Hindustani classical music

Hindustani classical music, also called North Indian classical music or Shastriya Sangeet, is the classical music from the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. It is played on beautiful instruments such as the veena, sitar, and sarod. This style of music began to form in the 12th century, separating from Carnatic music, which is the classical tradition from southern India.

Hindustani music often uses songs written in many languages, including Sanskrit, Hindustani (a mix of Hindi and Urdu), Braj, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Rajasthani, Punjabi, and even Persian. Learning this music is usually done through special schools known as gharana, where students study under expert teachers.

This type of music is very important to the culture of North India and is enjoyed all over India and around the world. Famous musicians like Ustad Bismillah Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, and Ravi Shankar have received India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, for their amazing work in Hindustani classical music.

History

Around the 12th century, Hindustani classical music developed separately from Carnatic classical music. Both styles share the idea of a melodic musical mode called a raga, which is sung to a rhythmic cycle known as a tala. These melodies are performed without harmony.

Important texts like the Natya Shastra and Dattilam helped shape these musical principles. Later, Persian influences, especially from Sufi composers like Amir Khusro, blended with local traditions. Famous musicians such as Tansen brought new ideas and compositions during the Mughal era.

In the 1900s, Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande organized Hindustani music into categories based on notes, while Vishnu Digambar Paluskar started schools to teach music to everyone. These efforts helped Hindustani classical music reach a wider audience beyond royal courts.

Characteristics

Indian classical music uses seven basic notes with five extra notes in between, making a 12-note scale. Unlike the 12-note scale in Western music, the starting note can change, and the spaces between notes can also vary. A performance follows a special pattern called a raga, which has specific ways to go up and down the notes, important notes, and special phrases.

Ragas can come from many places, like religious songs, folk music, or music from other countries. For example, the raga Khamaj and its versions came from folk music, while ragas like Hijaz (also called Basant Mukhari) started from music in Persia.

Principles of Hindustani music

The Natya Shastra is an ancient book that talks about music and its links to many other areas of life. It explains that there are two kinds of sound: one we can hear and one we cannot. The sound we cannot hear is said to be the foundation of everything.

Hindustani music uses a special set of seven main notes, similar to octaves in Western music, but with seven notes instead of eight. These notes are organized into low, middle, and high ranges, each linked to different parts of the body. Music follows rhythmic patterns called tala and melodic patterns called ragas. Ragas can be grouped into families called thaats, based on the notes they use.

Musicians use a system called Sargam, which is like the do-re-mi scale, to name the notes. These notes can change slightly in pitch, creating different flavors. A typical performance of Hindustani music has two main parts: a free-flowing improvisation called an alap, and a fixed melody called a bandish or Gat, played with rhythmic accompaniment by instruments like the tabla. There are slow, medium, and fast versions of these fixed melodies. Hindustani music is mostly designed for singing, and many instruments try to mimic the beauty of the human voice.

Types of compositions

The major vocal styles in Hindustani classical music include dhrupad, khyal, and tarana. There are also lighter forms like dhamar, chaiti, kajari, tappa, thumri, dadra, ghazal, and bhajan. These lighter forms are more relaxed and do not follow the strict rules of classical music.

Dhrupad is an older style of singing usually performed by men. It uses instruments like the tambura and pakhawaj. The words often praise deities and are sung in older North Indian languages. Khyal is a newer style that uses more musical decorations and is very popular. Tarana are fast songs that create a happy mood and are often performed at the end of concerts. Thumri focuses on storytelling through its lyrics, often about romance. Ghazal is a poetic form that explores different feelings of love and is enjoyed in many parts of the world.

Instruments

Hindustani music is mostly known for singing, but it also has many instruments that have been used for a very long time. Today, many people enjoy listening to instruments more than singing, especially outside South Asia, because the music can be faster and easier to understand without words.

Some of the most famous instruments are the veena, sitar, and sarod. The tambura helps set the background sound for other instruments. Other popular instruments include the sarangi, violin, bansuri, shehnai, harmonium, tabla, and pakhavaj. There are also less common instruments like the surbahar, sursringar, santoor, and different kinds of slide guitar.

Festivals

Some important music festivals for Hindustani classical music began in the late 1800s. One of the first was the Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan, started in 1875 in Jallandhar. Other well-known festivals include the Sankatmochan Sangeet Samarth in Varanasi, the Dover Lane Music Conference which began in 1952 in Kolkata, and the Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Festival that started in 1953 in Pune. There are also events like the ITC SRA Sangeet Sammelan from the 1970s and SPIC MACAY since 1977.