Jagjit Singh albums on iTunes

So, the community has decided to release the master's unreleased gems on the internet from now on. Recent launch releases and the unwillingness of the music companies these days to release pure-audio albums (since they get ripped off almost instantaneously) was the major reason why this was decided.

Mr. Raja Sehgal, the "official" sound engineer for Jagjit Singh's concerts the world over,  is leading this initiative. He is collaborating with Chitra Singh, for all the copyrights and legal issues surrounding the releases. The albums are being released on all major online music platforms like iTunes, Google Music, Amazon and Nokia. Raja maintains a facebook page by the name Jagjit Singh Tribute and all the information I shared above can be got from there.

As of today 5 albums are already out. More are in the pipeline and one can visit the facebook page or the YouTube Channel to listen to the teasers.

Enjoy!

The Voice From Beyond - Jagjit Singh

The name of the new album of JS. Released by Universal Music India Ltd, this album is available now for pre-order online almost on all retail websites. It will be released on 10th of October 2013 in "The Legend Lives On" a tribute concert at Nehru Center Mumbai, by Chitra Singh.

The striking feature of the album is that 4 out of the 7 tracks are of the same beher, khafiif musaddas makhbuun mahzuuf maqtuu. This is a 10 syllable beher with the pattern 2122-1212-22. I have already remarked at times, that Jagjit Singh is a master composer of small beher, and this album is a testimonial to that. The tracks on this beher are: "Ek tere qareeb", "Rasm-e-ulfat", "Aashiyane ki baat" and "Dard halka hai".

First listen, and I am immediately drawn to the following tracks: "Rasm-e-ulfat sikha gayaa koyi (Daag Dehlvi)", "Ek tere qareeb aane se", "Zindagi jaise tavaqqu thi nahin, kuch kam hai (Shahrayar)" and "Aashiyane ki baat karte ho (Javed Qureshi)". I am not sure of all the poets as I have to check the inlay card for details. Jagjit Singh foundation lists the following poets additionally: Nida Fazli, Saeed Rahi, Nasir Kasmi and Gulzar. It says one by "unknown" so I guess it is the one by Javed Qureshi. The other tracks are "Dhadkan dhadkan dhadak raha hai (Nida Fazli?)" and "Khuda ke waaste apnaa hisaab".

Also, "Aashiyane ki baat karte ho" is a very popular Noor Jahan ghazal. Jagjit Singh has done full justice to its rendition. "Rasm-e-ulfat" too is a very popular Begum Akhtar ghazal and Jagjit's rendition is typical of his style and "dard".

Detailed analysis from the books of the poets will definitely follow, but first glance, Jagjit seems to have reversed "misra-e-oola" and"misra-e-sani" in "Ashiyane ki baat karte ho". In  "Zindagi jaise tavaqqu thi", Jagjit uses "tamanna" instead of "tavaqqu" which is understandable due to its ease of use. Jagjit takes a lot of liberty in "Rasm-e-ulfat". "basaa" instead of "mein chaa" and "udaas" instead of "ujaad". As always, the meter of the ghazal is maintained in perfect.

Needless to say, this album is a collection of very very good ghazal rendition from the master. His mastery in composing short meter ghazals is the true gem of this album. Wonder why these were never released by him.

Sargam JFugue update

The HindustaniSubParser is updated with new features. Here is a quick change list:

1. Bug Fixed: The "Teevra Ma" was not recognized .
2. "Ati" (Extra) higher or lower octaves can be defined using qualifiers "<<", "<<<", ">>" and so on.
3. It is possible to set the "Base Sa" specifying the note name. Ex. "sa=C#"
4. Possible to define the note duration. Ex. "saw reh gaq...." following the usual JFugue convention on duration. The default duration is "q".
5. Recursive and mixed duration allowed. Ex. "saqq, reqi...." and so on. Duration should be the last qualifier.
6. An implicit divider is allowed, to ease manual duration setting. Ex. "sa,re" will split to "sai" and "rei". Since "q" is the default duration, the two "swars" are split to two notes of 1/8th duration. Still need to sort out duration for multiple splits (Ex. "sa,re,ga").

The code is now moved to github under stdcode/HindustaniSubParser. Once JFugue arrives on github, I will fork it and maintain Sargam JFugue there. This repo as of now contains the standalone file changes I am making till then. Of course to use it, one will need to use the JFugue 5 source code and comment out the NoteSubParser and the MicrotonePreProcessor in the Staccato parser. Also one will need to instantiate and "load" the DisjoinSwarsPreProcessor in the Staccato parser.

As an example, with the new changes one can have a pattern like:
T100 ni< re ga,re ni< re sah ni< re matw ni< dh pa ma,ga re ni
T180 ni< re ga,re ni< re sah ni< re matw ni< dh pa ma,ga re niThe output of both the patterns separated by a Rest note of half duration in midi is here.

I hope to add many more soon!

An old notebook

We had our room re-painted last weekend. As it happens on such occasions, many old stuffs were uncovered from beneath our bed-boxes, almirahs and wardrobes. Out of that heap, my wife pulled out an old notebook, from my school days.

Showcasing my school's emblem it has the stamp of the book seller from whom we had to purchase our books each year, "Chawla Book Depot". The outer cover is almost gone now, but the cardboard binding is still intact. I used to use this notebook for penning my poetic stuff.

On flipping over pages, I recall how I would pick up my pen for almost any thought or aspect that would impact me and inspire me to write a poem. I glance over the many drafts that I would write and cut-off since they did not meet my expectations. I also see some poems that made it through our school magazine for the last two years of my schooling. I recall the system that I had developed to number my poems, as I have never titled my poems, except one.

Then there is a vast amount of "ghazals" that I had penned in Hindi. The double-quotes is because technically they are not ghazals. Back then though I was aware of the Kafiya, Radif theory, I had no knowledge of the beher (the meter structure) in Urdu poetry. Reading some of them are well... hilarious. And some of them are good though immature in their presentation.

I have a habit of using the rear pages of a notebook simultaneously. Usually it allows me to divide the content into logical sections. This notebook has many ghazals that I used to "copy-down" while listening to them over the radio. I almost remember all of them by heart even today!

My wife urges me to "correct" these ghazals and re-pen them. Let us see...

Sargam JFugue v0.001

JFugue. I had been searching for such an API for sometime. The API allows one to "program" music in Java. The project allows for programming vast varieties of characteristics found in Western music. The best part is one can export the program output to MIDI files for play back and analysis later. Version 5 is round the corner with the beta already out.

Naturally for me, the urge is to allow for expanding the scope of JFugue to Hindustani classical music. As it stands, our system is a bit complex and also my knowledge about it is limited. Lately I have been reading a lot of theory about Hindustani classical and I am trying to put the concepts into some sort of a programming pattern.

My first attempt in making JFugue to understand Hindustani sargam is described below.

1. There are 12 notes (swars) Sa, Rek, Re, Gak, Ga, Ma, Mat, Pa, Dhk, Dh, Nik, Ni. 
2. From a JFugue pattern perspective the above are case insensitive. 
3. The "k" denotes the "Komal" (flat) notes. The "T" (sharp) denotes the "Teevr" note for Ma. By default, "Shudh" (plain) note is implied.
4. Hindustani classical does not have a fixed "Sa". A notation such as "Sa=61" establishes it to the 5th Octave C# in the JFugue scale. Of course future versions will allow one to specify the note in a much user friendly manner, such as "Sa=C#5".
5. The rest of the "swars" will automatically adjust as per this base. C# of the 5th octave is also the default "Sa" if none is specified.
6. A rest note is defined by "Kh" (Khali). This is case insensitive too.
7. After the base note, there are qualifiers that will be used to alter and fine tune the note for play.
8. Only one qualifier is defined and implemented for now. It is the one to change the "Saptak" or the Octave.
9. The "madhya saptak" (middle octave) is the implied by default. To specify "mandra saptak" (next lower) the "<" symbol is used. To specify "taar saptak" (next higher) the ">" symbol is used. So for example, "ni<", "ni" and "ni>" specify the lower octave "shudh Ni", the "madhya saptak Ni" and the "taar saptak Ni" respectively. It should be possible to specify "ati mandra" and "ati taar" octaves with the "<<" and the ">>" symbols in the future.
10. Future versions will have many more qualifiers. Some will be ported "as is" from JFuge. For example, attack, decay, duration, tempo etc. Some will be left out ("chords", "melody" etc.) that have less significance in Hindustani classical music.
11. One possible expansion of interest is to be able to map the "22 shruthis" of the Hindustani classical. This shall require the use of the Microtone pre-processor in JFugue or its modification. To be able to play 22 notes would bring in a lot of realistic sound production in JFugue for Hindustani classical.

The "problem" with Hindustani classical music is that there is not standard notation system. In itself, this is a big research area wanting to be explored. One such is the Bhatkhande system of notation. It has its share of shortcomings but it is one of the most popular in use today. Hence I will try to stick with it as close as possible. Obviously there are some notations that cannot be represented on a standard keyboard layout, so I will try to substitute them with alternate symbols. Like it is done for specifying the "Saptak" in this version.

I am including the source of HindustaniSubParser.java. This is just a very basic version of what is to come. Interested programmers will have to comment out the NoteSubParser and the MicrotonePreprocessor from the Staccato Parser. I have used JFugue 5 source code.

Below are some notations and resulting audio output.

First one is the Bollywood song "Tum Paas Aaye".

ga ma ga re sa ga kh ga ma ga re sa ga kh re ga re sa "ni<" re "pa<" kh re sa ga re sa sa kh sa sa re ga dh pa kh sa sa re ga dh pa kh re ga re sa "ni<" "dh<" "ni<" "pa<" kh re sa ga re sa sa sa kh

Here is the output: Tum Paas Aaye

Here is the original song: Tum Paas Aaye

Next up is one from the master, Live At Royal Albert Hall. "Has ke bola karo".

ga re ga ma ga kh sa "pa<" kh "pa<" re kh sa re sa sa kh sa re ga ga re re re kh re ga ma ga ga re sa sa kh

Here is the output: Has Ke Bola Karo

Here is the original song: Has Ke Bola Karo

Next is the start from "Ye  Inayaten Ghazab ki".

"ni<" re ga re "ni<" re sa kh "ni<" re mat kh "ni<" dh pa ma ga re "ni<" kh "ni<" re ma ga sa re "ni<" sa "dh<" "ni<" sa ga ma re sa kh

Here is the output: Ye Inayaten Ghazab

Here is the original song: Ye Inayatein Ghazab

I am all excited!

Weekend Fun

Ignoring the fact that it is almost nine in the evening of a Sunday, it is a weekend with some nice memories. Nothing spectacular but enjoyed the simplicity and memorability of the days.

Friday evening was notable for the chicken roll we had. The guy charges fifty bucks for one roll, but does he stuff it with chicken or what! It is so awesome!. Spending time with my wife in the kitchen for Saturday lunch, was indeed so much fun. The nutrela curry was consumed with a lot of AAhhss! and Ooohhss! Watched "Bajate Raho" in the evening today. Nice movie. Traffic was terrible at the entrance of Ambience and DLF Promonode malls. It took us almost 30 minutes to get our car into the parking from the mall approach! To top it off, we had dinner at our pet restaurant, Golden Dragon. We got hakka noodles packed for mom and dad.

Now getting ready to watch one episode of Seinfeld from Season 8 with my wife, and then off to sleep. Tomorrow is Monday and I am all charged up to tackle the problem of GUI for provisioning the ODUTTP facilities on the eMOTR cards!