Tansen
|
Tansen's tomb in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India |
Tansen (1506–1589) was a North
Indian musician, believed to be the greatest of all time. He was instrumental in creating the
classical style of North Indian music as we know it today. Tansen was one of the
Navaratnas (nine jewels) at the court of the
Mughal Emperor
Akbar.
Tansen was born in a
Hindu family in
Gwalior. His father, Mukund Misra, was a poet. He learned music from
Haridas Swami, a legendary teacher of the time; not much more is known of Tansen's life. He served as the court musician to King Ramachandra of
Mewa and later to Emperor Akbar as one of the treasured Navaratnas (nine jewels) of the court. It was Akbar who gave him the title Miyan, and he is usually referred to today as Miyan Tansen.
Miyan Tansen accepted Islam at the hands of the great Sufi mystic and saint â€" Shaykh Muhammad Ghaus of Gwalior who was also his teacher and spiritual guide. He lies buried in the mausoleum complex of this great Shaykh of Gwalior.
It was believed that Tansen made miracles such as bringing rain and fire through singing the
ragas Megh Malhar and Deepak, respectively. He composed several ragas that have been cornerstones in the repertoire ever since, such as Darbari Kanada, Miyan ki Todi, Miyan ki Malhar, and Miyan ki Sarang. Almost every
gharana (school) tries to trace its origin to him, though some try to go further back to
Amir Khusro himself. However, it is likely that Tansen and his guru Swami Haridas really started the
Dhrupad style of singing. His
Sangeeta Sara and
Rajmala are important documents on music.
Tansen had a son and a daughter,
Bilas Khan and
Saraswati Devi, both musicians â€" Saraswati Devi was a famous dhrupad singer, and Bilas Khan created raga Bilaskhani Todi. In fact, Tansen's blood descendants held sway for hundreds of years as a most formidable force â€" the Senia gharana â€" on the North Indian music scene. The last of the line, Dr Dabir Khan, was born in 1905 and died in 1972. He was a dhrupadiya and a
beenkar, working for Radio Calcutta. He came from Saraswati Devi's side of the family.
While Megh Malhar is still in the mainstream repertoire, Deepak has pretty much died out. There are three different variants, of the Bilawal, Poorvi and Khamaj
thats, and it is not known which, if any, corresponds to the Deepak of Tansen's time. Of course, there is a popular myth that it disappeared because it brings fire, and was therefore too dangerous to sing...
The Dagar family of
dhrupad singers believe themselves to be the direct descendants of not Tansen but his guru, Haradas Swami.
It is said that Bilas improvised the raga (it differs only in detail from his father's Todi), grief-stricken, at a wake, where Tansen's corpse moved one hand in approval of the new melody.
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