NORTH INDIAN MUSIC

MUSIC

HINDUSTANI MUSIC

The usual interpretation states that the Hindustani sys­tem may be thought of as a mix­ture of trad­itional Hindu mus­ical con­cepts and Persian performance practice.  The advent of Islamic rule over nor­thern India caused the music­ians to seek pat­ron­age in the courts of the new rulers.  These rulers, often of for­eign extraction, had strong cul­tural and re­li­gious sentiments focused outside of India; yet they lived in, and ad­mi­ni­stered king­doms which retained their trad­itional Hindu cul­ture.  Several centu­ries of this arrangement caused the Hindu music to absorb mus­ical influences from the Islamic world, primarily greater Persia.

Although this is the usual view, there are rea­sons to think that this is an over-simplification.  This view gives excessive weight to the re­li­gious differences bet­ween the Hindus of South Asia and the Muslims of the greater Persian em­pire (present day Iran, Afghanistan, and por­tions of the former Soviet Union.)  At the same time it ignores long standing linguistic, eco­nomic, and cul­tural ties which existed bet­ween the areas of pres­ent day nor­thern In­dian and the greater Persian world.

There are a num­ber of mus­ical in­stru­ments that we associate with Hindustani sangeet.  The most fa­mous is the sitar and tabla. Other less well known in­stru­ments are the sarod and sarangi and a host of others.

Some of the major vocal forms associated with Hindustani Sangeet are the kheyal,ghazi,thumri.  Other styles which are also impor­tant are the dhruppad and dhammar.

GEET:

The geet may, or may not be con­si­dered a distinct style of song.  The word "geet" ac­tually means "song".  How­ever, there is a tendency to use the term for many of the lighter styles which do not fit the rigid classification of the more classical forms.  The geet need not be based upon a rag.  It is us­ually set to the lighter tals.

 The bhajan has a special place in In­dian so­ciety.  Most bhajans were writ­ten bet­ween the 14th through 17th centu­ries.  They are simple songs sung in the praise of God.  Complex spiritual truths are por­trayed in the simple language of the farmers, merchants, and other com­mon peo­ple of the time.

BHAJAN

Bhajan is an impor­tant part of a Hindu revival­ist move­ment which swept through India du­ring the Mogul period; this move­ment was known as the Bhakti move­ment.  The crux of this move­ment was simple; spiritual sal­vation was attain­able to any­one who had a pure and selfless love of God.  This sal­vation was not pre­dicated upon formalised  yagnas, pujas, know­ledge of Sanskrit, or any of the char­acter­is­tics of the older forms of Hinduism.  This was a spiritual empower­ment of the masses.

FOLK MUSIC

India has a very rich trad­ition of folk music.  The ext­reme cul­tural diversity creates endless varieties of folk styles.  Each region has its own par­ti­cu­lar style.

There is a tendency to lump folk music along with tribal music.  There is ac­tually a difference.  Where folk music is a mere rustic ref­lec­tion of the larger In­dian so­ciety, tribal music often re­pre­sents cul­tures that are very dif­fer­ent.  Some of these tribal cul­tures are throwbacks to cul­tural con­di­tions as they were thousands of years ago.

DONE BY 

ARCHITA. T. MENON