Classical Music

Vocal MusicGharanas Among the more popular and prolific gharanas of vocal music are the following. Most have been in existence for at least five to six generations. Their descendants include some of the most famous classical musicians performing today. The Gwalior Gharana: Founded by Ustad Hassu Khan, Ustad Haddu Khan and Ustad Nathu Khan. A few famous Indian artistes from this gharana include Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, Omkarnath Thakur, and Smt Veena Sahasrabuddhe. The Patiala Gharana: The founders of this tradition were Ustad Fateh Ali Khan and Ustad Ali Baksh. Their descendants include Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Munawar Ali Khan, Begum Parveen Sultana and Begum Akhtar among the more famous. The Kirana Gharana: Ustad Abdul Karim Khan founded this gharana. Some of the more famous exponents of this tradition include Sawai Gandharva, Smt Gangubai Hangal, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Prabha Atre. The Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana: The founder of this gharana was Ustad Alladiya Khan who's descendants include Kesarbai Kerkar, Mogubai Kurdikar, Kishori Amonkar, Mallikarjun Mansur, Arati Ankalikar and Shruti Sadolikar-Katkar, the last two being relatively young musicians. Other gharanas include The Agra Gharana (founded by Ustad Gagghe Khuda Bakhsh), The Rampur-Seheswan Gharana (founded by Ustad Inayat Khan), The Delhi Gharana (founded by sarangiya Ustad Mamman Khan), The Benaras Gharana (founded by sarangiya Pandit Gopal Mishra; his descendants Rajan Mishra and Sajan Mishra are carrying on this tradition today), The Indore Gharana (founded by Ustad Amir Khan), The Jaipur-Mewati Gharana, and The Talwandi Gharana, among others.

Ragas A raga is a rather metaphysical concept to define. At one level, it could be called an emotion, a state of being, a set of feelings and thoughts that the singer conveys to you through his voice and skill in scaling notes. At a more academic level, it is a musical composition that functions within a structure and follows certain rules with relation to the kind of notes used in it. Ragas belong to certain classes or categories called thaats. A thaat is defined as that set of seven notes from which a raga can be made. There are ten thaats in all: Bilaval, Kalyan, Khamaj, Kafi, Bhairav, Bhairavi, Asavari, Marva, Poorvi and Todi.

Historically there has always been some debate on thaats. Different scholars have given their own interpretations of thaats. The first scholar to present thaats was Lochan Pandit in the 14th century. However, it was in the 17th century that Pandit Vyankatmukhi first gave a comprehensive picture of the thaat as a concept in classical music. He studied the ragas and mathematically arrived at 72 thaats. However, Hindustani classical music accepted only 32 of these. It was Pandit Bhatkhande who finally arrived at the list of ten given above.Ragas must belong to one of the above thaats. However, this is not the only classification of a raga. Ragas are also classified on the basis of jati, or number of notes used in the raga. When the basic structure of a raga is made up of seven notes, it is said to be Sampoorna (complete). When the basic structure is of six notes, it belongs to the Shadav jati. When the basic structure is of five notes, it is of the Audav jati. There can be a maximum of seven notes in a raga and a minimum of five notes. A deeper study of ragas that will help you better acquaint yourself with Indian classical music follows.

Dhrupad Dhrupad, a style of classical music, emerged somewhere in the 13th century, after the Persian invasion. Set in a raag to taal, beats, a Dhrupad composition has text that is generally longer than Dadra or Thumri and was sung in praise of the lord. Interestingly, the compositions were written in Brajbhasha, or Deshi bhasha, as it was sometimes called. The Dhrupads of the 14th to 16th centuries became very popular especially during the reign of one of the Tomar rulers -- Raja Dungarendra Singh Tomar.

Dhrupad enjoyed prime status in the imaginations of singers for a long time. Sung in the courts of various kings, many different vanis, styles of singing Dhrupad, emerged. These styles were practiced and perfected to such an extent that avid listeners learnt to trace the vanis back to the singers from whom they originated. It has been argued by some researchers that these vanis were the first signs of gharanas, styles of singing or performing classical music, as we know them today. The Dhrupad vanis, however, merged into one another later on and it is now difficult to trace a vani back to its origin. The style enjoyed supremacy for nearly five centuries till the 18th century, when the Khyal started catching on. Now there are very few exponents of Dhrupad left. The Dagar family is the only set of musicians who still sing the traditional Dhrupad.

Khyal It is difficult to say when the Khyal first made its tentative appearance in classical music. While it has been acknowledged that the basis of the Khyal was set sometime in the 13th and 14th centuries, it was only in the 18th century during the reign of Emperor Muhammad Shah that it finally came into its own.

The Khyal, according to 'Evolution of Indian Classical Music' by Neerja Bhatnagar (Publication Scheme, Jaipur, First Edition 1997), is said to have emerged as a reaction against the puritanical rigidity of Dhrupad which retained its primacy as a classical genre till the second decade of the 18 century.The main contributors to the Khyal are said to be two composers, Adaranga and Sadaranga, whose names appear in the lyrics of many compositions. It has been argued that it was during this time that the Khyal finally began to overtake the Dhrupad in popularity and the level of domination to which it reached is still enjoyed by it even today.

Posted in: Music History