Music of India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Music of India: Topics | |||||||||
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| Timeline and Samples | |||||||||
| Genres | Classical (Carnatic and Hindustani) - Rock - Pop - Hip hop | ||||||||
| Awards | Bollywood Music Awards - Punjabi Music Awards | ||||||||
| Charts | |||||||||
| Festivals | Sangeet Natak Akademi – Thyagaraja Aradhana – Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana | ||||||||
| Media | Sruti, The Music Magazine | ||||||||
| National anthem | "Jana Gana Mana", also national song "Vande Mataram" | ||||||||
| Music of the states | |||||||||
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands - Andhra Pradesh – Arunachal Pradesh – Assam – Bihar – Chhattisgarh – Goa – Gujarat – Haryana – Himachal Pradesh – Jammu – Jharkhand – Karnataka – Kashmir – Kerala – Madhya Pradesh – Maharashtra – Manipur – Meghalaya – Mizoram – Nagaland – Orissa – Punjab – Rajasthan – Sikkim – Tamil Nadu – Tripura – Uttar Pradesh – Uttaranchal – West Bengal | |||||||||
The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, and classical music. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and, developed over several eras, remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as sources of religious inspiration, cultural expression and pure entertainment. India is made up of several dozen ethnic groups, speaking their own languages and dialects. Alongside distinctly subcontinental forms there are major influences from Persian, Arabic and British music. Indian genres like filmi and bhangra have become popular throughout the United Kingdom, South and East Asia, and around the world.
Indian pop stars now sell records in many countries, while world music fans listen to the roots music of India's diverse nations. American soul, rock and hip hop have also made a large impact, primarily on Indian pop and filmi music. Other highly popular forms are ghazal, qawwali, thumri, dhrupad, dadra, bhajan, kirtan, shabad, and gurbani.
The earliest texts of Indian music are the Natya Shastra, Dattilam, Brihaddeshi, and the Sangita-Ratnakara.
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[edit] Pop music
The biggest form of Indian pop music is filmi, or songs from Indian musical films. Independent pop acts such as Alisha Chinai, Shaan, Sonu Nigam, KK, Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan and rock bands like Indus Creed, Indian Ocean, and Euphoria exist and have gained mass appeal with the advent of cable music television.
[edit] Film
Many languages are spoken in India, and there are film industries for each of the major languages (see Indian cinema). Film music is mostly used in commercial Indian cinema, which is mainly produced in the centres of Mumbai (Bollywood), Chennai, and Hyderabad. Indian films are best-known for their music and composers (music directors). In fact, most Indian people go to a movie not for the plot, but for the songs. Today's popular music director, A. R. Rahman, has made his contributions to film music in many Indian languages. Other contemporary music directors include the Shankar Mahadevan - Ehsan Noorani - Loy Mendonsa trio, Jatin Lalit, Himesh Reshammiya, Aadesh Srivastav, Ismail Darbar, and Anu Malik. Well-known music directors of the past include Ilaiyaraaja, M. S. Viswanathan, Naushad, Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, S D Burman, R.D. Burman, Rajesh Roshan, Shankar Jaikishan and Bappi Lahiri.
Most Indian films are musicals. The actors generally do not sing, but lip-synch to songs sung by such accomplished playback singers as Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mukesh, Manna Dey, K. L. Saigal, Yesudas, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Jayachandran, K. S. Chithra and Alka Yagnik.
The extremely popular Tamil filmi songs combine Indian classical music, with its sophisticated, melismatic vocals & traditional instruments, with catchy tunes and stylings from Western pop music. The novel experimentation (resulting in such mixes as "Indian hip hop") has been received well in India and continues to grow in popularity.
Binaca Geetmala was a very popular radio show presented by Ameen Sayani giving popularity ratings of Hindi film songs from Indian cinema on a weekly basis, listened to by millions of Hindi music lovers (akin to Billboard Hot 100 list of songs). It ran in various incarnations from 1952 to 1993. Annual lists of the most popular songs were played at year end. The list was compiled on the basis sales of records in India.[1] It was the most popular radio program before Satellite television took over in India sometime in 1990s. Currently, Hindi filmi songs are sold on tape & CD compilations, played as promos and in programs on various cable & satellite television channels and radio stations, with different popularity ratings claiming different songs as being on the top.
[edit] Western fusions
In the late 1980s and early 1970s, rock and roll fusions with Indian music were well-known throughout Europe and North America. Ali Akbar Khan's 1955 performance in the United States was perhaps the beginning of this trend, which was soon centred around Ravi Shankar.
In 1962, Shankar and Bud Shank, a jazz musician, released Improvisations and Theme From Pather Pachali and began fusing jazz with Indian traditions. Other jazz pioneers such as John Coltrane—who recorded a composition entitled 'India' during the November 1961 sessions for his album Live At The Village Vanguard (the track was not released until 1963 on Coltrane's album Impressions)—also embraced this fusion. George Harrison (of the Beatles) played the sitar, which he had learned from Shankar, on the song "Norwegian Wood" in 1965. Jazz innovator Miles Davis recorded and performed with musicians like Khalil Balakrishna, Bihari Sharma, and Badal Roy in his post-1968 electric ensembles. Other Western artists like the Grateful Dead, Incredible String Band, the Rolling Stones, the Move and Traffic soon incorporated Indian influences and instruments, and added Indian performers.
Guitarist (and former Miles Davis associate) John McLaughlin experimented with Indian music elements in his electric jazz-rock fusion group The Mahavishnu Orchestra, and pursued this with greater authenticity in the mid-1970s when he collaborated with L. Shankar, Zakir Hussain and others in the acoustic ensemble Shakti.
Though the Indian music craze soon died down among mainstream audiences, diehard fans and immigrants continued the fusion. In the late 1980s, Indian-British artists fused Indian and Western traditions to make the Asian Underground.
In the new millennium, American hip-hop has featured Indian Filmi and Bhangra. Mainstream hip-hop artists have sampled songs from Bollywood movies and have collaborated with Indian artists. Examples include Timbaland's "Indian Flute", Erick Sermon and Redman's "React", Slum Village's "Disco", and Truth Hurts' hit song "Addictive", which sampled a Lata Mangeshkar song. British-born Indian artist Panjabi MC also had a Bhangra hit in the U.S. with "Mundian To Bach Ke" which featured rapper Jay-Z. Asian Dub Foundation are not huge mainstream stars, but their politically-charged rap and punk rock influenced sound has a multi-racial audience in their native UK
[edit] Rock & Metal music
The rock music scene in India is extremely small when compared to filmi or fusion music scenes but has of recent years come into its own, achieving a cult status of sorts. Rock music in India has its origins in 1960's and 70's when international stars such as The Beatles visited India and brought their music with them. These artistes' collaboration with Indian musicians such as Ravi Shankar and Zakir Hussain have led to the development of Raga Rock. However Indian Rock Bands began to gain prominence only much later, around the late 1980's. It was around this time that the rock band Indus Creed formerly known as The Rock Machine got itself noticed on the international stage with hits like Rock N Roll Renegade. Other bands quickly followed. As of now, the rock music scene in India is quietly growing day by day and gathering more support. With the introduction of MTV in the early 1990's, Indians began to be exposed to various forms of rock such as grunge and speed metal. This influence can be clearly seen in many Indian bands today. The cities of Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore have emerged as major melting pots for rock and metal enthusiasts. Some prominent bands include Parikrama, Pentagram, Thermal and a Quarter, Zero and Nexus. The future looks encouraging thanks to entities such as DogmaTone Records, that are dedicated to promoting and supporting Indian Rock.
[edit] Folk music
The arrival of films and pop music weakened folk music's popularity, but cheaply recordable music has made it easier to find and helped revive the traditions. Folk music (desi) has been influential on classical music, which is viewed as a higher art form. Instruments and styles have had an effect on classical ragas. It is also not uncommon for major writers, saints and poets to have large musical libraries and traditions to their name, often sung in thumri (semi-classical) style.
[edit] Brass bands
Brass bands, descended from British traditions, are now very popular especially at weddings and other special occasions.
[edit] Bhangra
Bhangra is a form of dance-oriented folk music that has become a pop sensation in the United Kingdom and North America. The present musical style is derived from the traditional musical accompaniment to the folk dance of Punjab called by the same name, bhangra.
[edit] Lavani
Lavani is a popular folk form of Maharashtra. Traditionally, the songs are sung by female artistes, but male artistes may occasionally sing Lavanis. The dance format associated with Lavani is known as Tamasha.
[edit] Dandiya
Dandiya is a form of dance-oriented folk music that has also been adapted for pop music worldwide. The present musical style is derived from the traditional musical accompaniment to the folk dance of Dandiya called by the same name, dandiya.
[edit] Rajasthan
Rajasthani has a diverse collection of musician castes, including langas, sapera, bhopa, jogi and manganiyar. It is very cultural with diversity in it
[edit] Bauls
The Bauls of Bengal were a mystical order of musicians in 18th, 19th and early 20th century India who played a form of music using a khamak, ektara and dotara. The word Baul comes from Sanskrit batul meaning divinely inspired insanity. They are a group of mystic minstrels. They are thought to have been influenced greatly by the Hindu tantric sect of the Kartabhajas as well as by Sufi sects. Bauls travel in search of the internal ideal, Maner Manush (Man of the Heart).
[edit] Classical music
The two main traditions of classical music have been Carnatic music, found predominantly in the peninsular regions and Hindustani music, found in the northern and central parts. While both traditions claim Vedic origin, history indicates that the two traditions diverged from a common musical root since c. 13th century. For more, see Indian classical music, Hindustani music and Carnatic music.
[edit] Hindustani music
Hindustani music is an Indian classical music tradition that took shape in northern India circa the 13th and 14th centuries AD from existing religious, folk, and theatrical performance practices. The practice of singing based on notes was popular even from the Vedic times where the hymns in Sama Veda, a sacred text, was sung and not chanted. Developing a strong and diverse tradition over several centuries, it has contemporary traditions established primarily in India but also in Pakistan and Bangladesh. In contrast to Carnatic music, the other main Indian classical music tradition originating from the South, Hindustani music was not only influenced by ancient Hindu musical traditions, Vedic philosophy and native Indian sounds but also by the Persian performance practices of the Mughals.
[edit] Carnatic music
Carnatic music developed gradually from the ancient musical traditions of South India, upon which ancient Tamil music and Sama Veda had important influences.[2] The Yajur-Veda, which mainly consists of sacrificial formulæ, mentions the vīna as an accompaniment to vocal recitations during the sacrifices. The chants evolved into two main notes with two accents forming the first concept of the tetrachord (four notes). Three more notes were added to the original tetrachord resulting in the first full scale of seven notes. There is also a long tradition of music in ancient Tamil literature which had the system of paṇs, a precursor to the rāga system. From the thirteenth century Carnatic music began to evolve into its current form.
[edit] Rabindra Sangeet
A towering figure of Indian music was Rabindranath Tagore. Writing in Bengali, he created a library of over 2,000 songs now known by Bengalis as rabindra sangeet whose form is primarily influenced by Hindustani classical thumri style. Many singers in West Bengal proudly base their entire careers on the singing of Tagore musical masterpieces.
[edit] Qawwali
Qawwali is a Sufi form of devotional music based on the principles of Hindustani classical. It is performed with one or two lead singers, several chorus singers, harmonium, tabla, and dholak.
[edit] Further reading
- Manuel, Peter.. Thumri in Historical and Stylistic Perspectives. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1989..
- Manuel, Peter.. Cassette Culture: Popular Music and Technology in North India. University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN 0-226-50401-8.
- Maycock, Robert and Hunt, Ken. "How to Listen - a Routemap of India". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 63-69. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
- Hunt, Ken. "Ragas and Riches". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 70-78. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Reliving the Geetmala lore. S.K. Screen, Friday, September 22, 2000, transcript available online at [1], accessed online on 29 July 2006
- ^ Carnatic Music.
[edit] External links
- www.sangeetonline.org Indian Classical Music Society
- Music on stamps of India
- From the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Ethnomusicology Collection:
- Musical Instruments from India This page contains photographs of musical instruments from various regions in India as part of the Ethnomusicology Department’s international artists program.
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