One Song at a time - 54. Hirabai's Hindustani Aarabhi
(Hirabai Barodekar) "What is the Hindustani equivalent of Carnatic Aarabhi?", asked a friend on twitter. With confidence ignorance instills, "There is no Aarabhi in Hindustani", I replied. Doubts started seeping in after I replied and I started my search and hit this song on youtube. It is Hirabai Barodekar singing what appears to a Marati Natyageet and the title says it is Aarabh. The song sounds close to Aarabhi. At the same time I also hear a lot of Suddha Saveri in it. So it may not be an exact equivalent to Carnatic Aarabhi. Yet I don't hear it as straigh Durga, which is the Suddha Saveri equivalent. In Carnatic music, Aarabhi, Suddha Saveri, Devagandhari and Saama are close to each other based on the notes they use. I believe Aarabahi and Devagandhari have the same set of notes. They differ in the way the notes are sung. S.Ramanathan, in one lec dem, demonstrates how Aarabi and Sama share the same notes and yet differ in the nyasa swara used.