An Introduction to Hindustani Classical

Hindustani Classical : Some background and recommendations

I have grown up with with this music for most of my life. I had training on the sitar in my early 20’s and I have listened to quite a bit of the great instrumentalists music over the years. Saying all that, it still blows my mind how very little I know about it. It also got me thinking, with the popularity of the Spiritual Jazz post I did a few weeks back, that I might try to give you a little more background on Hindustani classical because it definitely influenced modal jazz. I’m going to really, really try not to say things that are straight up wrong. This is why I have a lot of links from people who are vastly more knowledgeable on the subject than I. It can be very confusing because it doesn't really work like most western music in terms of structure

So, what do I mean when I say “Hindustani Classical”? We regard this music as what we think of as classical music. Formal, rigorous music by highly trained musicians. It's not folk or popular music like say Bollywood film music. The classical music of India has a North/South divide. Southern Indian Classical music is called Carnatic. While it shares similarities to Northern Indian Classical (Hindustani) it differs in instrumentation, execution and structure. When most westerners think of Indian music, they think of Hindustani.

This link below from the Kennedy Center provides a good background into some of the fundamentals of the music. It will help you to understand what ragas are, the instrumentation and how the rhythms work

https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/media/international/rhythm-and-raga/

Another interesting aspect of Hindustani classical is the idea of Gharana. It think it might be useful to think of this in terms of classical art. Meaning to say that certain painters came from regions or schools of thought that guided the style of their work and you could see those differences when looking at an artists work. In Hindustani classical, music is typically divided into vocal and instrumental schools. One thing I don't know if I saw mentioned in the links I provided is that typically Hindustani music isn't notated in any real way. Its taught by ear. The vocal style is the original way that ragas were translated and they are considered the true, original form of the music. Instruments are doing their best to capture the essence of the vocal version of the raga. Teachers will sing the passage of the music to you and ask you to repeat it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gharana#Instrumental_gharanas

The most well known instrumental school is the Maihar Gharana. This is the school that produced the most notable instrumentalists known by Western ears Those being Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar Khan. One of the most important practitioners of this sonic philosophy was a woman named Annapurna Devi. Considered to be a musical saint, she is the daughter of the founder of the gharana, Baba Allauddin Khan as well as both Ravi Shankar’s teacher and eventually his first wife. Her playing was rarely if ever recorded but she is one of the most important figures in Hindustani music. She has a very interesting story so I'm including a link below to help you get to know her

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/obituary/annapurna-devi-the-light-of-maihar-gharana-peters-out

This link below is a fantastic experts view on many interesting aspects of Hindustani music, including the importance and distinctions of different gharanas, the different instruments and masters of them and much more. One of the most illuminating i have read and honestly my little article here pales in comparison

https://rotationalreview.blogspot.com/2016/01/rotational-q-and-with-phong-tran.html?sc=1671471548068#c6477336091868648367

As I mentioned at the outset, I wanted to highlight some of the similarities between Hindustani Classical and modal jazz. I highlighted 2 articled that are have linked below

https://sessionville.com/articles/the-influence-of-indian-music-on-jazz

and this one

https://medium.com/@fjannick17/modal-jazz-and-hindustani-classical-music-9701e5b1e9de

I wanted to take just a moment to mention without getting too technical that ragas aren't scales exactly. They are like scales in some ways but different in others. Here is some nerd stuff to help explain...

https://www.hitxp.com/keyboard-music-notes/music-articles/difference-between-western-scales-indian-ragas/

Also, don't get hung up on “microtones”. This is an aspect that really trained musicians can focus in on but it gets too much play when discussing Indian music. To me the similarities to our music are much greater than the differences. Its only once you really start getting deep should you even concern yourself with microtonality I think. the below is a nice little interactive explainer

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/microtones-in-indian-classical-music-baithak-foundation/jgUx9qKTlToEDg?hl=en

Ok, now that I have given you all some background, I hope that will really demystify some of this while enhancing your listening experience. The world of Hindustani classical is maddeningly vast and complex. These are just albums I enjoy that I hope you will too

Asad Ali Khan - Rarely Heard Ragas

Asad Ali Khan is one of the 2 major players of an instrument known as the Rudra Veena. In The article above where Phong Tran is interviewed, he discusses this marvelous instrument. In the link below you can learn more about the classical tradition of Dhrupad. Outside of the human voice, the Rudra Veena has a resonance that allows it to be used in this ancient tradition

https://www.rudraveena.net/music

Ali Akbar Khan - Signature Series Volume 1

Anyone who wants to know about the greats of Hindustani classical music should become familiar with the sarod playing of Ali Akbar Khan. He was the master of the Sarod, The son of Allaudin Khan, he along with Ravi Shankar popularized this music for a western audience. He set up his own music college in California in the late 60's. This particular Raga Chandranandan was composed and created Ali Akbar Khan. It's a mixture of four ragas; Chandrakauns, Malkauns, Nandkauns and Kaushi Kanad

Debashish Bhattacharya - Raga Bhimpalasi

The particular raga is my favorite. I have many renditions of it and I enjoy listening to different musicians on different instruments interpreting it in their own special ways. This version may be among the best. Bhattacharya actually developed new techniques and instruments to form a tradition for Hindustani slide guitar. This version has lots of emotion and beautiful phrasing

Hariprasad Chaurasia, Brij Bhushan Kabra, Shivkumar Sharma - Call of the Valley

This album is quite well known and maybe not one of the deeper albums out there but i mentioned it because of its importance. Both Chaurasia and Sharma are masters of their respective instruments (Bansuri Flute and the Santoor). I don’t think you can have a collection of Hindustani classical without album from both of these amazing musicians

Nikhil Banerjee - The KPFA Tapes: Berkeley 1967

Of course you have heard of Ravi Shankar, but do you know Nikhil Banerjee? Perhaps you should. He is arguably as good or better a sitarist as Shankar was, but he shied away from the limelight. He too was from the Maihar Gharana. His technique is flawless and refined and he always brings such beauty and grace to everything he plays. There are quite a few recordings out there. This one is cited as well by Phong Tran and I agree its one of the best.

Mushtaq Ali Khan - Sitar Recital

This sitarist has very few recordings but once you go a little deeper into some of the greats of the sitar, his name invariably comes up. I didn’t know until I started researching this little article that he was one of the first teachers of Nikhil Banerjee. A very classic and elegant style

Ustad Vilayat Khan – The Supreme Genius Of Ustad Vilayat Khan

Typically this is the other name that comes up when discussing greats of the sitar. Vilayat Khan was raised in the Imdadkhani gharana by his father and other relatives in the family. This gharana represents the sixth generation of musicians that dates back to the Mughal Empire. He developed his own sitar which have no upper tumba (gourd up at the neck), Also usually VK style sitars are more simply (or not at all) decorated. and are black in color. They also have a more treble heavy sound and less buzz or drone from the bridge. Khan is an exceedingly technically proficient player with lightning speed and articulation. I wasn’t aware of Khan's rockstar lifestyle until recently and I enjoyed reading this article

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/priyanka-dasgupta-blog/ustad-vilayat-khan-the-maestro-who-lived-like-a-king/

Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar - Raga Yaman

This is another of the great Rudra Veena masters. This particular album was issued by Stephen O'Malley and his Ideologic Organ label. Once you hear it, it will make sense as to why he would be attracted to Dagar's music. I have a feeling that this album out of all that I have mentioned might be a particular favorite going forward

Hope this was vaguely helpful and shed some new light on this difficult but rewarding music.