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Information of interest to the student and lover of Indian music

Indian Classical Music

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QUICK NAVIGATION
The Rag (Raga) – Theoretical discussion of the melodic form var­iously
known as rag, raag, or raga
Index of Rags – Index of descriptions of a num­ber of com­mon North In­dian
rags
The Tal (Tala) – Theoretical discussion of the North In­dian system of
rhythm known variously as Tal, Taal, Tala, or Taala
Index of Tals – Common rhyt­hmic patterns
Rhythmic Forms – The various rhythmic forms in North Indian Music
Film Songs (by rag) – North In­dian classical rags as they appear in pop­ular
films
Film Songs (by tal) – North In­dian classical tals as they appear in pop­ular
films
Notation – The North In­dian ap­proaches to mus­ical notation
Drones – The importance and function of the drone in Indian classical
 music
Modes & Scales – Modes and Scales in Indian Music.

Introduction
India has two systems of classical music. There is the Hindustani Sangeet of
the north and the Carnatic Sangeet of the south.

What Is a Classical Music?

A population is told that a particular music is “classical”, and no one ever
questions this. However, if one looks very carefully, there are specific
characteristics which make an art-form classical. Curiously, none of them are
actually musical.

ANTIQUITY – Both Hindustani Sangeet and Carnatic Sangeet can claim a

significant antiquity.

Although Indian classical music has a tradition of antiquity, it is not to the

extent that is commonly believed. The imagined connection to the period of
the Natya Shastra is purely that, imaginary. Any attempt to trace from
contemporary forms to this ancient musical treatise, will be faced with so
many gaps that there is no way to justify this commonly held view.

Never-the-less, both Hindustani Sangeet and Carnatic Sangeet can trace

their linage back several centuries. This clearly fulfils this requirement.

CLASS ASSOCIATION – Societies divide themselves into upper and lower

classes. Classical art-forms ally themselves with the upper classes. Both
Hindustani and Carnatic Sangeet fulfil this requirement.

CULTURAL TRANSCENDENCE – There is a tendency for the upper classes to

form an umbrella over a multitude of smaller folk traditions. For instance the
upper classes of South India have more in common with each other, than to
the villagers of the same locality. In ta similar manner, the aristocracy of the
pre-independence principalities of North India had more of a connection with
each other, than to the common people of their realm.
This is reflected in the classical music. In the North, a classical musician could
move with easy to perform in Calcutta, Delhi, or Lahore. The same could not
be said for folk musicians from these areas

FORMALISATION – For an art-form to be considered to be classical, it has to

be highly formalised. Both the Hindustani and the Carnatic Sangeets fulfil this
requirement. They both have well developed theoretical foundations, and
highly demanding systems of pedagogy.

Relationship Between Hindustani and

Carnatic Sangeet
The rea­sons for the dif­fer­entiation bet­ween North, and South In­dian music is
not clear. The gen­erally held belief is that North In­dian music evolved along
dif­fer­ent lines due to an in­crea­sed exposure to the Islamic world. This re­sults
from nearly 800 years of Islamic rule over nor­thern India.

Unfortunately, evidence sug­gests that this an­swer is a gross over-

simplification. For insta­nce, Kerala has an ext­remely large Muslim popu­la­-
tion, but vir­tually no identi­fication with north In­dian music. By the same
token, the Islamic influence over Orissa was negligible, yet the ar­tis­tic forms
are clearly identi­fiable as Hindustani. Although there is a poor cor­relation
bet­ween the geo­graphical distribution of Hindus / Muslims and the two mus­-
ical sys­tems; there is an al­most exact cor­relation bet­ween the Indo-
European/Dravidian cul­tures and the two mus­ical sys­tems.

Therefore, we come to the po­li­ti­cally uncomfort­able, yet inescap­able con­-

clusion that the differences bet­ween North and South In­dian music does not
re­pre­sent a dif­fer­entiation caused by Islamic influence, but instead re­pre­-
sents a continuation of fun­da­men­tal cul­tural differences.

Selected Video
Other Sites of Interest
Deep Learning Long Short-Term Memory based Automatic Music
Transcription System for Carnatic Music

A brief history of Carnatic Music

Bharathiyar's Passion for Carnatic Music and Folk Music

Kerala and Carnatic Music

A Deep Learning Based Approach for Janya Raga Classification in Carnatic
Music

Causal Analysis of Carnatic Music Compositions

Hindustani Classical Music and Education: ‘Tradition’, Values, and Identity in

post-1991 India

The Sikh Gurmat sangīt revival in post-partition India

The Intermediate Sphere in North Indian Music Culture: Between and

Beyond ‘Folk’ and ‘Classical’

Tracking the Harmonium from Christian Missionary Hymns to Sikh Kirtan

The Renaissance of Sikh Devotional Music Memory, Identity, Orthopraxy

Songs to the Jinas and of the Gurus: historical comparisons between Jain and
Sikh devotional music

The introduction and use of the harmonium in North Indian classical music

Cultural background of India

The Evolution of Modern Thumri

North Indian Classical Music and the West: The Journey from the Realm of
Multicultural to Transcultural

The lyrics of Thumri: Hindi poetry in a musical genre.

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