Gharanas

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, founded by the Dagar family
* Bishnupur gharana, founded by Kirtankars in West Bengal (13th century)
* Darbhanga gharana, founded in Darbhanga, Bihar
* Bettiah gharana, founded in Bettiah, Bihar
* Talwandi gharana
* Mewati gharana, 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 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
* Punjab gharana, popularized by Alla Rakha and Zakir Husain, developed through its original Pakhavaj 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
* Senia gharana
* Indore gharana (Beenkar gharana)
* Atrauli-Jaipur gharana
* Mewati 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 gharana, the Benares gharana (born in the courts of the Kachwaha Rajput 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