Music, the Rythm of Culture

The music of India is said to be one of the oldest unbroken musical traditions in the world. The music has always occupied a central place in the imagination of Indians. It is said that the origins of this system go back to the ‘Vedas’, the ancient scripts of the Hindus. Many different legends have grown up in different parts of India concerning about the origin and development of Indian music. Such legends go a long way in showing the importance that music has in defining Indian culture.

The Indian music includes varieties of folk, popular, pop and classical music. India’s classical music tradition can be divided into Carnatic Music and Hindustan Music. It is generally say that the Carnatic Music is more famous in the south India and the Hindustani Music in the North India. The Hindustani Music tradition that goes back to Vedic times, and further developed the 13th and 14th centuries from the religious, folk and theatrical performance practices the practice of singing based notes was popular even from the early Vedic times. The Carnatic Music is based on historical developments that can be traced on the 15th and 16th centuries.

This tradition has a history spanning millennia and, developed over several eras, it remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as source of religious inspiration, culture expression and pure entertainment.

The basic for Indian music is “sangeet”. It is a combination of three art forms: vocal music, instrumental music and dance. Although these three art forms were originally derived from the single field of stagecraft, today these three forms have differentiated into complex and highly refined individual art forms. Many musical instruments are peculiar to India. The most famous among them are the sitar and tabala. However there are many more that the average person may not be familiar with.

The advent of modern historical and cultural research has also given us a good perspective on the field. This has shown that Indian music has developed within a very complex interaction between different races and cultures. It appears that the ethnic diversity of present day India has been there from the earliest times. All of these makes up the complex and exiting field of Indian music. Its understanding easily consumes an entire lifetime.