Indian Music

Question 1

INTRODUCTION

Answer 1

• Origin-samveda and its Upveda-Gandharvaveda
• Narad is the first person who heard the message from God
• Naad is supposed to be the basis of all creations
• Bharatmuni’s natyashastra contains several chapters on music
• Bharat muni defined music as nritya, gayan and vadan

Question 2

Pillars of Indian Musical System

Answer 2

1. Swara
   a. Pitch or tone
   b. Notes
   c. Primitive sound AUM gave birth to swaras
   d. 7 swara-Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni
   e. Sa-sadcha, Re-Rishabh, Ga-Gandhara, Ma- madhyam, Pa-Pancham, Dha-Dhaiwat, Ni-Nishad
2. Raga
   a. It forms the basis of melody
   b. Combination of swaras
   c. In every raga,there are at least 5 swaras
   d. Hence,there are 3 kinds of Ragas
   i. Odava Raga-5 swara/notes
   ii. Shadava Raga-6 swara
   iii. Sampuma Raga-all 7 swara
   e. Hindustani music, there are 6 principal ragas
   f. Ragas are time specific, season specific and mood specific.
   i. Hindola raga- Time-dawn, season-spring, mood-sweetness of young couple
   ii. Dipak raga- Time-night, season-summer, mood-compassion
   iii. Megh raga- Time-mid-day Season-monsoon. mood-courage
   iv. Sri raga-Time-evening season-winter, mood-gladness
   v. Malkaus -Time-mid night, season-winter, mood-youthful love
   vi. Bhairavi -Time-morning, season-autumn, mood-peace and devotional
3. Taal
   a. Basis of rhythm
   b. Arrangement of bits in a circular manner
   c. Total 32 kinds of taal
   d. range of bits-3 bit to 108 bits
   e. 3 taal-16 bits

Question 3

Indian Music

Answer 3

1. Classical
# Hindustani 
# Carnatic  

2. Modern         
# Rock
# Jazz
# Pop
# Blues
# 

3. Folk Music
# Stree geet
# Panihari
# Wanawan
# Mand
# Lavani

4. Others(fusion of classical and folk)
# Sugam Sangeet
# Rabindra Sangeet
# Haveli Sangeet 
# Gana Sangeet

Question 4

Classical Music

Answer 4

1. Hindustani style
   • Can be traced back to Vedic times
   • Outside influence
   • Freedom to artists
   • Hence concept of gharana
   • Emotional music
   • Northern and western India
   • Less ragas - 6
   • Ragas adhere to time, mood and season
   • More emphasis on instruments
   • Gradual building up of tempo from very slow to very fast
   • Raga based
   • Instruments - tabala, sarangi, sitar, santoor, flute, violin
2. Carnatic style
   • Of more recent origin
   • Completely indigenous
   • No freedom
   • No such gharana
   • Intellectual and spiritual music
   • Peninsular India
   • More Ragas - 72 - melakarta
   • Ragas doesn’t adhere to time or anything else
   • More emphasis on vocal music
   • Constant and fairly fast tempo throughout
   • Composition based
   • Instruments- veena, mridangam, mendolin

Question 5

Sub styles under Hindustani classical

Answer 5

1. Dhrupad
   a. Mother of all sub-styles
   b. Vedic origin
   c. Developed in temples
   d. Pronouncing mantras in proper tone
   e. Performance Of dhrupad-aalap and Bandish
   f. Systematic arrangements of musical parts
   g. Theme-Religion, philosophy, devotion, celebration of seasons I
   h. Promoted by Rja Mansingh Tomar Of Gwalior
   i. Akbar also made it popular through Haridas, Tansen and Baiju Bawra
   j. 4 gharanas under Dhrupad style
   i. Dagar Gharana
   1) Also known as Jaipur gharana
   2) Related to Dagri Bani
   3) Gundecha brothers, Haridas, Behram Khan
   ii. Darbhanga Gharana
   1) Bihar
   2) Related to gauhar bani
   3) Founder-kartaram
   4) Malik family
   iii. Betiah Gharana
   1) bihar
   2) Related to Khandar bani
   3) Hyder khan
   iv. TalwaIndi gharana
   1) Punjab
   2) Related to Nauhari bani
2. Khayal
   a. Khayal means an idea,thought or imagination
   b. More free and flowery
   c. Theme-divine love, separation of lovers,pranks of lord Krishna
   d. Lyrics-ornamental
   e. More words are used
   f. use of taan-tempo
   g. Performance of khayal on the base of tempo
   i. Bada khayal
   ii. Chhota khayal
   h. 4 ghranas under khayal style.
   i. GwaIior gharana
   1) Oldest
   2) Vishnu palushkar-famous song-raghupati raghav raja ram
   ii. Kirana gharana
   1) Kurukshetra,Haryana
   2) Pt. Bheemsen Joshi.Gangubai
   iii. Patiala gharana
   1) Rhythm is important
   2) Focus on emotions
   3) Founder-ustad bade gulam ali khan
   4) Begum Akhtar,Naina devi
   iv. Agra gharana
   1) Also known as rangeela gharana
   2) Importance of raga
   3) Vijay kichIu, C.R.Vyas
3. Dhammar style
   a. Dhammar taal
   b. 14 beats-irregular beat
   c. More freedom
   d. Theme-erotic, Krishna, festsivals etc
4. Thumri style
   a. Mixed ragas
   b. Use of light and romantic words
   c. Theme-romantic
   d. songs sung in BRAJ BHASHA
   e. 2 types (1)Purbi thumri (2)Punjabi thumri
5. Tarana style
   a. Rhythm is important
   b. No meaning words
   c. Fast tempo
   d. Emphasis on producing rhythm
   e. Requires specialization and skill for rythemic manipulation
6. Tappa style
   a. Punjab
   b. Initially sug by camel drivers of north-west
   c. Very quick phrases are used
   d. Short taan,without much elaboration
   e. The style is getting extinct
   f. Artist-Miyah sodi

Question 6

Other styles(fusion of classical and folk)

Answer 6

1. Susan sangeet
   a. Devotional songs
   i. Bhajan-sung in praise of god-meera, nanak, kabir
   ii. Kirtan-Bengal region, music+ dance ,influence of Gitagobinda
   iii. Shabad-Punjab, sung by Sikh gurus
   iv. Quawalli-sufi element, started by Aamir khushro
   v. Abhanga - maharashtra - namdev, tukaram harashtr
   vi. Bhatiyali-boat songs from Bengal, devotional theme
   vii. Tewaram-tamilnadu,sung by shaivites
   viii. Ghazal-devotional touch-Persian influence on indian music - Independent or philosophical Artists-Mirza galib, bahadurshah zafar
2. Rabindran sangeet
   a. Sung by Rabindranath Tagore
   b. Worship, nature, love, celebration
3. Haveli sangeet
   a. Temple music
   b. Popular in Rajasthan and Gujarat
   c. Pushtimargi sampraday
4. Gana sangeet
   a. Eg: Ami Azadi KO Hum Hargis Mia Sakte hoyri tot, Kadam badhaye jaa Vande etc.
   b. Generally sung in chorus carrying some social message
   c. The songs are usually about Freedom, communiy strength, patriotism
   d. Due to British occupation in a lot of protest about anti-imperialism/ pro-socialism

Question 7

Musical Instruments

Answer 7

1. Sushir vadhya
   a. Wind instruments
   b. Also known as aerophones
   c. Flute, pungi, mouth organ, nadswaram
2. Avanad vadhya
   a. We have to strike it to get the sound
   b. Tabla, dhol, pakhwaj
3. Taar vadhya
   a. String instruments
   b. Guitar, violin, ravanhattha, santoor
4. Ghana vadhya
   a. Solid instruments
   b. Rhythm keepers
   c. Ghunghru, jal tarang, dandiya, matki