Hindustani Music
Hindustani music is part of what Indian musicologists call śāstrīya saṅgīta; music (saṅgīta) based on a science (śāstra) documented in the treatises (śāstra) of Indian musicological literature. The term hindustani refers here to a geographical area, northern India, and marks the distinction between this music and the other great musical tradition of the śāstrīya saṅgīta: the karnāṭika (Carnatic) music, in the southern part of the country.
The geographical division of these two musical traditions corresponds to the influence of Persian culture in the north and development of a distinct musical culture in the south. From the reign of the Sultan of Delhi, Al-Ud-dīn Khaljī (1296 to 1316), Indian and Persian musicians shared their musical culture in the royal courts of Northern India. This fruitful exchange contributed to the development of a distinct music that evolved through its own musical genres and its own instrumentation.
Maharana Ari Singh and guests
at Jag niwas Palace
Bhima, Kesu Ram, Bhopa & Nathu
Date: 1767 A.D.
Hindustani music is a concert music. As such it must be differentiated from "devotional" music such as kīrtana and from liturgical chants performed during religious ceremonies. While it differs from folk music and popular music from the Indian film industry in both its form and its modes of presentation, it has obvious links with these two musical genres since it has never ceased to borrow from the first and influence the second. Hindustanī music can be classified as a modal music; it's two components are the melody (raga) and the rhythm (tāla). This site is dedicated to the first of these two components.
Further reading:
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Bhatkhande, V. N. (1916). A Short Historical Survey of the Music of Upper India. Baroda: Indian Musicological Society.
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Bor, J., Delvoye, F., Harvey, J., and Nijenhuis, E. (2010) Hindustani Music: Thirteenth to Twentieth Centuries. New Delhi: Manohar.
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Jairazbhoy, N. A. (2011). The Rāgs of North Indian Music: Their Structure and Evolution. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan PVT. LTD.
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Martínez, J. L. (2001). Semiosis in Hindustani Music. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.
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Neuman, D. M. (1990). The Life of Music in North India: The organization of an artistic tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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Raja, D. (2005). Hindustani Music: A Tradition in Transition (2015 ed.). New-Delhi : D.K. Printworld.