In
Hindustani music, there are 10 main forms of styles
of singing and compositions: Dhrupad, Dhamar, Hori,
Khayal, Tappa, Chaturang, Ragasagar, Tarana, Sargam
and Thumri. Nowadays Ghazals have become very
popular as the 'light classical' form of music.
DHRUPAD
The word 'Dhrupad' is derived from 'Dhruva'
meaning fixed and 'pada'
meaning words or song. Therefore, the term
dhrupad
means "the literal rendering of verse into music"
and so the songs have a particularly potent impact.
Dhrupad is the oldest and perhaps the grandest form
of Hindustani vocal music. It is said to have
descended from older forms like the
Prabandha
and the
Dhruvapada.
Dhrupad was essentially devotional in
essence. In fact, prior to the reign of Akbar it was
performed almost exclusively in temples. Dhrupad
reached its pinnacle of glory during Akbar's reign
when stalwarts like Swami Haridas, Baba Gopal Das,
Tansen and Baiju Bawra performed it. By the 13th
century AD, Dhrupad as a form of music was well developed. It was adapted for court performance during the reign of Raja
Man Singh Tomar (1486-1517) of Gwalior. Swami
Haridas and his disciple Tansen have also greatly
contributed in its development.
Haridas Haridas and
his disciple Tansen have also helped in its
development. Dhrupad has been in decline
since the 18th century. Dhrupad is essentially a
poetic form incorporated into an extended
presentation style marked by precise and orderly
elaboration of a raga. The exposition preceding the
composed verses is called
alap, and
is usually the longest portion of the performance.
Dhrupad compositions have four parts or stanzas. A
dhrupad
recital typically consists of one or two male
vocalists accompanied by the
Tanpura and Pankhawaj.
Dhrupad compositions are usually written in Braj
Bhasha, though sometimes Punjabi, Rajasthani,
Bengali and Urdu are also used. Originally, the
compositions were written in Sanskrit. The
Sangeeta
Ratnakara of Sarangadeva (12th century A.D)
contains a detailed description of five major styles
or geetis,
of Shastriya
Sangeet -
'Shuddha', 'Bhinna', 'Ghodi', 'Sadharani' and
'Vesura'. Of these the only one surviving in its original form today
is the 'Sadharani
geeti' which is the
Dhrupad
sung by the Dagars. There are four forms of Dhrupad
singing: Dagar Bani, Khandaar Bani, Nauhar Bani and
Gauhar Bani. The Dagar Bani, which is the leading
school today, has survived changing musical patterns
and presents this art form in all its originality.
At present, the only renowned exponents of this
genre of music are the Dagar brothers (Rajasthan)
and Pandit Ram Chatur Mullick (West Bengal). Other
important exponents of this form of singing are
Bhavani Shankar Majumdar, Phalguni Mitra, Siyaram
Tiwari, Abhay Narayan Mallick and Vidur Mallick from
Darbhanga.
KHAYAL
Khayal literally means ‘a
stray thought’, ‘a lyric’ and
'an imagination'. This is the most prominent
genre of Hindustani vocal music depicting a romantic
style of singing. Khayal originated as a popular
form of music in the 18th century AD and
was ultimate in the blending of Hindu and Persian
cultures. Its origins are a mystery. Some people
trace its origins to 'Sadarang' Nyaamat Khan, a
beenkaar
in the Mughal court of Muhammad Shah 'Rangila'.
Others believe that Khayal singing was the invention
of Hussein Shah Sharqi. The most important features of a Khayal are 'Tans' or the running glides over notes and
'Bol-tans' which distinguishes it from Dhrupad. Khayal is dependent
to a large extent on the imagination of the
performer and the improvisations he is able to
incorporate. Khayals are of two varieties: Vilambit
(slow tempoed) and Drut (fast tempoed). A Khayal is
also composed in a particular raga and
tala and
has a brief text. The Khayal texts range from praise
of kings or seasons, description of seasons to the
pranks of Lord Krishna, divine love and sorrow of
separation. The texts contain rhyme, alliteration
and play on words. Generally composed in the archaic
Hindi dialect known as Brij Bhasha, khayal songs are
also found in languages like Bhojpuri, Punjabi,
Urdu, Rajasthani, Marathi and occasionally Sanskrit.
Essentially, the
tanpura
and tabla accompany khayal performances. Other
ensembles include the sarangi, harmonium, violin and
swarmandal.
There are six main
gharanas
in khayal: Delhi, Patiala, Agra, Gwalior, Kirana and
Atrauli-Jaipur. Gwalior Gharana is the oldest and is also considered the mother of all other
gharanas.
The Agra Gharana was founded by Haji Sujan Khan, the
Jaipur-Atroli Gharana was founded by Ustad Allaudin
Khan and the Kirana
Gharana
was pioneered by Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan and
Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. Among the other eminent
khayal singers, mention may be made of Faiyaz Khan,
Amir Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Kishori Amonkar,
Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, Sawai Gandharva,
Sureshbabu Mane, Balakrishnabuwa Kapileswari,
Roshanara Begum, Hirabai Barodekar, Feroz Dastur,
Gangubai Hangal, Manik Verma, Saraswati Rane and
Prabha Atre. Some of the renowned khayal singers are
C.R.Vyas, Rashid Khan, Shubha Maudgalya, Ajoy
Chakraborty, Shahid Parvez, Shruti Sadolikar,
Ashvini Bhede Deshpande, Mukul Shivputra and Meeta
Pandit.
THUMRI
Thumri originated in the
Eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, mainly in Lucknow and
Benares, around the 18th century AD and
was believed to be first patronised in the court of
Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Lucknow. Thumri was
developed by the famous musician Sadiq Ali Shah. It
is believed to have been influenced by
hori, kajri and dadra,
popular in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Some people consider that an older musical
presentation called
chalika, described in the
Harivansha (400 AD), to be the precursor of
Thumri. Thumri is supposed to be a romantic and
erotic style of singing and is also called “the
lyric of Indian classical music”. The song
compositions are mostly of love, separation and
devotion. Its most distinct feature is the erotic
subject matter picturesquely portraying the various
episodes from the lives of Lord Krishna and Radha.
They are usually sung in slower tempo, giving more
importance to the lyrics with short
alaps.
Thumris are composed in lighter ragas and have
simpler talas.
Thumri is generally written in Braj Bhasha, Khari
Boli and Urdu. A Thumri recital typically consists
of one or two male/female vocalists accompanied by
sarangi and/or harmonium, tanpura and tabla. A
Thumri is usually performed as the last item of a
Khayal concert. There are three main
gharanas of thumri -- Benaras, Lucknow and Patiala. Qadar Piya,
Sanad Piya, Lallan Piya, Kenwar Shyam, Nawab Wajid
Ali Shah and Rang Piya are some well-known thumri
singers of the Lucknow Gharana. Rasoolan Bai,
Siddeshwari Devi and Girja Devi are exponents of the
Benaras style of thumri. Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan,
one of the most famous thumri singers, belonged to
the Patiala Gharana. Shobha Gurtu is a renowned
contemporary singer of thumri.
DADRA
Dadra
bears a close resemblance to the Thumri. The texts
are as amorous as those of Thumris. The major
difference is that
dadras
have more than one
antara and
are in dadra
tala. Singers usually sing a
dadra
after a thumri.
DHAMAR-HORI
These compositions are similar
to Dhrupad but are chiefly associated with the
festival of Holi. Here the compositions are
specifically in praise of Lord Krishna. This music,
sung in the dhamar
tala, is
chiefly used in festivals like Janmashthami,
Ramnavami and Holi.
Hori is a type of dhrupad sung on the festival of Holi. The
compositions here describe the spring season. These
compositions are mainly based on the love pranks of
Radha-Krishna.
TAPPA
The tappa is said to
have developed in the late 18th Century AD from the
folk songs of camel drivers. The credit for its
development goes to Shorey Mian or Ghulam Nabi of
Multan. Tappa literally means 'jump' in Persian.
They are essentially folklore of love and
passion and are written in Punjabi.
Its beauty lies in the quick and intricate
display of various permutations and combinations of
notes. The compositions are very short and are based
on Shringara Rasa. It is rather strange that even though the Tappa lyrics are in
Punjabi, Tappa is not sung in Punjab. Varanasi and
Gwalior are the strongholds of Tappa. Bengal has
also been greatly influenced by the Tappa style,
where Ramnidhi Gupta created a special kind of
songs, called
Bangla Toppa, after the same kind of music from
Punjab called
Shori Mia's Toppa. He set his romantic lyrics on
melodies, which were based on Hindustani classical
music. Later his songs became popular as
Nidhubabur
Toppa. Even today this kind of songs are heard
in Bengal, especially in Calcutta. But the numbers
of both the exponents and audience of this kind of
music are waning fast. Chandidas Maal is one of the
last few performers of these songs. Others persons
who created the same kind of songs in Bengal include
Sridhar Kathak, Gopal Ude and Amritolal Basu to name
a few. Some of the eminent tappa singers include
Krishna Rao, Shankar Pandit, Nidhu Babu, Mian Gammu,
Shadi Khan, Babu Ram Shai, Nawab Hussain Ali Khan,
Mammi Khan, Chajju Khan, Sher Khan and Girija Devi.
RAGASAGAR
Ragasagar consists of
different parts of musical passages in different
ragas as one song composition. These compositions
have 8 to 12 different ragas and the lyrics indicate
the change of the ragas. The peculiarity of this
style depends on how smoothly the musical passages
change along with the change of ragas.
TARANA
Tarana is a style consisting
of peculiar syllables woven into rhythmical patterns
as a song. It is usually sung in faster tempo.
CHATURANG
Chaturang denotes four colours
or a composition of a song in four parts: Fast
Khayal, Tarana, Sargam and a "Paran" of Tabla or
Pakhwaj.
GHAZAL
The
ghazal is mainly a poetic form than a musical form, but it is more
song-like than the
thumri.
The ghazal
is described as the "pride of Urdu poetry". The
ghazal originated in Iran in the 10th Century
AD. It grew out of the Persian
qasida, a
poem written in praise of a king, a benefactor or a
nobleman. The
ghazal never exceeds 12
shers
(couplets) and on an average,
ghazals
usually have about 7
shers. The
ghazal found an opportunity to grow and develop in India around 12th
Century AD when the Mughal influences came to India,
and Persian gave way to Urdu as the language of
poetry and literature. Even though ghazal
began with Amir Khusro in northern India, Deccan in
the south was its home in the early stages. It
developed and evolved in the courts of Golconda and
Bijapur under the patronage of Muslim rulers. The
18th and 19th centuries are regarded as the golden
period of the
ghazal with Delhi and Lucknow being its main
centres.
