 boltanlaykari
    16:58 stha'i refrain (sung once)
    17:09 closing alap-like phrases
    17:45 end
    Dhrupad Outline Khayāl
      23 March, 2017