Classical music
The two main traditions of Indian classical music are Carnatic music,
which is found predominantly in the peninsular regions, and Hindustani
music, which is found in the northern, eastern and central regions. The
basic concepts of this music includes shruti (microtones), swaras (notes), alankar (ornamentations), raga (melodies improvised from basic grammars), and tala
(rhythmic patterns used in percussion). Its tonal system divides the
octave into 22 segments called Shrutis, not all equal but each roughly
equal to a quarter of a whole tone of the Western music.
Hindustani music
The Hindustani music tradition diverged from Carnatic music around the 13th-14th centuries CE.[citation needed]
The practice Vedic times where the hymns in Sama Veda, an ancient
religious text, were sung as Samagana and not chanted. Developing a
strong and diverse tradition over several centuries, it has
contemporary traditions established primarily in India but also in
Pakistan and Bangladesh. In contrast to Carnatic music, the other main
Indian classical music tradition originating from the South, Hindustani
music was not only influenced by ancient Hindu musical traditions,
historical Vedic philosophy and native Indian sounds but also enriched
by the Persian performance practices of the Mughals. Classical genres are dhrupad, dhamar, khyal, tarana and sadra, and there are also several semi-classical forms.
Carnatic music
The present of Carnatic music can be traced to the 14th - 15th
centuries AD and thereafter. It originated in South India during the
rule of Vijayanagar Empire. Like Hindustani music, it is melodic,
with improvised variations, but tends to have more fixed compositions.
It consists of a composition with improvised embellishments added to the
piece in the forms of Raga Alapana, Kalpanaswaram, Neraval
and, in the case of more advanced students, Raga, Tala, Pallavi. The
main emphasis is on the vocals as most compositions are written to be
sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be
performed in a singing style (known as gāyaki). Around 300 ragams are in use today. Annamayya
is the first known composer in Carnatic music. He is widely regarded as
the Andhra Pada kavitā Pitāmaha (Godfather of Telugu song-writing).
Purandara Dasa is considered the father of Carnatic music, while the
later musicians Tyagaraja, Shyama Shastry and Muthuswami Dikshitar are considered the trinity of Carnatic music.[citation needed]
Noted
artists of Carnatic music include Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar (the
father of the current concert format), Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer,
Palaghat K.V. Narayanaswamy, Alathur Brothers, MS Subbulakshmi, Lalgudi Jayaraman and more recently Balamuralikrishna, TN Seshagopalan, K J Yesudas, N. Ramani, Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Manipallavam K.Sarangan, Balaji Shankar, TM Krishna, Bombay Jayashri, T S Nandakumar, Aruna Sairam Mysore Manjunath.
Every December, the city of Chennai in India has its eight-week-long Music Season, which is the world's largest cultural event.
Carnatic music has served as the foundation for most music in South
India, including folk music, festival music and has also extended its
influence to film music in the past 100–150 years or so.
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