This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Purandara Dasa (148O- 1564) who is regarded as the father of Carnatic music was born in Karnataka. I find it somewhat paradoxical that Karnataka, the birthplace of the father of Carnatic music is also the birthplace of some of the most distinguished vocalists of Hindustani classical music. Most of them were born in the North Karnataka region. The prominent Hindustani vocalists from North Karnataka were Pandit Bhimsen Joshi (Gadag), Pandit Kumar Gandharv (Belgaum), Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur (Mansur, Dharwad), Sawai Gandharv (Dharwad), Gangubai Hangal (Dharwad), Shobha Gurtu (Belgaum), Pandit Dinkar Kaikini (Kaikini, Uttar Kannada) etc.
Being a part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency under the British Rule and Bombay State after independence till 1956, North Karnataka had some influence of Hindustani classical music from across the border. It is worthwhile to note that Ustad Abdul Karim Khan of Kirana Gharana was a court singer in the princely state of Miraj in Maharashtra which was not far off from the border of North Karnataka. He used to visits North Karnataka quite often on his way to Mysore on the invitation from the Maharaja of Mysore. So one can presume that Ustad Abdul Karim Khan could have been one of the influencing factors for popularising Hindustani classical music in North Karnataka.
There are many second generation Hindustani classical vocalists from North Karnataka and one of them is Aarti Ankalikar who is from Bijapur, now settled in Pune. Except for her being a vocalist in Hindustani classical music, I was not aware that Aarti Anklikar-Tikekar had lent her voice as a playback singer in Hindi films until I heard her songs from SARDARI BEGUM a few days back. In fact I was aware more of her husband Uday Tikekar because of his connection with Marathi stage and in T V Serials in both Marathi and Hindi. He has also worked in a few Hindi films doing character roles. A search on websites led me to Aarti Anklikar from where I got some more information about her.
Aarti Ankalikar (b. 27/O1/1963) was born in Bijapur. She started her training under Pandit Vasantrao Kulkarni of Agra-Gwalior Gharana and afterwards from Kishori Amonkar of Jaiur-Atruali Gharana. She was the recipient of Central Government Scholarship for 1975-8O. She stood first in the All India Radio Musical Competition held in 1983 and 1984 in all the three categories – Hindustani Classical Music, Thumri and Ghazal. She is the regular participants in some of the prestigious Hindustani classical music conferences like Sawai Gandharv Mahotsav in Pune, Malhar Mahotsav in Delhi, Madras Music Academy in Chennai, Dover Lane Festival in Kolkata etc. She was the recipient of Kumar Gandharv Sanman from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for her innovativness in Hindustani Classical Music. She was the recipient of the National Film Award for the best female playback singer in 2OO6 for a Konkani film ‘Antarnaad’ and again in 2O12 for a Marathi film ‘Samhita’. In the latter film, she sang a thumri in Hindi. Aarti Ankalikar has sung only a handful of songs in Hindi films that too classical and semi classical songs.
In my article covering huzoor itna agar ham per karam karte to achcha thhaa, I had mentioned that SARDARI BEGUM (1996) had some beautiful songs. There are nine songs in the film all of which are based on Hindustani classical raags. As many as 7 songs have been sung by Aarti Anklikar-Tikekar, 5 solos and two duets with Shobha Joshi. Remaining two songs have been rendered by Asha Bhosle. All the songs were written by Javed Akhtar and set to music by Vanraj Bhatia.
I am presenting a thumri based song ‘ghar naahi hamre Shyam’ from the film sung by Aarti Ankalikar-Tikekar. The song is picturised on Smriti Mishra in the role of a younger Sardari Begum when she sings for the first time in a mehfil. Surekha Sikri, Amrish Puri, Uttara Baokar and Rajit Kapoor are also seen in the song. This thumri is stated to be composed in raag Nand (also called Nand Kalyan and Anandi). I checked in Chandrakantha but this song was not listed under any raag. But having heard Tu jahaan jahaan chalegaa(Mera Saaya) and listed under raag Nand, I find there is similarity in tunes of both these songs. Hence I guess the thumri is sung in raag Nand. The only difference is that while the former is a thumri accompanied by traditional musical instruments, the latter is a filmy composition with full orchestra.
I have also given the link of the audio clip as it contains the full song. I find the audio quality of the audio clip superior to that of the video clip.
Enjoy the thumri in the resonant voice of Aarti Ankalikar-Tikekar.
Video
Audio Clip:
Song-Ghar naahin hamre Shyaam (Sardari Begam)(1996) Singer-Aarti Ankalikar Tikekar, Lyrics-Jawed Akhtar, MD-Vanraj Bhatia
Lyrics
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam aam aam
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam
wo jaake pardes biraaje
jaake
wo jaake
wo jaake pardes biraaje
soona hamra dhaam aam
soona hamra dhaam
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam
thhandi thhandi purwaayi hai
thhandi thhandi purwaayi hai
bagiyan mein masti chhaayi hai
bagiyan mein masti chhaayi hai
bagiyan mein
aa aa aa masti chhaayi hai
paapi papeehaa hamra bairi
paapi papeehaa hamra bairi
let piya kaa naaaam
let piya kaa naaaam
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam
saawan aaye
jiyaraa tarse
saawan aaye
jiyaraa tarse
saawan aaye
jiyaraa tarse
saawan aaye
jiyaraa tarse
tan sulge jo meha barse
tan sulge
tan sulge
tan sulge jo meha barse
Shyaam jo aa ke ang lagaale
Shyaam jo aa ke ang lagaale
man paaye aaraaaaam
man paaye aaraaaaam
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam aam
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam
wo jaake pardes viraaje
jaake pardes viraaje
soona hamra dhaaaaaam
soona hamra dhaaaam
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam
ghar naahin hamre Shyaam
hamre Shyaam
hamre Shyaam
