SOUVIK CHAKRABORTY
The Sound of aNation
The Indian classical music can be broadly categorized into Hindustani and Carnatic or Karantak of the south . Dhrupad , Dhamar , Khayal , Tappa and Thumri are some of the styles that are included in the Hindustani styles . Hindustani form of singing also culturally seeps down deep into the spiritualism and that is how the bhajans and the qawaalis had originated from the olden times .
Dhrupad is a non ornate style of singing and finds its genesis from the classical singer , Tansen . The performance starts with a long complex alaap and focuses more on the nuances of the raga and tries to do away with the technical embellishments . A dhrupad might enthral like a chant but end up conjuring a house packed in audience within minutes . This also means that the vocalist enjoys a lot of liberty in weaving the magic donning the hat of the composer , singer and the lperformer all at once .
Khyaal on the other hand is more ornamental with a higher dose of embroidery . The focus is purely on the subtleties of the raga and the characteristics of the raga is gently pulled up a gradient of melodies . Then comes the bandish or the first composition once the raga is introduced .
Thumri stands out for being an emotional , lyrical and graceful kind of melody , it incorporates a lot of the taal and rhythm that finds a space in the dance form of kathak . Thumri is more about the perspective of the feminine self on romance and life while it was incredibly sung by some of the greatest male voices that the sub continent has produced like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali khan .
Bhajans largely form the most integral part of the main course devotional genre of the Hindustani music . Bhajans are culturally important because they had found its roots and base at a time when Buddhism was literally sweeping off any other religion from the face of the sub continent . Bhajans became very important to actually validate the importance of the philosophies and faith of a religion across the valleys and baanks of the sacred river Ganges .
Ghazal is perhaps the most popular and the most talked about form of music because it has been made popular in the pop culture of our times , be that in Bollywood or the Indian popular music . Genetically stemming out from Urdu poetry and the Mughal sentiments , these songs were by and large retrospective or memoirs of the romantic infatuation of the kings and the spoils of their taming games . Shayari , Mausiqui and Jazbaat forms three different elements of a Ghazal . Likewise , matla , makta , misra and antara are the various couplets in a Ghazal . Every single Ghazal carry along a baggage or a slice of legend which is associated with the emperors and their scandals or spoils .
Sufi is trance music at its best . When philosophies are peppered along with a dash of spiritualism and a whole wheat bread of devotion you just cannot afford to not lose control anymore . This songs are ingrained with the emotions of love but not necessarily with the hint at the carnal affair between men and women but rather primarily with the prophet himself .
Soofiyna Moosaqi is a traditional choral music of the kashmir which is performed by a group of four to five musicians played along with santoor , sarang or surnai . Chakri is another folkish song genre of the northern India usually rendered with the harmonium , the rubab , sarangi etcetera , mainly employed for singing out love poems or legends on love .
Qawaali is even a purer form of the sufi singing and is more passionate and fast paced than the classical ways of singing . Aamir Khusrau is credited with this style of singing and is again a romantic beckoning of the lovers or the devotee to his God . Qawaali has been known to endow a mehfil-e-samaa and is religiously sung on the day of the dead and the days of the prayer like Fridays . A pilgrim will rollick at the idea of a visit to the shrine for a session of qawaali . It was a common custom that the performers of qawaali will get nazir or a token of appreciation ; usually in the form of money . And , this is followed till date in many sessions across the shrines .
While the southern style of the Carnatic is more varied and slightly complex yet upbeat and free from the influence of the Persian and Asian tunes . Purandara Dasa is regarded as the father of the Carnatic music . The ragams and the thalaams make the music sound rich and complex leaving a lot of room for improvisations . The maestros of this kind of a music is revered to as the saints like Syama Sastri , Tyagaraja , Mutuswamy Dikshitar etcetera . A performance usually begins with varnum containing pallavi , anupallavu and chittaswaram which is a devotion to Ganesh and is immediately followed by alppana or the alaap and thalaam . The shorter pieces of this kind of a musical do away with the verses of long tempo and thus sounds characteristically different from the Hindustani form of singing .
In the eastern part of our country the travelling minstrels or the bauls have emerged as the musicians of secular and universal importance . Baul does not only confine itself to a style of singing but gently ascends to a higher form of philosophy both in terms of the words that are sung and the way of living and dressing . While some of the musicians submit to the tantric Buddhism , some others delve deep into the whimsies of an ascetic life and some descend to a madness in search for God !
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