Indian classical music
Encyclopedia : I : IN : IND : Indian classical music
| Music of India: Topics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Timeline and Samples | |||||
| Genres | Indian classical music>Classical (Carnatic and Hindustani) - Rock - Pop - Hip hop | ||||
| Awards | Bollywood Music Awards - Punjabi Music Awards | ||||
| Charts | |||||
| Festivals | Sangeet Natak Akademi International Music Festival>Sangeet Natak Akademi – Thyagaraja Aradhana – Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana | ||||
| Media | Sruti magazine>Sruti, The Music Magazine | ||||
| National anthem | "Jana Gana Mana", also national song "Vande Mataram" | ||||
| Music of the states | |||||
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands - Andhra Pradesh – Arunachal Pradesh – Assam – Bihar – Chhattisgarh – Goa – Gujarat – Haryana – Himachal Pradesh – Jammu – Jharkhand – Karnataka – Kashmir – Kerala – Madhya Pradesh – Maharashtra – Manipur – Meghalaya – Mizoram – Nagaland – Orissa – Punjab – Rajasthan – Sikkim – Tamil Nadu – Tripura – Uttar Pradesh – Uttaranchal – West Bengal | |||||
| Indian classical music | |
|---|---|
| Carnatic music | |
| Composers | |
| Purandara Dasa | |
| The Trimurti | |
| Tyagaraja | |
| Muthuswami Dikshitar | |
| Syama Sastri | |
| Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma | |
| Singers | |
| M. S. Subbulakshmi | |
| Hindustani music | |
| Concepts | |
| Śruti | |
| Raga | |
| Melakarta | |
| Katapayadi sankhya | |
| Swara | |
| Tala | |
| Mudra |
The two main streams of Indian classical music are:
- Hindustani music, from North India, and
- Carnatic music (Karnataka Sangeeth), from South India.
Indian classical music is monophonic and based around a single melody line. The performance of a composition, based melodically on one particular raga and rhythmically on one tala, begins with the performers coming out in a ritualized order: drone instruments, then the soloist, then accompanists and percussionists. The musicians begin by tuning their instruments; this process often blends imperceptibly into the beginning of the music.
Indian musical instruments used in classical music include veena, mridangam, tabla, kanjira, tambura, flute, sitar, gottuvadyam, violin, and sarangi. The fundmental authoritative book on the subject "Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya" was based on years of research carried out by Dr. Lalmani Misra.
Players of the tabla, a type of drum, begin by tapping the edges with a hammer to make sure it is in tune with the soloist. Another common instrument is the stringed tambura (sometimes also called tanpura), which is played at a steady tone (a drone) throughout the raga. This task traditionally falls to a student of the soloist, a task which might seem monotonous but is, in fact, an honour and a rare opportunity for the student who gets it.
The raga begins with the melody being developed gradually, and proper rendering of any raga will take more than half an hour. The beginning of the raga is called an alap in Hindustani music and an alapana in Carnatic music. Many aficionados consider the alap their favourite part, but the alap is often inaccessible to others.
In Hindustani music, once the raga is established, the ornamentation around the mode begins to become rhythmical, gradually speeding up. This section is called the jor. After the jor climaxes, everything stops and the audiences applaud. Finally, the percussionist begins to play, interacting with the soloist, eventually reaching the spontaneous and competitive jhala section.
Carnatic raga elaborations are generally much faster in tempo and shorter. The opening piece is called a varnam, and is a warm-up for the musicians. A devotion and a request for a blessing follows, then a series of interchanges between ragams (unmetered melody) and thaalams (the ornamentation, equivalent to the jor). This is intermixed with hymns called krithis. This is followed by the pallavi or theme from the raga.
External links
- [The South Asian Women's Forum] has a collection of great articles on Indian Classical music with explanations and links to audio extracts from rare recordings.
- [Rajan P. Parrikar's articles on Hindustani ragas] at the SAWF site with thousands of audio clips.
- [Sound Of India, by Haresh Bakshi] Authoritative online reference for ragas with sound recordings of aarohas and avarohas of each raga, terms and a vast collection of articles.
- [Raga list] The Melakarta scheme with the aaroha and avarohas of over 250 ragas. The list has been compiled by Kumaran Santhanam.
- [400 pages about Indian classical music with mp3 music extract]
- [SwarGanga by Adwait Joshi] - Raagabase, Taalabase, Bandishbase; different music samples and articles on Indian classical music
- [vimoksha - Indian classical music and dance portal] - Information on Indian classical music and various forms of Indian classical dance.
- [Online Music Education] - portal discussing theories, practices and available resources on Indian Classical Music
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