Hindustani Classical Music
The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of scriptures, part of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas. Hindustani music is the classical music of northern part of India, which developed during the Mogul and is based on the rich Indian tradition and its interaction with Mogul influences.
The two fundamental elements of Hindustani classical music are raag and taal.Raag is the intricate system of scales and associated melodic patterns which in their numerical ratios, correspond with moods, colors, seasons, and hours of day and night. This time-theory which governs the raags is a unique feature of Hindustani music. As raag organizes melody, the other fundamental element, taal organizes the rhythm. A taal is made up of a number of beats and a unique set of patterns define each taal. There are hundreds of taals and the most commonly used one is the sixteen beat, teentaal.
Amir Khusro is credited with the introduction of entirely new forms and styles in Hindustani music, which are still in practice today. An important landmark in Hindustani music was the establishment of gharanas under the patronage of princely states. A gharana is more a school of thought than an institution. Each of the gharanas developed distinct styles of presentation and performance. There are 10 main forms of styles of singing and compositions in Hindustani music: Dhrupad, Dhamar, Hori, Khayal, Tappa, Chaturang, Ragasagar, Tarana, Sargam and Thumri. Nowadays, Ghazals have become very popular as the ‘light classical’ form of music.
Hindustani classical music makes use of different types of musical instruments like the stringed instruments -Sitar, Surbahar, Sarod, Sarangi, violin and Santoor .The bansuri and shehnai are wind instruments are equally well-known in Hindustani music. The maestros of instrumental music are Ustad Bismillah Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Ram Narayan, V.G.Jog, and Ustad Alla Rachel. There are many sites which provide rich collection of Hindustani classical music, videos and songs that can be easily downloaded.
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