The music of India includes multiple varieties of Punjabi Music, classical music, folk

music, filmi, Indian rock, and Indian pop. India's classical music tradition, including Hindustani
music and Carnatic, has a history spanning millennia and developed over several areas. Music in
India began as an integral part of socio-religious life.

History[edit]

Dancing Girl sculpture from the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 4,500 years ago)

The 30,000 years old paleolithic and neolithic cave paintings at the UNESCO world heritage site
at Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh shows music instruments and
dance.[1] Mesolithic and chalcolithic cave art of Bhimbhetka illustrates various musical instruments
such as harp, drums, gongs, daf etc.[2]
Dancing Girl sculpture (2500 BCE) was found from the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC)
site.[3][4][5][6] There are IVC-era paintings on pottery of a man with a dhol hanging from his neck and a
woman holding a drum under her left arm.[7]
Vedas (c. 1500 – c. 800 BCE Vedic period)[8][9][10][11] document rituals with performing arts and
play.[12][13] For example, Shatapatha Brahmana (~800–700 BCE) has verses in chapter 13.2 written in
the form of a play between two actors.[12] Tala or taal is an ancient music concept traceable
to Vedic era texts of Hinduism, such as the Samaveda and methods for singing the Vedic
hymns.[14][15][16] Smriti (500 BCE to 100 BCE ) post-vedic Hindu
texts[17][18][19] include Valmiki's Ramayana (500 BCE to 100 BCE) which mentions dance and music
(dance by Apsaras such as Urvashi, Rambha, Menaka, Tilottama Panchāpsaras, and Ravana's
wives excelling in nrityageeta or "singing and dancing" and nritavaditra or "playing musical
instruments"), music and singing by Gandharvas, several string
instruments (vina, tantri, vipanci and vallaki similar to veena), wind
instruments (shankha, venu and venugana - likely a mouth organ made by tying several flutes
together), raga (including kaushika such as raag kaushik dhwani), vocal
registers (seven svara or sur, ana or ekashurti drag note, murchana the regulated rise and fall of
voice in matra and tripramana three-fold teen taal laya such as drut or quick, madhya or middle,
and vilambit or slow), poetry recitation in Bala Kanda and also in Uttara
Kanda by Luv and Kusha in marga style.[20]
Under the Khiljis, there were concerts and competitions between Hindustani and Carnatic
musicians.[21] Madhava Kandali, 14th century Assamese poet and writer of Saptakanda Ramayana,
lists several instruments in his version of "Ramayana", such as mardala, khumuchi, bhemachi,
dagar, gratal, ramtal, tabal, jhajhar, jinjiri, bheri mahari, tokari, dosari, kendara, dotara, vina, rudra-
vipanchi, etc. (meaning that these instruments existed since his time in 14th century or
earlier).[22] The Indian system of notation is perhaps the world's oldest and most elaborate.[23]
Pann(Tamil: பண்) is the melodic mode used by the Tamil people in their music since the ancient
times. The ancient panns over centuries evolved first into a pentatonic scale and later into the seven
note Carnatic Sargam. But from the earliest times, Tamil Music is heptatonic and known as Ezhisai
(ஏழிசை).[24]
There are several references to music and Panns in the ancient pre-Sangam and Sangam
literature starting from the earliest known work Tholkappiyam (500 BCE). Among Sangam
literature, Mathuraikkanci refers to women singing sevvazhi pann to invoke the mercy of God during
childbirth. In Tolkappiyam, the five landscapes of the Sangam literature had each an
associated Pann, each describing the mood of the song associated with that landscape. Among the
numerous panns that find mention in the ancient Tamil literature are, Ambal Pann, which is suitable
to be played on the flute, sevvazhi pann on the Yazh (lute), Nottiram and Sevvazhi expressing
pathos, the captivating Kurinji pann and the invigorating Murudappann.

Classical music[edit]
Main article: Indian 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[edit]
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Main article: Hindustani classical music
The tradition of Hindustani music dates back to Vedic times where the hymns in the Sama Veda, an
ancient religious text, were sung as Samagana and not chanted. It diverged from Carnatic music
around the 13th-14th centuries CE, primarily due to Islamic influences.[citation needed] 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[edit]
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Main article: Carnatic music
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), Palghat Mani Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy Alathur
Brothers, MS Subbulakshmi, Lalgudi Jayaraman, Balamuralikrishna, TN Seshagopalan, K J
Yesudas, N. Ramani, Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, TM Krishna, Bombay
Jayashri, T S Nandakumar, Aruna Sairam, and 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.[25]
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.

Light classical music[edit]

There are many types of music which comes under the category of light classical or semi-classical.
Some of the forms are Thumri, Dadra, Ghazal, Chaiti, Kajri, Tappa, Natya Sangeet and Qawwali.
These forms place emphasis on explicitly seeking emotion from the audience, as opposed to the
classical forms.