i Music Club

Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul. Indian music is known for its melody and richness of emotion. The roots of Indian music can be traced to Vedas (the religious books of knowledge). To many believers, music was created by God Himself. For them it was something divine, something heavenly. That is sole reason we find earlier Indian music as ritualistic with hymns sung to God (Bahagwan). Brahma the thought writer of Sema Veda patterned Indian music on three notes and it was sung in plain rhyme. This music then underwent modifications in the Mughal era by styles of Dhrupad, Dhamar, Khayal.

The music of India is a insidious influence in Indian life. It pervades the big and small events of Indian life, from child birth to death, religious rites and seasonal festivals. Originally, not all developments of music were reduced to writing. To keep their traditional integrity, they were imparted orally from teacher to pupil — the Guru-Shishya tradition. In the past, there used to be a system of Gurukul Ashram or purpose built institutes where teachers imparted knowledge to deserving students.

Indian music’s base is Raga which the soul of classical music. A raga is based on the principle of a combination of notes selected out the 22 note intervals of the octave. A performer having sufficient training and knowledge alone can create the desired emotions, through the combination of shrutis and notes. There are a limited number of ragas in Hindustani music; as the use of a “KING” note and a “QUEEN” note restricts to a great extent, the creation of new ragas. The raga forms the backbone of Indian music, and the laws lay down for the ragas have to be carefully observed to preserve and safeguard their integrity. Since ragas are associated with times and nature, we find great resemblance of this fact in the names of these ragas. The ten famous ragas are Bilaval — with all shuddh or natural notes, Khamaj — with the ni note as komal, Kafi — with the ga and ni notes as komal, Asavari — with the ga, dha and ni notes as komal, Bhairavi — with the re, ga, dha and ni notes as komal, Bhairav — with the re and dha notes as komal, Poorvi — with the re and dha notes as komal and the ma note as teevra., Todi — with the re, ga and dha notes as komal and the ma note as teevra., Marwa — with the re note as komal and the ma note as teevra and Yaman — with the ma note as teevra only.

Recent times have seen quite a modification in Indian Music and cultural influences are very much evident in these changes. Indian Bhangra is one such example. Then the Indian folk music itself has its on appeal. Indian ghazal and Bhajans have again their own soothing and mystical affects. And nonetheless the new influence of western music combined with India music again starting a new genre in musical world.