Mohanam : A World Wide View

Update: One of my good friends, who is a also a musician, wrote to me to say that the rock songs that I had quoted do not strictly follow the scale of Mohanam and the suddha madhyamam and nishadam do peep in. In other words they are not strictly following the pentatonic scale. I wouldn't doubt his take on this subject. I could 'hear' Mohanam in them so I put them there but someone technically may make out that this is not the pentatonic scale. I would still leave these clips here for two reasons: One, they are nice songs. So no harm hearing them, even if they are not pentatonic. Two, it sort of tell me that I still have a long way to go when it comes to matters of music. // End Update

Some scales / ragas seem to affect all of humanity. Mohanam is one such ragam which is found in different musical systems. I had written about this briefly when I wrote the article on Kalyani and Mohanam: The versatile cousins. Today I want to give you some examples and convince you that Mohanam indeed is used in many parts of the world.

Before we begin our journey, let me state a couple of things. One, I am not touching Indian music. Second, the Mohanam you will hear in other systems may not be easily graspable sometimes but I  believe you should be able to 'get it'. I say this because once I played the krithi, 'Mohana Rama' to my friend Venkatesh and told him that the Allman Brothers song, "Jessica" was based on this same raga. He told me that he just couldn't connect them !!! I am hoping that the examples I give would be easy enough to grasp the essence of Mohanam. (My assumption ofcourse is that you already know the basic contours of Mohanam. Else you should check out songs like 'lahiri lahiri lahiri lo' (Maya Bazar, Telugu), 'ninnu kori varnam' (Agni Nakshatram, Tamil), 'katru veliyidai kannama'(Kappalotiya Tamizhan, Tamil), 'yaava janmada maitri' (Gowri, Kannada), 'pankh hoti to ud aati re' (Sehra, Hindi) etc. Classical krithis include 'nanu palimpa' and 'mohana raama' of Tyagaraja, 'Kaapali' of Papanasam Sivan) )

Mohanam is a part of the pentatonic scale of Western Music. There are five ragas in this scale, each of which can be got from the other through the shift of the tonic / adhara shruthi. We call this grahabedam. The five ragas of this group are: Mohanam, Suddha Saveri, Suddha Dhanyasi, Madhyamavathi and Hindolam. Mohanam is called as Bhoop or Bhoopali in Hindustani music.

That was a rather lengthy preamble. Let us get to the point now. Since we are talking about the world wide impact of Mohanam, let us start with a group ruled a large of the world once upon a time. Here is 'Hey Jude' from Beatles. I heard that this was written by Paul McCartney for Lennon's son. Right from the very first phrase that McCartney sings, I hear Mohanam. Ofcourse in western music you have scale changes happening in the middle of songs. So don't expect every song to stick to Mohanam throughout.



Now for the song I had written about earlier. Allman Brother's Band, "Jessica". The initial part of the song may not immediately conjure up Mohanam. Wait till around two and half mins into the video and you shall be rewarded when Mohanam leaps at you during the piano run. This lovely piano run is followed by an equally charming guitar work, where the guitarist keeps the feel of Mohanam intact. Mohanam or not, this is divine music. Just enjoy this song written by Dickey Betts.



We will now play one more mellow Mohanam. This time it is by Crosby, Stills Nash and Young, popularly known as CSNY. The guitar in the background keeps playing Mohanam and the overall melody is very touching indeed.



If you though Mohanam can be used mainly for mellow and melodious songs, think again. In what was a 'once in a century event', Country Joe McDonald sings one of the most popular protest songs of those times. At Woodstock everyone sings along with this anti-Vietman war song, "Feel like I am fixing to die". What energy in the song and to ears, a wonderful Mohanam as well !!! Even if you have no clue on Mohanam, watch the video to have an idea of what  Woodstock and protest was all about.



I do hear Mohanam in this very 'rockish' number by Stevie Ray Van, especially when he does his solo part. Check if you can hear it or are my ears so tuned to Mohanam that they hear it in everything!!!



There are many more examples of Mohanam in rock music but I am sure the examples given above have convinced you. So let us now move to other countries in the world. Before that, let me do two things. One thank my friend Venkatesh for having introduced me to these wonderful rock numbers more than a decade and half back. Two, let me say that the rock numbers I quoted above are songs which I have been hearing for a long time. Whereas the songs I am going to list down now are songs which I searched on youtube for this post. I am neither an authority on them nor do I have much background about them. I loved these songs and the Mohanam feel in them. So I present those to you here.

First off, a very interesting musical instrument this, from Thailand. This person is playing Mohanam on it. Do have a look, you will definitely be impressed with this instrument and the playing. The beat and the music remind me of a latest Indian film song. I wouldn't be surprised about it given the international inspiration of our current music directors.



Once during an official visit to Japan, I happened to watch TV late one night and I saw a man singing with a glass of Sake in his hand. And he was singing Mohanam!!! When I enquired about it the next day, I was told that the form of music rendered was known as 'Enka'. He is one such "Enka' song. It is Mohanam as good as it gets.



Since the Japanese love this scale / ragam, let us play one more Japanese song. A lovely song.



One Mohanam from our neighbours, the Chinese, who too use this often in their music.



Beyond the Far East, here is one Mohanam from Ethiopia. Other than the ragam, dance style and the amateurish video are also common with our film songs of yore!!



Another Ethiopian song, this time with more class and seems like it is their classical music. An enjoyable song.



This Albanian song seems to have the flavour of Mohanam. Do you also feel the same way?



Well, I am more than sure that if we dig deeper, we will get more such examples throughout the world. In short, Mohanam is a truly global raga / scale. Maybe in future we can look at Mohanam in Indian music. That ofcourse would be material for multiple posts!!