Raga Manjh Khamaj
From several published facts, it is said that Manjh Khamaj raga has been invented and made famous by the legendary Sarod Maestro Baba Allaudin Khan. The raga is generally performed anytime from evening to midnight. This raga does not depend on individual notes but on phrases (comprising combination of notes). Therefore, one has to be cautious while performing the raga as a wrong phrase or a different combination of notes might not portray the actual essence of the raga. Some of the common phrases of the raga are as follows: Re Sa Sa Ni, Pa Ni Sa Re Ga Re Sa, Ni Sa Rr Pa Pa Ma Ga Re Sa, Pa Ni Sa Re Pa Pa ma, Pa ma Pa Ma Ga Re Sa Sa Ni, Sa Ga Ma Pa ma Pa* (*- lower octave).
Today’s Classical Music Expert Ayesha Mukherjee say about the raga, "Raga Manjh Khamaj is Khamaaj with the root note as shuddh Ma while the tonic still remains the Sa. For example, Sa of raga Manjh Khamaj from the pitch A# will be D# (which is the note shuddh Ma of A#), while the tonic still remains A#. So the tanpura is generally tuned to Sa and shuddh Ma instead of Sa and Pa. Besides this interesting fact, the raga is extremely soothing and romantic and highly attractive to the common audience. Generally, this raga has been widely used in semi-classical forms of music such as thumri, dhanakshari thumri, dadra, kajri, chaiti, etc."
Credits:
https://lemonwire.com/
Jaati : Audav - Sampurna
Vadi : M
Samvadi : S
Aroh : S G M D N S'
Avroh : S' N_ D P M G R S
Time : Third prahar of the day (12 Night to 3 AM)
Here are some Bollywood songs that are based on this raga :
Aaoge jab tum Sajna - Film - Jab We Met (2007)
Jaane kaise sapno me kho gayi ankhiyan - Film - Anuradha (1960)
Kaise din beete kaise beeti ratiyan - Film - Anuradha (1960)
Kanha Kanha aan padi main tere sath - Film - Shagird (1967)
Shyam bhayi bin Shyam - Film - Chaitali (1969)