Hindustani Music and Instruments
Hindustani music
One of the two principal types of South Asian classical music, found mainly in the northern three-fourths of the subcontinent, where Indo-Aryan languages are spoken. (The other principal type, Carnatic music, is found in the Dravidian-speaking region of southern India.) The two systems diverged gradually, beginning in the 13th century, when the Islamic conquest of northern parts of the subcontinent introduced highly influential Arabic and Persian musical practices that then merged with Hindu traditions. (The influences from Muslim cultures played virtually no role in the development of Carnatic music.)
Northern India shares with the south the use of ragas (melodic frameworks for improvisation and composition), the rhythmic principles of tala (cyclic metric patterns sometimes of great complexity), and the practice of nonmetric, rhythmically “free” improvisation. Although vocal music plays an important role, instrumental music is more important in Hindustani music than it is in Carnatic; there are some purely instrumental forms, such as the theme with variations known as gat.
The most prominent instruments of Hindustani music are the sitar (a long-necked fretted lute with about 30 melodic, drone, and sympathetic strings), sarod (a short-necked unfretted lute with sympathetic and drone strings), sarangi (a bowed fiddle), shehnai (an oboelike wind instrument), tabla (a set of two drums played by one musician, the right-hand drum carefully tuned), and tamboura (a large, long-necked lute with four strings, used only to play the supporting drone, a single repeated chord).
A typical Hindustani performance, which may last well over an hour, begins with a long, nonmetric improvisation (alapa, or alap) by the singer or melodic soloist, followed by jor, or improvisation without metric cycle but with a perceptible pulse, and eventually by the similar but faster jhala. Then follows the composed piece, which is performed with improvised variations—most typically kayal (a poetic form) in vocal music and gat, a short, rhythmically distinctive theme, in instrumental music. Here, the soloist is accompanied by the percussionist on tabla, and the improvisations often involve various kinds of virtuosic rhythmic competition and cooperation.
The centres of Hindustani music in the 21st century are the cities of Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Varanasi, and Mumbai (Bombay), but, until the early part of the 20th century, smaller cities with princely courts, such as Jaipur, Agra, and Gwalior, played a major role. In the early 21st century, the practitioners of Hindustani music best-known outside the subcontinent included Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, and Bismillah Khan.
Instrumental music
Outside of South Asia, pure instrumental sub-continental classical music is more popular than vocal music, possibly because the lyrics in the latter are not comprehensible.
A number of musical instruments are associated with Hindustani classical music. The veena, 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 sitar and the sarod. Other plucked/struck string instruments include the surbahar, sursringar, santoor and various versions of the slide guitar. Among bowed instruments, the sarangi, esraj (or dilruba) and violin are popular. The bansuri (bamboo flute), shehnai and harmonium are important wind instruments. In the percussion ensemble, the tabla and the pakhavaj are the most popular. Various other instruments (including the banjo and the piano) have also been used in varying degrees.
Some representative performers (these lists are by no means comprehensive nor are intended to be):
* Veena: Dabir Khann, Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, Bahauddin Dagar, Asad Ali Khan, Suvir Misra, Jeff Lewis
* Vichitra Veena: Dr. Lalmani Misra, Pt. Gopal Krishna, Dr. Gopal Shankar Misra,Mrs.Radhika Budhkar.
* Sitar: Imdad Khan, Enayet Khan, Wahid Khan, Mushtaq Ali Khan Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan, Nikhil Banerjee,Manilal Nag, Purnendu Shekhar Sengupta(Kanu Babu), Rais Khan, Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan, Imrat Khan, Shahid Parvez, Indranil Bhattacharya, Santosh Banerjee, Kalyani Roy, Budhaditya Mukherjee, Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, Kartik Seshadri, Shriram umdekar Purbayan Chatterjee
* Sarod: Allauddin Khan, Brij Narayan, Hafiz Ali Khan, Radhika Mohan Moitra, Timir Baran, Ali Akbar Khan, Jatin Bhattacharya, Buddhadev Das Gupta, Vasant Rai, Sharan Rani, Dhyanesh Khan, Aashish Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan,Mukesh Sharma
* Surbahar: Imdad Khan, Wahid Khan, Enayet Khan, Annapurna Devi, Imrat Khan
* Shehnai: Bismillah Khan, Ali Ahmed Khan
* Bansuri: Pannalal Ghosh, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Raghunath Seth, Bari Siddiqui
* Santoor: Shivkumar Sharma,Tarun Bhattachrya, Bhajan Sopori, Omprakash Chaurasiya
* Sarangi: Ram Narayan, Bundu Khan, Ustad Sultan Khan, Abdul Latif Khan
* Esraj: Ashesh Bandopadhyay, Ranadhir Roy
* Violin: Parur Sundaram Iyer,V. G. Jog, Gajananrao Joshi, N. Rajam, Allaudin Khan, L. Shankar, L. Subramaniam, Kala Ramnath, Sisir Kana Dhar Choudhury
* Harmonium: Pt. Gyan Prakash Gosh,Pt. Manohar Chimote,Ustad Zamir Ahmed Khan,Ustad Bhure Khan
* Tabla: Gyan Prokash Ghosh,Shankar Ghosh,Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, Anindo Chaterjee, Chatur Lal, Shamta Prasad, Kanthe Maharaj, Alla Rakha, Arup Chattopadhyay, Anokhelal Misra, Keramatullah Khan, Kishen Maharaj, Zakir Hussain, Aban E. Mistry, Yogmaya Shukla,Shubhankar Banerjee, Subrata Bhattacharya, Debashis Choudhury.
* Guitar, slide (modified): Brij Bhushan Kabra, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Debashish Bhattacharya
Vocal music
Despite the fact that instrumental music is better known outside India, 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. Some of the best known vocalists who sing in the Dhrupad style are the members of the Dagar lineage, including Us. Wasifuddin Dagar, Us. Fariduddin Dagar, and Us. Sayeeduddin Dagar. Among the khayal singers, the best known today are Pt. Balkrishnabuwa Ichalkaranjikar, Pt. Shankarrao Vishnu Pandit, Pt. Eknath V. Pandit,Pt. Krishna Rao Shankar Pandit, Pt. A.Kanan, Pt.Ramkrishnabuwa Vaze, Pt.Shivram Vaze, Pt. Vishnu Paluskar,Pt.B R Deodhar, Pt. Srikrishna Narayan Ratanjankar,Pt. Shankarrao Vyas, Jagjit Singh, Pt. D.V.Paluskar, Pt. Vinayak Rao Patwardhan, Pt. Narayan Rao Vyas, Pt. Anant Manohar Joshi, Pt. Yashwant Mirashi buwa, Pt. Gajanan Anant Joshi, Pt. Shankar Rao Vyas, Pt. Omkarnath Thakur,Pt. Eknath Sarolkar, Pt. Rajabhaiyya Poonchhwale, Balasaheb Poonchhwale, Pt. Pandurang Rao Umdekar, Pt. Balabhau Kundal Guru, Ustad Amir Khan, Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Mallikarjun Mansur, Pt. Kumar Gandharva, Basavaraj Rajguru, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Kishori Amonkar,Pt.Vijay Kumar Kichlu,Prabha Atre, pandit madhav gudi,Gangubai Hangal, Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Pandit Jasraj, Parveen Sultana, Malini Rajurkar,Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar,Vidushi Sumitra Guha [1], Ustad Badal Khan, Viswadev Chatterjee, Prasun Bannerjee,Yogiraj Manohar Harkare,Pt.Gangadhar Bhagwat, Meera Bannerjee, Gyan Prokash Ghosh, Chinmoy Lahiri, Begum Akhtar, Gauhar Jan, Malka Jaan, Siddheswari Devi,Hifzul kabeer
Types of compositions
The major vocal forms-cum-styles associated with Hindustani classical music are dhrupad, khayal, and thumri. Other forms include the dhamar, tarana, trivat, chaiti, kajari, tappa, tapkhayal, ashtapadi, ghazal and bhajan. Of these, some forms fall within the crossover to folk or semi-classical ('light' classical) music, as they often do not adhere to the rigorous rules and regulations of 'pure' classical music.
Dhrupad
Dhrupad is the Hindu sacred style of singing, traditionally performed by male singers. It is performed with a tanpura and a pakhawaj as instrumental accompaniments. The lyrics, which were in Sanskrit centuries ago, are presently sung in Brajbhasha, a medieval form of Hindi that was spoken in Mathura. The Rudra Veena, an ancient string instrument, is used in instrumental music in the style of 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 mantra "Om Anant tam Taran Tarini Twam Hari Om Narayan, Anant Hari Om Narayan" is recited. The alap gradually unfolds into a more rhythmic Jod and Jhala sections. This is followed by a rendition of Bandish, with the pakhawaj as an accompaniment. The greatest of Indian musicians, Tansen sung in the Dhrupad style. A lighter form of Dhrupad, called Dhamar, is sung primarily during the festival of Holi.
Dhrupad was the main form of northern Indian classical music until two centuries ago, but has since then given 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 ran the risk of becoming extinct in the first half of the twentieth century. Fortunately, the efforts by a few proponents from the Dagar family have led to its revival and eventual popularization in India and in the West.
Khayal
A form of vocal music, khayal is almost entirely improvised and very emotional in nature. A khyal consists of around 4-8 lines of lyrics set to a tune. The singer then uses these few lines as the basis for improvisation. Though its origins are shrouded in mystery, the 15th century rule of Hussain Shah Sharqi and was popular by the 18th century rule of Mohammed Shah. The best-known composer of the period was Sadarang, a pen name for Niamat KhanAdarang,Manrang and kadar bakhsha,Nisar Hussain Khan Gwalior wale..
Later performers include Ustad Alladiya Khan, Abdul Karim Khan, Pt.Dattatreya Vishnu Paluskar, Faiyaz Khan, Pt.Vinayak Rao Patwardhan, Pt. Shankar Rao Vyas, Pt.Narain Rao Vyas, Ut.Nazakat Ali And Ut. Salamat Ali Khan, Pt.Eknath Sarolkar, Pt.Kashinath Pant Marathe, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Kesarbai Kerkar, Mogubai Kurdikar, Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, Amir Khan, Pt. Gajananrao Joashi, Pt. Ram Marathe, Pt. Ratnakar Pai, Kumar Gandharva, Jitendra Abhisheki, Pt. A. Kanan and Mallikarjun Mansur.
Some of the present day vocalists are Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal, Pt. Yeshwantbua Joshi, Girija Devi, Kishori Amonkar, Pandit Jasraj, Satyasheel Deshpande, Iqbal Ahmad Khan, Dr. Rajshekhar Mansur, Pt Ulhas Kashalkar, Pt. Arun Bhaduri, Malini Rajurkar, Prabakar Karekar, Rashid Khan, Aslam Khan, Sanjeev Abhyankar, Shruti Sadolikar, Ashwini Bhide, Ajay Pohankar, Chandrashekar Swami, Pt. Venkatesh Kumar, Mashkoor Ali Khan,Vidushi Subhra Guha,Pt. Parameshwar Hegde, Indrani Choudhury, Pt. Ganapathi Bhat.
Tarana
Another vocal form, Tarana are 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 rhythmic sounds or bols set to a tune. The singer uses these few lines as a basis for very fast improvisation. It can be compared to the Tillana of Carnatic music.
Thumri
Thumri is a semiclassical vocal form said to have begun with the court of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, 1847-1856. There are three types of thumri: Punjabi, Lucknavi and poorab ang thumri. The lyrics are typically in a proto-Hindi language called Braj bhasha and are usually romantic.
Ghazal
Ghazal 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 Mir, Ghalib, Zauq and Sauda amongst the North Indian literary elite. Vocal music set to this mode of poetry is popular with multiple variations across Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Turkey, India and Pakistan. Ghazal exists in multiple variations, including folk and pop forms but its greatest exponents sing it in a semi-classical style..
Principles of Hindustani music
The rhythmic organization is based on rhythmic patterns called tala. The melodic foundations are "melodic modes" called thaats, thats are part of "musical personalities" called ragas. Thaat and Raga are often mixed and confused. See the early 20th century musicological research of Bhatkhande for further details.
Thaats - and so Ragas - may consist of up to seven scale degrees, or swara. Hindustani musicians name these pitches using a system called sargam, the equivalent of Western movable do solfege:
sa = do
re = re
ga = mi
ma = fa
pa = sol
dha= la
ni = ti
sa = 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 "pure" (shuddh) or altered--"flat/soft" (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 sometimes called śruti. The three primary registers of Indian classical music are Mandra, Madhya and Tara. Since the octave location is not fixed, it is also possible to use provenances in mid-register (such as Madra-Madhya or Madhya-Tara) for certain ragas. A typical rendition of Hindustani raga involves 2 stages:
Alap - a rhythmically free improvising to the rules for the raag in order to give life to the raga, shape out its characteristics, further divisible into alap, jod and jhala.
Bandeesh/Gat: a fixed composition set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tabla or pakhavaj. There are different ways of systematizing the parts of a composition, either:
1.sthay,
2.antara,
3.samcari,
4.abhog.
or lets say:
A slow composition
B variations of the composition
C fast composition
D variations on the fast interpretation
E speeding up, excelling more and more in performance til end
