India's is an amazing land of colors, cultures, arts, music, songs and knowledge. It is impossible to make an exhaustive and inclusive list of Her art forms.
The intricate classical music with its artistic & spiritual beauty has divine powers. On the other hand, the simplicity of the folk songs, independent of languages, has intense intoxication.
This blog is intended to introduce various classical and folk art-forms of India to evoke love and liking for this music.
Bhatiali or Bhatiyali is a traditional form of folk song/music of Bengal, sung by boatmen while going
down streams of the river, as the word Bhatiyali comes from Bhata meaning ebb or downstream. It mostly is sung in the Mymensingh District along the Brahmaputra River or the Bhati (lower region of a river) area.
Bhaitaili lyrics are traditionally about boating, fishing and rivers. Among the 14 subject of folk music in Bangladesh, that includes Deha-tatva (about the body) and Murshid-tatva (about the guru), Bhatiali deals with Prakriti-tatva (about nature).
Notable collectors, composers and writers in the genre are Miraz Ali, Ukil Munshi, Rashid Uddin. Jalal Khan, Jang Bahadur, Shah Abdul Karim and Umed Ali.
Yakṣagāna is a folk theater form that combines dance, music, dialogue, costume, make-up, and stage techniques with a unique style and form. This folk theater style is mainly found in the coastal districts and the Malenadu region of Karnataka. Yakshagana is traditionally presented from dusk to dawn. It literally means the song (gana) of the yaksha (nature spirits or the celestial beings).
Yakshagana is a separate genre of music, independent of Karnataka Sangeetha and the Hindustani
music of India. It is believed to have survived as an indigenous phenomenon only in Karnataka. A typical Yakshagana performance consists of background music played by a group of musicians known as the himmela); and a dance and dialog group (known as the mummela), who together enact poetic epics onstage.
It makes use of traditional
musical instruments, such as the maddale (hand drum), the pungi (pipe), the harmonium (organ), and the chande (loud drums). The music is based on ragas, which are characterized by rhythmic patterns called mattu and tala (or musical meter in Western music). Yakshagana talas are believed to be based on patterns which later evolved into the Carnatic talas.
A performance usually depicts a story from the "Kavya" (epic poems) and the "Puranas" (ancient Hindu texts). It
consists of a story teller (the bhagvatha) who narrates the story by singing (which includes prepared character dialogues) as the actors dance to the music, portraying elements of the story as it is being narrated. All components of Yakshagana—including the music, the dance, and the dialog—are improvised.
Yakshagana is popular in the districts of Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada,
Shimoga and Kasaragod. Yakshagana has become popular in Bangalore in recent years, particularly in the rainy season, when there are few other forms of entertainment possible in the coastal districts.
Durga Puja does not assume the festive aura without the maddening beats of the dhak, the large drum that men hang around their necks and play with two thin sticks to infuse the frenzied rhythm into listeners. Those enchanting beats are enough to conjure up the sights and smells of Durga Puja.
Dhol-Tasha (Marathi Dhol) : Dhol (which is always accompanied by tasha,cymbals etc.) is an important part of celebrations and temple music in Maharashtra. Dhol is a primary instrument used in Ganesh Festivals.
Punjabi Dhol : It is found in the states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhi. It for the elementary beats of almost all celebrations like Lohri.
Gujarati Dhol : It is used by Gujaratis during celebrations such as Navaratri to accompany garba. Garba are the folk songs which describe the grace of the divine mother.
Assami Dhol : It is widely used in Rongali Bihu (Bohag Bihu), the most beloved festival of the Assamese people. Rongali Bihu is celebrated in the mid of April every year. Assamese people consider dhol to be a devo badyo or instrument of god, and that it was brought to Earth by the Pandavas.
Dholak, Pakhawaj & Mridangam : They are mainly classical, semi-classical and folk instruments common in most of the parts India. Dholak lack the exact tuning and playing techniques like that of the mridangam or the pakhawaj. Dholak is widely used for bhajan and kirtan like during Ramcharitmanas path.
The Ekantham Veena Seva is a unique ritual, one of its kind, 900 year old tradition, initiated by Ramanujacharya, where Veena is played for Lord Ranganatha at Srirangam. This is the only Divya Desam where the Lord is woken up and put to sleep by the sweet Veena Recital.
Ramanujacharya, laid down specific processes to be followed in each area
of service at the temple. He also ensured that people from different walks of life participated in the temple routine. Ramanuja found reference to the Veena in several pasurams of the Alvaars. He wanted Veena recital to form an integral part of the daily routine at the Srirangam temple, therefore he gave it the most sacred and satisfying role- that of both waking up the Lord as well as putting him to sleep.
Every morning at around 05:15am, for about 30minutes, the
descendents of the Sathya Kootam clan, now headed by 75 year old Veena G. Rangarajan, the retired Vice Principal of National College Trichy, present, through their Veena recital, Thondaripodi Alvaar’s 10 beautiful verses called Thirupalli Yeluchi - to wake up Lord Ranganatha from his sleep.
It is believed that all the Divya Desam Lords spend the night here at Srirangam and hence this Veena recital is equivalent to waking up the Lords at all the Divya Desams.
Belief is that the other Divya Desam Lords go back to their home town after listening to this beautiful piece of Veena Recital.
Why the veena, one might wonder (source: The Hindu). The sacredness of the veena is evident from Vedic references to it. “The Chandogya upanishad says that whatever is played
on the Veena reaches Parabrahma, and becomes praise of the Supreme One. The Upanishad says Veena music itself is a form of Goddess Mahalakshmi,” says Sanskrit scholar V.S. Karunakarachariar.
There are references to the veena in the Divyaprabandham too. “In verse 15 in Tiruneduntandakam, Tirumangai Azhwar imagines himself to be Parakala Nayaki, and the nayaki pining for the Lord, plays the veena. ‘Solluyarnda Nedu Ceenai’- are the words used in the verse. Peria Vachan Pillai’s commentary on the verse says there is more melody in Parakala Nayaki’s veena than in the yazh and flute, and that lyric and music blend as she plays,” explains Vaishnavite scholar Kidambi Narayanan.
For about 260 days in a year, the Lord wakes up to the strains of the veena and retires for
the night, only after He has heard the veena. During sayanam, even the bell is not sounded. The silence of the night is broken only by the music of the veena. This seems to be in consonance with an Upanishadic prescription. V.S. Karunakarachariar says that according to the Brihaddaranyaka Upanishad, when the veena is played, there should be no other sound. An Upanishadic reference to chamber music!
There are many who come to Srirangam for the unique experience of listening to the veena, even as they worship Lord Ranganatha.
Taḷḷapāka Annamācārya (or Annamayya) was a 15th-century saint and is the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs called sankirtanas in praise of the god Venkateswara, a form of Vishnu. As the legend goes, Annamayya, at the age of 16, had a vision of Lord Venkateswara which prompted him to write about 32,000 kirtanas and padams in praise of Lord Venkateswara and his consort Alamelu Manga. He composed devotional padams, keertanas, folk songs, etc. in pure Telugu and Sanskrit. The musical form of
the keertana songs that he composed, which are still popular among Carnatic music concert artists, have strongly influenced the structure of Carnatic music compositions. Annamacharya is remembered for his saintly life, and is honoured as a great devotee of Vishnu by devotees and saintly singers. He is believed to have been the avatar of Nandaka, the sword of Vishnu. He is widely regarded as the Andhra Pada kavitā Pitāmaha(Godfather of Telugu song-writing). A list of some of his snakirtanas can be found here. Annamacharya is said to have composed as many as 36,000 sankeertanas (songs) on the god Venkateswara, of which only about 12,000 are available today.
He is also the author of musical treatise called
"Sankirthana lakshanamu". Annamacharya considered his compositions as floral offerings to Venkateswara. In the poems, he praises the deity, describes his love for him, argues and quarrels with the Lord, confesses the devotee's failures and apprehensions, and surrenders himself to Venkateshwara. His songs are classified into the Adhyaatma (spiritual) and Sringaara (romantic) sankeertanas genres. His songs in the "Sringaara" genre worship Venkateswara by describing the romantic adventures of Venkateshwara and his consort Alamelu, while others describe the Bhakti of his devotees.
In his later keertanas, he espouses subjects such as morality, dharma and righteousness. He was one of the first few who opposed the social stigma towards the untouchable castes in
his era, with his sankeertanas explaining that the relationship between God and human is the same irrespective of the latter's color, caste and financial status, in his songs "Brahmaṃ Okkatē Paraḥbrahmamokkatē" and "ē kulajuḍainanēmi evvaḍainanēmi". His prodigious literary career earned him a place among the all-time greats of Telugu literature.
While he enjoyed popularity in his days, his compositions were forgotten for over three centuries. Mentioned in 1849, they were later found engraved on copper plates, hidden for centuries inside the Sri Venkateshwara temple at Tirumala, just opposite the Hundi, concealed in a very small room. An English translation of 150 of these verses was published in 2005.
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has been endeavouring to preserve the rich heritage of his compositions. In the year 1950, The State Government of Andhra Pradesh created a
committee and appointed Dr M Balamuralikrishna as its head. He set music to over 800 compositions of Annamacharya and are still popular among the devotees. He has been the Āsthāna Gāyaka of the Tirumala temple at Tirupati since two decades. He is regarded as a legend in rendering devotional music in classical style, especially the Annamacharya Sankirtanas. He is also an acclaimed poet, singer, and a musicologist
Kakarla Tyagabrahmam (4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847), also known as Tyāgarājar, was one of the greatest composers of Carnatic music or Indian classical music. He was a prolific composer and highly influential in the development of the classical music tradition. Tyagaraja composed thousands of devotional compositions, most in praise of Lord Rama, many of which remain popular today. Tyāgarāja began his musical training under Sonti Venkata Ramanayya, a music scholar, at an early age. He regarded music as a way to experience God's love. His objective while practicing music was purely devotional, as opposed to focusing on the technicalities of classical music. He also showed a flair for composing music and, in his teens, composed his first song, "Namo Namo Raghavayya", in the Desika Todi ragam and inscribed it on the walls of the house. Sonti Venkataramanayya informed the king of Thanjavur of Tyagaraja's genius. The king sent an invitation, along with many rich gifts, inviting Tyagaraja to attend the royal court. Tyagaraja, however, was not inclined towards a career at the court, and rejected the invitation outright, composing another kriti, Nidhi Chala Sukhama (English: "Does wealth bring happiness?") on this occasion.
Angered at Tyagaraja's rejection of the royal offer, his brother threw the statues of Rama
Tyagaraja used in his prayers into the nearby Kaveri river. Tyagaraja, unable to bear the separation with his Lord, went on pilgrimages to all the major temples in South India and composed many songs in praise of the deities of those temples.
Tyagaraja, who was totally immersed in his devotion to Rama and led the most spartan way of life without bothering in the least for the comforts of the world, did not take any steps to systematically codify his vast musical output.
Tyagaraja composed thousands of devotional compositions, most in praise of Lord Rama,
many of which remain popular today. Of special mention are five of his compositions called the Pancharatna Kritis(English: "five gems"), which are often sung in programs in his honour.
Kriti (Sanskrit: कृति, krti) is a format of a musical composition typical to Carnatic music, an Indian classical music style. Kritis form the backbone of any typical Carnatic music concert and is the longer format of a Carnatic music song.
Of the five Pancharatna Kritis, four are in Telugu and one in Sanskrit. They are set to music
in five ragas: Nata, Gaula, Arabhi, Varali and Sri. They are set to Adi Tala and each raga represents the mood of the song and the meaning of its lyrics. All the kritis are composed in the style of a Ragam Tanam Pallavi (RTP) with the charanams (stanzas) substituting for the kalpana swaras (improvisatory passages) in the pallavi section of the RTP.
The Pancharatna Kritis are:
1) Jagadananda Karaka - Ragam Natai
2) Duduku gala - Ragam Goula
3) Sadhinchane - Ragam Arabhi
4) Kanakana Ruchira - Ragam Varali
5) Endaro Mahanubhavulu - Shree Ragam
The melodic forms of these compositions (Nata, Goula, Arabhi, Varali, Sri) are the five
Ghana ragas of Carnatic music also called the ghanapanchaka. These 5 ragas lend themselves to elaborate improvisations. They are so called because they are suited to playing tanam on the veena. Nata and Varali are the most ancient of the Carnatic ragas and date back to over a thousand years ago.
Dr. Kalam, while addressing the first joint session of Parliament after assuming as the President of India, began his address with:
endarO mahAnubhAvulu-andariki vandanamulu
Salutations to all those great men in this world
Here is a collection of Carnatic Music's 5 Gems, Pancharatna Krithis, rendered by great people, who have spent their life in this field. It begins with MSS rendering Jagadanadakara, then to DK Jayaraman's Dudukugala. This is followed by Santhanam rendering Sadinchene and Kanakanaruchira by Balamurali. It concludes with Endaro by Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.
Sikh music or Shabad kirtan is Kirtan-style singing of hymns or Shabad from the Guru Granth Sahib, the central text of Sikhism and compositions of some mystic gurus of Sufi and Bhakti movement.
It began in the 16th century as the musical expression of mystical poetry conceived by
the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak. Following him, all the Sikh gurus sang in the then-prevalent classical and folk music styles, accompanied by stringed and percussion instruments.
The style was where the text was of prime significance and the music played a supporting, albeit important, role. The Gurus specified the raagin which they sang each hymn in the Sikh sacred scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib.
Sixty raags were and sixty raag variants were named. Several raag variants are unique to the Sikh music tradition.
While Hindustani music underwent significant changes in the setting of Mughal courts, and a separate stream of Carnatic music developed in southern India, Sikh music retained its original form and styles, a unique musical tradition encompassing a variety of melodic forms and a well-developed percussive system.
In the 20th century, the classical style was largely replaced by contemporary popular genres often based on Indian film music. Within the remaining classical tradition, the devotional Gurmat Sangeet style was overtaken by the darbaari khayal style. The harmonium took the place of stringed instruments and the tabla replaced the pakhaavaj and jori. Significant efforts have been under way since the 1970s to revive the rich Sikh music tradition initiated and developed by the Sikh Gurus. Various terms used to refer to this tradition include Shabad keertan parampara, Gurbani sangeet parampara and Gurmat sangeet.
Sikhs follow the teaching of Nanak, Kabir, as in Gurmat, Kabir, Ravidas, Bhatts all are same and all are treated as Guru and Sikhs bow before Guru Granth Sahib which include the teaching of many who had similar thoughts about God.
Bani in Guru Granth Sahib: 974 Shabads in 19 Ragas, Gurbani Includes:Japji, Sidh Gohst, Sohilaa,
Guru Nanak (1469 - 1539), the founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Gurus of the Sikhs, was born in the village of Talwandi.
The four feet of Dharma, the four castes were converted into one. Equality of the King and beggar, he spread the custom of being humble. Reversed is the game of the beloved; the egotist high heads bowed to the feet.
Full Name : Ravidas, Raidas Birth :30 January 1399, Benaras, Uttar Pradesh, India Death : Benaras, Uttar Pardesh Other Info: 500 verses in Guru Granth Sahib.
Ravidas (also Raidas) was a North Indian Guru mystic of the bhakti movement from Ramanandi Sampradaya and one of the direct disciples of Ramananda. He was active in the 15th century CE. Venerated in the region of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh as well as Maharashtra, his devotional songs and verses made a lasting impact upon the bhakti movement.One of the most touching, written and sung, composition of Sant Ravidas as kirtan:
Madho Sat Sang Tumare Hum Auguan Tum Pukare
O Madho, along with taking refuge in holy company, I take refuge in you. I have many shortcomings and hence I call upon you.
Tum Chandan, Hum Irand bapare, Sang Sumare Vaasa Neech Rupe Te Ucch Payain Hain, Gandh Sugandh Nivasa
You are the sandalwood tree, we are simple insects living in your fragrance. Though born in lower birth, I am rising up! Like the lowly smell rising above.
. . . . . Sat Sangat Meel Raheye Sadhu, Jaise Madhup Makhira
I want to live as honey bees live around the honeycomb, in holy company always.
Jati Ocha, Pati Ocha Janam Hamara Raja Ram Ki Sev Na Kini Kah Ravidas Chamara
Lower is my birth, lower is my caste, Nor Have I Done Service to the Lord Ram That is the sweeper called Ravidas says
Bahut Janam Bichare Madho Eho Janam Tumare Lekhe Keh Ravidas Aas Laga Ne O Chir Payeo Darshan Dekhe
O Madho, I have been separate from you for so many births; this birth is written for you—offered to you Ravidas says now I have deep desire to see you; a long time has gone by without seeing you, O Lord, O Madhoji.
Full Name :Kabirdas Birth :1440, Uttar Pradesh, India Death : 1518, Maghar, Uttar Pardesh Other Info: 500 verses in Guru Granth Sahib.
Bhagat Kabir or Saint Kabirdas (1441-1518) was a Devotee, Saint and Gurmukh born in Uttar Pardesh, India. He was a monotheist and follower, probably founder, of Gurmat. There are 227 Padas in 17 ragas and 237 slokas of Kabir in Guru Granth Sahib. He is revered by Hindus,Muslims and Sikhs, some Sikhs even use the word Guru in reference to Kabir. Like other Devotees, Kabir did not believe in Ritualism, the worshiping of Dieties, the Caste System. Kabir played the role of a teacher and social reformer by the medium of his writings. Bhagat Kabir guided Gurmat to Ramanand, whom he adopted as worldly guru. The Kabirpanthi sect which follow the teachings of Kabir, referring to him as their guru.
Bhaitaili lyrics are traditionally about boating, fishing and rivers. Among the 14 subject of folk music in Bangladesh, that includes Deha-tatva (about the body) and Murshid-tatva (about the guru), Bhatiali deals with Prakriti-tatva (about nature).
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