It is my aim in this post to briefly outline the history of Hindustani music. If there is interest, I can then go back and fill in the details as and when I get time. The text consists of 36 chapters with a cumulative total of poetic verses describing performance arts. The subjects covered by the treatise include dramatic composition, structure of a play, and the construction of a stage to host it, genres of acting, body movements, make up and costumes, role and goals of an art director, the musical scales, musical instruments and the integration of music with art performance.
With the arrival of the Muslim rulers of North India, music emerged from the temples and became part of the entertainment of the royal courts.
While for Hindus, music was preeminently religious in subject matter and spirit, for the Muslims it was a purely secular art. Hazrat Amir Khusrow was a Sufi musician, poet and scholar. He was a mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi Khusrow grew up in the house of his maternal grandfather, Rawat Arz known by his title as Imad-ul-Mulk.
He grew up very close to the traditions and culture of Indian society and was not alienated from it in the way that the ruling Turkic classes may have been. Through his literary output, Khusrow represents one of the first recorded Indian personages with a true multicultural or pluralistic identity.
He evolved a new style in music by mixing the Perso-Arabic and Turkish styles with those that the subcontinent had inherited from the past. Finally, he is said to have invented the sitar then known as the sehtar.
Music was composed mainly to eulogize patrons. There were numerous musicians in the court, Hindus, Iranis, Kashmiris and Turanis, both men and women. The musicians were divided into seven orders. There was one for each day of the week. Headed by the legendary Tansen, there were 19 singers, 3 who chanted and several instrumental musicians. The main instruments were the sarmandal, bin, nay, karna, and tanpura.
One of the most important figures in Hindustani music is Mian Tansen c. Born in a Hindu family—his childhood name was Ramtanu—he learnt and perfected his art in the northwest region of modern Madhya Pradesh.
He began his career and spent most of his adult life in the court of Raja Ramchandra Singh, the king of Rewa. Here his musical abilities and studies gained widespread fame. This brought him to the attention of Akbar. They were all musicians. Sadarang and his nephew Adarang changed the khayal style of Hindustani music into the form performed today.
They remain influential in Hindustani music, mainly through their compositions. Almost every raga has a standard composition by Sadarang and we know it is his because the author has inserted his name into the lyric. It developed out of Dhrupad introducing frequent taans and alankars into it.
As compared to Dhrupad, there is greater scope for improvisation. The speed gradually increases over the course of the performance. Various Khayal gharanas exist today. I will conclude this post with a clip of Srimati Kaushiki Chakraborthy performing a drut in Raga Yaman. Kaushiki learned from her father Pandit Ajoy Chakraborthy and is one of the best of the new generation of singers currently performing. Music, it is said, is the language of the soul.
Indian music is said to be rooted in the Vedas. It is believed that God himself is musical sound, the sound which pervades the whole universe, i.
Nada Brahma. Divine, as is Indian Music, the musician has to cultivate a sense of abandonment, in order to fuse with the Supreme reality -Nada Brahma. Indian Classical music derives its essence, not so much from its structure and rules, as from the quest and goal- God.
Said to originate from Samaveda, initially only three Swaras were evolved and used for musical recitation of the chants of the same. The number of Swaras rose from three to five and then to seven. Five of these seven swaras were subdivided into Komal and tivra variations.
The spectrum, thus finally evolved, covered a gamut of twelve swaras. This scale of twelve swaras, recognized by Indian Music, also forms the basis of all styles and forms of music all over the world. It took a long time for music to come to the present form. Major advances in music were made between 14 th and 18 th centuries. The Carnatic and the Hindustani music have some features in common as their heritage and philosophy is essentially the same. However their ragas and their articulation are usually distinctive.
This form of music is predominantly present in the Northern Part of India. Further emergence of Khayal from Dhrupad as a result of influence of the Mughal Kingdom, Classical Music underwent a change in character , moving from Temples to the Courts. Names like Miyan Tansen have been one of the greatest influence on the Hindustani Style.
Love, humor, pathos, anger, heroism, terror, disgust, wonder and serenity are the nava rasas or nine basic emotions which are fundamental to all Indian aesthetics Hindustani or Carnatic. The most ancient form. There are no decorative touches in Dhrupad and only the Meends and gamaks are allowed.
The lyrics are based on religious offerings and Pakhawaj is the percussion Instrument for Dhrupad.
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