ADITI SARAWAGI
Styles and Types of
Music in India
Part 1
India is a country full of diversity and as diverse is the
culture in every corner of the country, so is its music. Each
state speaks a different language and has a distinctive form
of music indigenous to it. Every style of music has a unique
sound and Indian Music is acknowledged worldwide for
this. Starting this month, in a two-part series, the focus
will be on the different styles and types of music in India.
Hindustani Music and Carnatic Music
Indian classical music has been broadly divided into
Hindustani and Carnatic music. Hindustani music is
essentially the music of northern India which has been
influenced by music from Persia and Central Asia.
Carnatic Music is the classical music of southern India.
The overall structure of Carnatic music is similar to that
of Hindustani Music in the sense that both have ragas
but the rhythms and musical instruments are different.
Carnatic Music lays emphasis on vocal music which is
more open to improvisation. Purandara Dasa is considered
to be the Father of Carnatic Music. Annamayya is the
first known composer of Carnatic music. The Trinity
of Carnatic music, also known as The Three Jewels of
Carnatic music, refer to the exceptional trio of composer-
musicians of Carnatic music in the 18th century, being
Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri.
Music from the north or Hindustani Music can be divided
into classical music which includes dhamar, tarana,
sadra and semi-classical music which includes vocal
styles like dadra, ghazal, qawwali and thumri. Dhrupad
is an austere form of classical singing and playing which
is widely associated with the famous Mughal singer
Tansen. Instruments used are tanpura and pakhawaj
barrel drum. Khayal is a form of classical singing not as
rigid as Dhrupad-the singer mainly concentrates on the
notes of the raga and improvises the structure. Khayals
are considered as Hindustani semi-classical pieces.
Thumri is another fixture of Hindustani semi-classical
music. It evolved in the 19th century by Nawab Wajid
Ali Shah and is an emotional style known for its lyrical
strains. It is more accessible than dhrupad or khayal
and is associated with the kathak dance form. Thumri
is sung in a literary dialect of Hindi called Braj Bhasha.
Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Begum Akhtar are well
known connoisseurs of this form of music. Dadri, Hori,
Chaiti, Kajri and Jhool are all sub-genres of Thumri.
Qawwali is a kind of Sufi devotional music which has a
fast-paced style of singing. Developed in the thirteenth
century, it is basically performing Sufi poetry to music.
Qawwali songs are based on spiritual Sufi poems usually
depicting the relationship between a higher being and man
or between humans. Qawwali has a very distinct sound,
is easily recognizable and is quite popular too. The origin
of qawwali is attributed to Amir Khusrau, a Sufi poet and
composer who is also known to have invented the sitar and
the tabla. His poems form the centre point of Qawwali.
A ghazal is originally more poetic in form than musical
and is based on both folk melodies and ragas with rhyming
couplets. It is an ancient music form with its origin in
Arabic poetry. Essential elements found in ghazals are
shayari or love poems often taken from Urdu poetry and
transformed into ghazals with slow paced music.
Classical music is part of the rich heritage of India and
apart from the above mentioned broad based categories,
there are other varied types of Indian music as well. In
the second part of this series we will look into those other
forms which are part of the huge Indian music repertoire.
The
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