Indian Gharana in vocal music

Gharana

The term Gharana in Indian Classical music means a school or a style of music. It implies a family and a Guru- Shishya Parampara wherein the style of rendition of the student was a typical trait of its gharana itself.Traditionally from the past itself all the maestros of a Gharana have been very possessive of their Gharanas and have always tried to ensure that their Gharana maintains its own distinct entity.There have been Gharanas in Hindustani Vocal, Tabla, Sarod etc.

There are the following Gharanas in Hindustani Vocal.

Kirana Gharana

Though many musicologists believe to have originated much earlier and one of the oldest schools of Indian Classical Music originated probably in the late eighteenth century, yet primarily shot into fame from the North Indian Town of Kirana -in Haryana, near Kurukshetra, birthplace of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan (1872-1937). Another notable feature of this gharana is that it is one of the few that includes the "thumri" (a light classical vocal form) as part of its khayal performance. However the Kirana Thumri is different from the 'purabi' (north Indian) style of the thumri, as it does not use the concept of 'laggi' or doubling of the tempo, in course of the thumri. Purists therefore feel that the Kirana Thumri lacks the lilt and emotive appeal of the north Indian thumri as it lays relatively less emphasis on laya.

Founder&Genealogy

Though Ustad Bande Ali Khan is said to be the source of the Kirana elegance, yet it was Ustad Abdul Karim Khan who can be termed as the founder of its modern day style. The gharana"s ancestors go back to many generations before him, the most notable predecessor being the legendary Beenkar Ustad Bande Ali Khan and Rehman Baksh Khan (the grandfather of Faiyaz-Niaz Ahmed Khans). Essentially they were vocalists and Beenkars, but after Bande Ali Khan, the successors took to sarangi and vocal including Abdul Karim Khansaheb. Meanwhile, Abdul Karim Khansaheb's descendants were his daughters Hirabai Badodekar and Saraswati Rane and son Sureshbabu Mane all three having trained under Wahid Khan. Another brilliant singer was Roshanara Begum who died recently in Karachi and had learnt from both Karim Khan and Wahid Khan. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, founded a school in Dharwar, Karnataka : Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal and Kumar Gandharwa all came from that school.
Another notable feature of this gharana is that it is one of the few that includes the "thumri" (a light classical vocal form) as part of its khayal performance. However the Kirana Thumri is different from the 'purabi' (north Indian) style of the thumri, as it does not use the concept of 'laggi' or doubling of the tempo, in course of the thumri. Purists therefore feel that the Kirana Thumri lacks the lilt and emotive appeal of the north Indian thumri as it lays relatively less emphasis on laya.

The Peerless & Illustrious

Ustad Wahid Khan, Abdul Karim Khan, Hirabai Barodekar, Dr. Gangubai Hangal, Sarwaswati Rane, Bhimsen Joshi, Vasantrao Deshpande, Basavaraj Rajguru, Pandit Channulal Mishra, Sawai Gandharva ,Roshanara Begum, Prabha Atre, Phiroz Dastur are some of the great exponents of this gayaki.

Rasiklal Andharia, Saraswati Rane, Jitendra Abhisheki and Nachiketa Sharma, Child prodigy Arshad Ali are the torchbearers.

Presence of this gharana noticable in the Deccan plains of Maharashtra and Karnataka, as Abdul Karim Khansaheb migrated as a young musician to Baroda, from where he moved to Mysore.

                                                             Maihar Gharana

Provenance

This gharana is a relatively newer gharana as compared to others. Its foundation is rooted in a Madhya Pradesh town of Maihar.

Founder

Ustad Allaudin Khan, also profoundly known as "Baba" founded this gharana. He was a disciple of Ustad Wazir Khan (Rampur Gharana).


Maihar derives a lot of influence from Dhrupad. The Maihar Gharana uses different techniques such as Ladi (chain), where quick tremolo strokes are played, for sustaining the notes in the Jod section and Tar- Paran, where the strokes of the Pakhawaj are imitated. The Chikari sound, which is prominent in the Imdadkhani style, is absent in the Maihar style. This Gharana uses the second, third and fourth strings too, in a 'Raga', giving it different sounds. The techniques used, are Meend, Gamak, Zamzama, Sparsh and Krintan and the Taans used are the Phirat, Diri-Diri and Gamak style Taans. 

The Peerless & Illustrious 

Maihar is probably one of those few gharanas wherein the transition from one generation to ther has not necessarily been through family members only and has been infact been more through Guru-Shishya parampara only. Ustad Allaudin Khan, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee.

Ustad Allauddin Khan has been hailed as probably one of the greatest muscians world could ever see. He was extremely blessed and could play many instruments, justifying each of them properly. However in his later years he concentrated primarily on Sarod and Violin. 

                                                                     Agra Gharana

Founder

Agra Gharana is said to be founded by two vocalists Shamrang and Sasrang,who were exponents of the 'dhrupad-dhamar' style. 

The khayal rendition came into this school toward the mid -nineteenth century. A distinct feature of this school is the fine attention it pays to layakari (the understanding of rhythm), as a result of its association with the dhrupad and dhamar styles.

The Peerless & Illustrious

Ustad Faiyaz Khan.It was Ustad Faiyaz Khan who was responsible for lending the gharana the distinction it now bears as an individual school within khayal gayaki. His style of singing was one that laid great stress on a long alaap as of course layakari (rhythmic nuances).

composition, as per the Agra style is generally presented in the madhya-laya (medium tempo) with the use of bol-laya i.e the use of words within the bandish to play with rhythm rather than using aakar to do so. Similar in concept was that of bol-taan where the words within the composition were set to taan (vocal inflections) rather than using the aakar to do so. The taans in the Agra style begin from varying points and are controlled in the madhya laya, rather than being used swiftly to impress with speed.

                                                        Gwaliar Gharana
Provenance

Early Nineteenth Century near Gwalior.

Founder

Ustad Nathan Khan and Pir Baksh are acknowledged to be the founders of Gwalior Gharana.

Nathan Khan migrated from Lucknow to Gwalior with his grandsons Hassu and Haddu Khan, who later came to be the chief contributors to the gayaki of this gharana. Bade Mohammed Khan was another reputed vocalist of this gharana credited with introducing the concept of 'taan' into the khayal. The taan came to be one of the major distinguishing features between dhrupad and the khayal style of singing. Bade Muhammad Khan preceded Haddu-Hassu Khans. He was the main source of inspiration to the younger duo.


The highlight of Gwalior gayaki is its simplicity in presentation. Lucidity is important to the Gwalior style that subscribes to the view that easy presentation is the simplest way to involve the listener. It is therefore that exponents of this gharana largely sang ragas such as Yaman, Sarang, Bhairav, Bhup, and Basant etc. These being ragas which the listener easily identify, ensures that they concentrate more on the finer nuances being displayed rather than focusing their energies on identifying the raga and its basic form. 

The Peerless & Illustrious

Pt. Shri Balkrishnabuva Paluskar (1849-1927), Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar (1872-1931), Rehamat Khan (died-1920, who lived on Maharashtra), Aptebua, Paranjpebua, Vasudevbua, Shankar Pandit, Eknath Pandit, Anant Manohar Joshi, Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, Gajananrao Joshi, Sharadchandra Arolkar, Omkarnath Thakur, Vinayakrao Patwardhan, Narayanrao Vyas, B.R.Deodhar, D.V.Paluskar, Kumar Gandharva and Shankar Rao Bodas.
L.K.Pandit, Jal Balaporia, Laxman Rao Bodas, Malini Rajurkar, Veena Sahasrabuddhe, Padma Talwalkar and Ulhas Kashalkar are the torchbearers
Probably the oldest gharana in Khayal Gayaki, where others are said to originate from.

                                                        Patiala Gharana

Many musicologists believe Patiala"s roots are traced to Delhi Gharana.
Founder
Ali Baksh (1850-1920) and Fateh Ali Khan (1850-1909).
Sarangi has had a profound infuence on this gharana which can be noticed clearly in its gayaki. One of the reasons for this has been that its founders, also known as "Alia-Fattu" were trained under Ustad Kale Khan, who was a reputed sarangi player of that era.

The Peerless & Illustrious

Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan has no doubt been one of the greatest musicians and the paragon of Patiala Gharana. His three octave range combined with the versatility of his singing and compositions may never be surpassed.Other famous figures of Patiala Gharana have been Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, Ustad Munawwar Ali Khan, Begum Praveen Sultana.

Amanat Ali- Fateh Ali Khan of Lahore, Pandit Jagdish Prasad, Ajoy Chakraborty, Raza Ali (BGAK"s grandsons), Mazhar Ali Khan, Jawad Ali Khan (BGAK"s grandsons), Malti Gilani, Manorama Ahuja, Promila Puri are the torchbearers.

                                                 Indore Gharana

Indore gharana is one of the vocal gharanas of Indian classical music. It was founded by Ustad Amir Khan,[1] who studied the styles of Abdul Wahid Khan, Aman Ali Khan, Rajab Ali Khan and Abdul Karim Khan and amalgamated the essence of the styles of these four maestros with his own intellectual approach to music, and conceived the Indore gharana of music.

Amir Khan grew up in Indore, but he did not like the factionalism inherent in the gharana tradition. In an interview to Akashvani Indore he said

In fact I want only one gharana in classical music, which should be termed as Hindustani Music, and it should have different departments. These are gharanas. If the main thing is kept in this form, then our mutual recriminations with respect to music will be reduced. Many separate styles were formed out of one style of a gharana, as in the case of languages. Many languages came out of one language, similarly styles and gharanas were formed in music. Now a days, I am singing in the name of Indore Gharana.

Performances in the Indore gharana are noted by the vilambit tempo in the styele of Abdul Wahid Khan, and the taans reminiscent of Rajab Ali Khan. The merukhand structure is similar to that practiced by Ustad Aman Ali Khan of the Bhendibazaar gharana. The khayal gayaki in the Indore gharana retains the slow development and restraint from frills as in the dhrupad. Mohan Nadkarni says of Amir Khan's music that whereas Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's music was extroverted and exuberant, Amir Khan's was an introverted, dignified 'darbar' style

Amir Khan's conviction about the importance of poetry in khyal compositions (he used to compose under the pen name, Sur Rang), has also marked the singing of the Indore gharana.

Characteristics of the Indore gharana include:

·         slow-tempo raga development

·         improvisation mostly in lower and middle octaves

·         tendency towards serious and expansive (darbari) ragas

·         emphasis on melody

·         bol alap and sargam using merukhand patterns

·         sparing application of murki and other embellishments to preserve introspective quality

·         use of kan swaras (acciaccatura) in all parts of performance

·         rare use of tihai

·         careful enunciation of text of bandish - the bandish performance may or may not include antara

·         multiple laya jatis in a single taan

·         mixture of taan types in a single taan

·         use of ruba'idar tarana (considered similar to chhota khyal)

After Amir Khan's death in a car accident in Kolkata in 1974, the Indore gharana has become a powerful stream in modern Hindustani music. Direct disciples of Amir Khan included Pandith Amarnath, Shankar Lal Mishra, Kankana Banerjee, Purvi Mukherjee, and others. However, a number of influential musicians including Sultan Khan have grown up in its folds.

Prominent exponents

·         Amir Khan

·         Pandit Amarnath

·         Munir Khan

·         Sultan Khan (musician)

·         Shanti Sharma

·         Singh Bandhu

·         Kankana Banerjee

·         Baldev Raj Verma

·         Aloke Chattopadhyay

·         Mahendra Toke

·         Ramneek Singh

Delhi Gharana

The Delhi Ghaana was represented by Tanras Khan and Shabbu Khan. The highlights of Delhi Gharana are pleasing vistaar and exquisite compositions.

Founders - Ustad Mamman Khan

Exponents - Some of the notable exponents of Delhi Gharana are Chand Khan, Nasir Ahmed Khan, Usman Khan, Iqbal Ahmed Khan and Krishna Bisht.

                                                       Rampur Sahaswan

Provenance- Rampur

Founder-  Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan (1849-1919)

It was after Inayat Khansaheb settled in Rampur that this gharana emerged into its own. The gharana came into prominence and grew in fame at the court of the Rampur maharaja, where Inayat Khan started performing as a musician. Rampur, being highly influenced by the dhrupad tradition, was again in many ways the reason for the 'dhrupad' influence in Inayat Khan"s style.

The Peerless & Illustrious

Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan, Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan, Pt. Ramkrishnabuwa Vaze, Khadim Hussain Khan, Chajju Khan, Nazir Khan, Ishtiaq Hussain, Sarfaraz Hussain, Ghulam Taqi, Ghulam Sadiq, Ghulam Mustafa, Hafeez Ahmed, Maqbool Hussain and Rashid Khan.

                                                  Bhendi Bazaar Gharana

Founder and Provenance

Founded by three brothers Chajju Khan, Ustad Nazir Khan and Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan, towards the last decade of the 19th century in the Bhendi Bazar area of Bombay.

A significant characteristic of this gharana is its presentation of Khayals using akaar. Quite interestingly, there is also an emphasis on breath control and the rendition of passages for a prolonged period of time.

Other distinctive stylistic elements include the presentation of sargam (solfa) taans in a varied number of permutations and combinations. This technique is used especially in the 'Badhat' (advanced) stage of raga presentation. The method of using sargam taans is also used to play with rhythm. Besides these, other principles within this school include a focus on clear intonation and word articulation of the lyrical content of the composition.

Tools such as Gamak taans, Sapaat taans and the Meendh are also employed to enhance the beauty of the raga in course of presentation

.
The Peerless & Illustrious
Ustad Aman Ali Khan, Shrimati Anjanibai Malpekar

Jaipur Atrauli

Two Indian towns, Jaipur and Atrauli. The history being that while the family of Alladiya Khansaheb was originally from Atrauli, a town near Aligarh, they moved to Jaipur findingemployment in the court of the Maharaja of Jaipur. 

Founder-  Ustad Alladiya Khan (1855-1943)

The Peerless & Illustrious

Significant artists of this gharana include the disciples of Ustad Alladiya Khan, such as Moghubai Kurdikar and Pandit Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale, Alladiya Khan"s brother Haider Khan and sons Manji Khan and Burji Khan, Nivruttibuva Sarnaik, Abdul Majid Khan and sons Muhammad Sayeed and Muhammad Rasheed, Kesarbai Kerkar and Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur

Kishori Amonkar, Padma Talwalkar, Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, Shruti Sadolikar are the torchbearers.

Benaras Gharana

The Benaras Gharana is influenced by the folk tradition of the areas adjoining U.P. It is Khayal oriented. Musical ornamentation is used to highlight the words. It is equated to the Bol banav Thumri, which creates certain moods through combinations of words and melody. Laggi Chanti is played towards the end of the Thumri rendition. Restraint in rendering is a feature of this style and the talas used are mainly Dadra, Deepchandi, and Addha. Ada is not included.

The Peerless & Illustrious

Maujuddin Khan, Badi Moti Bai, Rasoolan Bai, Siddeshwari Devi and Mahadev Mishra. 

Jaipur Mewati Gharana

Provenance- Mewat.

Founder-     Ghagge Nazir Khan

The Peerless & Illustrious

Pandit Jasraj

Sanjeev Abhyankar and Rattan Sharma are the torchbearers