The Colours of Jhinjhoti

The Colours of Jhinjhoti

I borrowed that title from a mind-blowing album of the same
name by the late Ustad Vilayat Khan.

I often hear deeply wrenching Raagas that leave me baffled. 
Simple scales, a complex seeding of emotions in its patterns, 
an infuriating dead-end in its analysis…well, you've got to 
be there to really understand, otherwise I probably seem to 
be talking nonsense.

Jhinjhoti is a fantastic Raaga that can cause a lot of 
distress. Two other Raagas that do the same to me are 
Charukesi and 
Bhairavi but that's not for now.

Here is Jhinjhoti by Shubra Guha. Notice how the composition 
is "off-beat" and also ends on the Shuddha Gandhar, talked 
about below.

Nevertheless, let's move on. Jhinjhoti belongs to the 
Khamaj root. Saying so implies the existence of Komal Nishaad, 
which is certainly  the case. Shuddha Nishaad is rare, 
though it can show up. But the pivot is Shuddha Gandhar. 
Like a powerful magnet, it attracts all patterns a musician 
might want to create such that the emphasis  is on that 
note again and again. You just can't get away from it.  
Many Raags have this 'annoying' problem and some mistake 
it for a weary repetitiveness, which is far from the case. 
Shuddha Gandhar has a powerful magic in many Raagas that 
causes it seem almost primordial. It happens to be my 
favourite note. You'll find its beauty in Charukesi too. 
In Jhinjhoti, the note's beautiful counterpoint is the 
drooping Komal Nishaad, though some would argue its the 
Shuddha Dhaivat.

Like other Raags that sound good in a particular octave, 
Jhinjhoti is beautiful in the middle one, that which comes 
naturally.

This seems a particular favourite of the Vilayat Khan clan, 
I think. I have heard pieces by Imrat Khan and others too.

I have a wonderful delicate Jhinjhoti piece of the late 
Pandit Jog and Zakir Hussain which never fails to bring 
tears to my eyes.

Here are examples


  
 N. Rajam
  
 Hari Prasad Chaurasia
  
 Roshanara Begum
  
 Abdul Karim Khan
  
 A nice intro
  
 A Jhinjhoti mix from Mere Mehboob - click on the first one
  
 Something from Kishore Kumar - click on the last one
  
 Mehdi Hasan



I do speak of Jhinjhoti in the penultimate chapter of my 
book "What the Raags told me" where I try to describe it 
is the Raaga of Memories. That's why the title "Colours 
of Jhinjhoti" also made perfect sense. There is truly a 
huge variety of emotions that Jhinjhoti describes well;
you'll see it in plenty of Thumris, for example. For 
that reason, a lot of people feels it's a 'light' Raaga, 
though I personally do not think so. Maybe it just shows 
how versatile it is.

Enjoy Jhinjhoti, the Raaga of Memories!

VM