Indian classical music
The origins of
Indian classical music, the
classical music of
India, can be found from the oldest of scriptures, part of the
Hindu tradition, the
Vedas.
Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes
music at length.
The two main streams of Indian classical music are:
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Hindustani music, from
North India, and
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Carnatic music (
Karnataka Sangeeth), from
South India.
The prime themes of Hindustani music are
Rasleela (Hindu
devotionals) of
Krishna and Nature in all its splendour. Pt.
Mallikarjun Mansur,
Bhimsen Joshi,
Ravi Shankar,
Lalmani Misra,
Hariprasad Chaurasia and
Zakir Hussain, Pandit
Shivkumar Sharma,
Ali Akbar Khan,
Imrat Khan,
Kishori Amonkar,
Satyasheel Deshpande,
Vilayat Khan are the arts' most popular living performers. Carnatic music is similar to Hindustani music in that it is mostly improvised, but it is much more influenced by theory and has stricter rules.It emphasizes the expertise of the voice rather than of the instruments. Primary themes include
Devi worship,
Rama worship, descriptions of temples and patriotic songs. Among the most popular living performers are
Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna,
T V Sankaranarayanan,
Madurai T N Seshagopalan and
Yesudas.
M. S. Subbulakshmi one of the greatest carnatic vocalists ever, died about a year ago. M L Vasanthakumari, G N Balasubramaniam, Dr.S Ramanathan ,
Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar,Vidwan. Gopala Pillai are famous musical legends who lived in the last century.
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.
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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.
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Rajan P. Parrikar's articles on Hindustani ragas at the SAWF site with thousands of audio clips.
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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.
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Raga list The
Melakarta scheme with the
aaroha and
avarohas of over 250 ragas. The list has been compiled by Kumaran Santhanam.
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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
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vimoksha - Indian classical music and dance portal - Information on Indian classical music and various forms of Indian classical dance.
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Online Music Education - portal discussing theories, practices and available resources on Indian Classical Music
