Music of Varanasi
Indian Classical Music is one of the oldest unbroken musical
traditions in the world. It is believed to originate from
the Vedas (ancient scripts of the Hindus) and then developed
through a complex interaction between different peoples
of different races and cultures.
The basis for Indian music is "Sangeet". Sangeet
is a combination of three artfoms vocal music,
instrumental music and dance. Although these three artartforms
were originally derived from the single field of stagecraft.
Today these three forms have differentiate into complex
and highly refined individual artforms.
There are nine types of moods in Indian music
namely :
Shringar - Love
Hasya - Comic
Karuna - Sadness
Raudra - Furious
Veera - Heroic
Bhayanak - Terrible
Vibhats - Disgusting
Adbhuta - Wonderment
Shanta - Peace
There are many important events in the history of Indian
music. These milestones show clearly the development of
musical thought from early history to the present day.
The early history of Indian music may be explained
by the Indo-European theory. According to this theory,
there was a culture, or group of cultures who were so
successful that they spread throughout Europe and parts
of Asia. Although no one knows where they came from,
present thought tends to place their origins somewhere
in Eurasia, either north of the Black sea or north of
the Caspian (Mallory 1989). Within this family there
are several major groups. Indo-Aryan is a group which
has special significance for India because this is the
language and culture which generated the Vedas and other
classical texts of ancient India. The classical music
of India is said to have its roots in this culture.
The connection between Indo-European expansion and
Indian music may be seen in mythology. Mythology refers
to music being brought to the people of India from a
place of celestial beings. This mythical land (Gandharva
Desh) is usually equated with heaven. However, some
are of the opinion that this mythical land could actually
be Kandahar in what is the modern Afghanistan. Therefore,
the myths of music being given to the world by the celestial
beings (gandharva) may actually represent a cultural
connection with this ancient Indo-Aryan homeland.
Further evidence may be seen in musical structure.
In the first few centuries B.C., Indian music was based
upon seven modes (scales). It is probably no coincidence
that Greek music was also based upon seven modes. Furthermore,
the Indian scales follow the same process of modulation
(murchana) that was found in ancient Greek music. Since
Greece is also Indo-European, this is another piece
of evidence for the Indo-European connection.
The link to Sanskrit is another strong indication of
Indo-European roots. Many of the earliest texts were
written in Sanskrit. It is also generally believed that
classical music is derived from the Samaveda. However
it should be stressed that this belief is hard to justify
because intermediate forms have never been found.
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