Indian Music Roots
India is characterized as, “The Largest Secular Democratic Country”. Yes, the country with many religions, ethnicity, and cultures. Diversity in people itself induces a diversity in practices of art and music. Music in India was a crucial part of history as ancient scripts are filled with documentation of music theory and practice. Being a country constantly invaded by other nations and being reclaimed after a while brought the new dimension into the world of Indian Art.
Broadly saying, Music in India can’t precisely be categorized into many forms. I will be taking time, region and much more as the reference to better understand the roots.
Classical Music:
Two main traditions that were being followed in Indian Classical Music was ‘Carnatic’ which was popular in the southern region and ‘Hindustani’ which was similarly popular in northern parts. Basically, classical music consists of Shrutis, Swaras, Alankaars, Ragas, and Taals. Its tonal system divides the octave into 22 segments called Shrutis, roughly equal to a quarter of whole tones in western music.
Carnatic Music — The origin of Carnatic music can be traced back to the 14th — the 15th century and it still does exist in its various forms. It was based on melodies and its improvised version but tends to be more fixed than Hindustani music. There were prescribed compositions that depict a song such as Raag Alaapna, Taals and Pallavis and the whole song would revolve around the same with minor improvisations. Vocals were the center of all the music as the Singing or Gayaki was popular among the region. The music then was only meant to be written to be performed in singing style. There are about 7.2 million Ragas out of which 300 are still in use.
Purandara Dasa is considered as the father of Carnatic Music while Tyagaraja, Shyama Shastry, and Muthuswami Dikhsitar are considered as the ‘Trinity Of Carnatic Music’.
Hindustani Music — The origin of the music cant be defined as the practice of singing was popular form vedic times where hymns in Sama Veda were sung as Samagana and were not chanted. Developing through centuries Hindustani Music was spread over other regions of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Unlike Carnatic Music, it does not only have the root of Hindu musical traditions but it also got influenced by Persian performance practices of Mughals classical genres are Draupad, Dhamar, Khyal etc. Over time many semi-classical forms of music also got developed which can be said as the prime mover of Filmi Music.
Folk Music:
Being a vast country and people of various cultures also bring diversity to music. There are as many types of folk music in India as there are different ethnicities. Rabindra Sangeet in Bangladesh and West Bengal region, Bihu in Assan, Dandia in Gujrat, Lavani in Maharashtra and much more. The music was mainly practiced during religious ceremonies and festivals. Rabindra Sangeet was written by Rabindranath Tagore and was full of diverse thoughts. He used his words to depict society and nation. National Anthems of India and Bangladesh are originally Rabindra Sangeet. On the other hand, the lavani music was for love which became popular during the rule of Peshawar and was sung by female artists.
Filmy Music:
It is a popular form of music now and makes 72% of sales in Indian Music Industry. The film industry formulated this genre by mixing various classical and folk music into one while utilizing western orchestration to support Indian melodies. Music composers like R.D. Burman, S.D. Burman, Madan Mohan, A.R Rehman and others employes the principle of harmony while maintaining the classical folk flavors. Rock Band like Euphoria, Indian Ocean, and Indus Creed today exist and are providing another dimension to the music industry.
Indian Pop Music:
During times of the mid-90s and early 21 century, the composer began to experiment with the western music art. After studying western music and genres like Jazz and Blues they decided to add the western touch in Bollywood music as well. The pop music culture in India was started by Ahmed Rushdi with ‘Ko Ko Korina’ in 1966, followed by Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar in early 1970s. Apart from Bollywood Pop Music artists like Usha Uthup, Peenaz Masani were as performing pop music.
Indian Rock:
Rock music came in India when an international musician like ‘The Beatles’ visited. They came with their own music and collaborated with Pt. Ravishankar and Zakir Hussain to make very first Raga Rock. I was around the time of the 1980s when a band ‘Indus Creed’ formerly ‘The Rock Machine’ got itself noticed on the international stage and other began to follow. The status of Rock and Metal in India was more like cult till last decade but it is growing day by day. Some prominent bands of India are Nicotine, Phinix, Indian Ocean etc.
Music in India has reached a place where it retain a lot of genres in their purest forms as well as in fusion forms and with continuous urbanization of the region the trends of music will change even more giving birth to more genres and styles.
