Hindustani music Hindustani classical music is the Indian classical music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent's northern regions. It may also be called North Indian classical music or ''Uttar Bhartiya shastriya sangeet''. The term ''shastriya sangeet'' ...

(North Indian classical music), a ''gharānā'' is a system of social organisation in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and more importantly by adherence to a particular musical style. The word gharana comes from the Hindi word 'ghar' which means 'house'. It typically refers to the place where the musical ideology originated; for example, some of the gharanas well known for singing

khyal Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian language, Persian/Arabic language, Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with rom ...

s are: Gwalior, Delhi, Agra, Indore, Kashmiri, Atrauli-Jaipur, Kirana and Patiala. Four famous

kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...

gharanas are: Lucknow, Atrauli-Jaipur, Benares and Raigarh.

Vocal gharanas

Khyal gharanas

The gharana system in khyal was rooted in the '' guru–shishya tradition'' and was similar to the

Dhrupad Dhrupad is a genre in Hindustani classical music from the Indian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music (for example in the Haveli Sangeet of Pushtimarg Sampradaya), and is als ...

''Bani'' system. The gharana system was greatly influenced by the gradual fall of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

, which forced musicians to move from Delhi to princely states such as Gwalior, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Patiala and Rampur. The gharanas have distinct styles of presenting the

— how much to emphasize and how to enunciate the words of the composition, when to sing the ''sthayi'' and ''antara'', whether to sing an unmetered ''alap'' in the beginning, what kinds of improvisations to use, how much importance to give to the rhythmic aspect, and so on. However, an individual performer from a gharana may choose to borrow appealing stylistic aspects of another gharana in his or her ''gayaki'' (singing style). There are ten prominent khyal gharanas, and they are:Gharanas
at

ITC Sangeet Research Academy ITC Sangeet Research Academy is a Hindustani classical music academy run by the corporate house, ITC Ltd. It is located in Kolkata, India. Noted musicians associated with the academy include Ulhas Kashalkar, Falguni Mitra, Ajoy Chakrabarty, ...

Dhrupad gharanas

The

dhrupad Dhrupad is a genre in Hindustani classical music from the Indian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music (for example in the Haveli Sangeet of Pushtimarg Sampradaya), and is als ...

tradition includes four original styles: * Dagarbani ("sadharani geeti") * Gauharbani gharana, Gauharbani * Khandarbani gharana * Nauharbani gharana Today's surviving dhrupad traditions are descendants of the aforementioned four styles. * Dagar gharana, founded by the Dagar family * Bishnupur gharana, founded by Kirtankars in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

(13th century) * Darbhanga gharana, founded in

Darbhanga Darbhanga is the fifth largest city and municipal corporation in the state of Bihar in India, and is considered an important city in North Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. Darbhanga ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

* Dumraon Gharana, Buxar, Bihar founded by Dumraon Maharaj, and musician Pandit Ghanarang Dubey * Bettiah gharana, founded in Bettiah,

* Talwandi gharana *

Mewati gharana The Mewati gharana is a musical apprenticeship tribe of Hindustani classical music. Known for being Pandit Jasraj's musical lineage, the gharana was founded by brothers Ghagge Nazir Khan and Wahid Khan (beenkar) of Indore in the late 19th c ...

, founded by Wahid Khan (Beenkar) and Ghagge Nazir Khan. Descended from Khandarbani gharana. * Kalpi gharana

Thumri gharanas

In the Benares gharana, the words in the text of a song are musically embellished to bring out their meaning, while the Lucknow gharana presents intricately embellished and delicate thumris that are explicit in their eroticism. The principal feature of the thumri of the Patiala gharana is its incorporation of the

tappa Tappa is a form of Indian semi-classical vocal music. Its specialty is a rolling pace based on fast, subtle and knotty construction. Its tunes are melodious and sweet, and depict the emotional outbursts of a lover. Tappe (plural) were sung mostly ...

from the Punjab region. It is with this

element that the Patiala gharana makes its impact, departing from the

-dominated Benares thumris and the dance-oriented Lucknow thumris.Modern history of Hindustani classical music
at

. The Benares gharana was founded by Kirtankars in the 13th century and revived by Siddheshwari Devi, Rasoolan Bai, Badi Moti Bai, Mahadev Mishra, Girija Devi (mid-20th century) and Savita Devi.

Instrumental gharanas

Tabla gharanas

The following are the six widely accepted gharanas (ordered based on chronology of founding): * Delhi gharana is the oldest of the tabla gharanas * Ajrara gharana is an offshoot of and closely associated with the Delhi Gharana * Lucknow gharana has rhythmic development through

Kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...

* Benares gharana * Punjab gharana, popularized by Alla Rakha and Zakir Husain, developed through its original

Pakhavaj The ''pakhavaj'' is a barrel-shaped, two-headed drum, originating from the Indian subcontinent, kendang of Maritime Southeast Asia and other South Asian double-headed drums. Its older forms were made with clay. It is the percussion instrumen ...

repertoire * Farrukhabad gharana is the youngest accepted tabla gharana, and an offshoot of all of the Gharanas, featuring their main concepts

Wind and string instruments

* Bishnupur gharana * Sufiana gharana of Kashmir ( Santoor)

Sitar gharanas

* Etawah gharana * Maihar gharana * Senia gharana * Indore gharana (Beenkar gharana) * Jaipur-Atrauli gharana *

Sarod gharanas

* Senia-Maihar gharana * Senia-Shahjahanpur gharana * Lucknow-Shahjahanpur gharana * Senia-Bangash gharana

Dance gharanas

In Kathak performers today generally draw their lineage from four major schools of Kathak: the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, the Lucknow dance gharana, the Benares gharana (born in the courts of the Kachwaha

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

kings, the Nawab of Oudh, and Varanasi respectively.) and the Raigarh gharana (born in the court of Maharaja Chakradhar Singh of Raigarh.) The Lucknow gharana remains the most popular throughout the country. However, in recent time the Atrauli-Jaipur gharana has caught up and today most performers throughout India perform techniques belonging to both styles. With amalgamation of the techniques and poses from other dance forms, the purity of the movements and gestures may be diluted or modified along with the contemporary trends. Raigarh gharana is famous for its own distinctive composition and thousands of followers.

References

External links

Gharana database at Swarganga
by Prof. R. C. Mehta {{Hindustani gharanas Hindustani music terminology Kathak Music schools in Pakistan Music schools in India Hindustani music genres Hindustani music theory