Dhrupad Information

Dhrupad (Hindi: ध्रुपद ) is a vocal
genre in Hindustani classical
music , said to be the oldest still
in use in that musical tradition.
[1] Its name is derived from the
words dhruva and pada (verse),
where a part of the poem
(dhruva) is used as a refrain .[2]
The term may denote both the
verse form of the poetry and the
style in which it is sung. [3]
Abul Fazl , courtier and chronicler
at the court of the Emperor
Akbar , defines the dhrupad verse
form in his Ain-e-Akbari as "four
rhyming lines, each of indefinite
prosodic length ." Thematic
matter ranges from the religious
and spiritual (mostly in praise of
Hindu deities ) to royal
panegyrics, musicology and
romance. [4] Though Dhrupad is
basically a vocal tradition, its
musical aesthetics have been
adopted by many
instrumentalists. Not only by
various schools of Rudra Veena
players (Beenkars)but also by
other instrumentalists, who look
to Dhrupad for examples for
their instrumental developments
of raga, and go as far as to adapt
the format: a slow, unmetered
alaapa, Jhor, Jhala, to be
concluded with one or more
compositions in contrasting talas.
Ram Narayan and Hariprasad
Chaurasia, to name but two
acclaimed instrumentalists, pay
homage to Dhrupad in the way
they present a raga.

The ghazal

The ghazal (Arabic / Pashto /
Malay/ Persian / Urdu: ﻏﺰﻝ ; Hindi:
ग़ज़ल, Punjabi: ਗ਼ਜ਼ਲ , Nepali: गजल ,
Turkish : gazel , Bengali : গ়জ়ল,
Gujarati: ગ઼ઝલ) is a poetic form
consisting of rhyming couplets
and a refrain , with each line
sharing the same meter. A
ghazal may be understood as a
poetic expression of both the
pain of loss or separation and the
beauty of love in spite of that
pain. The form is ancient,
originating in 6th-century Arabic
verse. It is derived from the
Arabian panegyric qasida . The
structural requirements of the
ghazal are similar in stringency to
those of the Petrarchan sonnet.
In style and content it is a genre
that has proved capable of an
extraordinary variety of
expression around its central
themes of love and separation. It
is one of the principal poetic
forms which the Indo-Perso-
Arabic civilization offered to the
eastern Islamic world.
The ghazal spread into South Asia
in the 12th century due to the
influence of Sufi mystics and the
courts of the new Islamic
Sultanate. Although the ghazal is
most prominently a form of Dari
poetry and Urdu poetry, today it
is found in the poetry of many
languages of the Indian sub-
continent.
Ghazals were written by the
Persian mystics and poets Rumi
(13th century) and Hafiz (14th
century), the Azeri poet Fuzûlî
(16th century), as well as Mirza
Ghalib (1797–1869) and
Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938),
both of whom wrote ghazals in
Persian and Urdu, and the
Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam
(1899-1976). Through the
influence of Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe (1749–1832), the ghazal
became very popular in Germany
during the 19th century; the
form was used extensively by
Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866)
and August von Platen (1796–
1835). The Indian American poet
Agha Shahid Ali was a proponent
of the form, both in English and
in other languages; he edited a
volume of "real ghazals in
English".
It is common in ghazals for the
poet's name to be featured in
the last verse (a convention
known as takhallus).
Pronunciation
The Arabic word ﻏﺰﻝ ġazal is
pronounced [ˈɣazal] , roughly like
the English word guzzle, but with
the ġ pronounced without a
complete closure between the
tongue and the soft palate . In
India, the name sounds exotic, as
the voiced velar fricative (ġ
sound) is not found in native
Indo-Aryan words. This phoneme
is often replaced by average
Indo-Aryan and Dravidian
speakers with the voiced velar
stop /g/ or the murmured velar
stop /gʰ/. In English, the word is
pronounced / ˈ ɡ ʌ zəl/ [1] or /
ˈ ɡæ zæ l/ .[2]

Dhamar tala

Dhamar (Sanskrit धमार) is one
of the talas used in Hindustani
classical music . It is associated
with the dhrupad style and
typically played on the pakhawaj .
Dhamar tala has 14 beats
(matras) grouped asymmetrically
into a 5-2-3-4 pattern.
A song in dhrupad style set to
dhamar tala is also called a
dhamar. The text of a dhamar
concerns the antics of Krishna
teasing the milkmaids during the
Holi (hori) Spring Festival of
colours. It is considered a
relatively light and romantic
musical form.
The theka or syllabic pattern of
dhamar tala is:
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
13 14
क ध्धि ट
धि ट
धा ऽ क
त्ति ट
ति ट ता ऽ
ka ddhi Ta dhi
Ta dhaa - Ga
Di na Di Na
taa -
In counting out the beat, beats 1,
6, and 11 are clapped (tali), and
beat 8 is indicated by a wave of
the hand (khali):
Clap 2 3 4 5 | Clap 2 | Wave 2 3
| Clap 2 3 4 ||

Todi Raga

Todi (Hindi : तोडी) is a
Hindustani classical raga which
gave its name to the Todi thaat ,
one of the ten modes of
Hindustani classical music . Ragas
from the Todi raganga include
Todi (a.k.a. Miya ki Todi) itself,
Bilaskhani Todi , Bahaduri Todi,
and Gujari Todi.
The equivalent raga in Carnatic
music is Shubhapantuvarali . The
Carnatic raga Todi is the
equivalent of Bhairavi and does
not have any similarity to the
Hindustani Todi.
Aroha & Avaroha
Arohana
S r g M+ d N S' or
'd 'N S r g M+ d N S' or
S r g M+ d P, M + d N S' or
S r g M+ P, M + d N S'
Avarohana
S' N D P M+ G R S or
S N d P M+ d M+ g r g r S

Vadi and Samavadi
komal Dha and komal Ga
in ascent re, ga and dha are
intoned slightly low, and tivra ma
is very sharp. In descent the
intonaltion of all these notes is
normal
Pakad or Chalan
The distinctive phrase is r/g-\r\S,
where r may be subtly oscillated.
[3]
Pa is omitted in ascent, but
present and often sustained. [4]
Kaufmann mentions that some
musicians would call Todi with Pa
Miyan Ki Todi, but others would
see no difference between Todi
and Miyan Ki Todi.
Sometimes the ascent is
performed without Sa, starting
from Ni.

Gharana is a system of social organization

In Hindustani music , a gharānā is
a system of social organization
linking musicians or dancers by
lineage or apprenticeship, and by
adherence to a particular musical
style. A gharana also indicates a
comprehensive musicological
ideology. This ideology
sometimes changes substantially
from one gharana to another. It
directly affects the thinking,
teaching, performance and
appreciation of music.
The word gharana comes from
the Hindi word 'ghar', which
means 'family' or 'house'. It
typically refers to the place
where the musical ideology
originated; for example, some of
the gharanas well known for
singing khyals are: Agra, Gwalior,
Indore, Jaipur, Kirana, and
Patiala.
Vocal gharanas
Khyal gharanas
The gharana system in khyal was
rooted in the guru-shishya
tradition and was similar to the
Dhrupad Bani system. The
gharana system was greatly
influenced by the gradual fall of
the Mughal Empire, which forced
musicians to move from Delhi to
princely states such as Gwalior,
Lucknow, Hyderabad, Patiala and
Rampur.
The gharanas have distinct styles
of presenting the khyal — how
much to emphasize and how to
enunciate the words of the
composition, when to sing the
sthayi and antara, whether to
sing an unmetered alap in the
beginning, what kinds of
improvisations to use, how much
importance to give to the
rhythmic aspect, and so on.
However, an individual performer
from a gharana may choose to
borrow appealing stylistic aspects
of another gharana in his or her
gayaki.

Bhopali Classical Raga

Bhopali , also known as Bhoop,
Bhoopali or Bhupali, is a
Hindustani classical raga . It is a
pentatonic scale (uses 5 notes in
ascending and descending scale).
Most of the songs in this raga are
based on Bhakti rasa.
The same raga in Carnatic music
is known as Mohanam.
Theory
Writing about the musical theory
of Indian classical music is fraught
with complications. There is no
universally accepted set of rules
or formal method of writing
notations. However, the
Bhatkhandhe and Paluskar
paddhatis are the two ways of
writing down musical notations.
Indian music has always been
more of an aural tradition, and
written word has never been an
essential part of imparting talim
(training/knowledge).
Aroha & Avaroha
The scale of Bhopali uses only
Shuddh swaras .
Aroha (ascent): Sa Re Ga Pa
Dha Sa
Avaroha (descent): Sa Dha Pa
Ga Re Sa
Vadi & Samavadi
Vadi
Gandhar - Ga (here-after G but
not to be confused with note G
of western music notations)
Samavadi
Dhaivat - Dha (here-after D but
not to be confused with note D
of western music notations)
Pakad & Chalan
The Pakad (catchphrase that
often helps in identifying a raga)
is:
S R G R S D1 S R G or: S R G R S
D1 S R G P G D P G R S or: G R P
G G R S R D1 S or: G R S D1 S R G
R P G D P G R S Some chalans
(elaborations of the pakad) are:
1. S R G R S D1 S R G
2. S R G R S D1 P1
3. P1 D1 S R G R G
4. S R P G
5. G R S R G P
6. G P D P D D S’
7. P G P D P D S’ R’ G’ R’ G’
8. G’ R’ S’ D P G R S
Note: Normally written swaras
(individual notes) indicate the
middle octave. A swara
immediately followed by 1
indicates the mandra saptak
(lower octave) and ' indicates the
taar saptak (higher octave).
Bandish
This bandish is bound with
Teentaal (16 beats).
1 2 3 4| 5 6 7 8|9 10 11 12|13
14 15 16|
ASTHAYI:
D2 S D2 P |G2 R2 S R2|
G2 _ G2 P |G2 R2 S _ |
S R2 G2 P |R2 G2 P D2|
G2 P D2 P |G2 R2 S _ |
ANTARA:
G2 _ G2 G2|P _ D2 P|
S' _ S'S'|D3 R3 S' _|
G3 G3 R3 S'|R3 R3 S' D3|
S' _ D2 P |G2 R2 S _|
The Asthayi starts with the 9th
beat.

Purvi Thaat Raga

Purvi
Pūrvi, (पूर्वी in the Devanāgarī
script) sometimes transliterated
as Poorvi is a Thaat raga ; that is,
its notes represent the material
of a whole family of North Indian
ragas . Purvi has a deeply serious,
quiet and somewhat mystical
character. It is uncommon in
performances today.
Aroha & Avaroha
Arohana S r G M P d N S'
Thus: C D-flat E F-sharp G A-flat
B c
in German : C Des E Fis G As H C
in Aroha S and P are often
avoided, specially in fast taans .
Avarohana S' N d P M G r S
↑Jump back a section
Vadi & Samavadi
Ga and Ni
↑Jump back a section
Pakad or Chalan
{N S RG R G R M G M G R S