Musical Heritage


Mridangam maestro T.K.Murthy,played for M.S.Subbulakshmi for over five decades,"When we sing there is raga bhava,sahitya bhava and swara bhava.Similarly there is tala bhava."

Jaipur-Atrauli gharana: Mallikarjun Mansur,Kishori Amonkar,Ratnakar Pai,Ashwini Bhide Deshpande
Jod-raga SAwani Nat speciality of this gharana.Sawani is a variant of Bihag.Unlike Bihag where Nishad is prominently used Sawani uses it very judiciously and in a very small measure.Sawani following its parent Bihag eschews the use of teevra madhyam and Nat also employs only shuddha madhyam.

Late Pandit Omkar Nath Thakur,one of the great Gwalior gharana vocalist of the last century.

Contemporary Hindustani Classical Music Scene:Maharashtra and West Bengal dominate it completely.Maharashtra limits extending to Dharwad in Karnataka that has produced many top notch musicians such as Sawai Gandharva,Mallikarjun Mansur,Kumar Gandharva,Gangubai Hangal,Basavraj Rajguru and Bhimsen Joshi.These days M.Venkatesh Kumar,Kaivalya Kumar Gurav,and Jayateerth Mevundi from Karnataka are making waves.There seem to be some kind of division of labour bw Bengal and Maharashtra-Karnataka as the former has distinguished itself mainly in instrumental music while the latter has made its mark in its vocal counterpart.
All the major gharanas and styles of Dhrupad,Khayal,Thumri,Tappa and Dadra have their origins in the Hindi speaking region.Most of them were assoc with Delhi and the towns and villages surrounding it within a radius of 300km.The dispersal and migration of these gharanas took place after the cataclysmic events of 1857 and the consequent disappearance of the last vestiges of the mughal court.Tanras Khan,the most famous vocalist of the Delhi gharana,shifted to Hyderabad,while quite a few musicians headed for Lucknow.
In 1856 Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was deposed and exiled to Matiaburz near Kolkata.A large no.of musicians and dancers moved to Matiaburz with him and laid the edifice of turning Kolkata in particular and Bengal in general into a great centre of hindustani classical and semi classical music.It also helped matters that Calcutta bacame the Capital of India after British Crown took over the reins of administration from EIC.This was the time when Bombay was emerging as a major centre for trade and industry and a new nercantile borjouis class was coming into existence.After 1857 many feudal patrons fell on bad days bec of their real or alleged support for the anti-British mutineers.As patronage shrank,musicians started to look for greener pastures elsewhere and migrated to Mumbai as well as to some princely states of Maharashtra.Kirana gharana stalwart Abdul Karim Khan from Kirana in Saharanpur,Bhendi Bazaar gharana founders Chhajju Khan,Nazir Khan and Khadim Hussain Khan from Bijnor,settled in Bombay,while Alladiya Khan made Kolhapur his home.Balkrishna Bua a disciple of Haddu Khan-Hassu Khan went from Gwalior to Ichalkaranji as he found employment there.Vilayat Hussain Khan a major figure in the Agra gharana pantheon,too,found shelter in Bombay.
Till the end of the 19th century,Agra,Sikandarabad,Khurja,Kirana,Bijnor,Mathura,Gwalior,Atrauli,Saharanpur,Meerut,Sahaswan,Rampur,Shahjahanpur,Fatehpur Sikri,Alwar and Jaipur were assoc. with Khayal gharanas.Banis of dhrupad and gharanas of sitar,sarangi,sarod and tabla playeers.Master makers of musical instruments were aslso located in these centres of music.
After the all time greats like Faiyaz Khan and Alladiya Khan,Agra gharana vocalist Sharafat Hussain Khan was the last big ticket Khayal performer to have come from Atrauli near Aligarh,U.P.Banaras too has only Girija Devi today to flaunt.  

''Geetam Vadyam tatha Nrityam thrayam Sangeetamuchyate''(Song,instrument and dance together constitute music)-From Sangeetratnakar of Sarangadeva

Rukmini Devi Arundale founded Kalakshetra in Madras in 1930s to teach Bharatnatyam,Carnatic music and allied arts.

Dagar family exponents of Dhrupad

Ustad Munawar Ali Khan,son of legendary Hindustani classical vocalist late Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan(Ka karoon sajani aaye na balam''Yaad piya ki aaye'),belonged to the Patiala gharana of khayal gayaki.The gharana was called Kasur Patiala.The late musician was also guru to renowned vocalist Pt.Ajoy Chakravorty,who is now doyen of Patiala gharana.

Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt has created his own Mohan Veena.

Ustad Naseer Ahmed Khan ,the legendary vocal maestro of Dilli gharana.His brother Ustad Zafar Ahmed Khan and nephew Ustad Iqbal Ahmed Khan is current head of Dilli gharana.

Ustad Abdul Karim Khan born in 1872 in Kairana,Muzaffarnagar distt,U.P.,he developed his own style of singing known as Kirana gharana gayaki.It placed emphasis on a slow,note by note elaboration and development of a raga and accorded due imp.to the emotional element.He intro many carnatic ragas such as Kharahapriya,Abhogi,Devgandhari and Saveri.His students included well known artistes like Sawai Gandharva,Hirabai Barodekar(his daughter),Sureshbabu Mane(his son),Saraswatibai Rane,Balkrishnabua Kapileshwari and Roshan Ara Begum.The second generation of gharana torchbearers included Bhimsen Joshi,Gangubai Hangal,Manik Verma and Prabha Atre to name a few.

Delhi Gharana's leading vocalist Iqbal Ahmad Khan.In Delhi Gharana too much emphasis is placed on taans like Gwalior and Patiala gharana.Bhairavi thumri is called Do rang ki bhairavi and uses all the 12 notes,i.e.all the shuddha as well as komal or teevra.

Ustad Ghulam Sadiq Khan:Indian classical music vocalist belongs to Rampur-Sahaswan gharana of the Mian Tansen tradition.

Kairana in Muzaffarnagar,birth place of Kirana gharana founded by Abdul Karim Khan
Raga Sarparda,''Gopala,Karuna Karo Ab''

Maihar gharana founder Allauddin Khan

Vilayat Khan

HIrabai Barodekar

Faiyaz Khan

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan

Kumar Gandharva

Ali Akbar Khan played the lesser known Anvat raag at festivals,did not stick to Yaman or Bihag.

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