Hindustani classical music is the
HindustanHindustan or Indostan, literal translation "Land of River Sindhu ", is one of the popular names of South Asia. It can also mean "the land of the Hindus"...
i or North Indian style of
Indian classical musicThe origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
found throughout the northern
Indian subcontinentThe Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
. The style is sometimes called
North Indian Classical Music or
Shāstriya Sangeet. It is a tradition that originated in
VedicVedic may refer to:* the Vedas, the oldest preserved Indic texts** Vedic Sanskrit, the language of these texts** Vedic period, during which these texts were produced** Vedic pantheon of gods mentioned in Vedas/vedic period...
ritual chants and has been evolving since the 12th century CE, primarily in what is now North India and
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, and to some extent in
BangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
,
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and
AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. Today, it is one of the two subgenres of
Indian classical musicThe origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
, the other being
Carnatic musicCarnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
, the classical tradition of
South IndiaSouth India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
.
Characteristics
The tradition was born out of a cultural synthesis of several musical traditions: the Vedic chant tradition, dating back to approximately one thousand BCE, the equally ancient Persian tradition of Musiqi-e assil, and various folk traditions prevalent in the region.
It is traditional for performers who have reached a distinguished level of achievement to be awarded titles of respect;
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s are usually referred to as
pandit and
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s as
ustadUstad is an Arabized Persian word is a honorific title for a Muslim man in South Asia. The title precedes the name and is usually used for well regarded teachers and artists, most often musicians. It is applied and used via informal social agreement. It is abbreviated as ut. or ud.-References:*...
. An aspect of Hindustani music going back to Sufi times is the tradition of religious neutrality: Muslim ustads may sing compositions in praise of Hindu deities, and vice versa.
Around the 12th century, Hindustani classical music diverged from what eventually came to be identified as Carnatic classical music. The central notions in both these systems is that of a melodic
modeIn the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
or
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
, sung to a rhythmic cycle or
talaTāla, Taal or Tal is the term used in Indian classical music for the rhythmic pattern of any composition and for the entire subject of rhythm, roughly corresponding to metre in Western music, though closer conceptual equivalents are to be found in other Asian classical systems such as the notion...
. The tradition dates back to the ancient
SamavedaThe Sama veda , is second of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. Its earliest parts are believed to date from 1700 BC and it ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rigveda...
, (
sāma meaning "ritual chant"), which deals with the norms for chanting of
sruti' , often spelled shruti or shruthi, is a term that describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism and is one of the three main sources of dharma and therefore is also influential within Hindu Law...
s or hymns such as the
Rig Veda. These principles were refined in the musical treatises
Natya ShastraThe Natya Shastra is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, encompassing theatre, dance and music. It was written during the period between 200 BC and 200 AD in classical India and is traditionally attributed to the Sage Bharata.The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in its scope...
, by
BharataBharata was an ancient Indian musicologist who authored the Natya Shastra, a theoretical treatise on ancient Indian dramaturgy and histrionics, dated to between roughly 400 BC and 200 BC. Indian dance and music find their root in the Natyashastra...
(2nd–3d century CE), and
DattilamDattilam is an ancient Indian musical text ascribed to the sage Dattila. It is believed to have been composed shortly after the Natya Shastra of Bharata, and is dated between the 1st and 4th c. AD....
(probably 3rd–4th century CE).
In medieval times, the melodic systems were fused with ideas from Persian music, particularly through the influence of Sufi composers like
Amir KhusroAb'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow , better known as Amīr Khusrow Dehlawī , was an Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent...
, and later in the Moghul courts. Noted composers such as
TansenMia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...
flourished, along with religious groups like the Vaishnavites. After the 16th century, the singing styles diversified into different
gharanaIn Hindustani music, a gharānā is a system of social organization linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and by adherence to a particular musical style. A gharana also indicates a comprehensive musicological ideology. This ideology sometimes changes substantially from one...
s patronized in different princely courts. Around 1900,
Vishnu Narayan BhatkhandePandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was an Indian musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani Classical Music , an art which had been propagated earlier for a few centuries mostly through oral traditions...
consolidated the musical structures of Hindustani classical music, called
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s, into a number of
thaatA thāt is a mode in northern Indian or Hindustani music. Thāts always have seven different pitches and are a basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music.- System :...
s. Indian classical music has seven basic notes with five interspersed half-notes, resulting in a 12-note scale. Unlike the 12-note scale in Western music, the base frequency of the scale is not fixed, and intertonal gaps (
temperamentIn music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
) may also vary; however, with the gradual replacement of the
sarangiThe Sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of India which is originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition...
by the
harmoniumA harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
, an equal tempered scale is increasingly used. The performance is set to a melodic pattern called a
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
characterized in part by specific ascent (aroha) and descent (avaroha) sequences, which may not be identical. Other characteristics include "king" (
vadiVadi, in both Hindustani classical music and Carnatic music, is the dominant swara of a given raga . "Vadi is the most sonant or most important note of a Raga." It does not refer to the most played note but it rather refers to a note of special significance.It is usually the swara which is...
) and "queen" (
samavadiIn Indian classical music, the second-most prominent note of a raga is referred as samvadi. This could be misleading, as it may not necessarily refer to the second-most played note....
) notes and characteristic phrases (
pakadIn Hindustani music, a pakad is a generally-accepted musical phrase thought to encapsulate the essence of a particular raga. The pakad contains the melodic theme of the raga, on listening to the pakad a person who knows the raga is usually able to identify it...
). In addition each raga has its natural register (ambit) and
glissandoIn music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento...
(
meendIn Hindustani music, meend refers to a glide from one note to another. It is an essential performance practice, and is used often in vocal and instrumental music. On the veena, sitar, and other plucked stringed instruments, it is usually done by pushing the strings across the frets to vary their...
) rules. Performances are usually marked by considerable improvisation within these norms.
History
MusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
was first formalized in India in connection with preserving the
sruti' , often spelled shruti or shruthi, is a term that describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism and is one of the three main sources of dharma and therefore is also influential within Hindu Law...
texts, primarily the four vedas, which are seen as
apaurasheya (meaning "not created by man"). Not only was the text important, but also the manner in which they had been enunciated by the immortals. Prosody and chanting were thus of great importance, and were enshrined in the two
vedangaThe Vedanga are six auxiliary disciplines traditionally associated with the study and understanding of the Vedas.#Shiksha : phonetics, phonology and morphophonology #Kalpa : ritual#Vyakarana : grammar...
s (bodies of knowledge) called
shikshaShiksha is one of the six Vedangas, treating the traditional Hindu science of phonetics and phonology of Sanskrit.Its aim is the teaching of the correct pronunciation of the Vedic hymns and mantras...
(pronunciation, chants) and chhandas (prosody); these remained a key part of the brahmanic educational system till modern times.
The formal aspects of the chant are delineated in the
SamavedaThe Sama veda , is second of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. Its earliest parts are believed to date from 1700 BC and it ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rigveda...
, with certain aspects, e.g. the relation of chanting to meditation, elaborated in the
Chandogya UpanishadThe Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" Upanishads. Together with the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it ranks among the oldest Upanishads, dating to the Vedic Brahmana period....
(ca. 8th century BC). Priests involved in these ritual chants were called
samans and a number of ancient musical instruments such as the
conchA conch is a common name which is applied to a number of different species of medium-sized to large sea snails or their shells, generally those which are large and have a high spire and a siphonal canal....
(shankh), lute (
veenaVeena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...
), flute (
bansuriThe bansuri is a transverse alto flute of Bangladesh, India and Nepal made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with six or seven finger holes. An ancient musical instrument associated with cowherds and the pastoral tradition, it is intimately linked to the love story of Krishna and Radha, and is...
), trumpets and horns were associated with this and later practices of ritual singing.
Sanskritic tradition
The
SamavedaThe Sama veda , is second of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. Its earliest parts are believed to date from 1700 BC and it ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rigveda...
outlined the ritual chants for singing the verses of the Rigveda, particularly for offerings of
SomaSoma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...
. It proposed a tonal structure consisting of seven notes, which were named, in descending order,
krusht,
pratham,
dwitiya,
tritiya,
chaturth,
mandra and
atiswār. These refer to the notes of a flute, which was the only fixed-frequency instrument. This is why the second note is called
pratham (meaning "first", i.e., produced when only the first hole is closed).
Music is dealt with extensively in the Valmiki
RamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
.
NaradaNarada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Vaisnava tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana...
is an accomplished musician, as is
Ravana' is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu legend, the Ramayana; who is the great king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister...
;
SaraswatiIn Hinduism Saraswati , is the goddess of knowledge, music, arts, science and technology. She is the consort of Brahma, also revered as His Shakti....
with her
veenaVeena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...
is the goddess of music.
GandharvaGandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...
s are presented as spirits who are musical masters, and the gandharva style looks to music primarily for pleasure, accompanied by the
somaSoma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...
rasa. In the
Vishnudharmottara PuranaThe Vishnudharmottara Purana is a Hindu text, encyclopedic in nature. Along with the narratives, it also deals with cosmology, cosmogony, geography, astronomy, astrology, division of time, pacification of unfavourbale planets and stars, genealogies , manners and customs, penances, duties of...
, the Naga king Ashvatara asks to know the svaras from Saraswati.
The most important text on music in the ancient canon is
BharataBharata was an ancient Indian musicologist who authored the Natya Shastra, a theoretical treatise on ancient Indian dramaturgy and histrionics, dated to between roughly 400 BC and 200 BC. Indian dance and music find their root in the Natyashastra...
's
Natya ShastraThe Natya Shastra is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, encompassing theatre, dance and music. It was written during the period between 200 BC and 200 AD in classical India and is traditionally attributed to the Sage Bharata.The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in its scope...
, composed around the 3rd century CE. The
Natya Shastra deals with the different modes of music, dance, and drama, and also the emotional responses (rasa) they are expected to evoke. The scale is described in terms of 22 micro-tones, which can be combined in clusters of four, three, or two to form an octave.
While the term
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
is articulated in the
Natya Shastra (where its meaning is more literal, meaning "colour" or "mood"), it finds a clearer expression in what is called
jati in the
DattilamDattilam is an ancient Indian musical text ascribed to the sage Dattila. It is believed to have been composed shortly after the Natya Shastra of Bharata, and is dated between the 1st and 4th c. AD....
, a text composed shortly after or around the same time as
Natya Shastra. The Dattilam is focused on gandharva music and discusses scales (
swaraThe seven notes of the scale , in Indian music are named shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad, and are shortened to Sa, Ri or Re , Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni and written S, R, G, M, P, D, N. Collectively these notes are known as the sargam...
), defining a tonal framework called
grama in terms of 22 micro-tonal intervals (
sruti) comprising one octave. It also discusses various arrangements of the notes (
murchhana), the permutations and combinations of note-sequences (
tanas), and
alankara or elaboration. Dattilam categorizes melodic structure into 18 groups called
jati, which are the fundamental melodic structures similar to the
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
. The names of the jatis reflect regional origins, for example
andhri and
oudichya.
Music also finds mention in a number of texts from the Gupta period;
KalidasaKālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
mentions several kinds of veena (Parivadini, Vipanchi), as well as percussion instruments (mridang), the flute (vamshi) and conch (shankha). Music also finds mention in
BuddhistBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Jain texts from the earliest periods of the Christian era.
NaradaNarada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Vaisnava tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana...
's
Sangita MakarandhaSangit Makarand is an ancient work on classical music written by Narada. This work is a rare collection of definitions, descriptions and comments on al the essentials music by other ancient reputed authors from Bharata to Sharangdeva...
treatise, from about 1100 CE, is the earliest text where rules similar to those of current Hindustani classical music can be found. Narada actually names and classifies the system in its earlier form before the Persian influences introduced changes in the system.
JayadevaJayadeva was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the...
's
Gita GovindaThe Gita Govinda is a work composed by the 12th-century poet, Jayadeva, who was born in Kenduli Sasan near Puri in Orissa. It describes the relationship between Krishna and the gopis of Vrindavana, and in particular one gopi named Radha...
from the 12th century was perhaps the earliest musical composition sung in the classical tradition called
AshtapadiThe Ashtāpada is an Indian board game which was used in earlier versions of chess. Chaturanga appeared sometime around the 6th century in India. It could be played by two to four participants and data used to determine the amount of houses to be moved...
music.
In the 13th century, Sharngadeva composed the
Sangita Ratnakara, which has names such as the
turushka todi ("Turkish todi"), revealing an influx of ideas from Islamic culture. This text is the last to be mentioned by both the Carnatic and the Hindustani traditions and is often thought to date the divergence between the two.
Medieval period: Persian influence
The advent of Islamic rule under the
Delhi SultanateThe Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
and later the
Mughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
over northern India caused considerable cultural interchange. Increasingly, musicians received patronage in the courts of the new rulers, who in their turn, started taking increasing interest in local music forms. While the initial generations may have been rooted in cultural traditions outside India, they gradually adopted many aspects from their kingdoms which retained the traditional
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
culture. This helped spur the fusion of Hindu and Muslim ideas to bring forth new forms of musical synthesis like
qawwaliQawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other parts of northern India...
and
khyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
.
The most influential musician of the
Delhi SultanateThe Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
period was Amir Khusrau (1253–1325), sometimes called the father of modern Hindustani classical music. A composer in
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
,
TurkishTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, Arabic, as well as Braj Bhasha, he is credited with systematizing many aspects of Hindustani music, and also introducing several ragas such as Yaman Kalyan,
ZeelafZeelaf is a raga in Hindustani classical music. It is a pentatonic melody is composed of the following swaras: S G M P d. It is performed very rarely.-History:...
and
SarpadaSarpada is a raga in Hindustani classical music. It is a Bhilawal raga sung in the morning.-History:Amir Khusrau, the father of modern Hindustani music, is said to have created about twelve new melodies, among which is Sarpada....
. He created the
qawwaliQawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other parts of northern India...
genre, which fuses Persian melody and beat on a dhrupad like structure. A number of instruments (such as the
sitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
and
tablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
) were also introduced in his time.
Amir Khusrau is sometimes credited with the origins of the
khyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
form, but the record of his compositions do not appear to support this. The compositions by the court musician
SadarangSadarang was the pen name of the Hindustani musical composer and artist Niyamat Khan. Sadarang was active in the eighteenth century. He and his nephew Adarang changed the Khayal style of Hindustani music into the form performed today. He served in the court of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah...
in the court of
Muhammad ShahMuhammad Shah also known as Roshan Akhtar, was a Mughal emperor of India between 1719 and 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar Jahan Shah, the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I. Ascending the throne at 17 with the help of the Sayyid Brothers, he later got rid of them with the help of Nizam-ul-Mulk Chin...
bear a closer affinity to the modern khyal. They suggest that while khyal already existed in some form, Sadarang may have been the father of modern khyal.
Much of the musical forms innovated by these pioneers merged with the Hindu tradition, composed in the popular language of the people (as opposed to Sanskrit) in the work of composers like
KabirKabīr was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement...
or Nanak. This can be seen as part of a larger
BhaktiIn Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
tradition, (strongly related to the Vaishnavite movement) which remained influential across several centuries; notable figures include
JayadevaJayadeva was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the...
(11th century),
VidyapatiVidyapati Thakur , also known by the sobriquet Maithil Kavi Kokil was a Maithili poet and a Sanskrit writer. He was born in the village of Bishphi in Madhubani district of Bihar state, India. He was son of Ganapati...
(fl. 1375 CE),
ChandidasChandidas refers to medieval poet of Bengal. Over 1250 poems related to the love of Radha and Krishna in Bengali with the bhanita of Chandidas are found with three different sobriquets along with his name, , Dvija and Dina as well as without any sobriquet also...
(14th–15th century), and Meerabai (1555–1603 CE).
As the Mughal Empire came into closer contact with Hindus, especially under Jalal ud-Din Akbar, music and dance also flourished. In particular, the musician
TansenMia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...
introduced a number of innovations, including ragas and particular compositions. Legend has it that upon his rendition of a night-time raga in the morning, the entire city fell under a hush and clouds gathered in the sky, and that he could light fires by singing the raga "Deepak", which is supposed to be composed of notes in high octaves.
At the royal house of
Gwalior, Raja Mansingh Tomar (1486–1516 CE) also participated in the shift from Sanskrit to the local idiom (
HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
) as the language for classical songs. He himself penned several volumes of compositions on religious and secular themes, and was also responsible for the major compilation, the
Mankutuhal ("Book of Curiosity"), which outlined the major forms of music prevalent at the time. In particular, the musical form known as
dhrupadDhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
saw considerable development in his court and remained a strong point of the Gwalior gharana for many centuries.
After the dissolution of the Mughal empire, the patronage of music continued in smaller princely kingdoms like
LucknowLucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
,
Patiala, and Banaras, giving rise to the diversity of styles that is today known as
gharanaIn Hindustani music, a gharānā is a system of social organization linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and by adherence to a particular musical style. A gharana also indicates a comprehensive musicological ideology. This ideology sometimes changes substantially from one...
s. Many musician families obtained large grants of land which made them self sufficient, at least for a few generations (e.g. the Sham Chaurasia gharana). Meanwhile the
BhaktiIn Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
and Sufi traditions continued to develop and interact with the different gharanas and groups.
Modern era
Until the late 19th century, Hindustani classical music was imparted on a one-on-one basis through the guru-shishya ("mentor-protégé") tradition. This system had many benefits, but also several drawbacks; in many cases, the shishya had to spend most of his time serving his guru with a hope that the guru might teach him a "cheez" (piece or nuance) or two. In addition, the system forced the music to be limited to a small subsection of the Indian community. To a large extent it was limited to the palaces and dance halls. It was shunned by the intellectuals, avoided by the educated middle class, and in general looked down upon as a frivolous practice.
Then a fortunate turn of events started the renaissance of Hindustani classical music.
First, as the power of the maharajahs and
nawabA Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....
s declined in early 20th century, so did their patronage. With the expulsion of
Wajid Ali ShahWajid Ali Shah was the fifth King of Oudh, holding the position from 13 February 1847 to 7 February 1856....
to Calcutta after 1857, the Lucknavi musical tradition came to influence the music of renaissance in
BengalBengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, giving rise to the tradition of
Ragpradhan gan around the turn of the century.
Also, at the turn of the century, two great stars emerged on the horizon:
Vishnu Digambar PaluskarPandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar was a Hindustani musician. He sung the original version of the bhajan Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram.-Early life and background:...
and
Vishnu Narayan BhatkhandePandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was an Indian musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani Classical Music , an art which had been propagated earlier for a few centuries mostly through oral traditions...
. Independent of each other, they spread Hindustani classical music to the masses in general, and the
MarathiThe Marathi people or Maharashtrians are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages...
middle class in particular. These two gentlemen brought classical music to the masses by organizing music conferences, starting schools, teaching music in class-rooms, and devising a standardized grading and testing system, and by standardizing the notation system.
Vishnu Digambar PaluskarPandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar was a Hindustani musician. He sung the original version of the bhajan Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram.-Early life and background:...
emerged as a talented musician and organizer despite having been blinded at age 12. His books on music, as well as the
Gandharva MahavidyalayaGandharva Mahavidyalaya is an institution established in 1939 to popularize Indian classical music and dance.The Mahavidyalaya came into being to perpetuate the memory of Pandit Vishnu Digamber Paluskar, the great reviver of Hindustani classical music, and to keep up the ideals set down by him....
music school that he opened in
LahoreLahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
in 1901, helped foster a movement away from the closed gharana system.
Paluskar's contemporary (and occasional rival)
Vishnu Narayan BhatkhandePandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was an Indian musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani Classical Music , an art which had been propagated earlier for a few centuries mostly through oral traditions...
recognized the many rifts that had appeared in the structure of Indian classical music. He undertook extensive research visits to a large number of gharanas, Hindustani as well as Carnatic, collecting and comparing compositions. Between 1909 and 1932, he produced the monumental four-volume work
Hindustani Sangeetha Padhathi, which suggested a transcription for Indian music, and described the many traditions in this notation. Finally, it consolidated the many musical forms of Hindustani classical music into a number of
thaatA thāt is a mode in northern Indian or Hindustani music. Thāts always have seven different pitches and are a basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music.- System :...
s (modes), subsequent to the
MelakartaMelakarta is a collection of fundamental ragas in Carnatic music . Melakarta ragas are parent ragas from which other ragas may be generated. A melakarta raga is sometimes referred as mela, karta or sampurna as well.In Hindustani music the thaat is equivalent of Melakarta...
system that reorganized Carnatic tradition in the 17th century. The ragas as they exist today were consolidated in this landmark work, although there are some inconsistencies and ambiguities in Bhatkande's system.
In modern times, the government-run
All India RadioAll India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
,
Bangladesh BetarBangladesh Betar is the state-owned radio broadcasting organisation of Bangladesh. It was also known as Radio Bangladesh between 1975 and 1996.-History:...
and Radio Pakistan helped to bring the artists to public attention, countering the loss of the patronage system. The first star was Gauhar Jan, whose career was born out of
Fred GaisbergFrederick William Gaisberg was an American-born musician, recording engineer and one of the earliest classical music producers for the gramophone. He himself did not use the term 'producer' and was not an impresario like his protégé Walter Legge of EMI or an innovator like John Culshaw of Decca...
's first recordings of Indian music in 1902. With the advance of films and other public media, musicians started to make their living through public performances. As India was exposed to Western music, some Western melodies started merging with classical forms, especially in popular music. A number of
GurukulA gurukul is a type of school in India, residential in nature, with shishyas living in proximity to the guru, often within the same house...
s, such as that of Alauddin Khan at
MaiharMaihar is a city and a municipality in Satna district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Maihar is known for the temple of revered mother goddess Sharda situated on Trikuta hill of Maihar.- Origin :...
, flourished. In more modern times, corporate support has also been forthcoming, as at the
ITC Sangeet Research AcademyITC Sangeet Research Academy is a Hindustani classical music academy run by the corporate house, ITC Ltd.. It is located in Kolkata, India. Noted musicians associated with the academy include Ulhas Kashalkar...
. Meanwhile, Hindustani classical music has become popular across the world through the influence of artists such as
Ravi ShankarRavi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
and
Ali Akbar KhanAli Akbar Khan , often referred to as Khansahib or by the title Ustad , was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod...
.
Principles of Hindustani music
The rhythmic organization is based on rhythmic patterns called
talaTāla, Taal or Tal is the term used in Indian classical music for the rhythmic pattern of any composition and for the entire subject of rhythm, roughly corresponding to metre in Western music, though closer conceptual equivalents are to be found in other Asian classical systems such as the notion...
. The melodic foundations are called ragas. One possible classification of ragas is into "melodic modes" or "parent scales", known as
thaatA thāt is a mode in northern Indian or Hindustani music. Thāts always have seven different pitches and are a basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music.- System :...
s, under which most
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s can be classified based on the notes they use.
Thaats may consist of up to seven scale degrees, or
swaraThe seven notes of the scale , in Indian music are named shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad, and are shortened to Sa, Ri or Re , Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni and written S, R, G, M, P, D, N. Collectively these notes are known as the sargam...
. Hindustani musicians name these pitches using a system called Sargam, the equivalent of the Western movable do
solfegeIn music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
:
- Sa (Shadaj) = Do
- Re (Rishab) = Re
- Ga (Gandhar) = Mi
- Ma (Madhyam) = Fa
- Pa (Pancham) = So
- Dha (Dhaivat) = La
- Ni (Nishad) = Ti
- Sa (Shadaj) = Do
Both systems repeat at the octave. The difference between sargam and solfege is that re, ga, ma, dha, and ni can refer to either "Natural" (
shuddha) or altered "Flat" (
komal) or "Sharp" (
tivra) versions of their respective scale degrees. As with movable do solfege, the notes are heard relative to an arbitrary tonic that varies from performance to performance, rather than to fixed frequencies, as on a xylophone. The fine intonational differences between different instances of the same swara are called
srutisThe shruti is a Sanskrit term used in several contexts throughout the history of the Indian music. A shruti is the smallest interval of pitch the ear can detect.-Contexts:...
. The three primary registers of Indian classical music are mandra (lower), madhya (middle) and taar (upper). Since the octave location is not fixed, it is also possible to use provenances in mid-register (such as mandra-madhya or madhya-taar) for certain ragas. A typical rendition of Hindustani raga involves two stages:
- Alap: a rhythmically free improvisation on the rules for the raga in order to give life to the raga and flesh out its characteristics. The alap is followed by a long slow-tempo improvisation in vocal music, or by the jod and jhala in instrumental music.
- Bandish
Bandish, Cheez or Gat is a fixed, melodic composition in Hindustani vocal or instrumental music. It is set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tabla or pakhavaj, a steady drone, and melodic accompaniment by a sarangi, violin or harmonium. There are different ways of...
or GatBandish, Cheez or Gat is a fixed, melodic composition in Hindustani vocal or instrumental music. It is set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tabla or pakhavaj, a steady drone, and melodic accompaniment by a sarangi, violin or harmonium. There are different ways of...
: a fixed, melodic composition set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
or pakhavaj. There are different ways of systematizing the parts of a composition. For example:
- Sthaayi
Sthayi or Asthaayi is an initial phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition in Hindustani music. Its a way of systematizing the parts of a composition....
: The initial, rondoRondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form...
phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition.
- Antara: The first body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition.
- Sanchaari: The third body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition, seen more typically in dhrupad bandishes
Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
- Aabhog: The fourth and concluding body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition, seen more typically in Dhrupad bandishes
Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
.
- There are three variations of bandish, regarding tempo:
- Vilambit
Vilambit is an introductory slow tempo, or laya, between 10 and 40 beats per minute, used in the performance of a raga in Hindustani classical music. For major ragas, the vilambit portion generally takes up two-thirds or more of the performance, and is followed by a short drut to conclude the...
bandish: A slow and steady melodic composition, usually in largo to adagio speeds.
- Madhyalaya bandish: A medium tempo melodic competition, usually set in andante to allegretto speeds.
- Drut
Drut is the concluding section, in fast tempo , between 160 and 320 beats per minute, of the performance of a vocal raga in Hindustani classical music.-See also:*Khyal*Vilambit*Madhyalaya...
bandish: A fast tempo melodic composition, usually set to allegretto speed or faster.
Hindustani classical music is primarily vocal-centric, insofar as the musical forms were designed primarily for vocal performance, and many instruments were designed and evaluated as to how well they emulate the human voice.
Types of compositions
The major vocal forms or styles associated with Hindustani classical music are
dhrupadDhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
,
khyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
, and
taranaTarana is a type of composition in Hindustani classical vocal music in which certain words and syllables based on Persian and Arabic phenomes are used in a medium-paced or fast rendition...
. Other forms include
dhamarA dhrupad set to the 14-beat time signature dhamar tal is called a dhamar. It is seen as a light musical form, and associated with the Holi Spring Festival of colours....
, trivat, chaiti,
kajariKajari , derived from the Hindi word Kajra, or Kohl, is a genre of semi-classical singing, popular in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar . It is often used to describe the longing of a maiden for her lover as the black monsoon cloud come hanging in the summer skies, and the style is notably sung during the...
, tappa, tap-khyal,
ashtapadisAshtapadis or Ashtapadi are Indian hymns where the music has eight lines within each composition. Each ashtapadi song is set in a special raga and tala. It is a rhyme of eternal love and supreme devotion...
,
thumriThumri is a common genre of semi-classical Indian music.The text is romantic or devotional in nature, and usually revolves around a girl's love for Krishna. The lyrics are usually in Uttar Pradesh dialects of Hindi called Poorbi and Brij Bhasha...
,
dadraDadra refers to two separate but originally linked concepts in Hindustani classical music.-Dadra tala:This is a Hindustani classical tala , consisting of six beats in two equal divisions of three. The most commonly accepted theka or basic pattern for this tala is dha dhi na, dha tu na...
,
ghazalThe ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
and
bhajanA Bhajan is any type of Indian devotional song. It has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan or as sophisticated as the dhrupad or kriti with music based on classical ragas and talas. It is normally lyrical, expressing love for the Divine...
; these are folk or semi-classical or light classical styles, as they often do not adhere to the rigorous rules of classical music.
Dhrupad
Dhrupad is an old style of singing, traditionally performed by male singers. It is performed with a
tamburaThe tambura, tanpura, or tambora is a long-necked plucked lute . The body shape of the tambura somewhat resembles that of the sitar, but it has no frets – only the open strings are played to accompany other musicians...
and a
pakhawajThe pakhavaj, pakhawaj, pakuaj, pakhvaj or pakavaj is an Indian barrel-shaped, two-headed drum, the North Indian equivalent to the Southern mridangam....
as instrumental accompaniments. The lyrics, some of which were written in Sanskrit centuries ago, are presently often sung in brajbhasha, a medieval form of North and East Indian languages that was spoken in Eastern India. The
rudra veenaSee also veenaThe rudra veena is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani classical music. It is an ancient instrument rarely played today...
, an ancient string instrument, is used in instrumental music in dhrupad.
Dhrupad music is primarily devotional in theme and content. It contains recitals in praise of particular deities. Dhrupad compositions begin with a relatively long and acyclic alap, where the syllables of the following mantra is recited:
"Om Anant tam Taran Tarini Twam Hari Om Narayan, Anant Hari Om Narayan".
The alap gradually unfolds into more rhythmic jod and jhala sections. These sections are followed by a rendition of bandish, with the pakhawaj as an accompaniment. The great Indian musician
TansenMia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...
sang in the dhrupad style. A lighter form of dhrupad, called
dhamarA dhrupad set to the 14-beat time signature dhamar tal is called a dhamar. It is seen as a light musical form, and associated with the Holi Spring Festival of colours....
, is sung primarily during the festival of
HoliHoli , is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus. Holi is also known as festival of Colours. It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and countries with large Indic diaspora populations following Hinduism, such as Suriname, Malaysia, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, United...
.
Dhrupad was the main form of northern Indian classical music until two centuries ago, when it gave way to the somewhat less austere khyal, a more free-form style of singing. Since losing its main patrons among the royalty in Indian princely states, dhrupad risked becoming extinct in the first half of the twentieth century. However, the efforts by a few proponents from the Dagar family have led to its revival and eventual popularization in India and in the West.
Some of the best known vocalists who sing in the Dhrupad style are the members of the Dagar lineage, including the senior Dagar brothers, Nasir Moinuddin and Nasir Aminuddin Dagar; the junior Dagar brothers, Nasir Zahiruddin and Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar; and
WasifuddinFaiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar is an Indian classical singer of the dhrupad genre and the son of dhrupad singer Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar. Since the death of his father and later, his uncle, Wasifuddin has been singing solo. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2010....
, Fariduddin, and Sayeeduddin Dagar. Other leading exponents include the
Gundecha BrothersUmakant Gundecha and Ramakant Gundecha, known as the Gundecha Brothers, are leading Dagarvani dhrupad singers. They always sing together.-Early life and background:Gundecha Brothers were born in Ujjain into a Jain family....
, who have received training from some of the Dagars. Leading vocalists outside the Dagar lineage include the Mallik family of Darbhanga tradition of musicians; some of the leading exponents of this tradition were Ram Chatur Mallick, Siyaram Tiwari, and Vidur Mallick.
A section of dhrupad singers of
Delhi GharanaThe Delhi Gharana is the oldest of all tabla gharanas, and is also the first to establish improvisation rules. It was founded in North-East India, and is easily one of the most, if not the most, common Gharana used today.-History:...
from
MughalThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
emperor
Shah Jahan Shah Jahan Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) (Full title: His Imperial Majesty Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan...
’s court migrated to
BettiahBettiah is the headquarters of West Champaran district in the state of Bihar, near the Indo-Nepal border, 225 Kilometres north-west of Patna. Bettiah, pronounced as 'Betiya', derived its name from 'baint'...
under the patronage of the
Bettiah RajBettiah Rajs eighteen hundred square miles yielding a rental of almost 2 million rupees made it the second largest zamindari in Bihar belonging to a Bhumihar Brahmin family...
, giving rise to the Bettiah Gharana.
Bishnupur GharanaThe Bishnupur Gharana is a form of singing that follow the Dhrupad tradition of Hindustani music, one of the two Indian classical music forms. It originated in Bishnupur , West Bengal. The name of the town means "city of Vishnu" in Bengali...
, based in
West BengalWest Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, is a key school that has been propagating this style of singing since Mughal times.
Khyal
KhyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
is a Hindustani form of vocal music, adopted from medieval Persian music and based on
DhrupadDhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
. Khyal, literally meaning "thought" or "imagination" in Hindi-Urdu, is unusual as it is based on improvising and expressing emotion. A Khyal is a two- to eight-line lyric set to a melody. The lyric is of an emotional account possibly from poetic observation. Khyals are also popular for depicting the emotions between two lovers, situations of ethological significance in Hinduism and Islam, or other situations evoking intense feelings.
Th importance of the Khyal's content is for the singer to depict, through music in the set
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
, the emotional significance of the Khyal. The singer improvises and finds inspiration within the
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
to depict the Khyal.
The origination of Khyal is controversial, although it is accepted that this style was based on Dhrupad and influenced by Persian music. Many argue that Amir Khusrau created the style in the late 16th century. This form was popularized by Mughal Emperor Mohammad Shah, through his court musicians. Some well-known composers of this period were
SadarangSadarang was the pen name of the Hindustani musical composer and artist Niyamat Khan. Sadarang was active in the eighteenth century. He and his nephew Adarang changed the Khayal style of Hindustani music into the form performed today. He served in the court of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah...
, Adarang, and Manrang.
Tarana
Another vocal form, taranas are medium- to fast-paced songs that are used to convey a mood of elation and are usually performed towards the end of a concert. They consist of a few lines of poetry with soft syllables or
bolsA bol is a mnemonic syllable. It is used in Indian music to define the tala, or rhythmic pattern, and is one of the most important parts of Indian rhythm. Bol is derived from the Hindi word bolna, which means "to speak."...
set to a tune. The singer uses these few lines as a basis for fast improvisation. The tillana of Carnatic music is based on the tarana, although the former is primarily associated with dance.
Tappa
Tappa is a form of Indian semi-classical vocal music whose specialty is its rolling pace based on fast, subtle, knotty construction. It originated from the folk songs of the camel riders of Punjab and was developed as a form of classical music by
Mian Ghulam Nabi ShoriMian Ghulam Nabi Shori popularly known as Shori Mian was an Indian composer of Hindustani classical music. He was a court singer of Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, Nawab of Awadh. He composed tappa, one of the most difficult classical forms, in Punjab...
or Shori Mian, a court singer for
Asaf-Ud-DowlahAsaf-Ud-Daula was the nawab wazir of Oudh from 26 January 1775 to 21 September 1797, and the son of Shuja-ud-Dowlah, his mother and grandmother being the begums of Oudh, whose spoliation formed one of the chief counts in the charges against Warren Hastings.-Life:A contemporary chronicler describes...
, the
Nawab of AwadhThe Nawab of Awadh is the title of rulers who governed the state of Awadh in India in the 18th and 19th century. The Nawabs of Awadh originated form Persia-Establishment:...
. "Nidhubabur Tappa", or tappas sung by
Nidhu BabuRamnidhi Gupta , commonly known as Nidhu Babu, is one of the great reformers of Bengali tappā music.Nidhu Babu was born in Kumartuli in northern Calcutta, where he grew up learning Persian and some English...
were very popular in 18th and 19th-century Bengal. Among the living performers of this style are Laxmanrao Pandit, Shamma Khurana, Manvalkar,
Girija DeviGirija Devi is an Indian classical singer of the Banaras gharana. She performs classical and light classical music and has helped elevate the profile of thumri.-Early life:Girija Devi was born in Varanasi, India in 1929...
, Ishwarchandra Karkare, and Jayant Khot.
Thumri
ThumriThumri is a common genre of semi-classical Indian music.The text is romantic or devotional in nature, and usually revolves around a girl's love for Krishna. The lyrics are usually in Uttar Pradesh dialects of Hindi called Poorbi and Brij Bhasha...
is a semi-classical vocal form said to have begun in Uttar Pradesh with the court of
NawabA Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....
Wajid Ali ShahWajid Ali Shah was the fifth King of Oudh, holding the position from 13 February 1847 to 7 February 1856....
, (r. 1847–1856). There are three types of thumri: poorab ang, Lucknavi and Punjabi thumri. The lyrics are typically in a proto-Hindi language called
Brij BhashaBraj Bhasha , also called Brij Bhasha , Braj Bhakha , or Dehaati Zabaan , is a Central Indian language closely related to Hindi...
and are usually romantic.
Some recent performers of this genre are
Abdul Karim KhanUstad Abdul Karim Khan , was an Indian classical singer of the Kairana gharana .-Early life and background:...
, the brothers Barkat Ali Khan and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan,
Begum AkhtarAkhtari Bai Faizabadi or Begum Akhtar was a well known Indian singer of Ghazal, Dadra and Thumri.She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for vocal music, and was awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by Govt. of India...
,
Girija DeviGirija Devi is an Indian classical singer of the Banaras gharana. She performs classical and light classical music and has helped elevate the profile of thumri.-Early life:Girija Devi was born in Varanasi, India in 1929...
, Nazakat-Salamat Ali Khan,
Prabha Atre,
Siddheshwari DeviSiddheswari Devi was a Hindustani singer from Varanasi, India, known as Maa . Born in 1907, she lost her parents early and was brought up by her aunt, the noted singer Rajeshwari Devi.-Initiation into Music:...
, and
Shobha GurtuShobha Gurtu was an Indian singer in the light Hindustani classical style. Though she had equal command over pure classical style, it was with light classical music that she received her fame, and in time came to be known as the Thumri Queen, and for the ‘Abhinaya’ ang in her full-throated voice...
.
Ghazal
GhazalThe ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
is an originally Persian form of poetry. In the Indian sub-continent, Ghazal became the most common form of poetry in the Urdu language and was popularized by classical poets like
Mir Taqi MirKhuda-e-sukhan Mir Taqi Mir , whose real name was Muhammad Taqi and takhallus was Mir , was the leading Urdu poet of the 18th century, and one of the pioneers who gave shape to the Urdu language itself...
, Ghalib, Daagh, Zauq and
Saudais a municipality and industrial town in Rogaland county, Norway. It is part of the region of Ryfylke. Sauda was separated from Suldal in 1842...
amongst the North Indian literary elite. Vocal music set to this mode of poetry is popular with multiple variations across
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
,
AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
,
Central AsiaCentral Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
,
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
,
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
,
BangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. Ghazal exists in multiple variations, including semi-classical,
folkFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and
popPop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
forms.
Instrumental music
Although Hindustani music clearly is focused on the vocal performance, instrumental forms have existed since ancient times. In fact, in recent decades, especially outside South Asia, instrumental Hindustani music is more popular than vocal music, partly due to a somewhat different style and faster tempo, and partly because of a language barrier for the lyrics in vocal music.
A number of musical instruments are associated with Hindustani classical music. The
veenaVeena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...
, a string instrument, was traditionally regarded as the most important, but few play it today and it has largely been superseded by its cousins the
sitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
and the
sarodThe sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in the classical music of Hindustan...
, both of which owe their origin to Persian influences. Other plucked or struck string instruments include the
surbaharSurbahar , sometimes known as bass sitar, is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India. It is closely related to sitar, but it has a lower tone. Depending on the instrument's size, it is usually pitched two to five whole steps below the standard sitar, but...
,
sursringarThe sursingar , sursringar or surshringar is a musical instrument from India. It is a lute-derived Sarod, except it is larger in size and produces a deeper sound. It is a distant descendant of the Saraswati Veena...
,
santoorThe santoor is an ancient stringed musical instrument, native to Kashmir and Iran. It is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often made of walnut, with seventy two strings. The special-shaped mallets are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers...
, and various versions of the
slide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
. Among bowed instruments, the
sarangiThe Sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of India which is originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition...
,
esrajThe esraj is a string instrument found in two forms throughout the north, central, and east regions of India. It is a young instrument by Indian terms, being only about 200 years old. The dilruba is found in the north, where it is used in religious music and light classical songs in the urban areas...
and
violinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
are popular. The
bansuriThe bansuri is a transverse alto flute of Bangladesh, India and Nepal made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with six or seven finger holes. An ancient musical instrument associated with cowherds and the pastoral tradition, it is intimately linked to the love story of Krishna and Radha, and is...
,
shehnaiThe shehnai, shahnai, shenai or mangal vadya, is an aerophonic instrument, a double reed conical oboe, common in North India, West India and Pakistan, made out of wood, with a metal flare bell at the end...
and
harmoniumA harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
are important wind instruments. In the percussion ensemble, the
tablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
and the pakhavaj are the most popular. Various other instruments have also been used in varying degrees.
External links
Hindustani classical music is the
HindustanHindustan or Indostan, literal translation "Land of River Sindhu ", is one of the popular names of South Asia. It can also mean "the land of the Hindus"...
i or North Indian style of
Indian classical musicThe origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
found throughout the northern
Indian subcontinentThe Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
. The style is sometimes called
North Indian Classical Music or
Shāstriya Sangeet. It is a tradition that originated in
VedicVedic may refer to:* the Vedas, the oldest preserved Indic texts** Vedic Sanskrit, the language of these texts** Vedic period, during which these texts were produced** Vedic pantheon of gods mentioned in Vedas/vedic period...
ritual chants and has been evolving since the 12th century CE, primarily in what is now North India and
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, and to some extent in
BangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
,
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and
AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. Today, it is one of the two subgenres of
Indian classical musicThe origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
, the other being
Carnatic musicCarnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
, the classical tradition of
South IndiaSouth India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
.
Characteristics
The tradition was born out of a cultural synthesis of several musical traditions: the Vedic chant tradition, dating back to approximately one thousand BCE, the equally ancient Persian tradition of Musiqi-e assil, and various folk traditions prevalent in the region.
It is traditional for performers who have reached a distinguished level of achievement to be awarded titles of respect;
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s are usually referred to as
pandit and
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s as
ustadUstad is an Arabized Persian word is a honorific title for a Muslim man in South Asia. The title precedes the name and is usually used for well regarded teachers and artists, most often musicians. It is applied and used via informal social agreement. It is abbreviated as ut. or ud.-References:*...
. An aspect of Hindustani music going back to Sufi times is the tradition of religious neutrality: Muslim ustads may sing compositions in praise of Hindu deities, and vice versa.
Around the 12th century, Hindustani classical music diverged from what eventually came to be identified as Carnatic classical music. The central notions in both these systems is that of a melodic
modeIn the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
or
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
, sung to a rhythmic cycle or
talaTāla, Taal or Tal is the term used in Indian classical music for the rhythmic pattern of any composition and for the entire subject of rhythm, roughly corresponding to metre in Western music, though closer conceptual equivalents are to be found in other Asian classical systems such as the notion...
. The tradition dates back to the ancient
SamavedaThe Sama veda , is second of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. Its earliest parts are believed to date from 1700 BC and it ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rigveda...
, (
sāma meaning "ritual chant"), which deals with the norms for chanting of
sruti' , often spelled shruti or shruthi, is a term that describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism and is one of the three main sources of dharma and therefore is also influential within Hindu Law...
s or hymns such as the
Rig Veda. These principles were refined in the musical treatises
Natya ShastraThe Natya Shastra is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, encompassing theatre, dance and music. It was written during the period between 200 BC and 200 AD in classical India and is traditionally attributed to the Sage Bharata.The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in its scope...
, by
BharataBharata was an ancient Indian musicologist who authored the Natya Shastra, a theoretical treatise on ancient Indian dramaturgy and histrionics, dated to between roughly 400 BC and 200 BC. Indian dance and music find their root in the Natyashastra...
(2nd–3d century CE), and
DattilamDattilam is an ancient Indian musical text ascribed to the sage Dattila. It is believed to have been composed shortly after the Natya Shastra of Bharata, and is dated between the 1st and 4th c. AD....
(probably 3rd–4th century CE).
In medieval times, the melodic systems were fused with ideas from Persian music, particularly through the influence of Sufi composers like
Amir KhusroAb'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow , better known as Amīr Khusrow Dehlawī , was an Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent...
, and later in the Moghul courts. Noted composers such as
TansenMia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...
flourished, along with religious groups like the Vaishnavites. After the 16th century, the singing styles diversified into different
gharanaIn Hindustani music, a gharānā is a system of social organization linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and by adherence to a particular musical style. A gharana also indicates a comprehensive musicological ideology. This ideology sometimes changes substantially from one...
s patronized in different princely courts. Around 1900,
Vishnu Narayan BhatkhandePandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was an Indian musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani Classical Music , an art which had been propagated earlier for a few centuries mostly through oral traditions...
consolidated the musical structures of Hindustani classical music, called
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s, into a number of
thaatA thāt is a mode in northern Indian or Hindustani music. Thāts always have seven different pitches and are a basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music.- System :...
s. Indian classical music has seven basic notes with five interspersed half-notes, resulting in a 12-note scale. Unlike the 12-note scale in Western music, the base frequency of the scale is not fixed, and intertonal gaps (
temperamentIn music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
) may also vary; however, with the gradual replacement of the
sarangiThe Sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of India which is originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition...
by the
harmoniumA harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
, an equal tempered scale is increasingly used. The performance is set to a melodic pattern called a
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
characterized in part by specific ascent (aroha) and descent (avaroha) sequences, which may not be identical. Other characteristics include "king" (
vadiVadi, in both Hindustani classical music and Carnatic music, is the dominant swara of a given raga . "Vadi is the most sonant or most important note of a Raga." It does not refer to the most played note but it rather refers to a note of special significance.It is usually the swara which is...
) and "queen" (
samavadiIn Indian classical music, the second-most prominent note of a raga is referred as samvadi. This could be misleading, as it may not necessarily refer to the second-most played note....
) notes and characteristic phrases (
pakadIn Hindustani music, a pakad is a generally-accepted musical phrase thought to encapsulate the essence of a particular raga. The pakad contains the melodic theme of the raga, on listening to the pakad a person who knows the raga is usually able to identify it...
). In addition each raga has its natural register (ambit) and
glissandoIn music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento...
(
meendIn Hindustani music, meend refers to a glide from one note to another. It is an essential performance practice, and is used often in vocal and instrumental music. On the veena, sitar, and other plucked stringed instruments, it is usually done by pushing the strings across the frets to vary their...
) rules. Performances are usually marked by considerable improvisation within these norms.
History
MusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
was first formalized in India in connection with preserving the
sruti' , often spelled shruti or shruthi, is a term that describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism and is one of the three main sources of dharma and therefore is also influential within Hindu Law...
texts, primarily the four vedas, which are seen as
apaurasheya (meaning "not created by man"). Not only was the text important, but also the manner in which they had been enunciated by the immortals. Prosody and chanting were thus of great importance, and were enshrined in the two
vedangaThe Vedanga are six auxiliary disciplines traditionally associated with the study and understanding of the Vedas.#Shiksha : phonetics, phonology and morphophonology #Kalpa : ritual#Vyakarana : grammar...
s (bodies of knowledge) called
shikshaShiksha is one of the six Vedangas, treating the traditional Hindu science of phonetics and phonology of Sanskrit.Its aim is the teaching of the correct pronunciation of the Vedic hymns and mantras...
(pronunciation, chants) and chhandas (prosody); these remained a key part of the brahmanic educational system till modern times.
The formal aspects of the chant are delineated in the
SamavedaThe Sama veda , is second of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. Its earliest parts are believed to date from 1700 BC and it ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rigveda...
, with certain aspects, e.g. the relation of chanting to meditation, elaborated in the
Chandogya UpanishadThe Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" Upanishads. Together with the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it ranks among the oldest Upanishads, dating to the Vedic Brahmana period....
(ca. 8th century BC). Priests involved in these ritual chants were called
samans and a number of ancient musical instruments such as the
conchA conch is a common name which is applied to a number of different species of medium-sized to large sea snails or their shells, generally those which are large and have a high spire and a siphonal canal....
(shankh), lute (
veenaVeena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...
), flute (
bansuriThe bansuri is a transverse alto flute of Bangladesh, India and Nepal made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with six or seven finger holes. An ancient musical instrument associated with cowherds and the pastoral tradition, it is intimately linked to the love story of Krishna and Radha, and is...
), trumpets and horns were associated with this and later practices of ritual singing.
Sanskritic tradition
The
SamavedaThe Sama veda , is second of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. Its earliest parts are believed to date from 1700 BC and it ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rigveda...
outlined the ritual chants for singing the verses of the Rigveda, particularly for offerings of
SomaSoma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...
. It proposed a tonal structure consisting of seven notes, which were named, in descending order,
krusht,
pratham,
dwitiya,
tritiya,
chaturth,
mandra and
atiswār. These refer to the notes of a flute, which was the only fixed-frequency instrument. This is why the second note is called
pratham (meaning "first", i.e., produced when only the first hole is closed).
Music is dealt with extensively in the Valmiki
RamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
.
NaradaNarada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Vaisnava tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana...
is an accomplished musician, as is
Ravana' is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu legend, the Ramayana; who is the great king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister...
;
SaraswatiIn Hinduism Saraswati , is the goddess of knowledge, music, arts, science and technology. She is the consort of Brahma, also revered as His Shakti....
with her
veenaVeena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...
is the goddess of music.
GandharvaGandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...
s are presented as spirits who are musical masters, and the gandharva style looks to music primarily for pleasure, accompanied by the
somaSoma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...
rasa. In the
Vishnudharmottara PuranaThe Vishnudharmottara Purana is a Hindu text, encyclopedic in nature. Along with the narratives, it also deals with cosmology, cosmogony, geography, astronomy, astrology, division of time, pacification of unfavourbale planets and stars, genealogies , manners and customs, penances, duties of...
, the Naga king Ashvatara asks to know the svaras from Saraswati.
The most important text on music in the ancient canon is
BharataBharata was an ancient Indian musicologist who authored the Natya Shastra, a theoretical treatise on ancient Indian dramaturgy and histrionics, dated to between roughly 400 BC and 200 BC. Indian dance and music find their root in the Natyashastra...
's
Natya ShastraThe Natya Shastra is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, encompassing theatre, dance and music. It was written during the period between 200 BC and 200 AD in classical India and is traditionally attributed to the Sage Bharata.The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in its scope...
, composed around the 3rd century CE. The
Natya Shastra deals with the different modes of music, dance, and drama, and also the emotional responses (rasa) they are expected to evoke. The scale is described in terms of 22 micro-tones, which can be combined in clusters of four, three, or two to form an octave.
While the term
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
is articulated in the
Natya Shastra (where its meaning is more literal, meaning "colour" or "mood"), it finds a clearer expression in what is called
jati in the
DattilamDattilam is an ancient Indian musical text ascribed to the sage Dattila. It is believed to have been composed shortly after the Natya Shastra of Bharata, and is dated between the 1st and 4th c. AD....
, a text composed shortly after or around the same time as
Natya Shastra. The Dattilam is focused on gandharva music and discusses scales (
swaraThe seven notes of the scale , in Indian music are named shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad, and are shortened to Sa, Ri or Re , Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni and written S, R, G, M, P, D, N. Collectively these notes are known as the sargam...
), defining a tonal framework called
grama in terms of 22 micro-tonal intervals (
sruti) comprising one octave. It also discusses various arrangements of the notes (
murchhana), the permutations and combinations of note-sequences (
tanas), and
alankara or elaboration. Dattilam categorizes melodic structure into 18 groups called
jati, which are the fundamental melodic structures similar to the
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
. The names of the jatis reflect regional origins, for example
andhri and
oudichya.
Music also finds mention in a number of texts from the Gupta period;
KalidasaKālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
mentions several kinds of veena (Parivadini, Vipanchi), as well as percussion instruments (mridang), the flute (vamshi) and conch (shankha). Music also finds mention in
BuddhistBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Jain texts from the earliest periods of the Christian era.
NaradaNarada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Vaisnava tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana...
's
Sangita MakarandhaSangit Makarand is an ancient work on classical music written by Narada. This work is a rare collection of definitions, descriptions and comments on al the essentials music by other ancient reputed authors from Bharata to Sharangdeva...
treatise, from about 1100 CE, is the earliest text where rules similar to those of current Hindustani classical music can be found. Narada actually names and classifies the system in its earlier form before the Persian influences introduced changes in the system.
JayadevaJayadeva was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the...
's
Gita GovindaThe Gita Govinda is a work composed by the 12th-century poet, Jayadeva, who was born in Kenduli Sasan near Puri in Orissa. It describes the relationship between Krishna and the gopis of Vrindavana, and in particular one gopi named Radha...
from the 12th century was perhaps the earliest musical composition sung in the classical tradition called
AshtapadiThe Ashtāpada is an Indian board game which was used in earlier versions of chess. Chaturanga appeared sometime around the 6th century in India. It could be played by two to four participants and data used to determine the amount of houses to be moved...
music.
In the 13th century, Sharngadeva composed the
Sangita Ratnakara, which has names such as the
turushka todi ("Turkish todi"), revealing an influx of ideas from Islamic culture. This text is the last to be mentioned by both the Carnatic and the Hindustani traditions and is often thought to date the divergence between the two.
Medieval period: Persian influence
The advent of Islamic rule under the
Delhi SultanateThe Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
and later the
Mughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
over northern India caused considerable cultural interchange. Increasingly, musicians received patronage in the courts of the new rulers, who in their turn, started taking increasing interest in local music forms. While the initial generations may have been rooted in cultural traditions outside India, they gradually adopted many aspects from their kingdoms which retained the traditional
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
culture. This helped spur the fusion of Hindu and Muslim ideas to bring forth new forms of musical synthesis like
qawwaliQawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other parts of northern India...
and
khyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
.
The most influential musician of the
Delhi SultanateThe Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
period was Amir Khusrau (1253–1325), sometimes called the father of modern Hindustani classical music. A composer in
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
,
TurkishTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, Arabic, as well as Braj Bhasha, he is credited with systematizing many aspects of Hindustani music, and also introducing several ragas such as Yaman Kalyan,
ZeelafZeelaf is a raga in Hindustani classical music. It is a pentatonic melody is composed of the following swaras: S G M P d. It is performed very rarely.-History:...
and
SarpadaSarpada is a raga in Hindustani classical music. It is a Bhilawal raga sung in the morning.-History:Amir Khusrau, the father of modern Hindustani music, is said to have created about twelve new melodies, among which is Sarpada....
. He created the
qawwaliQawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other parts of northern India...
genre, which fuses Persian melody and beat on a dhrupad like structure. A number of instruments (such as the
sitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
and
tablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
) were also introduced in his time.
Amir Khusrau is sometimes credited with the origins of the
khyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
form, but the record of his compositions do not appear to support this. The compositions by the court musician
SadarangSadarang was the pen name of the Hindustani musical composer and artist Niyamat Khan. Sadarang was active in the eighteenth century. He and his nephew Adarang changed the Khayal style of Hindustani music into the form performed today. He served in the court of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah...
in the court of
Muhammad ShahMuhammad Shah also known as Roshan Akhtar, was a Mughal emperor of India between 1719 and 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar Jahan Shah, the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I. Ascending the throne at 17 with the help of the Sayyid Brothers, he later got rid of them with the help of Nizam-ul-Mulk Chin...
bear a closer affinity to the modern khyal. They suggest that while khyal already existed in some form, Sadarang may have been the father of modern khyal.
Much of the musical forms innovated by these pioneers merged with the Hindu tradition, composed in the popular language of the people (as opposed to Sanskrit) in the work of composers like
KabirKabīr was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement...
or Nanak. This can be seen as part of a larger
BhaktiIn Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
tradition, (strongly related to the Vaishnavite movement) which remained influential across several centuries; notable figures include
JayadevaJayadeva was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the...
(11th century),
VidyapatiVidyapati Thakur , also known by the sobriquet Maithil Kavi Kokil was a Maithili poet and a Sanskrit writer. He was born in the village of Bishphi in Madhubani district of Bihar state, India. He was son of Ganapati...
(fl. 1375 CE),
ChandidasChandidas refers to medieval poet of Bengal. Over 1250 poems related to the love of Radha and Krishna in Bengali with the bhanita of Chandidas are found with three different sobriquets along with his name, , Dvija and Dina as well as without any sobriquet also...
(14th–15th century), and Meerabai (1555–1603 CE).
As the Mughal Empire came into closer contact with Hindus, especially under Jalal ud-Din Akbar, music and dance also flourished. In particular, the musician
TansenMia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...
introduced a number of innovations, including ragas and particular compositions. Legend has it that upon his rendition of a night-time raga in the morning, the entire city fell under a hush and clouds gathered in the sky, and that he could light fires by singing the raga "Deepak", which is supposed to be composed of notes in high octaves.
At the royal house of
Gwalior, Raja Mansingh Tomar (1486–1516 CE) also participated in the shift from Sanskrit to the local idiom (
HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
) as the language for classical songs. He himself penned several volumes of compositions on religious and secular themes, and was also responsible for the major compilation, the
Mankutuhal ("Book of Curiosity"), which outlined the major forms of music prevalent at the time. In particular, the musical form known as
dhrupadDhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
saw considerable development in his court and remained a strong point of the Gwalior gharana for many centuries.
After the dissolution of the Mughal empire, the patronage of music continued in smaller princely kingdoms like
LucknowLucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
,
Patiala, and Banaras, giving rise to the diversity of styles that is today known as
gharanaIn Hindustani music, a gharānā is a system of social organization linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and by adherence to a particular musical style. A gharana also indicates a comprehensive musicological ideology. This ideology sometimes changes substantially from one...
s. Many musician families obtained large grants of land which made them self sufficient, at least for a few generations (e.g. the Sham Chaurasia gharana). Meanwhile the
BhaktiIn Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
and Sufi traditions continued to develop and interact with the different gharanas and groups.
Modern era
Until the late 19th century, Hindustani classical music was imparted on a one-on-one basis through the guru-shishya ("mentor-protégé") tradition. This system had many benefits, but also several drawbacks; in many cases, the shishya had to spend most of his time serving his guru with a hope that the guru might teach him a "cheez" (piece or nuance) or two. In addition, the system forced the music to be limited to a small subsection of the Indian community. To a large extent it was limited to the palaces and dance halls. It was shunned by the intellectuals, avoided by the educated middle class, and in general looked down upon as a frivolous practice.
Then a fortunate turn of events started the renaissance of Hindustani classical music.
First, as the power of the maharajahs and
nawabA Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....
s declined in early 20th century, so did their patronage. With the expulsion of
Wajid Ali ShahWajid Ali Shah was the fifth King of Oudh, holding the position from 13 February 1847 to 7 February 1856....
to Calcutta after 1857, the Lucknavi musical tradition came to influence the music of renaissance in
BengalBengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, giving rise to the tradition of
Ragpradhan gan around the turn of the century.
Also, at the turn of the century, two great stars emerged on the horizon:
Vishnu Digambar PaluskarPandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar was a Hindustani musician. He sung the original version of the bhajan Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram.-Early life and background:...
and
Vishnu Narayan BhatkhandePandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was an Indian musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani Classical Music , an art which had been propagated earlier for a few centuries mostly through oral traditions...
. Independent of each other, they spread Hindustani classical music to the masses in general, and the
MarathiThe Marathi people or Maharashtrians are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages...
middle class in particular. These two gentlemen brought classical music to the masses by organizing music conferences, starting schools, teaching music in class-rooms, and devising a standardized grading and testing system, and by standardizing the notation system.
Vishnu Digambar PaluskarPandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar was a Hindustani musician. He sung the original version of the bhajan Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram.-Early life and background:...
emerged as a talented musician and organizer despite having been blinded at age 12. His books on music, as well as the
Gandharva MahavidyalayaGandharva Mahavidyalaya is an institution established in 1939 to popularize Indian classical music and dance.The Mahavidyalaya came into being to perpetuate the memory of Pandit Vishnu Digamber Paluskar, the great reviver of Hindustani classical music, and to keep up the ideals set down by him....
music school that he opened in
LahoreLahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
in 1901, helped foster a movement away from the closed gharana system.
Paluskar's contemporary (and occasional rival)
Vishnu Narayan BhatkhandePandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was an Indian musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani Classical Music , an art which had been propagated earlier for a few centuries mostly through oral traditions...
recognized the many rifts that had appeared in the structure of Indian classical music. He undertook extensive research visits to a large number of gharanas, Hindustani as well as Carnatic, collecting and comparing compositions. Between 1909 and 1932, he produced the monumental four-volume work
Hindustani Sangeetha Padhathi, which suggested a transcription for Indian music, and described the many traditions in this notation. Finally, it consolidated the many musical forms of Hindustani classical music into a number of
thaatA thāt is a mode in northern Indian or Hindustani music. Thāts always have seven different pitches and are a basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music.- System :...
s (modes), subsequent to the
MelakartaMelakarta is a collection of fundamental ragas in Carnatic music . Melakarta ragas are parent ragas from which other ragas may be generated. A melakarta raga is sometimes referred as mela, karta or sampurna as well.In Hindustani music the thaat is equivalent of Melakarta...
system that reorganized Carnatic tradition in the 17th century. The ragas as they exist today were consolidated in this landmark work, although there are some inconsistencies and ambiguities in Bhatkande's system.
In modern times, the government-run
All India RadioAll India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
,
Bangladesh BetarBangladesh Betar is the state-owned radio broadcasting organisation of Bangladesh. It was also known as Radio Bangladesh between 1975 and 1996.-History:...
and Radio Pakistan helped to bring the artists to public attention, countering the loss of the patronage system. The first star was Gauhar Jan, whose career was born out of
Fred GaisbergFrederick William Gaisberg was an American-born musician, recording engineer and one of the earliest classical music producers for the gramophone. He himself did not use the term 'producer' and was not an impresario like his protégé Walter Legge of EMI or an innovator like John Culshaw of Decca...
's first recordings of Indian music in 1902. With the advance of films and other public media, musicians started to make their living through public performances. As India was exposed to Western music, some Western melodies started merging with classical forms, especially in popular music. A number of
GurukulA gurukul is a type of school in India, residential in nature, with shishyas living in proximity to the guru, often within the same house...
s, such as that of Alauddin Khan at
MaiharMaihar is a city and a municipality in Satna district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Maihar is known for the temple of revered mother goddess Sharda situated on Trikuta hill of Maihar.- Origin :...
, flourished. In more modern times, corporate support has also been forthcoming, as at the
ITC Sangeet Research AcademyITC Sangeet Research Academy is a Hindustani classical music academy run by the corporate house, ITC Ltd.. It is located in Kolkata, India. Noted musicians associated with the academy include Ulhas Kashalkar...
. Meanwhile, Hindustani classical music has become popular across the world through the influence of artists such as
Ravi ShankarRavi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
and
Ali Akbar KhanAli Akbar Khan , often referred to as Khansahib or by the title Ustad , was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod...
.
Principles of Hindustani music
The rhythmic organization is based on rhythmic patterns called
talaTāla, Taal or Tal is the term used in Indian classical music for the rhythmic pattern of any composition and for the entire subject of rhythm, roughly corresponding to metre in Western music, though closer conceptual equivalents are to be found in other Asian classical systems such as the notion...
. The melodic foundations are called ragas. One possible classification of ragas is into "melodic modes" or "parent scales", known as
thaatA thāt is a mode in northern Indian or Hindustani music. Thāts always have seven different pitches and are a basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music.- System :...
s, under which most
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s can be classified based on the notes they use.
Thaats may consist of up to seven scale degrees, or
swaraThe seven notes of the scale , in Indian music are named shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad, and are shortened to Sa, Ri or Re , Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni and written S, R, G, M, P, D, N. Collectively these notes are known as the sargam...
. Hindustani musicians name these pitches using a system called Sargam, the equivalent of the Western movable do
solfegeIn music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
:
- Sa (Shadaj) = Do
- Re (Rishab) = Re
- Ga (Gandhar) = Mi
- Ma (Madhyam) = Fa
- Pa (Pancham) = So
- Dha (Dhaivat) = La
- Ni (Nishad) = Ti
- Sa (Shadaj) = Do
Both systems repeat at the octave. The difference between sargam and solfege is that re, ga, ma, dha, and ni can refer to either "Natural" (
shuddha) or altered "Flat" (
komal) or "Sharp" (
tivra) versions of their respective scale degrees. As with movable do solfege, the notes are heard relative to an arbitrary tonic that varies from performance to performance, rather than to fixed frequencies, as on a xylophone. The fine intonational differences between different instances of the same swara are called
srutisThe shruti is a Sanskrit term used in several contexts throughout the history of the Indian music. A shruti is the smallest interval of pitch the ear can detect.-Contexts:...
. The three primary registers of Indian classical music are mandra (lower), madhya (middle) and taar (upper). Since the octave location is not fixed, it is also possible to use provenances in mid-register (such as mandra-madhya or madhya-taar) for certain ragas. A typical rendition of Hindustani raga involves two stages:
- Alap: a rhythmically free improvisation on the rules for the raga in order to give life to the raga and flesh out its characteristics. The alap is followed by a long slow-tempo improvisation in vocal music, or by the jod and jhala in instrumental music.
- Bandish
Bandish, Cheez or Gat is a fixed, melodic composition in Hindustani vocal or instrumental music. It is set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tabla or pakhavaj, a steady drone, and melodic accompaniment by a sarangi, violin or harmonium. There are different ways of...
or GatBandish, Cheez or Gat is a fixed, melodic composition in Hindustani vocal or instrumental music. It is set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tabla or pakhavaj, a steady drone, and melodic accompaniment by a sarangi, violin or harmonium. There are different ways of...
: a fixed, melodic composition set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
or pakhavaj. There are different ways of systematizing the parts of a composition. For example:
- Sthaayi
Sthayi or Asthaayi is an initial phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition in Hindustani music. Its a way of systematizing the parts of a composition....
: The initial, rondoRondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form...
phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition.
- Antara: The first body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition.
- Sanchaari: The third body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition, seen more typically in dhrupad bandishes
Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
- Aabhog: The fourth and concluding body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition, seen more typically in Dhrupad bandishes
Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
.
- There are three variations of bandish, regarding tempo:
- Vilambit
Vilambit is an introductory slow tempo, or laya, between 10 and 40 beats per minute, used in the performance of a raga in Hindustani classical music. For major ragas, the vilambit portion generally takes up two-thirds or more of the performance, and is followed by a short drut to conclude the...
bandish: A slow and steady melodic composition, usually in largo to adagio speeds.
- Madhyalaya bandish: A medium tempo melodic competition, usually set in andante to allegretto speeds.
- Drut
Drut is the concluding section, in fast tempo , between 160 and 320 beats per minute, of the performance of a vocal raga in Hindustani classical music.-See also:*Khyal*Vilambit*Madhyalaya...
bandish: A fast tempo melodic composition, usually set to allegretto speed or faster.
Hindustani classical music is primarily vocal-centric, insofar as the musical forms were designed primarily for vocal performance, and many instruments were designed and evaluated as to how well they emulate the human voice.
Types of compositions
The major vocal forms or styles associated with Hindustani classical music are
dhrupadDhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
,
khyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
, and
taranaTarana is a type of composition in Hindustani classical vocal music in which certain words and syllables based on Persian and Arabic phenomes are used in a medium-paced or fast rendition...
. Other forms include
dhamarA dhrupad set to the 14-beat time signature dhamar tal is called a dhamar. It is seen as a light musical form, and associated with the Holi Spring Festival of colours....
, trivat, chaiti,
kajariKajari , derived from the Hindi word Kajra, or Kohl, is a genre of semi-classical singing, popular in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar . It is often used to describe the longing of a maiden for her lover as the black monsoon cloud come hanging in the summer skies, and the style is notably sung during the...
, tappa, tap-khyal,
ashtapadisAshtapadis or Ashtapadi are Indian hymns where the music has eight lines within each composition. Each ashtapadi song is set in a special raga and tala. It is a rhyme of eternal love and supreme devotion...
,
thumriThumri is a common genre of semi-classical Indian music.The text is romantic or devotional in nature, and usually revolves around a girl's love for Krishna. The lyrics are usually in Uttar Pradesh dialects of Hindi called Poorbi and Brij Bhasha...
,
dadraDadra refers to two separate but originally linked concepts in Hindustani classical music.-Dadra tala:This is a Hindustani classical tala , consisting of six beats in two equal divisions of three. The most commonly accepted theka or basic pattern for this tala is dha dhi na, dha tu na...
,
ghazalThe ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
and
bhajanA Bhajan is any type of Indian devotional song. It has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan or as sophisticated as the dhrupad or kriti with music based on classical ragas and talas. It is normally lyrical, expressing love for the Divine...
; these are folk or semi-classical or light classical styles, as they often do not adhere to the rigorous rules of classical music.
Dhrupad
Dhrupad is an old style of singing, traditionally performed by male singers. It is performed with a
tamburaThe tambura, tanpura, or tambora is a long-necked plucked lute . The body shape of the tambura somewhat resembles that of the sitar, but it has no frets – only the open strings are played to accompany other musicians...
and a
pakhawajThe pakhavaj, pakhawaj, pakuaj, pakhvaj or pakavaj is an Indian barrel-shaped, two-headed drum, the North Indian equivalent to the Southern mridangam....
as instrumental accompaniments. The lyrics, some of which were written in Sanskrit centuries ago, are presently often sung in brajbhasha, a medieval form of North and East Indian languages that was spoken in Eastern India. The
rudra veenaSee also veenaThe rudra veena is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani classical music. It is an ancient instrument rarely played today...
, an ancient string instrument, is used in instrumental music in dhrupad.
Dhrupad music is primarily devotional in theme and content. It contains recitals in praise of particular deities. Dhrupad compositions begin with a relatively long and acyclic alap, where the syllables of the following mantra is recited:
"Om Anant tam Taran Tarini Twam Hari Om Narayan, Anant Hari Om Narayan".
The alap gradually unfolds into more rhythmic jod and jhala sections. These sections are followed by a rendition of bandish, with the pakhawaj as an accompaniment. The great Indian musician
TansenMia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...
sang in the dhrupad style. A lighter form of dhrupad, called
dhamarA dhrupad set to the 14-beat time signature dhamar tal is called a dhamar. It is seen as a light musical form, and associated with the Holi Spring Festival of colours....
, is sung primarily during the festival of
HoliHoli , is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus. Holi is also known as festival of Colours. It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and countries with large Indic diaspora populations following Hinduism, such as Suriname, Malaysia, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, United...
.
Dhrupad was the main form of northern Indian classical music until two centuries ago, when it gave way to the somewhat less austere khyal, a more free-form style of singing. Since losing its main patrons among the royalty in Indian princely states, dhrupad risked becoming extinct in the first half of the twentieth century. However, the efforts by a few proponents from the Dagar family have led to its revival and eventual popularization in India and in the West.
Some of the best known vocalists who sing in the Dhrupad style are the members of the Dagar lineage, including the senior Dagar brothers, Nasir Moinuddin and Nasir Aminuddin Dagar; the junior Dagar brothers, Nasir Zahiruddin and Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar; and
WasifuddinFaiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar is an Indian classical singer of the dhrupad genre and the son of dhrupad singer Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar. Since the death of his father and later, his uncle, Wasifuddin has been singing solo. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2010....
, Fariduddin, and Sayeeduddin Dagar. Other leading exponents include the
Gundecha BrothersUmakant Gundecha and Ramakant Gundecha, known as the Gundecha Brothers, are leading Dagarvani dhrupad singers. They always sing together.-Early life and background:Gundecha Brothers were born in Ujjain into a Jain family....
, who have received training from some of the Dagars. Leading vocalists outside the Dagar lineage include the Mallik family of Darbhanga tradition of musicians; some of the leading exponents of this tradition were Ram Chatur Mallick, Siyaram Tiwari, and Vidur Mallick.
A section of dhrupad singers of
Delhi GharanaThe Delhi Gharana is the oldest of all tabla gharanas, and is also the first to establish improvisation rules. It was founded in North-East India, and is easily one of the most, if not the most, common Gharana used today.-History:...
from
MughalThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
emperor
Shah Jahan Shah Jahan Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) (Full title: His Imperial Majesty Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan...
’s court migrated to
BettiahBettiah is the headquarters of West Champaran district in the state of Bihar, near the Indo-Nepal border, 225 Kilometres north-west of Patna. Bettiah, pronounced as 'Betiya', derived its name from 'baint'...
under the patronage of the
Bettiah RajBettiah Rajs eighteen hundred square miles yielding a rental of almost 2 million rupees made it the second largest zamindari in Bihar belonging to a Bhumihar Brahmin family...
, giving rise to the Bettiah Gharana.
Bishnupur GharanaThe Bishnupur Gharana is a form of singing that follow the Dhrupad tradition of Hindustani music, one of the two Indian classical music forms. It originated in Bishnupur , West Bengal. The name of the town means "city of Vishnu" in Bengali...
, based in
West BengalWest Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, is a key school that has been propagating this style of singing since Mughal times.
Khyal
KhyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
is a Hindustani form of vocal music, adopted from medieval Persian music and based on
DhrupadDhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
. Khyal, literally meaning "thought" or "imagination" in Hindi-Urdu, is unusual as it is based on improvising and expressing emotion. A Khyal is a two- to eight-line lyric set to a melody. The lyric is of an emotional account possibly from poetic observation. Khyals are also popular for depicting the emotions between two lovers, situations of ethological significance in Hinduism and Islam, or other situations evoking intense feelings.
Th importance of the Khyal's content is for the singer to depict, through music in the set
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
, the emotional significance of the Khyal. The singer improvises and finds inspiration within the
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
to depict the Khyal.
The origination of Khyal is controversial, although it is accepted that this style was based on Dhrupad and influenced by Persian music. Many argue that Amir Khusrau created the style in the late 16th century. This form was popularized by Mughal Emperor Mohammad Shah, through his court musicians. Some well-known composers of this period were
SadarangSadarang was the pen name of the Hindustani musical composer and artist Niyamat Khan. Sadarang was active in the eighteenth century. He and his nephew Adarang changed the Khayal style of Hindustani music into the form performed today. He served in the court of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah...
, Adarang, and Manrang.
Tarana
Another vocal form, taranas are medium- to fast-paced songs that are used to convey a mood of elation and are usually performed towards the end of a concert. They consist of a few lines of poetry with soft syllables or
bolsA bol is a mnemonic syllable. It is used in Indian music to define the tala, or rhythmic pattern, and is one of the most important parts of Indian rhythm. Bol is derived from the Hindi word bolna, which means "to speak."...
set to a tune. The singer uses these few lines as a basis for fast improvisation. The tillana of Carnatic music is based on the tarana, although the former is primarily associated with dance.
Tappa
Tappa is a form of Indian semi-classical vocal music whose specialty is its rolling pace based on fast, subtle, knotty construction. It originated from the folk songs of the camel riders of Punjab and was developed as a form of classical music by
Mian Ghulam Nabi ShoriMian Ghulam Nabi Shori popularly known as Shori Mian was an Indian composer of Hindustani classical music. He was a court singer of Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, Nawab of Awadh. He composed tappa, one of the most difficult classical forms, in Punjab...
or Shori Mian, a court singer for
Asaf-Ud-DowlahAsaf-Ud-Daula was the nawab wazir of Oudh from 26 January 1775 to 21 September 1797, and the son of Shuja-ud-Dowlah, his mother and grandmother being the begums of Oudh, whose spoliation formed one of the chief counts in the charges against Warren Hastings.-Life:A contemporary chronicler describes...
, the
Nawab of AwadhThe Nawab of Awadh is the title of rulers who governed the state of Awadh in India in the 18th and 19th century. The Nawabs of Awadh originated form Persia-Establishment:...
. "Nidhubabur Tappa", or tappas sung by
Nidhu BabuRamnidhi Gupta , commonly known as Nidhu Babu, is one of the great reformers of Bengali tappā music.Nidhu Babu was born in Kumartuli in northern Calcutta, where he grew up learning Persian and some English...
were very popular in 18th and 19th-century Bengal. Among the living performers of this style are Laxmanrao Pandit, Shamma Khurana, Manvalkar,
Girija DeviGirija Devi is an Indian classical singer of the Banaras gharana. She performs classical and light classical music and has helped elevate the profile of thumri.-Early life:Girija Devi was born in Varanasi, India in 1929...
, Ishwarchandra Karkare, and Jayant Khot.
Thumri
ThumriThumri is a common genre of semi-classical Indian music.The text is romantic or devotional in nature, and usually revolves around a girl's love for Krishna. The lyrics are usually in Uttar Pradesh dialects of Hindi called Poorbi and Brij Bhasha...
is a semi-classical vocal form said to have begun in Uttar Pradesh with the court of
NawabA Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....
Wajid Ali ShahWajid Ali Shah was the fifth King of Oudh, holding the position from 13 February 1847 to 7 February 1856....
, (r. 1847–1856). There are three types of thumri: poorab ang, Lucknavi and Punjabi thumri. The lyrics are typically in a proto-Hindi language called
Brij BhashaBraj Bhasha , also called Brij Bhasha , Braj Bhakha , or Dehaati Zabaan , is a Central Indian language closely related to Hindi...
and are usually romantic.
Some recent performers of this genre are
Abdul Karim KhanUstad Abdul Karim Khan , was an Indian classical singer of the Kairana gharana .-Early life and background:...
, the brothers Barkat Ali Khan and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan,
Begum AkhtarAkhtari Bai Faizabadi or Begum Akhtar was a well known Indian singer of Ghazal, Dadra and Thumri.She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for vocal music, and was awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by Govt. of India...
,
Girija DeviGirija Devi is an Indian classical singer of the Banaras gharana. She performs classical and light classical music and has helped elevate the profile of thumri.-Early life:Girija Devi was born in Varanasi, India in 1929...
, Nazakat-Salamat Ali Khan,
Prabha Atre,
Siddheshwari DeviSiddheswari Devi was a Hindustani singer from Varanasi, India, known as Maa . Born in 1907, she lost her parents early and was brought up by her aunt, the noted singer Rajeshwari Devi.-Initiation into Music:...
, and
Shobha GurtuShobha Gurtu was an Indian singer in the light Hindustani classical style. Though she had equal command over pure classical style, it was with light classical music that she received her fame, and in time came to be known as the Thumri Queen, and for the ‘Abhinaya’ ang in her full-throated voice...
.
Ghazal
GhazalThe ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
is an originally Persian form of poetry. In the Indian sub-continent, Ghazal became the most common form of poetry in the Urdu language and was popularized by classical poets like
Mir Taqi MirKhuda-e-sukhan Mir Taqi Mir , whose real name was Muhammad Taqi and takhallus was Mir , was the leading Urdu poet of the 18th century, and one of the pioneers who gave shape to the Urdu language itself...
, Ghalib, Daagh, Zauq and
Saudais a municipality and industrial town in Rogaland county, Norway. It is part of the region of Ryfylke. Sauda was separated from Suldal in 1842...
amongst the North Indian literary elite. Vocal music set to this mode of poetry is popular with multiple variations across
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
,
AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
,
Central AsiaCentral Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
,
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
,
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
,
BangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. Ghazal exists in multiple variations, including semi-classical,
folkFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and
popPop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
forms.
Instrumental music
Although Hindustani music clearly is focused on the vocal performance, instrumental forms have existed since ancient times. In fact, in recent decades, especially outside South Asia, instrumental Hindustani music is more popular than vocal music, partly due to a somewhat different style and faster tempo, and partly because of a language barrier for the lyrics in vocal music.
A number of musical instruments are associated with Hindustani classical music. The
veenaVeena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...
, a string instrument, was traditionally regarded as the most important, but few play it today and it has largely been superseded by its cousins the
sitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
and the
sarodThe sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in the classical music of Hindustan...
, both of which owe their origin to Persian influences. Other plucked or struck string instruments include the
surbaharSurbahar , sometimes known as bass sitar, is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India. It is closely related to sitar, but it has a lower tone. Depending on the instrument's size, it is usually pitched two to five whole steps below the standard sitar, but...
,
sursringarThe sursingar , sursringar or surshringar is a musical instrument from India. It is a lute-derived Sarod, except it is larger in size and produces a deeper sound. It is a distant descendant of the Saraswati Veena...
,
santoorThe santoor is an ancient stringed musical instrument, native to Kashmir and Iran. It is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often made of walnut, with seventy two strings. The special-shaped mallets are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers...
, and various versions of the
slide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
. Among bowed instruments, the
sarangiThe Sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of India which is originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition...
,
esrajThe esraj is a string instrument found in two forms throughout the north, central, and east regions of India. It is a young instrument by Indian terms, being only about 200 years old. The dilruba is found in the north, where it is used in religious music and light classical songs in the urban areas...
and
violinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
are popular. The
bansuriThe bansuri is a transverse alto flute of Bangladesh, India and Nepal made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with six or seven finger holes. An ancient musical instrument associated with cowherds and the pastoral tradition, it is intimately linked to the love story of Krishna and Radha, and is...
,
shehnaiThe shehnai, shahnai, shenai or mangal vadya, is an aerophonic instrument, a double reed conical oboe, common in North India, West India and Pakistan, made out of wood, with a metal flare bell at the end...
and
harmoniumA harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
are important wind instruments. In the percussion ensemble, the
tablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
and the pakhavaj are the most popular. Various other instruments have also been used in varying degrees.
See also
- Arabic maqam
Arabic maqām is the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music, which is mainly melodic. The word maqam in Arabic means place, location or rank. The Arabic maqam is a melody type...
- Music of Pakistan
The music of Pakistan includes diverse elements ranging from music from various parts of South Asia as well as Central Asian, Persian, Turkish, Arabic and modern day Western popular music influences...
External links
Hindustani classical music is the
HindustanHindustan or Indostan, literal translation "Land of River Sindhu ", is one of the popular names of South Asia. It can also mean "the land of the Hindus"...
i or North Indian style of
Indian classical musicThe origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
found throughout the northern
Indian subcontinentThe Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
. The style is sometimes called
North Indian Classical Music or
Shāstriya Sangeet. It is a tradition that originated in
VedicVedic may refer to:* the Vedas, the oldest preserved Indic texts** Vedic Sanskrit, the language of these texts** Vedic period, during which these texts were produced** Vedic pantheon of gods mentioned in Vedas/vedic period...
ritual chants and has been evolving since the 12th century CE, primarily in what is now North India and
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, and to some extent in
BangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
,
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and
AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. Today, it is one of the two subgenres of
Indian classical musicThe origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
, the other being
Carnatic musicCarnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
, the classical tradition of
South IndiaSouth India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
.
Characteristics
The tradition was born out of a cultural synthesis of several musical traditions: the Vedic chant tradition, dating back to approximately one thousand BCE, the equally ancient Persian tradition of Musiqi-e assil, and various folk traditions prevalent in the region.
It is traditional for performers who have reached a distinguished level of achievement to be awarded titles of respect;
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s are usually referred to as
pandit and
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s as
ustadUstad is an Arabized Persian word is a honorific title for a Muslim man in South Asia. The title precedes the name and is usually used for well regarded teachers and artists, most often musicians. It is applied and used via informal social agreement. It is abbreviated as ut. or ud.-References:*...
. An aspect of Hindustani music going back to Sufi times is the tradition of religious neutrality: Muslim ustads may sing compositions in praise of Hindu deities, and vice versa.
Around the 12th century, Hindustani classical music diverged from what eventually came to be identified as Carnatic classical music. The central notions in both these systems is that of a melodic
modeIn the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
or
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
, sung to a rhythmic cycle or
talaTāla, Taal or Tal is the term used in Indian classical music for the rhythmic pattern of any composition and for the entire subject of rhythm, roughly corresponding to metre in Western music, though closer conceptual equivalents are to be found in other Asian classical systems such as the notion...
. The tradition dates back to the ancient
SamavedaThe Sama veda , is second of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. Its earliest parts are believed to date from 1700 BC and it ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rigveda...
, (
sāma meaning "ritual chant"), which deals with the norms for chanting of
sruti' , often spelled shruti or shruthi, is a term that describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism and is one of the three main sources of dharma and therefore is also influential within Hindu Law...
s or hymns such as the
Rig Veda. These principles were refined in the musical treatises
Natya ShastraThe Natya Shastra is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, encompassing theatre, dance and music. It was written during the period between 200 BC and 200 AD in classical India and is traditionally attributed to the Sage Bharata.The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in its scope...
, by
BharataBharata was an ancient Indian musicologist who authored the Natya Shastra, a theoretical treatise on ancient Indian dramaturgy and histrionics, dated to between roughly 400 BC and 200 BC. Indian dance and music find their root in the Natyashastra...
(2nd–3d century CE), and
DattilamDattilam is an ancient Indian musical text ascribed to the sage Dattila. It is believed to have been composed shortly after the Natya Shastra of Bharata, and is dated between the 1st and 4th c. AD....
(probably 3rd–4th century CE).
In medieval times, the melodic systems were fused with ideas from Persian music, particularly through the influence of Sufi composers like
Amir KhusroAb'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow , better known as Amīr Khusrow Dehlawī , was an Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent...
, and later in the Moghul courts. Noted composers such as
TansenMia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...
flourished, along with religious groups like the Vaishnavites. After the 16th century, the singing styles diversified into different
gharanaIn Hindustani music, a gharānā is a system of social organization linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and by adherence to a particular musical style. A gharana also indicates a comprehensive musicological ideology. This ideology sometimes changes substantially from one...
s patronized in different princely courts. Around 1900,
Vishnu Narayan BhatkhandePandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was an Indian musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani Classical Music , an art which had been propagated earlier for a few centuries mostly through oral traditions...
consolidated the musical structures of Hindustani classical music, called
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s, into a number of
thaatA thāt is a mode in northern Indian or Hindustani music. Thāts always have seven different pitches and are a basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music.- System :...
s. Indian classical music has seven basic notes with five interspersed half-notes, resulting in a 12-note scale. Unlike the 12-note scale in Western music, the base frequency of the scale is not fixed, and intertonal gaps (
temperamentIn music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
) may also vary; however, with the gradual replacement of the
sarangiThe Sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of India which is originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition...
by the
harmoniumA harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
, an equal tempered scale is increasingly used. The performance is set to a melodic pattern called a
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
characterized in part by specific ascent (aroha) and descent (avaroha) sequences, which may not be identical. Other characteristics include "king" (
vadiVadi, in both Hindustani classical music and Carnatic music, is the dominant swara of a given raga . "Vadi is the most sonant or most important note of a Raga." It does not refer to the most played note but it rather refers to a note of special significance.It is usually the swara which is...
) and "queen" (
samavadiIn Indian classical music, the second-most prominent note of a raga is referred as samvadi. This could be misleading, as it may not necessarily refer to the second-most played note....
) notes and characteristic phrases (
pakadIn Hindustani music, a pakad is a generally-accepted musical phrase thought to encapsulate the essence of a particular raga. The pakad contains the melodic theme of the raga, on listening to the pakad a person who knows the raga is usually able to identify it...
). In addition each raga has its natural register (ambit) and
glissandoIn music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento...
(
meendIn Hindustani music, meend refers to a glide from one note to another. It is an essential performance practice, and is used often in vocal and instrumental music. On the veena, sitar, and other plucked stringed instruments, it is usually done by pushing the strings across the frets to vary their...
) rules. Performances are usually marked by considerable improvisation within these norms.
History
MusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
was first formalized in India in connection with preserving the
sruti' , often spelled shruti or shruthi, is a term that describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism and is one of the three main sources of dharma and therefore is also influential within Hindu Law...
texts, primarily the four vedas, which are seen as
apaurasheya (meaning "not created by man"). Not only was the text important, but also the manner in which they had been enunciated by the immortals. Prosody and chanting were thus of great importance, and were enshrined in the two
vedangaThe Vedanga are six auxiliary disciplines traditionally associated with the study and understanding of the Vedas.#Shiksha : phonetics, phonology and morphophonology #Kalpa : ritual#Vyakarana : grammar...
s (bodies of knowledge) called
shikshaShiksha is one of the six Vedangas, treating the traditional Hindu science of phonetics and phonology of Sanskrit.Its aim is the teaching of the correct pronunciation of the Vedic hymns and mantras...
(pronunciation, chants) and chhandas (prosody); these remained a key part of the brahmanic educational system till modern times.
The formal aspects of the chant are delineated in the
SamavedaThe Sama veda , is second of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. Its earliest parts are believed to date from 1700 BC and it ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rigveda...
, with certain aspects, e.g. the relation of chanting to meditation, elaborated in the
Chandogya UpanishadThe Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" Upanishads. Together with the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it ranks among the oldest Upanishads, dating to the Vedic Brahmana period....
(ca. 8th century BC). Priests involved in these ritual chants were called
samans and a number of ancient musical instruments such as the
conchA conch is a common name which is applied to a number of different species of medium-sized to large sea snails or their shells, generally those which are large and have a high spire and a siphonal canal....
(shankh), lute (
veenaVeena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...
), flute (
bansuriThe bansuri is a transverse alto flute of Bangladesh, India and Nepal made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with six or seven finger holes. An ancient musical instrument associated with cowherds and the pastoral tradition, it is intimately linked to the love story of Krishna and Radha, and is...
), trumpets and horns were associated with this and later practices of ritual singing.
Sanskritic tradition
The
SamavedaThe Sama veda , is second of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. Its earliest parts are believed to date from 1700 BC and it ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rigveda...
outlined the ritual chants for singing the verses of the Rigveda, particularly for offerings of
SomaSoma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...
. It proposed a tonal structure consisting of seven notes, which were named, in descending order,
krusht,
pratham,
dwitiya,
tritiya,
chaturth,
mandra and
atiswār. These refer to the notes of a flute, which was the only fixed-frequency instrument. This is why the second note is called
pratham (meaning "first", i.e., produced when only the first hole is closed).
Music is dealt with extensively in the Valmiki
RamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
.
NaradaNarada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Vaisnava tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana...
is an accomplished musician, as is
Ravana' is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu legend, the Ramayana; who is the great king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister...
;
SaraswatiIn Hinduism Saraswati , is the goddess of knowledge, music, arts, science and technology. She is the consort of Brahma, also revered as His Shakti....
with her
veenaVeena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...
is the goddess of music.
GandharvaGandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...
s are presented as spirits who are musical masters, and the gandharva style looks to music primarily for pleasure, accompanied by the
somaSoma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...
rasa. In the
Vishnudharmottara PuranaThe Vishnudharmottara Purana is a Hindu text, encyclopedic in nature. Along with the narratives, it also deals with cosmology, cosmogony, geography, astronomy, astrology, division of time, pacification of unfavourbale planets and stars, genealogies , manners and customs, penances, duties of...
, the Naga king Ashvatara asks to know the svaras from Saraswati.
The most important text on music in the ancient canon is
BharataBharata was an ancient Indian musicologist who authored the Natya Shastra, a theoretical treatise on ancient Indian dramaturgy and histrionics, dated to between roughly 400 BC and 200 BC. Indian dance and music find their root in the Natyashastra...
's
Natya ShastraThe Natya Shastra is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, encompassing theatre, dance and music. It was written during the period between 200 BC and 200 AD in classical India and is traditionally attributed to the Sage Bharata.The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in its scope...
, composed around the 3rd century CE. The
Natya Shastra deals with the different modes of music, dance, and drama, and also the emotional responses (rasa) they are expected to evoke. The scale is described in terms of 22 micro-tones, which can be combined in clusters of four, three, or two to form an octave.
While the term
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
is articulated in the
Natya Shastra (where its meaning is more literal, meaning "colour" or "mood"), it finds a clearer expression in what is called
jati in the
DattilamDattilam is an ancient Indian musical text ascribed to the sage Dattila. It is believed to have been composed shortly after the Natya Shastra of Bharata, and is dated between the 1st and 4th c. AD....
, a text composed shortly after or around the same time as
Natya Shastra. The Dattilam is focused on gandharva music and discusses scales (
swaraThe seven notes of the scale , in Indian music are named shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad, and are shortened to Sa, Ri or Re , Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni and written S, R, G, M, P, D, N. Collectively these notes are known as the sargam...
), defining a tonal framework called
grama in terms of 22 micro-tonal intervals (
sruti) comprising one octave. It also discusses various arrangements of the notes (
murchhana), the permutations and combinations of note-sequences (
tanas), and
alankara or elaboration. Dattilam categorizes melodic structure into 18 groups called
jati, which are the fundamental melodic structures similar to the
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
. The names of the jatis reflect regional origins, for example
andhri and
oudichya.
Music also finds mention in a number of texts from the Gupta period;
KalidasaKālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
mentions several kinds of veena (Parivadini, Vipanchi), as well as percussion instruments (mridang), the flute (vamshi) and conch (shankha). Music also finds mention in
BuddhistBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Jain texts from the earliest periods of the Christian era.
NaradaNarada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Vaisnava tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana...
's
Sangita MakarandhaSangit Makarand is an ancient work on classical music written by Narada. This work is a rare collection of definitions, descriptions and comments on al the essentials music by other ancient reputed authors from Bharata to Sharangdeva...
treatise, from about 1100 CE, is the earliest text where rules similar to those of current Hindustani classical music can be found. Narada actually names and classifies the system in its earlier form before the Persian influences introduced changes in the system.
JayadevaJayadeva was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the...
's
Gita GovindaThe Gita Govinda is a work composed by the 12th-century poet, Jayadeva, who was born in Kenduli Sasan near Puri in Orissa. It describes the relationship between Krishna and the gopis of Vrindavana, and in particular one gopi named Radha...
from the 12th century was perhaps the earliest musical composition sung in the classical tradition called
AshtapadiThe Ashtāpada is an Indian board game which was used in earlier versions of chess. Chaturanga appeared sometime around the 6th century in India. It could be played by two to four participants and data used to determine the amount of houses to be moved...
music.
In the 13th century, Sharngadeva composed the
Sangita Ratnakara, which has names such as the
turushka todi ("Turkish todi"), revealing an influx of ideas from Islamic culture. This text is the last to be mentioned by both the Carnatic and the Hindustani traditions and is often thought to date the divergence between the two.
Medieval period: Persian influence
The advent of Islamic rule under the
Delhi SultanateThe Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
and later the
Mughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
over northern India caused considerable cultural interchange. Increasingly, musicians received patronage in the courts of the new rulers, who in their turn, started taking increasing interest in local music forms. While the initial generations may have been rooted in cultural traditions outside India, they gradually adopted many aspects from their kingdoms which retained the traditional
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
culture. This helped spur the fusion of Hindu and Muslim ideas to bring forth new forms of musical synthesis like
qawwaliQawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other parts of northern India...
and
khyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
.
The most influential musician of the
Delhi SultanateThe Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
period was Amir Khusrau (1253–1325), sometimes called the father of modern Hindustani classical music. A composer in
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
,
TurkishTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, Arabic, as well as Braj Bhasha, he is credited with systematizing many aspects of Hindustani music, and also introducing several ragas such as Yaman Kalyan,
ZeelafZeelaf is a raga in Hindustani classical music. It is a pentatonic melody is composed of the following swaras: S G M P d. It is performed very rarely.-History:...
and
SarpadaSarpada is a raga in Hindustani classical music. It is a Bhilawal raga sung in the morning.-History:Amir Khusrau, the father of modern Hindustani music, is said to have created about twelve new melodies, among which is Sarpada....
. He created the
qawwaliQawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other parts of northern India...
genre, which fuses Persian melody and beat on a dhrupad like structure. A number of instruments (such as the
sitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
and
tablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
) were also introduced in his time.
Amir Khusrau is sometimes credited with the origins of the
khyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
form, but the record of his compositions do not appear to support this. The compositions by the court musician
SadarangSadarang was the pen name of the Hindustani musical composer and artist Niyamat Khan. Sadarang was active in the eighteenth century. He and his nephew Adarang changed the Khayal style of Hindustani music into the form performed today. He served in the court of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah...
in the court of
Muhammad ShahMuhammad Shah also known as Roshan Akhtar, was a Mughal emperor of India between 1719 and 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar Jahan Shah, the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I. Ascending the throne at 17 with the help of the Sayyid Brothers, he later got rid of them with the help of Nizam-ul-Mulk Chin...
bear a closer affinity to the modern khyal. They suggest that while khyal already existed in some form, Sadarang may have been the father of modern khyal.
Much of the musical forms innovated by these pioneers merged with the Hindu tradition, composed in the popular language of the people (as opposed to Sanskrit) in the work of composers like
KabirKabīr was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement...
or Nanak. This can be seen as part of a larger
BhaktiIn Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
tradition, (strongly related to the Vaishnavite movement) which remained influential across several centuries; notable figures include
JayadevaJayadeva was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the...
(11th century),
VidyapatiVidyapati Thakur , also known by the sobriquet Maithil Kavi Kokil was a Maithili poet and a Sanskrit writer. He was born in the village of Bishphi in Madhubani district of Bihar state, India. He was son of Ganapati...
(fl. 1375 CE),
ChandidasChandidas refers to medieval poet of Bengal. Over 1250 poems related to the love of Radha and Krishna in Bengali with the bhanita of Chandidas are found with three different sobriquets along with his name, , Dvija and Dina as well as without any sobriquet also...
(14th–15th century), and Meerabai (1555–1603 CE).
As the Mughal Empire came into closer contact with Hindus, especially under Jalal ud-Din Akbar, music and dance also flourished. In particular, the musician
TansenMia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...
introduced a number of innovations, including ragas and particular compositions. Legend has it that upon his rendition of a night-time raga in the morning, the entire city fell under a hush and clouds gathered in the sky, and that he could light fires by singing the raga "Deepak", which is supposed to be composed of notes in high octaves.
At the royal house of
Gwalior, Raja Mansingh Tomar (1486–1516 CE) also participated in the shift from Sanskrit to the local idiom (
HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
) as the language for classical songs. He himself penned several volumes of compositions on religious and secular themes, and was also responsible for the major compilation, the
Mankutuhal ("Book of Curiosity"), which outlined the major forms of music prevalent at the time. In particular, the musical form known as
dhrupadDhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
saw considerable development in his court and remained a strong point of the Gwalior gharana for many centuries.
After the dissolution of the Mughal empire, the patronage of music continued in smaller princely kingdoms like
LucknowLucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
,
Patiala, and Banaras, giving rise to the diversity of styles that is today known as
gharanaIn Hindustani music, a gharānā is a system of social organization linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and by adherence to a particular musical style. A gharana also indicates a comprehensive musicological ideology. This ideology sometimes changes substantially from one...
s. Many musician families obtained large grants of land which made them self sufficient, at least for a few generations (e.g. the Sham Chaurasia gharana). Meanwhile the
BhaktiIn Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
and Sufi traditions continued to develop and interact with the different gharanas and groups.
Modern era
Until the late 19th century, Hindustani classical music was imparted on a one-on-one basis through the guru-shishya ("mentor-protégé") tradition. This system had many benefits, but also several drawbacks; in many cases, the shishya had to spend most of his time serving his guru with a hope that the guru might teach him a "cheez" (piece or nuance) or two. In addition, the system forced the music to be limited to a small subsection of the Indian community. To a large extent it was limited to the palaces and dance halls. It was shunned by the intellectuals, avoided by the educated middle class, and in general looked down upon as a frivolous practice.
Then a fortunate turn of events started the renaissance of Hindustani classical music.
First, as the power of the maharajahs and
nawabA Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....
s declined in early 20th century, so did their patronage. With the expulsion of
Wajid Ali ShahWajid Ali Shah was the fifth King of Oudh, holding the position from 13 February 1847 to 7 February 1856....
to Calcutta after 1857, the Lucknavi musical tradition came to influence the music of renaissance in
BengalBengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, giving rise to the tradition of
Ragpradhan gan around the turn of the century.
Also, at the turn of the century, two great stars emerged on the horizon:
Vishnu Digambar PaluskarPandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar was a Hindustani musician. He sung the original version of the bhajan Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram.-Early life and background:...
and
Vishnu Narayan BhatkhandePandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was an Indian musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani Classical Music , an art which had been propagated earlier for a few centuries mostly through oral traditions...
. Independent of each other, they spread Hindustani classical music to the masses in general, and the
MarathiThe Marathi people or Maharashtrians are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages...
middle class in particular. These two gentlemen brought classical music to the masses by organizing music conferences, starting schools, teaching music in class-rooms, and devising a standardized grading and testing system, and by standardizing the notation system.
Vishnu Digambar PaluskarPandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar was a Hindustani musician. He sung the original version of the bhajan Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram.-Early life and background:...
emerged as a talented musician and organizer despite having been blinded at age 12. His books on music, as well as the
Gandharva MahavidyalayaGandharva Mahavidyalaya is an institution established in 1939 to popularize Indian classical music and dance.The Mahavidyalaya came into being to perpetuate the memory of Pandit Vishnu Digamber Paluskar, the great reviver of Hindustani classical music, and to keep up the ideals set down by him....
music school that he opened in
LahoreLahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
in 1901, helped foster a movement away from the closed gharana system.
Paluskar's contemporary (and occasional rival)
Vishnu Narayan BhatkhandePandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was an Indian musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani Classical Music , an art which had been propagated earlier for a few centuries mostly through oral traditions...
recognized the many rifts that had appeared in the structure of Indian classical music. He undertook extensive research visits to a large number of gharanas, Hindustani as well as Carnatic, collecting and comparing compositions. Between 1909 and 1932, he produced the monumental four-volume work
Hindustani Sangeetha Padhathi, which suggested a transcription for Indian music, and described the many traditions in this notation. Finally, it consolidated the many musical forms of Hindustani classical music into a number of
thaatA thāt is a mode in northern Indian or Hindustani music. Thāts always have seven different pitches and are a basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music.- System :...
s (modes), subsequent to the
MelakartaMelakarta is a collection of fundamental ragas in Carnatic music . Melakarta ragas are parent ragas from which other ragas may be generated. A melakarta raga is sometimes referred as mela, karta or sampurna as well.In Hindustani music the thaat is equivalent of Melakarta...
system that reorganized Carnatic tradition in the 17th century. The ragas as they exist today were consolidated in this landmark work, although there are some inconsistencies and ambiguities in Bhatkande's system.
In modern times, the government-run
All India RadioAll India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
,
Bangladesh BetarBangladesh Betar is the state-owned radio broadcasting organisation of Bangladesh. It was also known as Radio Bangladesh between 1975 and 1996.-History:...
and Radio Pakistan helped to bring the artists to public attention, countering the loss of the patronage system. The first star was Gauhar Jan, whose career was born out of
Fred GaisbergFrederick William Gaisberg was an American-born musician, recording engineer and one of the earliest classical music producers for the gramophone. He himself did not use the term 'producer' and was not an impresario like his protégé Walter Legge of EMI or an innovator like John Culshaw of Decca...
's first recordings of Indian music in 1902. With the advance of films and other public media, musicians started to make their living through public performances. As India was exposed to Western music, some Western melodies started merging with classical forms, especially in popular music. A number of
GurukulA gurukul is a type of school in India, residential in nature, with shishyas living in proximity to the guru, often within the same house...
s, such as that of Alauddin Khan at
MaiharMaihar is a city and a municipality in Satna district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Maihar is known for the temple of revered mother goddess Sharda situated on Trikuta hill of Maihar.- Origin :...
, flourished. In more modern times, corporate support has also been forthcoming, as at the
ITC Sangeet Research AcademyITC Sangeet Research Academy is a Hindustani classical music academy run by the corporate house, ITC Ltd.. It is located in Kolkata, India. Noted musicians associated with the academy include Ulhas Kashalkar...
. Meanwhile, Hindustani classical music has become popular across the world through the influence of artists such as
Ravi ShankarRavi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
and
Ali Akbar KhanAli Akbar Khan , often referred to as Khansahib or by the title Ustad , was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod...
.
Principles of Hindustani music
The rhythmic organization is based on rhythmic patterns called
talaTāla, Taal or Tal is the term used in Indian classical music for the rhythmic pattern of any composition and for the entire subject of rhythm, roughly corresponding to metre in Western music, though closer conceptual equivalents are to be found in other Asian classical systems such as the notion...
. The melodic foundations are called ragas. One possible classification of ragas is into "melodic modes" or "parent scales", known as
thaatA thāt is a mode in northern Indian or Hindustani music. Thāts always have seven different pitches and are a basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music.- System :...
s, under which most
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s can be classified based on the notes they use.
Thaats may consist of up to seven scale degrees, or
swaraThe seven notes of the scale , in Indian music are named shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad, and are shortened to Sa, Ri or Re , Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni and written S, R, G, M, P, D, N. Collectively these notes are known as the sargam...
. Hindustani musicians name these pitches using a system called Sargam, the equivalent of the Western movable do
solfegeIn music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
:
- Sa (Shadaj) = Do
- Re (Rishab) = Re
- Ga (Gandhar) = Mi
- Ma (Madhyam) = Fa
- Pa (Pancham) = So
- Dha (Dhaivat) = La
- Ni (Nishad) = Ti
- Sa (Shadaj) = Do
Both systems repeat at the octave. The difference between sargam and solfege is that re, ga, ma, dha, and ni can refer to either "Natural" (
shuddha) or altered "Flat" (
komal) or "Sharp" (
tivra) versions of their respective scale degrees. As with movable do solfege, the notes are heard relative to an arbitrary tonic that varies from performance to performance, rather than to fixed frequencies, as on a xylophone. The fine intonational differences between different instances of the same swara are called
srutisThe shruti is a Sanskrit term used in several contexts throughout the history of the Indian music. A shruti is the smallest interval of pitch the ear can detect.-Contexts:...
. The three primary registers of Indian classical music are mandra (lower), madhya (middle) and taar (upper). Since the octave location is not fixed, it is also possible to use provenances in mid-register (such as mandra-madhya or madhya-taar) for certain ragas. A typical rendition of Hindustani raga involves two stages:
- Alap: a rhythmically free improvisation on the rules for the raga in order to give life to the raga and flesh out its characteristics. The alap is followed by a long slow-tempo improvisation in vocal music, or by the jod and jhala in instrumental music.
- Bandish
Bandish, Cheez or Gat is a fixed, melodic composition in Hindustani vocal or instrumental music. It is set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tabla or pakhavaj, a steady drone, and melodic accompaniment by a sarangi, violin or harmonium. There are different ways of...
or GatBandish, Cheez or Gat is a fixed, melodic composition in Hindustani vocal or instrumental music. It is set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tabla or pakhavaj, a steady drone, and melodic accompaniment by a sarangi, violin or harmonium. There are different ways of...
: a fixed, melodic composition set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
or pakhavaj. There are different ways of systematizing the parts of a composition. For example:
- Sthaayi
Sthayi or Asthaayi is an initial phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition in Hindustani music. Its a way of systematizing the parts of a composition....
: The initial, rondoRondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form...
phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition.
- Antara: The first body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition.
- Sanchaari: The third body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition, seen more typically in dhrupad bandishes
Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
- Aabhog: The fourth and concluding body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition, seen more typically in Dhrupad bandishes
Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
.
- There are three variations of bandish, regarding tempo:
- Vilambit
Vilambit is an introductory slow tempo, or laya, between 10 and 40 beats per minute, used in the performance of a raga in Hindustani classical music. For major ragas, the vilambit portion generally takes up two-thirds or more of the performance, and is followed by a short drut to conclude the...
bandish: A slow and steady melodic composition, usually in largo to adagio speeds.
- Madhyalaya bandish: A medium tempo melodic competition, usually set in andante to allegretto speeds.
- Drut
Drut is the concluding section, in fast tempo , between 160 and 320 beats per minute, of the performance of a vocal raga in Hindustani classical music.-See also:*Khyal*Vilambit*Madhyalaya...
bandish: A fast tempo melodic composition, usually set to allegretto speed or faster.
Hindustani classical music is primarily vocal-centric, insofar as the musical forms were designed primarily for vocal performance, and many instruments were designed and evaluated as to how well they emulate the human voice.
Types of compositions
The major vocal forms or styles associated with Hindustani classical music are
dhrupadDhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
,
khyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
, and
taranaTarana is a type of composition in Hindustani classical vocal music in which certain words and syllables based on Persian and Arabic phenomes are used in a medium-paced or fast rendition...
. Other forms include
dhamarA dhrupad set to the 14-beat time signature dhamar tal is called a dhamar. It is seen as a light musical form, and associated with the Holi Spring Festival of colours....
, trivat, chaiti,
kajariKajari , derived from the Hindi word Kajra, or Kohl, is a genre of semi-classical singing, popular in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar . It is often used to describe the longing of a maiden for her lover as the black monsoon cloud come hanging in the summer skies, and the style is notably sung during the...
, tappa, tap-khyal,
ashtapadisAshtapadis or Ashtapadi are Indian hymns where the music has eight lines within each composition. Each ashtapadi song is set in a special raga and tala. It is a rhyme of eternal love and supreme devotion...
,
thumriThumri is a common genre of semi-classical Indian music.The text is romantic or devotional in nature, and usually revolves around a girl's love for Krishna. The lyrics are usually in Uttar Pradesh dialects of Hindi called Poorbi and Brij Bhasha...
,
dadraDadra refers to two separate but originally linked concepts in Hindustani classical music.-Dadra tala:This is a Hindustani classical tala , consisting of six beats in two equal divisions of three. The most commonly accepted theka or basic pattern for this tala is dha dhi na, dha tu na...
,
ghazalThe ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
and
bhajanA Bhajan is any type of Indian devotional song. It has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan or as sophisticated as the dhrupad or kriti with music based on classical ragas and talas. It is normally lyrical, expressing love for the Divine...
; these are folk or semi-classical or light classical styles, as they often do not adhere to the rigorous rules of classical music.
Dhrupad
Dhrupad is an old style of singing, traditionally performed by male singers. It is performed with a
tamburaThe tambura, tanpura, or tambora is a long-necked plucked lute . The body shape of the tambura somewhat resembles that of the sitar, but it has no frets – only the open strings are played to accompany other musicians...
and a
pakhawajThe pakhavaj, pakhawaj, pakuaj, pakhvaj or pakavaj is an Indian barrel-shaped, two-headed drum, the North Indian equivalent to the Southern mridangam....
as instrumental accompaniments. The lyrics, some of which were written in Sanskrit centuries ago, are presently often sung in brajbhasha, a medieval form of North and East Indian languages that was spoken in Eastern India. The
rudra veenaSee also veenaThe rudra veena is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani classical music. It is an ancient instrument rarely played today...
, an ancient string instrument, is used in instrumental music in dhrupad.
Dhrupad music is primarily devotional in theme and content. It contains recitals in praise of particular deities. Dhrupad compositions begin with a relatively long and acyclic alap, where the syllables of the following mantra is recited:
"Om Anant tam Taran Tarini Twam Hari Om Narayan, Anant Hari Om Narayan".
The alap gradually unfolds into more rhythmic jod and jhala sections. These sections are followed by a rendition of bandish, with the pakhawaj as an accompaniment. The great Indian musician
TansenMia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...
sang in the dhrupad style. A lighter form of dhrupad, called
dhamarA dhrupad set to the 14-beat time signature dhamar tal is called a dhamar. It is seen as a light musical form, and associated with the Holi Spring Festival of colours....
, is sung primarily during the festival of
HoliHoli , is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus. Holi is also known as festival of Colours. It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and countries with large Indic diaspora populations following Hinduism, such as Suriname, Malaysia, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, United...
.
Dhrupad was the main form of northern Indian classical music until two centuries ago, when it gave way to the somewhat less austere khyal, a more free-form style of singing. Since losing its main patrons among the royalty in Indian princely states, dhrupad risked becoming extinct in the first half of the twentieth century. However, the efforts by a few proponents from the Dagar family have led to its revival and eventual popularization in India and in the West.
Some of the best known vocalists who sing in the Dhrupad style are the members of the Dagar lineage, including the senior Dagar brothers, Nasir Moinuddin and Nasir Aminuddin Dagar; the junior Dagar brothers, Nasir Zahiruddin and Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar; and
WasifuddinFaiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar is an Indian classical singer of the dhrupad genre and the son of dhrupad singer Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar. Since the death of his father and later, his uncle, Wasifuddin has been singing solo. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2010....
, Fariduddin, and Sayeeduddin Dagar. Other leading exponents include the
Gundecha BrothersUmakant Gundecha and Ramakant Gundecha, known as the Gundecha Brothers, are leading Dagarvani dhrupad singers. They always sing together.-Early life and background:Gundecha Brothers were born in Ujjain into a Jain family....
, who have received training from some of the Dagars. Leading vocalists outside the Dagar lineage include the Mallik family of Darbhanga tradition of musicians; some of the leading exponents of this tradition were Ram Chatur Mallick, Siyaram Tiwari, and Vidur Mallick.
A section of dhrupad singers of
Delhi GharanaThe Delhi Gharana is the oldest of all tabla gharanas, and is also the first to establish improvisation rules. It was founded in North-East India, and is easily one of the most, if not the most, common Gharana used today.-History:...
from
MughalThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
emperor
Shah Jahan Shah Jahan Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) (Full title: His Imperial Majesty Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan...
’s court migrated to
BettiahBettiah is the headquarters of West Champaran district in the state of Bihar, near the Indo-Nepal border, 225 Kilometres north-west of Patna. Bettiah, pronounced as 'Betiya', derived its name from 'baint'...
under the patronage of the
Bettiah RajBettiah Rajs eighteen hundred square miles yielding a rental of almost 2 million rupees made it the second largest zamindari in Bihar belonging to a Bhumihar Brahmin family...
, giving rise to the Bettiah Gharana.
Bishnupur GharanaThe Bishnupur Gharana is a form of singing that follow the Dhrupad tradition of Hindustani music, one of the two Indian classical music forms. It originated in Bishnupur , West Bengal. The name of the town means "city of Vishnu" in Bengali...
, based in
West BengalWest Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, is a key school that has been propagating this style of singing since Mughal times.
Khyal
KhyalKhyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
is a Hindustani form of vocal music, adopted from medieval Persian music and based on
DhrupadDhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
. Khyal, literally meaning "thought" or "imagination" in Hindi-Urdu, is unusual as it is based on improvising and expressing emotion. A Khyal is a two- to eight-line lyric set to a melody. The lyric is of an emotional account possibly from poetic observation. Khyals are also popular for depicting the emotions between two lovers, situations of ethological significance in Hinduism and Islam, or other situations evoking intense feelings.
Th importance of the Khyal's content is for the singer to depict, through music in the set
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
, the emotional significance of the Khyal. The singer improvises and finds inspiration within the
ragaA raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
to depict the Khyal.
The origination of Khyal is controversial, although it is accepted that this style was based on Dhrupad and influenced by Persian music. Many argue that Amir Khusrau created the style in the late 16th century. This form was popularized by Mughal Emperor Mohammad Shah, through his court musicians. Some well-known composers of this period were
SadarangSadarang was the pen name of the Hindustani musical composer and artist Niyamat Khan. Sadarang was active in the eighteenth century. He and his nephew Adarang changed the Khayal style of Hindustani music into the form performed today. He served in the court of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah...
, Adarang, and Manrang.
Tarana
Another vocal form, taranas are medium- to fast-paced songs that are used to convey a mood of elation and are usually performed towards the end of a concert. They consist of a few lines of poetry with soft syllables or
bolsA bol is a mnemonic syllable. It is used in Indian music to define the tala, or rhythmic pattern, and is one of the most important parts of Indian rhythm. Bol is derived from the Hindi word bolna, which means "to speak."...
set to a tune. The singer uses these few lines as a basis for fast improvisation. The tillana of Carnatic music is based on the tarana, although the former is primarily associated with dance.
Tappa
Tappa is a form of Indian semi-classical vocal music whose specialty is its rolling pace based on fast, subtle, knotty construction. It originated from the folk songs of the camel riders of Punjab and was developed as a form of classical music by
Mian Ghulam Nabi ShoriMian Ghulam Nabi Shori popularly known as Shori Mian was an Indian composer of Hindustani classical music. He was a court singer of Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, Nawab of Awadh. He composed tappa, one of the most difficult classical forms, in Punjab...
or Shori Mian, a court singer for
Asaf-Ud-DowlahAsaf-Ud-Daula was the nawab wazir of Oudh from 26 January 1775 to 21 September 1797, and the son of Shuja-ud-Dowlah, his mother and grandmother being the begums of Oudh, whose spoliation formed one of the chief counts in the charges against Warren Hastings.-Life:A contemporary chronicler describes...
, the
Nawab of AwadhThe Nawab of Awadh is the title of rulers who governed the state of Awadh in India in the 18th and 19th century. The Nawabs of Awadh originated form Persia-Establishment:...
. "Nidhubabur Tappa", or tappas sung by
Nidhu BabuRamnidhi Gupta , commonly known as Nidhu Babu, is one of the great reformers of Bengali tappā music.Nidhu Babu was born in Kumartuli in northern Calcutta, where he grew up learning Persian and some English...
were very popular in 18th and 19th-century Bengal. Among the living performers of this style are Laxmanrao Pandit, Shamma Khurana, Manvalkar,
Girija DeviGirija Devi is an Indian classical singer of the Banaras gharana. She performs classical and light classical music and has helped elevate the profile of thumri.-Early life:Girija Devi was born in Varanasi, India in 1929...
, Ishwarchandra Karkare, and Jayant Khot.
Thumri
ThumriThumri is a common genre of semi-classical Indian music.The text is romantic or devotional in nature, and usually revolves around a girl's love for Krishna. The lyrics are usually in Uttar Pradesh dialects of Hindi called Poorbi and Brij Bhasha...
is a semi-classical vocal form said to have begun in Uttar Pradesh with the court of
NawabA Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....
Wajid Ali ShahWajid Ali Shah was the fifth King of Oudh, holding the position from 13 February 1847 to 7 February 1856....
, (r. 1847–1856). There are three types of thumri: poorab ang, Lucknavi and Punjabi thumri. The lyrics are typically in a proto-Hindi language called
Brij BhashaBraj Bhasha , also called Brij Bhasha , Braj Bhakha , or Dehaati Zabaan , is a Central Indian language closely related to Hindi...
and are usually romantic.
Some recent performers of this genre are
Abdul Karim KhanUstad Abdul Karim Khan , was an Indian classical singer of the Kairana gharana .-Early life and background:...
, the brothers Barkat Ali Khan and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan,
Begum AkhtarAkhtari Bai Faizabadi or Begum Akhtar was a well known Indian singer of Ghazal, Dadra and Thumri.She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for vocal music, and was awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by Govt. of India...
,
Girija DeviGirija Devi is an Indian classical singer of the Banaras gharana. She performs classical and light classical music and has helped elevate the profile of thumri.-Early life:Girija Devi was born in Varanasi, India in 1929...
, Nazakat-Salamat Ali Khan,
Prabha Atre,
Siddheshwari DeviSiddheswari Devi was a Hindustani singer from Varanasi, India, known as Maa . Born in 1907, she lost her parents early and was brought up by her aunt, the noted singer Rajeshwari Devi.-Initiation into Music:...
, and
Shobha GurtuShobha Gurtu was an Indian singer in the light Hindustani classical style. Though she had equal command over pure classical style, it was with light classical music that she received her fame, and in time came to be known as the Thumri Queen, and for the ‘Abhinaya’ ang in her full-throated voice...
.
Ghazal
GhazalThe ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
is an originally Persian form of poetry. In the Indian sub-continent, Ghazal became the most common form of poetry in the Urdu language and was popularized by classical poets like
Mir Taqi MirKhuda-e-sukhan Mir Taqi Mir , whose real name was Muhammad Taqi and takhallus was Mir , was the leading Urdu poet of the 18th century, and one of the pioneers who gave shape to the Urdu language itself...
, Ghalib, Daagh, Zauq and
Saudais a municipality and industrial town in Rogaland county, Norway. It is part of the region of Ryfylke. Sauda was separated from Suldal in 1842...
amongst the North Indian literary elite. Vocal music set to this mode of poetry is popular with multiple variations across
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
,
AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
,
Central AsiaCentral Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
,
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
,
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
,
BangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. Ghazal exists in multiple variations, including semi-classical,
folkFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and
popPop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
forms.
Instrumental music
Although Hindustani music clearly is focused on the vocal performance, instrumental forms have existed since ancient times. In fact, in recent decades, especially outside South Asia, instrumental Hindustani music is more popular than vocal music, partly due to a somewhat different style and faster tempo, and partly because of a language barrier for the lyrics in vocal music.
A number of musical instruments are associated with Hindustani classical music. The
veenaVeena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...
, a string instrument, was traditionally regarded as the most important, but few play it today and it has largely been superseded by its cousins the
sitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
and the
sarodThe sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in the classical music of Hindustan...
, both of which owe their origin to Persian influences. Other plucked or struck string instruments include the
surbaharSurbahar , sometimes known as bass sitar, is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India. It is closely related to sitar, but it has a lower tone. Depending on the instrument's size, it is usually pitched two to five whole steps below the standard sitar, but...
,
sursringarThe sursingar , sursringar or surshringar is a musical instrument from India. It is a lute-derived Sarod, except it is larger in size and produces a deeper sound. It is a distant descendant of the Saraswati Veena...
,
santoorThe santoor is an ancient stringed musical instrument, native to Kashmir and Iran. It is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often made of walnut, with seventy two strings. The special-shaped mallets are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers...
, and various versions of the
slide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
. Among bowed instruments, the
sarangiThe Sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of India which is originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition...
,
esrajThe esraj is a string instrument found in two forms throughout the north, central, and east regions of India. It is a young instrument by Indian terms, being only about 200 years old. The dilruba is found in the north, where it is used in religious music and light classical songs in the urban areas...
and
violinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
are popular. The
bansuriThe bansuri is a transverse alto flute of Bangladesh, India and Nepal made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with six or seven finger holes. An ancient musical instrument associated with cowherds and the pastoral tradition, it is intimately linked to the love story of Krishna and Radha, and is...
,
shehnaiThe shehnai, shahnai, shenai or mangal vadya, is an aerophonic instrument, a double reed conical oboe, common in North India, West India and Pakistan, made out of wood, with a metal flare bell at the end...
and
harmoniumA harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
are important wind instruments. In the percussion ensemble, the
tablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
and the pakhavaj are the most popular. Various other instruments have also been used in varying degrees.
See also
- Arabic maqam
Arabic maqām is the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music, which is mainly melodic. The word maqam in Arabic means place, location or rank. The Arabic maqam is a melody type...
- Music of Pakistan
The music of Pakistan includes diverse elements ranging from music from various parts of South Asia as well as Central Asian, Persian, Turkish, Arabic and modern day Western popular music influences...
External links