Sangeet Sudha - Yaman from Light Classical Angle Presented by Vivek Datar

My Head is in Yaman
I did a short program for the India Community Center in the San Francisco Bay Area. I started with a small Yaman medley. Now, the problem is that once Yaman gets into you, it is impossible to shake it off. Yaman stays with you. It occupies a space in your brain, rent-free. There is nothing you can do to evict it. Or, you do not want to evict it at all.
So, here it is. Yaman. The majestic Yaman. I am sure there is no music director who has not used Yaman. I will explain the Yaman structure in the program, playing and illustrating various points. It suffices to say that Yaman has morphed a bit over centuries, but the basic structure has remained the same. Pandit Bhatkhande did use Yaman to name the Thaat, which is one of the 10 Thaats defined by him.
While describing the Yaman, I will go a little bit more in details, and talk about few bandishes, and also age-old wisdom taught by every Guru, “Bandish Kee Ang Se Gana/Bajana”. Meaning, your singing/playing should reflect the bandish structure.
You can also listen to me playing a small Yaman medley of four songs in this episode. We will begin with KL Saigal’s classic Main Kya Janu. The singer is Radhika Chopraji. She is a versatile singer well known for remaining true to the classica nature of ghazals, thumaris etc. Here, she pays tribute to Saigal sab; it is from a live program.
We then move to Hemant Kumar/Lata masterpiece in Yaman, Chhupalo Yun Dil Me Pyar Mera, and follow that up with Kishore Kumar’s magical Vo Sham Kuchh Ajeeb Thee.
I have played these songs in the medley, and finished the medley with Pandurag Kanti, a Hrudaynath Mangeshkar/Asha Bhosle gem. We will listen to Ashaji.
Our penultimate song is a Kannada song, sung by SP Balu and SJanaki, music by M Ranga Rao. I do know how much about these artists, except to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the song.
Finally, we will have Anand Bhate (fondly known as Anand Gandharv) from Sawai Gandharva Festival in 2017, accompanied by Bharat Kamat and Suyog Kundalkar. All three artists have performed all over the world, and are well respected. This is a classic Yaman performance, and a well known bandish. Watch how they interact with each other and just have fun on the stage.