Alap
The Alap (; ) is the opening section of a typical Hindustani classical music, North Indian classical performance. It is a form of melodic improvisation that introduces and develops a raga. In dhrupad singing the alap is unmetered, improvised (within the raga) and unaccompanied (except for the tanpura Drone (music), drone), and started at a slow tempo. For people unfamiliar with the raga form, it introduces the mode (the pattern of ascending and perhaps different descending scale) to the listener. It defines the raga, its mood, and the emphasized notes and notes with a secondary role. It's like an invocation. Instead of wholly free improvisation, many musicians perform alap schematically, for example by way of ''vistar'', where the notes of the raga are introduced one at a time, so that phrases never travel further than one note above or below what has been covered before. In such cases, the first reach into a new octave can be a powerful event. In instrumental music, when a steady ...
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Hindustani Classical Music
Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sitar and sarod. Its origins from the 12th century CE, when it diverged from Carnatic music, the classical tradition in South India. Hindustani classical music arose in the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb, a period of great influence of Perso-Arabic arts in the subcontinent, especially the Northern parts. This music combines the Indian classical music tradition with Perso-Arab musical knowledge, resulting in a unique tradition of gharana system of music education. History Around the 12th century, Hindustani classical music diverged from what eventually came to be identified as Carnatic classical music.The central notion in both systems is that of a melodic musical mode or '' raga'', sung to a rhythmic cycle or '' tala''. It is melodic music, with no ...
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