Composer – A R Rahman
This is sensational composition from Rahman, and an ultimate example of his incredible versatility! He literally gives us goose-bumps with his classical based compositions and “Manmohini Morey” is no exception for that!
This one is from film Yuvraaj and I wonder how I had not come across this track for so long! Few weeks back I was browsing through Shankar Tucker‘s videos on Youtube and that’s when I heard his version of this song, sung by Aditya Rao. It left me mesmerized and I kept playing it the whole night! Back then I was unaware of the original song until few days later a friend asked me to listen to a track from Yuavraj. How did I miss this track?
Sung brilliantly by Vijay Prakash, Manmohini Morey is a type of Bandish. Vijay Prakash shows us that he is shishya of Suresh Wadkar by the amazing control over his breath and flow of voice throughout the song! The “saragams” in the song is THE part I play in loops n loops! And how Vijay Prakash picks up the rhythm at the end of the saragam (in Marathi, “samever yene“), wow! And Rahman has added the famous Yuvraj theme tune after the saragams quite brilliantly. It feels like a journey; this song is indeed an experience through a different world.
The Shankar Tucker version of this song is something different to listen to than the original because it features Shankar’s Clarinet. Ohh I love the clarinet! Salute to Shankar Tucker for mixing it with this song in such a way that it sounds so homogeneous!
Classical details: The song is based on Raaga “Abheri” which is a Carnatic Raaga, not so used in North Indian music, but a little research told me that this is also known as Raaga “Bhimpalasi” in North India. The Raaga has been extensively used by south Indian composers in film music also, and some of the examples of the songs in this Raaga are – Tum Mile Dil Khile, Kismat Se Tum (Pukar), Khilte Hai Gul Yahaan, Khoya Khoya Chand etc.
Emotion: The primary emotion of this Raaga Abheri is “complete surrender (Sharanagati)“.
