BHAIRAVI THUMRI-JUGALBANDI FROM FILM:'RAM TERI GANGA MAILI'

Kankana Banerjee

Ravindra Jain

This is a  rare piece of  Bhairavi Thumri,"सैय्याँ सैय्याँ सैय्याँ हो सैय्याँ रटती मैं डोलूँ   .."  beautifully sung by Nirmala Devi and Kankana Banerjee,in Jugalbandi.Though singing is intermitantally masked by the dialogues ,where thumri's audio level has been suppressed.But the song goes on continuously for more than 5 minutes.It starts with a 'Doha'( couplet) and also ends on a 'Doha'( couplet).Late Smt.Nirmala Devi was the master of singing the jugalbandi thumris and had cut many such records,singing  along with Lakshmi Shankar.

Late Shri Raj Kapoor was a great fan of her singing and getting a suitable situation in his film,he used this thumri.Though film's music was composed by Ravindra Jain,but for this song he simply provided the music accompaniment.Kankana Banerjee also has an extremely flexible voice and had matched  it well,with her co-singer at all levels.The harmony in their singing is superb.
                         I can say so much for both of these artists, because I got the chance to listen to them singing in Classical Music Concerts many times here at Kanpur.

This thumri starts with a couplet:

                      'प्रीतम की पगली भई,रट रही पी पी नाम। 
                       प्रीत बिना ये कब मिले, मेरे को आराम॥' 

                   हाँ...सैय्याँ सैय्याँ सैय्याँ, हो सैय्याँ रटती मैं डोलूँ ।
                    ………। 
 And thumri ends with this couplet:

                      'साईं तेरा रूठना , आदर करे ना कोय। 
                      दुर दुर करें सहेलियां,साईं मुड़ मुड़ देखे कोय॥'