QAWWALI
Nusrat’s Shivranjani
A short walkthrough to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s compositions in Raag Shivranjani
Shivranjani is one of the most beautiful ragas but hasn’t been sung enough in Dhrupad and Khayal but it has been sung quite a lot in folk, light classical and film music. Invariably, this raag isn’t sung in its purest forms either. You’d see people using both gandhars or using one or both nishaads or some other compositions that usually enhance the beauty of Shivranjani.
It’s thought of as a variation of Bhoopali by just changing the shuddh gandhar to komal gandhar. Another variation of Bhoopali is when you change shuddh dhaivat to komal dhaivat. That’s another beautiful raag called Prateeksha. But let’s talk about Shivranjani for now. It’s known to be raga that evokes a feeling of sadness, pain, separation and betrayal. For that reason, it has been overly used in Hindi films like Swarg, Mera Naam Joker and more.
Nusrat’s Compositions in Shivranjani
Although many have sung this raag before and after Nusrat, he has captured it very differently in his unique style. Undoubtedly, this raag would have been used in qawwalis but nothing like what Nusrat did with it with the sargam taans and bol baant. His group had composed several compositions…
