Skip to main content

Raga Todi and all that Jazz by Shankar Jaikishan

In 1968,  musical duo Shankar-Jaikishan released an album called Raga Jazz Style. As the name suggests, keeping up with the era of Flower Power, this album was a beautiful experiment in fusing Indian melodies - ragas with Jazz.

One of the tracks from the album was based on a raga known as Raga Todi.

Shankar-Jaikishan had earlier worked on this raga for a song from their 1956 film called Basant Bahar. The song was Duniya Na Bhaye Mohe, Ab To Bulale in Raga Todi. It was sung by Mohammed Rafi and was picturised on top star of the era: Bharat Bhushan. (You tube video)

I found the Raga Todi Jazz track by Shankar Jaikishanat at a delightful blog named Eastern Eye by Phil. (You can download and check out the track here)

The blog has a wonderful collection of what we often call "eastern-fusion sounds" -  some of Ananda Shankar, some of RD Burman, some of Bappi Lahiri and among many others it also has musicians like Big Jim Sullivan.The blog has a beautiful track from his album Sitar Beat (1968) titled Flower Power. It kind of reminded me of Desh Raga (video of the popular variation).

-0-
Some more info. on Raga Jazz Style

The album was released  by Gramophone Company of India Ltd [ECS- 2377]

The track listing for the album:

"Raga Todi" "Raga Bhairav" "Raga Malkauns" "Raga Kalavanti" "Raga Tilak Kamod" "Raga Miyan Malhav" "Raga Bairagi" "Raga Jaijaivanti" "Raga Mishra Pilu" "Raga Shiranjani" "Raga Bhairvi"

Based on the wiki page for Sitar in Jazz. Names of people who worked on this album:

Ustad Rais Khan (sitar, ), Manohari Singh (sax), John Pereira (trumpet), Lucilla (piano), Leslie Godinho (drums), Eddie Travers (bass), Dilip Naik (electric guitar), Anibal Castro (electric guitar), Suman (flute), Ramakant (tabla), Dattaram (assistant), Sebastian D'Souza (arrangement).

-0-

Related Post:
Labels:
Location: India

Comments

  1. philDec 16, 2008, 3:52:00 PM

    Many thanks for such kind comments and such an interesting blog , will link you if ok

    Now I am out of hospital will start posting a little more frequently again :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vinayak RazdanDec 18, 2008, 11:32:00 AM

    Hope you are doing great now.
    Love your blog!
    And thanks for the link!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vinayak RazdanJul 15, 2010, 1:28:00 PM

    Manohari Singh (1931-2010)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I always like to hear back :)
However, irrelevant comments and irrelevant links will not be published. Needless to say, same goes for abusive comment and spam. Leaving back links related to the topic is encouraged. I know it can be tempting but try not to leave your email ids, phone nos and CVs in the comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Famous Old Faces of Doordarshan

Some people recall the faces and some people recall the names. Here are images of some of the famous readers and presenters of Doordarshan down the years. If you recognize any of them, leave a comment. [ Update 1 : Most of the faces now have names thanks to helpful comments by olio-gallimaufry ] [ Update 2 : Included image of one of the earliest presenters, Gopal Kaul. Send in generously from personal collection by son, Ashutosh Kaul. Sept, 2010.] [ Major Update 3: Got a tip-off about a documentary about the famous faces of Doordarshan from the makers   of     “The Golden Trail , DD@50 :Special feature on Golden Jubilee of Doordarshan ” from which these caps were taken. I managed to catch the incredible documentary and am adding some more faces/name and part of the docu here. New ones can be found after the image of  Narotam Puri. 30th Oct, 2010]  Pratima Puri. Believed to be the first Doordarshan reader.
175 comments
Read more

All about Taro Ek Dragon Ka Beta

Hawa mithee tu aa ja, purab se Tufaan tu aa jaa re paschim se Chali aa, jaldi aa jaldi aa tu aasmaan se ~Title song from Cartoon Series Taro Ek Dragon Ka Beta Japanese cartoon series from the late 70’s Taro the Dragon Boy ( orginal story by Miyoko Matsutani ) was shown on Indian national television - Doordarshan, in mid nineties with the Hindi title: Taro Ek Dragon Ka Beta . Due to this one serial, a generation of Indians was introduced to the wonders of Japanese animation. Although it may not seem to be a great series in itself( when compared to the new age sleek animation of these days) , showing of Taro the Dragon Boy was the true precursor to the coming of Pokemons, Inuyashas, Samurai Jacks and Dragon Ball Zs. In India, the series is mostly remembered for its title track Hawa mithee tu aa ja written by Gulzar and brilliantly composed music by Vishal Bhardwaj. In 1966, Taro, the Son of Dragon with the original Japanese title of ...
66 comments
Read more

Space City Sigma, 1989

A strange new deadly creature has sneaked aboard the ship. The latest maneuver of  Zakhakoo to take down Commander Tara and his city, the last hurdle to his plans of adding earth to his galactic kingdom and the universe. This time he sent a small Blob, strangely, much resembling a stinky wet Upla , a throbbing pack of  cow-dung . The Blob is given to jumps onto its unsuspecting victims and sucks the life force out of them. Soon, this 'death-on-contact-with-skin' creature starts making victims out of helpless citizens of the Space City who have no clue about the nature of these new deaths. As the word slowly spreads,there is mayhem, in this mayhem the Blob zeros in on what could be its most prized victim - Shakti. As a doors open (automatically, woosh -pause- woosh ), Shakti walks in only to be attacked slyly by the Blob. In the manner of its previous killings, this time too, Blob goes for the face, sticking to ...
56 comments
Read more