Agra gharana

Agra Gharana is a tradition of Hindustani classical vocal music descended from the Nauhar Bani. So far, Nauhar Bani has been traced back to around 1300 AD, during the reign of Emperor Allauddin Khilji of Delhi.

The first known musician of this tradition is Nayak Gopal. The style prevalent then in the Gharana was “Dhrupad-Dhamar”. Ustad Ghagghe Khudabuksh (1790-1880 AD) introduced the “Khayal” style of Gwalior Gharana into Agra gharana which Khudabaksh learnt from Natthan Paribaksh of Gwalior. Furthermore the Khayal style of Atrauli Gharana was added in the late 19th century.

Distinguishing characteristics

The gayaki of the Agra Gharana is a blend of khayal gayaki and Dhrupad - Dhamar. In training, both the khayal and dhrupad components run hand in hand and are not taught in an isolated fashion. This is obvious from the svaroccara (The method of singing notes) of the Agra Gharana which demands that the projection of voice be more forceful and voluminous than encountered in khayal gayaki.The svarocarra of the gharana also hints the reminiscent of Dhrupad in which swaras are uttered open and bare (without grace notes).

Most khayal performances by artists of Agra gharana commence with the nom - tom alaap, a tradition unique to the Agra gharana. Different facets of a raga are displayed with the help of bandish or cija while the raga is liberated using vistaar. The use of bandish or cija for performing a raga is ubiquitous in all Hindustani classical music gharanas but cija or bandish occupy a special position in the teaching methodology of the Agra Gharana.

This is the only Gharana that has still continued to sing Dhrupad-Dhamar along with Nom-Tom Alap, Khayal, Thumri, Tappa, Tarana, Hori, Dadra, Ghazal, Kaul, Rasiya etc.

Some prominent exponents

• Ut. Ghagghe Khudhabaksh
• Ut. Mehboob Khan "Daras Piya"
• Ut. Kale Khan "Saras Piya"
• Ut. Ghulam Abbas Khan-"Sabrang"
• Ut. Natthan Khan
• Ut. Tassaduq Hussain Khan "Vinodpiya"
• Ut. Faiyaz Khan (1880–1950) "Prempiya"
• Ut. Atta Hussain Khan "Ratan Piya"
• Ut. Vilayat Hussain Khan "Pran Piya"
• Ut. Khadim Hussain Khan "Sajan Piya"
• Ut. Latafat Hussain Khan "Prem Das"
• Ut. Sharafat Hussain Khan "Prem Rang"
• Ut. Anwar Hussain Khan
• Ud Basheer Ahmed Khan
• Ud. Akeel Ahmed Khan
• Ud Shabeer Ahmed Khan
• Ud Naseem Ahmed Khan
• Ud Waseem Ahmed Khan
• Ud Shafi Ahmed Khan
• Ut. Azmat Hussain Khan "Dil Rang"
• Pt. Madhusudan Joshi of Baroda (seniormost disciple of Ut. Atta Hussain Khan)
• Pt. Shrikrishna Babanrao Haldankar "Raspiya" (b. 1927) ^[1]
• Pt. Arun Kashalkar "Rasdas"
• Ustad Yunus Hussain Khan "Darpan"
• Zohrabai (1868–1913)
• Ut.Yashpaul "Sagun Piya"
• Pt. Ramarao Naik
• Pt. Harish Chander Bali
• Pt. Jagannathbua Purohit-Gunidas
• Mardav Sangeetgya Prof. Satya Dev Sharma Jalandhar Wale Disciple of Pt.Harish Chander Bali
• Smt.Lalith J. Rao
• Ut. Asad Ali Khan - migrated to Pakistan
• Pt. Vijay Kichlu
• Pt. Shrikrishna Narayan Ratanjankar
• Pt. S. C. R.Bhatt
• Pt. K. G. Ginde
• Pt. M R Gautam
• Pt. Chidanand Nagarkar-"Chit Aanand"
• Pt. Dinkar Kaikini "Din Rang"
• Smt. Sumati Mutatkar
• Smt Shrimatibai Narvekar
• Smt. Manik Verma
• Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki
• Moni Babu (Manindralal Sengupta) ^[2]
• Ut. Ghulam Hasnain Khan alias "Rajamiyan"
• Pt. Dhruv Tara joshi"Prem Rang" and "Rasikpiya"
• Pt. Ratnakant Ramnathkar "Premrang"
• Smt. Vrinda Mundkur
• Subhra Guha

Bibliography

• Bonnie C. Wade (1984). "Agra gharana". Khyāl: Creativity Within North India's Classical Music Tradition. CUP Archive. pp. 101–129. ISBN 978-0-521-25659-9. 
• Babanrao Haldankar; Tr. from the Marathi by Padmaja Punde (2001). Aesthetics of Agra and Jaipur Traditions. Popular Prakashan. ISBN 978-81-7154-685-5.  Cite uses deprecated parameters (help)
• Tapasi Ghosh (2008). Pran Piya Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan: His Life and Contribution to the World of Music. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN 978-81-269-0855-4. 

References

External links

• Agra gharana ITC Sangeet Research Academy