Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
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, sita ...
that is often combined with
filmi music
Filmi ("of films") music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Indian cinema. In cinema, music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed by playbac ...
Pakistan Television
Pakistan Television Corporation ( ur, ; reporting name: PTV) is the Pakistani state-owned broadcaster. Pakistan entered the television broadcasting age in 1964, with a pilot television station established at Lahore.
Background
Historical co ...
from 1964 (its establishment) to the late 1980s. Although, this music is still produced, it is not as frequent.
Historical background
After the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
or sometimes also called the First war of independence from the British rule, most Mughal court musicians moved from
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
to the relative peace and safety of smaller towns after the failure of the 1857 rebellion.Semi-Classical Music of Pakistan Travel & Culture (travel-culture.com) website, Retrieved 2 July 2019
Thumri and Dadra
In those smaller towns, a new musical movement gained momentum which sought relaxation from the structural limitations of the
khayal
Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian/Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with romantic poetry, and allows the perfor ...
form of music to allow singers to express themselves with lighter music. This new trend resulted in the development of two closely related music genres, the
thumri
Thumri () is a vocal genre or style of Indian music. The term "thumri" is derived from the Hindi verb ''thumuknaa'', which means "to walk with a dancing gait in such a way that the ankle-bells tinkle." The form is, thus, connected with dance, dra ...
and the
dadra
Dadra is associated with the Hindustani classical music of the Indian subcontinent.
Dadra tala
This is a Hindustani classical '' tala'' (rhythmic cycle), consisting of six beats in two equal divisions of three. The most commonly accepted theka ...
.
After the
independence of Pakistan
The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the per ...
in 1947, this musical heritage and many of the musicians shifted to Pakistan. Thumri and dadra have been and still are popular among contemporary classical vocalists in Pakistan.
Barkat Ali Khan
Ustad Barkat Ali Khan (1908 – 19 June 1963) was a Pakistani classical singer, younger brother of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and elder brother of Mubarak Ali Khan, and belonged to the Patiala gharana of music.
Early life and career
Barkat Ali Khan ...
*Ustad
Salamat Ali Khan
Salamat Ali Khan (12 December 1934 11 July 2001) was a Pakistani vocalist and touring artist known for his contribution to the Hindustani classical music.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest classical singers of the Indian subcontinent, ...
*Ustad
Amanat Ali Khan
Ustad Amanat Ali Khan ( ur, ; ; 1922 – 18 September 1974) was a Pakistani classical vocalist from the Patiala gharana tradition of music and is widely regarded as one of the finest classical and ''ghazal'' singers of all time. Together ...
and
Bade Fateh Ali Khan
Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan ( ur, ; ; 1935 – 4 January 2017) was among the foremost Khyal vocalists in Pakistan, and a leading exponent of the Patiala Gharana tradition of music. He was the younger of the legendary singing duo Amanat Ali and ...
*
Atif Aslam
Atif Aslam is a Pakistani playback singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He has recorded many songs in both Pakistan and India, and is known for his vocal belting technique.
Aslam predominantly sings in Urdu, but has also sung in Hindi, ...
*
Hamid Ali Khan
Ustad Hamid Ali Khan ( ur, ;
born 1953) is a Pakistani classical singer. He belongs to the Patiala gharana. Being a representative of the Patiala gharana, Hamid Ali Khan is an exponent of ghazal and classical singing. He has released seve ...
*
Shafqat Amanat Ali
Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan ( ur, ; ; born 26 February 1965) is a Pakistani pop and classical singer, songwriter, and composer belonging to the Patiala Gharana tradition of music. He was the lead vocalist of the Pakistani pop rock band Fuzön ...
*
Iqbal Bano
Iqbal Bano ( ur, ; born 1928 in Delhi – died 21 April 2009 in Lahore) was a ghazal singer from Pakistan. She was known for her semi-classical Urdu ghazal songs and classical thumris, but also sang easy-listening numbers in the 1950s films. Iq ...
*
Ghulam Ali (singer)
Ustad Ghulam Ali ( ur, ; 5 December 1940) is a Pakistani ghazal singer of the Patiala Gharana. He has also been a prominent playback singer in Bollywood. Ghulam Ali was a disciple of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (elder Ghulam Ali Khan). Ali was also ...
*
Farida Khanum
Farida Khanum (Urdu language, Urdu: ) is a Pakistani Music of Pakistan#Classical music, classical singer from the city of Kolkata West Bengal, India, West Bengal. She is also known by her honorific title ''Malika-e-Ghazal'' (The Queen of Ghazal) ...
*
Suraiya Multanikar
Suraiya Multanikar (born 1940) is a Pakistani singer mostly known for her folk songs. Her repertoire includes classical, semi-classical, ghazal, folk songs and film songs.
*
Mehdi Hassan
Mehdi Hassan Khan ( ur, مہدی حسن خاں , translit=) 18 July 1927 – 13 June 2012) was a Pakistani ghazal singer and playback singer for Lollywood. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of gh ...
*
Sajjad Ali
Sajjad Ali (born 1962) is a Pakistani semi-classical, pop and rock singer, poet, actor, film director as well as a film producer from Karachi, Pakistan.Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...
*
Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur
and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the ...
Other music
Pakistani pop music
Pakistani popular music or shortly Pakistani pop music refers to popular music forms in Pakistan. Pakistani pop is a mixture of traditional Pakistani classical music and western influences of jazz, rock and roll, hip hop and disco sung in var ...
, despite starting as completely westernized music, has been heavily influenced by semi-classical by the passage of time.