SURVIVAL OF INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC - Page 4

An Introduction To Indian Classical Music - Medieval History

Hindustani & Carnatic

Medieval History - Page 2

Amir Khusro Akbar, Tansen and Swami Haridas

Medieval History - Page 3

Vijaya Nagar Shri Krishnadevaraya

Medieval History - Page 4

Shri Puranadaradasa Thyagaraja, Shyama Shastry and Dikshitar

Orey baba Qwest. My eyesight is going weak! How to read so much?!

An Introduction To Indian Classical Music - The British Raj

Rahmat Hussain - Gwalior Gharana

The British Raj (1857-1947 A.D.)

This period from 1857 to 1947, saw the establishment of various famous Gharanas in the north and emergence of Madras as the capital of Carnatic music in the south. Recorded music made its appearence. Music of the film world became the popular form of music. Hindustani music was also resurrected from khotis and was accorded social acceptance. The era also saw introduction of many European instruments to India like Violin and Harmonium, which have become indispensible instruments in Carnatic and Hindustani vocal recitals, respectively. Several related forms of Hindustani developed - Tumri, Tappa and Tarana. The British, more specifically East India Company, started conquest of India with the battle of Plassy in 1757. For the next hundred years they fought numerous battles for political power, both with Indian kings and other European powers. With the fall of Tipu Sultan in 1799, most of Indian kings were subservient to British. British also ruled many areas (like Bombay, Calcutta and Madras) directly. Many Indian kings regrouped and waged a final decisive battle in 1857, in which they were completely defeated. The war of 1857 had far reaching effects. British Govt took over the administration and the army from the East India Company. From then on British Viceroys would govern India. Delhi came under the direct rule of British, finally ending 300 years of Mughal rule. The British rulers had no interest in Indian music. But large areas of India were still under various India kings, called princely states. The princely states were generally independent in local matters but had to pay heavy taxes to the British empire. They were under constant watch of the British representative in their states. But they had enough resources to support artists and musicians in their courts. They also enjoyed political stability and were free from worries of war, making it possible for most of the kings and aristocracy to lead a life of leasure, which was very conducive to growth of arts and music.

Gwalior and other vocal Gharanas

Gwalior was ruled by Scindia (Maratha) rulers from 1726 till independence. But after 1794 they were a princely state under the British. Under their patronage Gwalior gharana, the oldest Khayal Gharana flourished. Though some trace the gharana all the way to Gwalior's most famous musician, Mian Tansen, the Khayal Gharana started there in 18th century by Ustad Natthan Pir Baksh, who is said to be a direct descendant of Sadarang and Adarang. Most of the Khayal Gharana's are offshoots of this Gharana. Pir Baksh's grand sons Hassu, Haddu and Natthu Khan had great impact on the gharana and are considered to be the most important musicians of the Gharana and by some to be the real founds of it. They had a large number of disciples like Rehmat Khan, Baba Dikshit, Masurekar Buva, Shankar Pandit and Eknath Pandit, Rajabhaiyya Poochhwaie, Ramkrishnabuva Vaze, Balkrishnabuva Ichalkaranjikar, Vasudevbuva Joshi and Devjibuva Paranjape, who spread the gharana in various parts of the sub-continent. Some of them who were Maharashtra brahmins established the Gharana in Maharashtra, and their disciples like Chaturpandit Bhatkhande, V.D. Pulaskar et al liberated hindustani music from the clutch of Gharana's throwing it open to public by starting a music school, Gandharva Mahavidhyalaya. They also cut it off from the court-courtesan linkage and made it a socially acceptable and gave it almost religious flavor (like in Carnatik). Gwalior gharana is still a popular gharana with several exponents. There are some who contend that Agra Gharana was started by Dhrupad singer Haji Sujaan Khan, who was in the court of Emperor Akbar and was a contemporary of Tansen. But it is generally accepted that one of the disciples of Natthan Pir Baksh, Gagge Khuda Baksh started the Agra Gharana. His great great grandson, Fayyaz Khan (1886-1950) remains the most outstanding exponent of this gharana and is known as Aftab-I-mausiqui. Today, the musicians of the Agra gharana have dispersed throughout northern India and though the gharana is very alive, its links with Agra are severed. However, Vamanrao Deshpande's description of the Agra gharana speaks of its enduring link to the medieval world. "Its style," he writes, "reminds one of the rugged architectural construction of a medieval fortress with its gigantic walls, ramparts and turrets. Its successive taans remind us of speedily advancing armies striking hard at their targets, its bol taans of rapid gunfire. It captivates rather than delights." One of the only singers still singing pure Agra style is Purnima Sen. (Makar-Purnima Sen) The founder of Sahaswan-Rampur gharana is Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan (1849-1919), son-in-law of Haddu Khan of the Gwalior gharana. Inayat Hussain Khan was born in Sahaswan and lived his professional life in Rampur. Rampur was an important centre of dhrupad singing, and together with the fact of Haddu Khan's teaching, there are definite influences of dhrupad, and the Gwalior gharana. Inayat Hussain Khan's two sons-in-law Mushtaque Hussain Khan and Nissar Hussain Khan continued the tradition. Modern exponents of the gharana Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan have added some new dimensions in the style to make it more complete. He also initiated the use of sargams popularized by Kirana and Patiala exponents. In keeping with the other broad characteristics and specialities of the gharana, Ghulam Mustafa introduced slow melodic elaboration or vistar and in the vilambit khayal and also sang it in the slower tempo preferred by most singers in the final quarter of the 20th century. The gharana is now represented by Ustad Rashid Khan. Jaipur-Atauli gharana did not branch off of Gwalior gharana. Ustad Natthu Khan's ancestors migrated to the court of Jaipur from Atruali (near Aligarh in U.P.). He was a contemporary of Sadarang-Adarang, the originators of Khayal. His grand son Ehmat Khan was a renowned singer and the court musician of Uniyara. His son was Alladiya Khan who was to later establish the Jaipur-Atauli Gharana. But Alladiya was trained by uncle Jehangir khan, since Ehmat Khan passed away while Alladiya was still 14. Jehangir Khan was an expert in both Khayal and Dhrupad, which shows that even in 19th century Dhrupad was slowly making way for Khayal. Alladiya was trained in both Dhrupad and Khayal and finally settled down on the court of Kolhapur kings. Alladiya modified the Khayal style by his own inventions. The swaras were governed by the laya in a sophisticated way and became the medium of his musical expression which then attained a IiIt and pulsating rhythm characteristic of style. Also the 'tedhi' or the complex 'phirat' boltaans and the ingenious and unexpected ways of approaching the 'sama' of the rhythmic cycle are unique to the gharana. In the tradition of the Jaipur gharana the khayal is always conceived and presented as a grand architectural design which is replete with intricate and well-crafted imagery. Alladiya trained quite a few experts like Kesarbai Kerkar, Moghubai Kurdikar, Sushila Rani Patel and Gulubhai Jasdanwala. His sons Ustad Manji Khan and Ustad Bhurjl Khan also trained a few disciples like Mallikarjun Mansur. Jaipur Gharana is represented by Kishori Amonkar, Ashwini Bhide, Padma Tralwalkar, Shruti Sadolikar Katkar and others. Patiala Gharana is considered a branch of both Gwalior and Delhi gharanas. Mian Kaalu of Delhi gharana, trained his son Ustad Ali Bux Jamail and his friend Ustad Fateh Ali (the famous Ali-a-Fattu). They received training from Haddu - Hassu of Gwalior too. This helped them to develop a unique gayaki of their own. Together, Ali Bux and Fateh Ali made a wonderful combination and presided at the Patiala darbar. Ali Bux Khan was one of their disciples and was the father and guru of the most famous Patiala exponent of 20th century, Ustad Bade Ghulam Khan. Kale Khan Kesarwale was another disciple of Ali-a-Fattu, who trained his nephew and another great master Barkat Ali Khan. Ustad Munawar Ali Khan is the disciple and heir to the legacy of Ustad Bade Ghulam Khan. Pandit Ajoy Chakravarty, the disciple of Ustad Munawar Ali Khan represents the Gharana today. Kirana Gharana was started by Khan Sahab Abdul Karim Khan (1872-1937). Kirana is the birth place of the Ustad, and situated near Kurukshetra. Ustad Karim Khan served as a musician at the Baroda and the Mysore courts and had a tremendous influence on the music of western India. This perhaps explains the influence of Carnatic music on Kirana Gharana. His own somewhat nasal voice led him to adopt the Carnatic style for singing the saptak. Abdul Karim Khan's most important disciple was Pt Sawai Gandharva, who made it famous in the north Karnataka and Maharashtra regions. There are several fine exponents of this gharana today, including Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal and Prabha Atre. Bhendi Bazaar Gharana was founded by three brothers Chajju Khan, Ustad Nazir Khan and Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan, towards the last decade of the 19th century in the Bhendi Bazar area of Bombay. The brothers who were from Uttar Pradesh, trained under their father Dilawar Hussain Khan as well as Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan of the Sahaswan Gharana. Renowned exponent of this gharana was Ustad Aman Ali Khan the guru of Lata Mangeshkar.

Mewati gharana was founded by Ghagge Nazir Khan who hailed from Mewat but was employed by the Nepal Rana and was influenced by Haddu-Hassu Khan of Gwalior. Ghagge Nazir Khan had two main disciples Nathulal and Chimanlal. Nathulal's nephew was Pandit Motiram whose son is the renowned artist Pandit Jasraj, the current leading light of the Gharana. Pandit Jasraj learnt from his elder brother Pandit Maniram. Stylistically, today's Mewati gharana has evolved from that of Ghagge Nazir Khan and includes Merkhand and Murchannas both of which are direct influences of Kirana and Bhendi Bazar respectively.

The British Raj - Page 2

Chaturpandit Bhatkhande

The British Raj - Page 3

Gramaphone Saraswathi

The British Raj - Page 4

Carnatic and Deccan

Word origin of Carnatic

The south Indian classical tradition has two similar sounding names, Carnatic or Karnatak. Though Carnatic is derived from Karnatak (or Karnata), it signifies a very different geographical region during the British empire. With the fall of Vijayanagar empire entire south India witnessed a period of anarchy. The name used for the part of Vijaynagar to the north of the Ghats was Karnata. The Muslim rulers called all of the geographical areas south of them as Karnata, which included areas north of the Ghats and south as well (Encyclopedia.org - Carnatic). The plains were then called Karnata Payanghat (lowlands) and the highlands were called Balaghat. This misapplication of the name karnata was carried a step further by the British, who called only the lower Karnata as Carnatic. Thus during the British Raj, Carnatic meant the region between Eastern Ghats and the Coromandel coast i.e. present day inland Tamilnadu rather than present day Karnataka. When Aurangzeb conquered the area in 1672, he appointed Zulfikar Ali as the nawab of the Carnatic, with the capital at Arcot. With the weakening of the Mughal empire after the death of Aurangzeb, nawaab Saadet-allah (1710-1732) established independence. In 1801 Carnatic was transferred to the British in exchange for military protection and a portion of the revenues collected. In 1853 the nominal sovereignty was ended, by pensioning the Nawab. Since the development of modern Carnatic music took place in the region that British called Carnatic, perhaps the British thought it appropriate to call it Carnatic Music. But historically the music started to deviate from northern tradition during Vijayanagar empire, who were based in Karnata(ka). Purandara Dasa, the PraPitamaha of the tradition wrote his krithis in Kannada language. Thus, the music was perhaps called Karnata Sangita in the courts of Mysore kings. Thus, interestingly we have two names, derived from the same original name applied to the tradition for totally different reasons. Both the names continue to be used, with Carnatic or Karnatic or Karnatik used more often in English and Karnataka Sangita used in the vernaculars. Change of spelling from C(arnatic) to K(arnati)k(/c) is because of the modern spelling of Karnataka.

Madras - The new center

Madras started as a small fishing village until the British took it to build a fort, St George, in 1639. In 1653 it became the seat of British power in the south and capital of Madras presidency. Just like the other cities built by British, Bombay and Calcutta, it became the center of learning and later of music. Starting with early 20th century, Madras started to become as important as Tanjavur to Carnatic music. Many of the artists started moving to Madras attracted by the new patrons of music - the beauracracy of Madras presidency. In 1927, on the sidelines of All India conference of the Indian National Congress, All India Music conference was held in Madras. At this time it was decided to start a music academy in madras to promote classical music. The Academy was formally inaugurated on the 18th of August, 1928 (The Inauguration), though the first music festival was held in 1927, December. The festival has been held in December every year since then. The festival became an important vehicle for the development of Carnatic music. Apart from established masters, the festival allowed new artists to show off their talents and many masters of 20th century started off in these festivals.

All India Music Conference, 1948

The Post Independence Era (b. 1947 A.D.)

1947 marked the end of British Raj and birth of modern Indian state. This, along with new technologies, brought about several changes in Indian Classical Music to make it look like what it is today.

The governments of India, Pakistan (and later Bangladesh) took over the part of princely states, supporting musical genres they thought appropriate. Indian government (and the people too) assumed they had inherited all the cultural aspects of ancient and medieval India, and supported all forms of Indian music, esp. classical and light classical. Pakistan thought it inherited only the Medeival Muslim India and supported only music clearly identifiable as muslim - Ghazals and Qawwalis. This resulted in almost disappearance of Hindustani classical from Pakistan.

Collapse of Classical Music in Pakistan

There are several reasons for the collapse of Hundustani Classical music in Pakistan after partition, apart from official apathy. Before independence Lahore was a an important cultural center in North India. Affluent Hindu and Sikh families were the main patrons of music. Most of these patrons migrated to India after partition. Interestingly many muslim artists chose to migrate to Pakistan from India - Amanat Ali Khan, Barkat Ali Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Fateh Ali Khan of the Patiala gharana; Ustad Salamat Ali Khan and Nazakat Ali Khan of the Shyam Chaurasi gharana; Roshanara Begum of the Kirana gharana; Asad Ali Khan (Ustad Fayyaz Khan's nephew) of the Agra gharana and Sardar Khan (Taanras Khan's grandson) of the Delhi gharana. But the patrons had migrated out of Pakistan. The artists realized that the old system of patronage had collapsed. Pakistan government (through Pakistan Radio), unlike All India Radio refused to step in as the chief patron. Wisely Bade Ghulam Ali Khan decided to migrate back to India after a few miserable months and had a very successful post independence career as well. Though in the beginning, official Pakistan govt. policy was very tolerant, later Increased criticism from orthodox quarters influenced the official policy which proceeded to discourage many forms of Hindustani music like Dhrupad, thumris and dadras as un-islamic. The artists were left at the mercy of the market and they had no market. They gradually lost their audience. They either dissuaded their children from following in their footsteps or the children themselves opted for film music or ghazal singing. In the last decade, some of them moved to pop music — about half of those singing or playing in the pop groups are children of the great masters. So Pakistan lost out on its musical heritage. But those who migrated to Pakistan and chose to sing mainly ghazals later gained prominence in, like Mehdi Hassan, Farida Khannum, Iqbal Bano and Mallika Pukhraj.

Maihar Gharana

The Maihar gharana takes its name from the princely state of Maihar, where the founder of this gharana Ustad Allauddin Khan (18??-1972) lived. Since Allauddin Khan had received his musical training at the hands of Ustad Wazir Khan of the Beenkar gharana, an offshoot of Mian Tansen's Senia gharana, the exponents of the Maihar tradition are often said to belong to the Senia gharana. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, son of the founder, calls it Baba Allaudin Seni Gharana of Rampur and Maihar.

Ustad Allauddin Khan revolutionized instrumental music. He was the visionary who pioneered the fusion of the gayaki, layakari and tantrakari. Allaudin Khan had command over scores of instruments, although he was the master of the sarod. Ustad Allauddin Khan also composed new ragas like Hemant, Prabhakali, Manjkhamaj, Hem-Behag and a host of others which are still in use today. The gharana is characterized by the systematic development through alaap, jod and jhala, the unique gatkari embodying the close rapport of swara and laya and above all, the pervading sense of aesthetics.

The Gharana gained immense popularity because success of Allauddin Khan's disciples - Annapoorna Devi, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Nikhil Banerjee (sitar), Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (sarod), Pandit Pannalal Ghosh (Bansuri). Each of them were trail blazers in their own field and gained world-wide acclaim.
Indian Classical Music in the West

Since the mid-1950s, Indian classical music has been performed fairly regularly in the West. Initially, the audiences were composed mainly of South Asians, but gradually an increasing number of Westerners have been attending the concerts. Perhaps the music would not have reached beyond a very limited audience were it not for the interest shown by the American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who sponsored a number of programs in the West. Sir Yahudi Menuhin (1912-1999) was a great violin prodigy and a peace activist. He played numerous benefit concerts promoting peace beginning in World War II, which endeared him to Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister, with whom he formed a lasting friendship. Nehru invited Menuhin to India in 1952, where he met Ravi Shankar and other artists. He developed a keen interest and deep admiration for Indian Classical Music, which was almost unknown in the west at that time. In 1955 Menuhin arranged for the first Indian concert in the US by inviting Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Apart from giving successful concerts, Ali Akbar Khan also recorded the first Indian classical album in the west. In 1960 Menuhin was awarded the Nehru Peace Prize for International Understanding.

The 60s was a time of profound change in the west, esp. USA. The failing war in Vietnam turned a lot of young people away from materialism, towards the mysticism of the east, esp India. The enormous popularity of Beatles, who were greatly interested in the mystical aspects of Indian religion, meditation and music, gave some exposure in the west to Indian music. Particularly George Harrison, learnt Indian Music from Ravi Shankar and started incorporating some Indian sounds in Beatles songs. Indian music, identified now with Sitar, Sarod and tabla of Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and Alla Rakha, became the staple diet of the Hippie culture. Satyajit Ray, the first Indian director to acquire world fame, and a common name in repertory art cinemas, also brought classical Indian music to the attention of Westerners, for the music of some of his early films was composed by Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan. Great interest in the west for Sitar brought other Sitar masters like Vilayat Khan, Imrat Khan, and Nikhil Banerjee to the west.

This also started the era of Fusion music with several East-West collaborations between Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuin and also attempts by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. Ravi Shakar with Menuhin brought out two albums East Meets West and In Celebration. Ravi Shankar appeared on the famous Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band for George Harrison.

By the end of the 1960s the sitar and tabla were heard frequently in Western pop music, jazz, cinema, and television programs, as well as in radio and television advertisements. Sitars and sarods were shipped to American and European music shops by the thousands. Performances by Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha in the Monterey Pop Festival (1967) and in the heavily promoted Woodstock Festival (1969) brought Indian Classical to the attention of a large number of younger fans. In 1968 the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music was established in Northern California. 1969 Ravi Shankar became Billboard Magazine's Musician of the Year. The Concert for Bangladesh (1971), to raise funds for UNESCO's humanitarian programs in Bangladesh, was promoted by George Harrison. A performance by Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan with Alla Rakha in this concert was a media success. The United Nation's Human Rights Day Concert, featuring Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha was also well received.