INDIAN MUSIC Introduction Music in Indian subcontinent is the refl ection of the diverse elements — racial, linguistic and cultural. It plays a vital role in the religious, social and artistic life of the heterogeneous population of the country. The oldest music, which possessed a grammar was the vedic. Of course, the Rig-Veda is said to be the oldest: nearly 5000 years old. The psalms of the Rig-Veda were called the richas. The Yajur Veda was also a religious chant. Natya Shastra of Bharata is another important landmark in the history of Indian music. It is supposed to have been written sometime between the 2nd century B.C. and the 2nd century A.D. Some scholars are even doubtful whether it is the work of one author and the work might well have been a compendium - at least, the version which is available to us. The Natya Shastra is a comprehensive work mainly dealing with dramaturgy. But a few chapters of this deal with music. Therein information on scales, melodic forms, tala and musical instruments are present. It remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as sources of spiritual inspiration, cultural expression and pure entertainment. Today there are two systems of classical music: the Hindustani and the Carnatic. Carnatic music is confi ned to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The classical music of the rest of the country goes under the name, Hindustani Classical Music. Of course, there are some areas in Karnataka and Andhra where the Hindustani Classical system is also practiced. Karnataka has given us in the recent past some very distinguished musicians of the Hindustani style. Hindustani Music Hindustani Sangeet is usually considered to be a mixture of traditional Hindu musical concepts and Persian performance practice. Hindustani music is based on the raga system. Formal compositions (songs or instrumental compositions in a fi xed meter) are juxtaposed with the improvised portion. Khyal and Dhrupad are two major types of compositions within the Hindustani genre. There are many musical instruments that are associated with Hindustani sangeet. The most famous are the tabla and sitar. Other less well known instruments are the sarangi, santur, and the sarod. North Indian Music off ers a variety of forms of music like the Dhrupad, Khayal (classical North Indian music), Thumri (emotional music), Qawwali (songs from the Pakistani sufi ’s), and Ghazal (Panjabi romantic music). Gharanas of Hindustani Music In Hindustani music, a gharana is a system of social organization linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and by adherence to a particular musical style. A gharana also indicates a comprehensive musicological ideology. This ideology sometimes changes substantially from one gharana to another. www.10pointer.com 120 DAYS PLANNER IAS 2021 | DAY 29: ART & CULTURE | 1 Types of Hindustani Music and its meaning Dhrupad Effort from vocal chords and lungs Dhamar Play of Krishna during Holi Khayal Delicate, romantic and based on imagination. Thumri Romantic religious literature Tappa Quick turn of phase Bhajan Religious devotional songs Tarana Syllables stung together to set a rhythm Sabadas Sikh religious songs Qawali Indo- Muslim repertories of songs in groups. Ghazal Independent couplets on love and devotion Carnatic Music Carnatic sangeet (karnatik sangit), is the South Indian system of classical music. It has a rich history and a very sophisticated system of theory. Carnatic Sangeet is found in the South Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. Purandardas is considered as the father of Carnatic Music Carnatic music acquired its present form in the 18th century under the “trinity” of Carnatic music, Thyagaraja, Shamashastri, and Muthuswami Dikshitar composed their famous songs. It is also based upon a system of ragam (rag) and thalam (tal). There are a number of musical instruments used in South Indian classical music. The most common ones are the veena (vina), violin, mridangam, nadaswaram, and the tavil. The dominant element of Karnatic music is the ‘Kriti’; a form of composition with three parts. Similarities & Diff erences between ‘Hindustani’ & ‘Carnatic’ Music Both the styles are monophonic, follow a melodic line and employ a drone (tanpura) with the help of one or two notes against the melody. Both the styles use defi nite scales to defi ne a raga but the Carnatic Style employs Shrutis or semi- tones to create a Raga and thus have many more Ragas than the Hindustani style. Carnatic ragas diff er from Hindustani ragas. The names of ragas are also diff erent. However, there are some ragas which have the same scale as Hindustani ragas but have diff erent names; such as Hindolam and Malkauns, Shankarabharanam and Bilawal. There is a third category of ragas like Hamsadhwani, Charukeshi, Kalavati etc. which are essentially Carnatic Ragas. They share the same name, the same scale (same set of notes) but can be rendered in the two distinctively diff erent Carnatic and Hindustani styles. Unlike Hindustani music, Carnatic music does not adhere to Time or Samay concepts and instead of Thaats, Carnatic music follows the Melakarta concept ********** 2 120 DAYS PLANNER IAS 2021 | DAY 29: ART & CULTURE | www.10pointer.com MUSICAL INSTRUMENT String Instruments The string instruments produce sound from vibrating strings. In most string instruments, the vibrations are transmitted to the body of the instrument, which also vibrates, along with the air inside it. The string instruments vary in size, shape and number of playing strings used. All these string instruments were classifi ed as: By friction with a bow like the violin, sarangi, dilruba, esraj, etc. (Ravanastram is one of the earliest known bowed instrument) By plucking the string like the veena, rudra veena, gotuvadyam, sitar, sarod, guitar, mandolin, harp, (tambura, ektar -drone instruments) etc. By striking with a hammer or a pair of sticks like gettuvadyam, swaramandala Wind Instruments A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube), in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifi cations of the eff ective length of the vibrating column of air. This section comprises hollow instruments where wind is the producer of sound. These can be further classifi ed by mode of playing: Those where wind is supplied by some mechanical means, commonly bellows - e.g. organ, harmonium Those where the wind is supplied by the breath of the performer, which can be further classifi ed as mouth blown & nose blown. Percussion Instruments (Avanaddya Vadya) Avanaddya means “to be covered”, therefore, an instrument wherein a vessel or a frame is covered with leather is an Avanaddha Vadya. They are of drum species. These instruments are used for keeping rhythm and also time, that covers in a performance of music and dance of any country. It is believed that all varieties of drums are originated from the sound evolved from damru played by Siva. Siva is also considered to be the originator of the species of drum. According to the making and playing technique, the percussion instruments are divided such as: Played with stroke of fi ngers such as Khanjira, Duff , Dimdi Played with stroke of a stick such as Dhol, Sambal, Nagada Played with the palms of both the hands, such as Pakhawaj, Mridangam, www.10pointer.com 120 DAYS PLANNER IAS 2021 | DAY 29: ART & CULTURE | 3 Played with a thread attached at the middle portion with holding at centre point, such as Damroo. Played with palms as well as fi ngers, such as Tabla, Dholki, Dholak. Solid Instruments (Ghana Vadyas) The instruments of this group are usually played with a striker or hammer. Ghana Vadyas are not capable of producing defi nite pitches that are required for creating a melody. That is why there use is limited in classical music. These instruments are further classifi ed in 3 groups. They are as follows: Played with contact, such as Chipli, Taal Played with a stick or hammer, such as JalTarang, Kaashtha Tarang, Ghanta Played with rotation or free movement, such as Ghunghroo, Ghantika, Rattle, Kabas, etc. ********** 4 120 DAYS PLANNER IAS 2021 | DAY 29: ART & CULTURE | www.10pointer.com CLASSICAL FORMS OF DANCE Introduction In India, the art of dancing may be traced back to the Harappan culture. The discovery of the bronze statue of a dancing girl testifi es to the fact that some women in Harappa performed dances. In traditional Indian culture the function of dance was to give symbolic expression to religious ideas. The fi gure of Lord Shiva as Nataraja represents the creation and destruction of the cosmic cycle. Indian classical dance denotes codifi ed art forms rooted in Natya, the sacred Hindu musical theatre styles. The term “classical” (“Shastriya”) was introduced by Sangeet Natak Akademi to denote the Natya Shastra- based performing art styles. A very important feature of Indian classical dances is the use of the mudra or hand gestures by the artists as a short-hand sign language to narrate a story and to demonstrate certain concepts such as objects, weather, nature and emotion. Many classical dances include facial expressions as an integral part of the dance form. Bharata Natyam Bharata Natyam is the classical dance from Tamil Nadu. It traces its origins back to the Natyashastra, an ancient treatise on theatre written by the mythic priest Bharata. The Abhinaya Darpana by Nandikesvara is one of the main sources of textual material, for the study of the technique and grammar of body movement in Bharatnatyam Dance. It was practised by Devadasis, who performed music and dance as an off ering to the deities, in the temple courtyard.