In Hindustani music (North Indian classical music), a ''gharānā'' is a system of social organisation in the Indian subcontinent, 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 is derived from the Sanskrit word ''Griha'', which means 'house'. It typically refers to the place where the musical ideology originated; for example, some of the gharanas well known for singing khyals are: Dilli(Delhi), Agra, Gwalior, Indore, Atrauli-Jaipur, Kirana and Patiala. Four famous kathak 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 ''Bani'' system. The gharana system was greatly influenced by the gradual fall of the Mughal Empire, 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 khyal — 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.
Dhrupad gharanas
The dhrupad tradition includes four original styles:
* Dagarbani ("sadharani geeti")
* Gauharbani
* Khandarbani
* Nauharbani
Today's surviving dhrupad traditions are descendants of the aforementioned four styles.
*
Dagar gharana The Dagar gharana (or Dagar vani) is a tradition of the classical dhrupad genre of Hindustani classical music spanning 20 generations, tracing back to Swami Haridas (15th century), and including Behram Khan of Jaipur (1753-1878). For some generation ...
Darbhanga
Darbhanga is the fifth-largest city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Bihar situated centrally in Mithila region.
Darbhanga is the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. It was the seat of the erstw ...
Bettiah gharana
Bettiah is a city and administrative headquarters of West Champaran district ( Tirhut Division) - (Tirhut), near Indo-Nepal border, north-west of Patna, in Bihar state of India.
History
In 1244 A.D., Gangeshwar Dev, a Bhumihar Brahmin of ...
Wahid Khan (Beenkar)
Wahid Khan was an Indian surbahar and sitar player. He was the son of Imdad Khan and belonged to the Imdadkhani gharana or ''Etawah gharana'' of classical music.
Early life
Wahid Khan was born in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh. He was still quite you ...
and
Ghagge Nazir Khan
Nazir Khan, more commonly known as "Ghagge" Nazir Khan or Jodhpurwale Nazir Khan, (c. 1850s – c. 1920s) was an Hindustani classical music, Indian classical singer and, along with his elder brother Wahid Khan (beenkar), Wahid Khan, founded the ...
Kalpi gharana
Kalpi is a historical city and municipal board in Jalaun district in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is on the right bank of the Yamuna.
Once Kalpi was more important Than Orai It is situated 78 kilometres south-west of Kanpur from which it is con ...
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 from the Punjab region. It is with this tappa element that the Patiala gharana makes its impact, departing from the khyal-dominated Benares thumris and the dance-oriented Lucknow thumris.Modern history of Hindustani classical music at ITC Sangeet Research Academy. 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
*
Benares gharana
Benares gharānā (Hindi: बनारस घराना) is one of the six most common styles of playing of the Indian tabla.
History
The Benares tabla gharana was developed a little over 200 years ago by Pandit Ram Sahai (1780–1826). At ...
Farrukhabad gharana
Farrukhabad Gharana is one of six prominent playing styles or gharanas of North Indian tabla , in Hindustani classical music, and derives its name from Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh state.
History
The Farrukhabad Gharana of Tabla was created in th ...
is the youngest accepted tabla gharana, and an offshoot of all of the Gharanas, featuring their main concepts
Etawah gharana
The Etawah gharana is a North Indian school of sitar and surbahar music and named after a small town close to Agra where Imdad Khan (1848–1920) lived.Maihar gharana
*
Senia gharana Senia or Sénia may refer to:
Places
* Senia (Ancient Rome), ancient name of the town of Senj, Croatia
* Es Sénia (formerly La Sénia), a ''commune'' in Algeria
* La Sénia, a municipality in Catalonia, Spain
* Sénia River, in Castellón and Tarr ...
In Kathak performers today generally draw their lineage from four major schools of Kathak: the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, the Lucknow gharana, the Benares gharana (born in the courts of the
Kachwaha
The Kachhwaha or Kachawa is a Rajput clan found primarily in India. Sometimes families within the clan ruled a number of kingdoms and princely states, such as Jaipur, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Alwar and Maihar.
Subclans
Rajawat, ...
Rajput kings, the Nawab of Oudh, and Varanasi respectively.) and the
Raigarh gharana
Raigarh is a city in Eastern Chhattisgarh.
History
The tradition preserved by the ruling family of the erstwhile state of Raigarh maintains that the Raj Gond family migrated to this region from Bairagarh/Wariagarh of Chanda district of Mahara ...
(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.
R. C. Mehta
Ramanlal C. Mehta (31 October 1918 – 18 October 2014) was an Indian musician and musicologist. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour.
Life
Ramanlal was a Gujarati who was born on 31 October 1918 in Su ...