Khayyam: Connecting Melodies with Mountains
By Siraj Khan
Boston
Maestro Khayyam lived and breathed like all of us mortals at sea level, but his soul somehow was always connected with the mountains. Why would he otherwise compose most of his songs based on Raaga Pahadi? Despite almost all mainstream Bollywood composers using that Raaga for their compositions sometime or the other, why would only one composer’s name become the Raaga’s “trademark”?
Raaga Pahadi is a popular raga based on folk music. As its name suggests, it originates from the mountainous region of the Himalayas and has also been associated with Kashmiri folk melody. It is a simple light raaga and resembles more like a ‘dhun’, and yet, a purified and dignified treatment elevates it to the rightful, lofty and esteemed stature of an exquisite raaga — beautiful, intense, elegant and delicate. Its aesthetic spirit is radically distinctive. Yet, it is not considered a major raaga in the sense of Darbari, Yaman, Bhairvi, Kedar and others.
Khayyam’s fascination for this raaga accompanied him during his entire 50+ years of his professional career and his delicate and soulful music must have invariably touched the souls of anyone who had an ear for music. The maestro’s style had the touch of ghazal but was rooted in Indian classical music. The compositions were soulful, melodious and emotional, the songs rich in poetry and purpose and the overall style noticeably different from the popular brand of music in those days, which used to be either semi-classical, ghazal or light and peppy.
Beyond his obsession with RaagaPahadi, what distinguished Khayyam’s music was the superior quality of poetry in all his songs. For him, the purpose of music was to make the lyrics come alive. He had the sagacity to keep his tunes simple, instruments at a minimal and through his style, carved out his own special niche in the music industry dominated by stalwarts like S D Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, Madan Mohan, Naushad, O P Nayyar, and later R D Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Kalyanji-Anandji.
During his extensive professional career, Khayyam worked with no less than 80 lyricists, notably with SahirLudhianvi, Janisar Akhtar, KaifiAzmi, Shehryar and in later years with Nida Fazli, Gulzar and perhaps most extensively with NaqshLyallpuri. He recorded more songs in the voice of Asha Bhosle than with LataMangeshkar, though his wife Jagjeet Kaur was not far behind. With male singers, he worked with many, but Mohammad Rafi and Talat Mahmood lent their voices far more than Mukesh, Mahendra Kapoor and Kishore Kumar, with others.
In a recent Tweet, lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar stated that Khayyam has many great songs to his name, but just the SahirLudhianvi-penned “Wohsubahkabhi to aayegi” from PhirSubahHogi would be “enough to make him immortal.”
Inspired by that tribute, I sat down with Khayyam’s sterling anthology compiled passionately by Vishwas Nerurkar and Bishwanath Chatterjee and while cherry-picking from 600+ songs was not easy, I still attempted to shake them down to extract my own Pahadi-charged favorite list.
- Shaam-e-gham ki qasam – Majrooh/Ali Sardarjafri
- Woh subha kabhi to aayegi – Sahir Ludhianvi
- Phir na kijiyeneri gustakh nihgahi ka gila – Sahir Ludhianvi
- Hai kali kalike lab par terehusnka – KaifiAzmi
- Pyas ku chaur bhi bhad ka kijhalakdikhlake – Kaifi Azmi
- Jaane kya dhoonda tirehtihain ye ankhen – KaifiAzm
- Jeet hi lengebaazi hum tum, kheladhura – Kaifi Azmi
- Parbaton kepedon par, shaam ka basera hai- Sahir Ludhianvi
- Tum apnaranj-o-gham, apni pareshani – Sahir Ludhianvi
- Kuchajnabi se aaphein, kuchajnabi se hum- Sahir Ludhianvi
- Baharon mera jivan bhi sanvaro – Kaifi Azmi
- Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai – Sahir Ludhianvi
- Chorichori koi aye – Lata – Khayyam - Janisar Akhtar
- Aa ja re, aa je re o mere dilbaraaja -Janisar Akhtar
- AasmanpehaiKhudaaurzameenpe hum – Sahir Ludhianvi
- Tehriyehoshmein aa loon to – Majrooh Sultanpuri
- Mere gharayeeeknannhipari –Sahir Ludhianvi
- Na jaanekyahua – Naqsh Lyallpuri
- Aye dil-e-naadan – Janisar Akhtar
- Hazarraahein mud kedekhien –Gulzar
- Barsephuaarbarsephuaar – Gulzar
- Ye Mulaqaatikbahanahai – NaqshLyallpuri
- Jaltahaibadan – KaifiAzmi
- Tujh se hotibhi to kiya – Shehryar
- Kabyaadmeinterasathnahi – Faiz Ahmed Faiz
- Dikhaidiyeyoonkebekhudkiya – Mir Taqi Mir
- Dilcheezkyahai – Shehryar
- In ankhonkimastike – Shehryar
- Justujujiskithiusko to napaya – Shehryar
- Ye kyajagehhaidosto – Shehryar
“If there was no Khayyam sahib, there would be no Rekha,” declared UmraoJaan’s alluring leading lady at an award function some years ago. “You gave me an identity,” an indebted Rekha said to Khayyam on stage, amidst loud cheering.
Muzaffar Ali’s much-celebrated literary realism and painting of the Awadhi culture with UmraoJaanremains one of Khayyam’s most towering achievements. Set to tune over Shaheryar’s soulful poetry, UmraoJaanfeatures the unbeatable team of Rekha and Asha Bhosle. Rekha’s elegant kathak-inspired mujras, have reigned supreme in the imagination of millions of movie-goers. No doubt that with UmraoJaan, Khayyam introduced a fascinating new aspect of Asha Bhosle, in the form of ghazals (adding new octaves and a unique velvety texture to her voice).
Understandably, when Khayyam had taken on the mammoth task of providing the musical score for UmraoJaan, he had no idea that one day the film’s music would stand on the same platform as Mughal-e-Azam and Pakeezah. Bollywood’s history will testify that what Mughal-e-Azam was to Madhubala and Pakeeza to MeenaKumari, it would be UmraoJaan for Rekha.
Only 50 odd films across musical career spanning five decades is a reflection of Khayyam’s preference of quality over quantity. Great composers came and went, but Khayyam stood his ground and stayed on so much longer. The monumental work that he has left behind qualifies him to stand at par with other master composers like SD Burman, Madan Mohan, Shankar-Jaikishan, OP Nayyar, Anil Biswas, C Ramchandra, Roshan, SalilChowdhery and others.
As a person, Khayyam was a fascinating person and expressions complimented his words well, a person who conducted himself with grace and style. His body language, gestures, and expressions, always complemented his words. No person in Bollywood was openly more secular than him. A Muslim marrying a Sikh Jageet Kaur was one of the earliest secular marriages of Bollywood in the 1950s, which they cemented by giving their only son a Hindu name – Pradeep.
They say whatever one speaks does not dissipate, but travels into space, towards infinity. At some point of time, we may be able to pick up the airwaves and retrieve those sounds. I hope technology makes it happen in our lifetime. For now, though, we are fortunate to be left with the legacy of immortal melodies created by composers such as Khayyam, surely the last of the maestros from the golden age. We have no way to thank him enough, except pray for his soul perched on some mountain top up there, composing a melody in his favorite RaagaPahadi.
Jo badakashthaypuranayvouthtejatehein
Kaheen say aab e baqai e dawaamlaasaaqi
– Iqbal
(The writer is a world citizen, based in Boston, and lives a life without boundaries, having traveled 75 countries on this planet so far. He is a connoisseur of South Asian film music, using art and culture effectively, to build bridges between boundaries and people. He has written scripts and directed many successful concerts of performing arts in multiple cities of the US, South Asia and UAE and is a freelance writer for several journals and publications. Siraj is a global finance and audit professional)
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