The term gharana is derived from the Hindi word `ghar'. This in turn can be traced to the Sanskrit word `griha', which means `family' or 'house'. The gharana concept gained currency only in the nineteenth century when the royal patronage enjoyed by performers weakened. Performers were then compelled to move to urban centres. To retain their respective identities, they fell back on the names of the regions they hailed from. Therefore, even today, the names of many gharanas refer to places. Some of the gharanas well known for singing khayals are : Agra, Gwalior, Patiala, Kirana, Indore, Mewat, Sahaswan, Bhendibazar and Jaipur.
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. For instance, the leisurely development of ragas as well as the premium placed on emotional content of music narrows the choice of ragas available to the Kirana gharana founded by Ustad Abdul Karim Khan (1872-1937 AD). The Agra gharana, founded by Ghagge Khudabux (born in 1800 AD) has a rich repertoire of varied types of musical compositions. The followers of the gharana sang many rare ragas. The treatment of each new raga is always as detailed as that of any known raga.
Khushboo Kulshreshtha: Born in 3 November 1983, Etmadpur (Agra) Uttar Pradesh. Currently staying in Mumbai. Graduate in Music from Agra University and L.L.B. from Gorakhpur University. Besides music, dancing and playing instruments is her hobby. She has also written on various newspaper & magazine on the topic of Music & Cooking. 3 books has been published on Indian Music.
The term Gharana means a School of music established through the continuity of musical discipline practiced at a particular place through successive generations. In other words we can say that Gharana means a 'Family'. In ancient India no art was mere entertainment, be it music, dance, poetry, drama or painting. No art was meant to be a performance or a show to please an audience. Art was an offering to the Divine. Even today it has retained this special: quality. When the Ustad or the Pandit seems to sing for an audience he is actually invoking. The Divine, he is in tune with the infinite and he, by this music transcribes this experience to the listeners.
Indian Classical Music, especially Hindustani Khyal Music is represented by a number of stylistically different musical schools, known as Gharanas. The gharana had been interpreted to be a concept indicative of a comprehensive musicological ideology, changing substantially from one gharana to the other and directly affecting the thinking teaching, performance and appreciation of music. These schools have their base in the traditional mode of musical training and education, the frequently mentioned Guru-Shishya-Parampara that used to prevail, in one form or the other, in various fields of music, particularly in Khyal gayaki. These Gharanas became popular by the name of the place to which their founders belonged.
In relation to music, Gharana refers to a family of musicians, a school of music or a musical lineage connected with the name of a particular person or place. The characteristic feature of a Gharana is its special style of presentation: the result of the special and extraordinary creativity and innovation of a highly talented musician. The other musicians of the Gharana may have their own individual features of presentation, but their training and conditioning in the distinguishing style of the Gharana is bound to leave indelible and recognisable stamps on the presentation of the performer.
Each Gharana has its own special Silsila or style or logic of presentation, within the general framework of the regional Bani (or, for instrumental music, Baj) which applied to it. Thus, the rise of the Gharana system resulted in the segmentation of the different styles of Raga development. This sometimes led to different versions of the same Raga, specially when comparisons arose between the presentations of musicians of different Gharana presenting the same Raga. This has had a spin-off to the present day.
Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. Today tradition is continued as Gharanas took by the Schools and Colleges. Students are doing research in music. They also grown up as a stage performer. Musicology is a subject now. This "Introduction of Musical Gharanas and Great Artists" book is dedicated for all the students and music lovers. When I was an student I wanted to know more about our historical music culture and tradition but I found there was lack of books of music gharanas. I was collecting the matter and information about our great artist, as the inspiration and willingness the result is in front of you. I hope that all the student and music lovers will gladly accept this book.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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