Indian music The history of India in terms of music can be regarded as one of the oldest in the world. Some of the experts claims the Indian music dates back to the times of Vedas. It doesn’t matters what time and age maybe associated with Indian music there is no doubt that music has been an important part of India’s cultural and traditional heritage. Indian music is basically the combination of vocal and instrumental music with great significance of dance. All these combine to form a Sangeet India’s music is based on the combination of vocal and instrumental music, along with dance. And these three combined is what is known as sangeet. Division of Indian music Indian music can be divided into three parts: Modern music Classical music Folk music Modern Indian music : Large collections of modern music are the songs from Indian cinema which makes up 72% of the music sales in the country. The modern music comprises: Pop Rock n mental music Dance music Indian hip-hop Classical music Instruments like Sitar, sarod, tabla, sarangi or dhrupad, khayal, ghazal or raga, tala, gharana are known by world today. They represent the musical art of India specially the Indian classical music. Indian classical music is based on two types of music further i.e. Classical music prevalent in north India The Carnatic music of south India Hindustani music: A significant amount of Persian influence can be observed in Hindustani music in terms of instruments. It has assimilated several folk tunes. Table players usually keep the rhythm which can be an indicator of time. A stringed tempura is also played in a steady tone to provide the point of reference . Carnatic music: This type of music tends to be more intense rhythmically and structured than other types of music. The instruments being typically used in Carnatic are: Venu gottuvadyam harmonium veena ghatan violin mridangam kanjira Folk music : Every area in India has its own form of popular songs with certain group of people. The rich traditions of songs popular with a certain group of people is very much alive in not just away from cities but also in some metros. Some instruments are being used in crude form like dholak or daf, same alike sitar is being used as dotar, sringdar or rabab. Most of the folk songs in India are dance oriented and many popular dance like dandiya, lavani, garba etc. are dance along the tune of folk music. The 8 classical dance styles of India Some of the classical Indian dances are: 1- KATHAKALI Kathakali is one of the oldest theater forms in the world. It started in the area of southwestern India now known as the state of Kerala. Kathakali is a group presentation in which dancers take different roles in performance usually based on themes from Hindi old stories. The dancers wear large head dresses and the different colours of the face are extended with molded lime. The amazing costumes and makeup change the audience to a world of wonders. Each character has different makeup according to their nature of role. INSTRUMENTS USE IN KATHAKALI Chenda, Maddalam, Cymbals and Ela taalam 2- MOHINIATTYAM The dance form of mohiniattyam was fed and cared for in the India of Kerala in southwest India the name mohiniattyam literally means “dance of dangerously attractive women” and it does have a fascinating quality. The white and gold costume, the hairstyle and the highly beautiful movements in medium tempo bring out the beauty related effects. Mohiniattyam is seen as swaying movements of the upper body with legs (placed in a way of thinking)almost the same as the pile position. The eyes play an important role in the direction of the movement I NSTRUMENTS USE IN MOHINIATTYAM Chenda, Maddalam, Cymbals and Ela taal 3- SATTRIYA Sattras are the Vaishnava (the place where religious people live by themselves) in Assam. The saint poet Shankar deva of the 15th century AD started this institution to bring harmony to the area of Assam through religion, creating forms of dance-dramas, music, painting and total (of everything or everyone) prayer. The dance forms which have come to stay are called sattriya dancers. Their dresses are made of pat, type of silk produce in assa, woven with detailed local repeating ideas. The decorations too are based on traditional assamese designs INSTRUMENTS USE IN SATTRIYA: Violin, cymbals and Khol (Drum). 4- ODISSI Odissi has originated from very old northern India. The name odissi refers to the dance style of the state of Orissa in eastern India. Like other classical arts of India odissi also face problems to survive and by 1930s and 40s there were very few surviving professional or skilled people of the art. Like other Indian classical dance forms odissi has two major parts: nritta or non (related to showing things as they really are) dance, in which pretty pattern are created using body movements in space and time and facial expressions are used to explain a story or theme INSTRUMENTS USE IN ODISSI Pakwaj, table, harmonium, flute and cymbals. 5- MANIPURI Manipuri is one of the most beautiful dance styles of India. Fed and cared for in the huge/mountain area of the north east, it takes its name from the place Manipur which is now a state. Manipuri dance is a part of the rituals of daily life such as weddings and respectful and honor filled message to relatives or the things that existed long , long ago. This dance has expanded and gained popularity as a performing art in group and solo presentations. INSTRUMENTS USED IN MANIPURI Pung and cymbals 6- Kathak This dance form origin from the groups of poets of very old northern India, known as kathaks or storytellers. These poets, performing in village squares and temples remembering and telling moral stories from holy written works. They use to perform those stories with hand movements and facial expressions. It is a high class theatre, using instrumental and vocal musicalong with pretty movements and actions to narrate stories. Its dramatic and steady drumbeat footwork’s delight the audience with their mastery over rhythms INSTRUMENTS USED IN KATHAK Harmonium, sarengi, table and talam etc. 7- KUCHIPUDI Kuchipudi is one of the well-known classical Indian dance form from Andhra Pradesh, India. The name kuchipudi has originated from the village “Kuchelapuram” with residents Brahmins practicing this traditional dance for at Andhra Pradesh. The movements in kuchipudi are compared to something else faster than other Indian classical dance form and pretty, rounded and fleet-footed. They performed to not only classical Carnatic music also Hindustani classic music. INSTRUMENTS USE IN KUCHIPUDI Mridangam, Violin, Veena, Flute and Talam (Nattuvangam/ cymbals).