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What is a Ghazal

Ghazal is an originally Persian form of poetry. In the Indian sub-continent, Ghazal became the most common form of poetry in the Urdu language and was popularized by classical poets like Mir Taqi Mir,Ghalib, Zauq and Sauda amongst the North Indian literary elite. Vocal music set to this mode of poetry is popular with multiple variations across Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Turkey, India, Bangladeshand Pakistan. Ghazal exists in multiple variations, including folk and pop forms

What is a Thumri

Thumri is a semiclassical vocal form said to have begun with the court of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, 1847-1856. There are three types of thumri: Punjabi, Lucknavi and Poorab ang thumri. The lyrics are typically in a proto-Hindi language called Braj bhasha and are usually romantic.

Some prominent recent performers of this genre are Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Begum Akhtar, Girija Devi, Siddheshwari Devi, and Shobha Gurtu.

What is Tarana

Another vocal form, Tarana are medium-to-fast paced songs that are used to convey a mood of elation and are usually performed towards the end of a concert. They consist of a few lines of poetry with rhythmic syllables or bols set to a tune. The singer uses these few lines as a basis for fast improvisation. In some sense the tarana can be compared to the Tillana of Carnatic music, although the latter is primarily associated with dance.

What is Khayal

Main article: Khayal

Khayal is a form of vocal music in Hindustani music, adopted from medieval Persian music and based on Dhrupad music. Khayal, literally meaning "thought" or "imagination" in Hindi/Urdu originally from Arabic, Khyal, is special as it is based on improvising and expressing emotion. A Khayal is a 2 to 8 lined lyric set to tune. The lyric is of an emotional account possibly from poetic observation. Khayals are also more popularly depicting emotional significance between two lovers, a situation evoking intense feeling, or situations of ethological significance in Hinduism and Islam.

Th importance of the Khayal's content is for the singer to depict, through music in the set raga, the emotional significance of the Khayal. The singer improvises and finds inspiration within the raga to depict the Khayal.

The origination of Khayal is controversial, yet it is accepted that this style was based on Dhrupad gayaki and influenced by Persian music. Many argue that Amir Khusrau created the style in the late 16th century. This form was popularized by Mughal Emperor Mohammad Shah, through his court musicians. Some well-known composers of this period were Sadarang, Adarang, and Manrang.

   "Kaisku Marwa Jaayal Hamaraa    More darawa nayan ghar kan warahe,        Mohammad Shah ke Sadarangile,    Prem Piya la Chapate Apne,    Huntara Tana Mana Waarune"             - Mohammad Shah 

This Khayal bandish in raga Bibhas was popularized by D.V. Paluskar. It is interesting how this bandish mentions three names — Mohammad Shah, Sadarang, and Prem Piya.

Later performers include D. V. Paluskar, Satyakinkar Bandyopadhyay, Gyan Gosain, Amir Khan, Faiyaz Khan, Vinayak Rao Patwardhan, Pt. Shankar Rao Vyas, Narayanrao Vyas, Nazakat Ali and Salamat Ali Khan, Eknath Sarolkar, Kashinath Pant Marathe, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Smt. Kesarbai Kerkar, Mogubai Kurdikar, Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, Balabhau Umdekar Kundalguru, Gajananrao Joshi, S.N.Ratanjankar, Ram Marathe, Ratnakar Pai, Kumar Gandharva, Jitendra Abhisheki, A. Kanan, Basavaraj Rajaguru and Mallikarjun Mansur.

Some of the present day vocalists are Manas Chakraborty, Rashid Khan, Pandit Jasraj, Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal, Yeshwantbua Joshi, Balasahab Poochwale, Girija Devi, Kishori Amonkar,Satyasheel Deshpande, Ustad Iqbal Ahmad Khan, Ishwarchandra Karkare, Rajshekhar Mansur, Ulhas Kashalkar, Shubhada Paradkar, Arun Bhaduri, Malini Rajurkar, Purnima Sen, Ajoy Chakrabarty,Prabakar Karekar, Alka Deo Marulkar, Sanjeev Abhyankar, Shruti Sadolikar, Ashwini Bhide, Padma Talwalkar, Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar, Chandrashekar Swami, Venkatesh Kumar, Mashkoor Ali Khan,Subhra Guha, Sulekha Bhat, Parameshwar Hegde, Indrani Choudhury, Ganapathi Bhatt, Madhav Gudi, Bhawani Angiras, Smt. Shashwati Mandal Paul, Dr.Tapasi Ghosh, Nagaraj Rao Havaldar,Somanath Mardoor, Panchakshariswamy Mattigatti, Shivanand Patil, Raghunandan Panshikar, Manjiri Asanare-Kelkar, Srivani Jade and Sanjeev Chimmalgi.

What is Dhrupad

Main article: Dhrupad

Dhrupad is an old style of singing, traditionally performed by male singers. It is performed with a tanpura and a Pakhawaj as instrumental accompaniments. The lyrics, which sometimes were in Sanskrit centuries ago, are presently often sung in Brajbhasha, a medieval form of Hindi that was spoken in the Mathura area. The Rudra Veena, an ancient string instrument, is used in instrumental music in the style of Dhrupad.

Dhrupad music is primarily devotional in theme and content. It contains recitals in praise of particular deities. Dhrupad compositions begin with a relatively long and acyclic Alap, where the syllables of the following mantra is recited:

"Om Anant tam Taran Tarini Twam Hari Om Narayan, Anant Hari Om Narayan".

The alap gradually unfolds into more rhythmic Jod and Jhala sections. This is followed by a rendition of Bandish, with the pakhawaj as an accompaniment. The great Indian musician Tansen sang in the Dhrupad style. A lighter form of Dhrupad, called Dhamar, is sung primarily during the festival of Holi.

Dhrupad was the main form of northern Indian classical music until two centuries ago, but has since then given way to the somewhat less austere, khyal, a more free-form style of singing. Since losing its main patrons among the royalty in Indian princely states, Dhrupad ran the risk of becoming extinct in the first half of the twentieth century. Fortunately, the efforts by a few proponents from the Dagarfamily have led to its revival and eventual popularization in India and in the West.

Some of the best known vocalists who sing in the Dhrupad style are the members of the Dagar, Bishnupur lineage, including the late Senior Dagar brothers, i.e. Us. Nasir Moinuddin Dagar and Us. Nasir Aminuddin Dagar, the late Junior Dagar brothers, i.e. Us. Nasir Zahiruddin and Us. Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar, Us. Wasifuddin Dagar, Us. Fariduddin Dagar, Us. Sayeeduddin Dagar. Other leading exponents include the Gundecha Brothers (i.e. Ramakant and Umakant Gundecha), Dr. Ritwik Sanyal and Pt. Uday Bhawalkar, who have received training from some of the Dagars. Leading vocalists outside the Dagar lineage include the Mallik family. Bishnupur Gharana based in West Bengal is a key school that has been propagating this style of singing since the Mughal times.

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About Thaath

According to Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860-1936), one of the most influential musicologists in the field of North Indian classical music in the twentieth century, each one of the several traditional ragas is based on, or is a variation of, ten basic thaats, or musical scales or frameworks. The ten thaats are Bilawal, Kalyan, Khamaj, Bhairav, Poorvi, Marwa, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi and Todi; if one were to pick a raga at random, it should be possible to find that it is based on one or the other of these thaats. For instance, the ragas Shree and Puriya Dhanashri are based on the Poorvi thaat, Malkauns on the Bhairavi, and Darbari Kanada on the Asavari thaat. It is important to point out that Bhatkande's thaat-raga theory is hardly infallible, but it is nevertheless an important classificatory device with which to order, and make sense of, a bewildering array of ragas; and it is also a useful tool in the dissemination of the music to students.

It is worth noting that almost all the thaats mentioned above are also ragas; and yet a thaat is a very different musical entity from a raga, and in this difference may lie, crucially, a definition of what a raga is or is not. A thaat is a musical scale, conceived of as a Western musical scale might be, with the seven notes presented in their order of ascent (arohan). For instance, Asavari is presented, and notated, as Sa Re Ga (flat or komal) Ma Pa Dha (flat) Ni (flat) in ascent, or arohan. This is, however, only the skeletal musical structure of the raga Asavari, an abstraction that is to be found nowhere but on the printed page or inside a textbook; the raga Asavari, in reality, and in exposition, is a very different thing. It goes straight from Re to Ma, and comes down to touch Ga, as it ascends; having touched Ni later, it returns to Pa, and, touching the upper Sa, returns to Dha and Pa again and again. Arohan and avarohan are, thus, inextricably and inseparably intermingled in the structure of this raga. The raga, then, is not a musical scale in the Western sense; it is a characteristic arrangement or progression of notes whose full potential and complexity can be realised only in exposition, and not upon the printed page. A condensed version of this characteristic arrangement of notes, peculiar to each raga, may be called the pakad, by which a listener hears the phrase Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Ga, none of these notes being flat or sharp. Repeated in a recital, they will know that they are listening to the raga Gaud Sarang.

Two ragas may have identical notes and yet be very different ragas; for example, two ragas mentioned earlier, Shree and Puriya Dhanashri, have exactly the same notes, but are unmistakably different in structure and temperament. The first can be identified by its continual exploration of the relationship of the note Re to the note Paa; while the repetition of the phrase Ma Re Ga Re Ma Ga, a phrase that would be inadmissible in the first raga, is an enduring feature of the latter. Certain arrangements of notes, then, are opposite to particular ragas and taboo to all others. A simple and abstract knowledge, thus of the notes of a raga or the thaat on which it is based, is hardly enough to ensure a true familiarity or engagement with the raga, although it may serve as a convenient starting point. Thaat familiarity can only come from a constant exposure to, and critical engagement, with raga's exposition.

For further information pertinent to the definition of a raga, please refer to the glossary.

Raag In Khamaj

Desh Rageshri Gaud Malhar Tilak Kamod Khamaj Jayjaiwanti Jog Gara Jhinjhoti Tilang Gorakh Kalyan Sorat Gawati Khamaj Raga Khamaj belongs to Khamaj Thaat. It is rendered in the late evening and uses all seven notes, six in the ascent and seven in the descent. It uses both komal (flat) and shuddha (full) Nishad, and all other notes are shuddha (full). The derivative ragas out of this structure are grouped under the broad head of Khamaj Thaat. The lyrics and an interpretation of the bandishes in this section are now available when you select the audio clip against each raga under a thaat.

Raag In Khamaj

Desh Rageshri Gaud Malhar Tilak Kamod Khamaj Jayjaiwanti Jog Gara Jhinjhoti Tilang Gorakh Kalyan Sorat Gawati Khamaj Raga Khamaj belongs to Khamaj Thaat. It is rendered in the late evening and uses all seven notes, six in the ascent and seven in the descent. It uses both komal (flat) and shuddha (full) Nishad, and all other notes are shuddha (full). The derivative ragas out of this structure are grouped under the broad head of Khamaj Thaat. The lyrics and an interpretation of the bandishes in this section are now available when you select the audio clip against each raga under a thaat.