Raag Jog is a favorite among all performing artists , vocalists and Instrumentalists, across various gharanas including Dhrupadiyas. Connoisseurs of music along with general music lovers seem to like the tunes and melodies composed in raag Jog fairly commonly. Jog , therefore pervades across various genres of music ; classical , light -classical , film music to Dhrupad.
Raag Jog , may have initially meant Yog or union , when it was created and envisioned. The one reasoning to it could be that it is a classic mix of Khamaj and Kafi. A pentatonic tune attributed to Kafi thaat in Bhatkande's classification.
The credit for Raag Jog is attributed to Haji Sujan Khan ( Sujan Singh of Akbar Darbar ). This raag is a speciality of Agra Gharana but is in vogue and popularity with almost all gharanas including the Dhrupadiyas, vocalists and instrumentalists alike.
It provides a perfect "union" of entertainment and philosophy , a union of two raags (khamaj and kafi) , that are supposed to be part of semi-classical or light classical music, to produce a brilliant pentatonic serious but pleasant , soulful and meditative melody of Jog.
I could list many of my favorites in Jog but have limited to few for sake of brevity.
Pandit Jasraj and Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia Jog
The famous and popular bhajan by Pt Jasraj
The classic "Daraspiya" bandish in vilambit "Peeharava ko biramaye"(पिहरवा को बिरमाये ) and the drut jod bandish , a creation by Ut Fayyaj Khan "Sajan More Ghar aye" ( साजन मोरे घर आए ) , that was created to welcome his son in law on wedding day !
Here is Ut Rashid Khan with the "classic" khayal in Raag Jog.
Kaushiki Chakravarty , raag Jog :
The final instrumental rendition of Jog is the one I like and admire the most. Ut Sultan Khan with his two shagirds ,. in Pune, 2011.
Ustadji explains how Instrumentalists play "Khayal" bandishes in their renditions , just like vocalists. I like this point because I have been observing that more and more instrumentalists (younger) have been playing much of Jazz like or Fusion type of music on Indian string instruments like Sarod and Sitar. They somehow lack that "Khayal" sense ( may be due to lack of training in traditional khayal bandishes )
An instrumentalist when performing "Khayal" bandishes, somehow touches soul of connoisseur deeper than pure tunes or gats. Vocal style instrumental performances ( gayaki ang) sound more classical than the fusion type / Jazz type rendering of instrumental music, because these renditions have a "thought" behind them (Khayal), through bandishes rooted in vocal music.
An instrumentalist performing a bandish is more attractive, sometimes more than the vocalist playing the same bandish ! ( may be due to non-interference of "words" and their pronunciations !!)
To me , raag Jog represents perfectly, what a Khayal is supposed to be ... A perfect blend of raags (Khamaj and Kafi ) that creates a "bhaav and ras" conducive to meditative , soulful and entertaining tunes ... it fits well to the definition of a raag as described in scriptures and literature .. रञ्जयति इति रागः .. an entertainment to mind and soul !
Here are some more posts related to Khyaal / Khayal / Raagdari sangeet
Khyaal - A poetic musical tweet !
Raagdaari -Khyaal and Bandishes : Part 1
Raagdaari - Raag sangit and Khyaal : Part 2