Dhrupad, the genre of Indian classical singing

This article is about
Dhrupad, the genre of
Indian classical singing.
For the character in the
Mahabharata with a
similar name, see
Drupada .
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.