Hindustani Sangeet

What defines it

1. 01

   Dhrupad, khayal, thumri, tappa, tarana

2. 02

   Tabla and pakhawaj keep the tala

3. 03

   Ten thaats and time-of-day ragas

4. 04

   Gharanas, lineages of style

01Gwalior and Vrindavan

Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior gathered singers, shaped dhrupad in the language of the people, and had the Mankutuhal written on its ragas. Swami Haridas sang to Banke Bihari in Vrindavan; tradition makes him Tansen’s guru. Tansen sang at the court of Raja Ramchandra of Rewa before Akbar called him to Agra. The Ashtachhap poets of Pushtimarg, Surdas among them, set their padas to raga for the seva of Shrinathji, a temple music still sung as haveli sangeet at Nathdwara.

02Forms and the concert

A khayal recital begins with a slow alap, moves into a bada khayal in vilambit laya, then a quick chhota khayal with taans. Thumri and dadra take the lighter, Krishna-filled poetry of Braj and Awadh. The tabla keeps tala in cycles such as teentaal of 16 beats and ektaal of 12, and the sam, the first beat, is where singer and drummer meet. Sitar, sarod, bansuri and shehnai carry the same ragas on instruments.

03Revival and the great names

When the princely courts faded, two Maharashtrians took music to the public. Vishnu Digambar Paluskar opened the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya at Lahore in 1901 and taught bhajans like Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram in raga; Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande wrote down thousands of compositions and founded music colleges. The 20th century gave Bhimsen Joshi, Kumar Gandharva, Kishori Amonkar, Gangubai Hangal, Ravi Shankar and Bismillah Khan. Go to the Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav in Pune each December, or the Tansen Samaroh at his tomb in Gwalior.

Great masters

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