Course Type: VOCAL TRAINING

The word ghazal (Arabic ) means a “discourse” or “talk to wo­men”.  There was an Arabic form of poetry called qasida which came to Iran in about the 10th cen­tury which dealt with the themes of the greatness of kings but it was often 100 couplets or more.  There­fore, a por­tion of the qasida, known as the tashib was detached and this became the ghazal.  The ghazal soon be­came the most popular form of poetry in Iran.

 

Ghazal’s was introduced to India in the 12th cen­tury. The ghazals got a new colour while it was adopted to the Indian scenario. The process of converting this poetic form into a musical form was a slow one.  In the 18th and 19th centu­ries, the ghazal became associated with the courtesans or tawaifs. They were unparalleled in art, liter­ature, dance, music, eti­quette, and in short, all of the high cul­ture.  Ghazals are widely acclaimed for their mus­icality. It touches hearts with its soulful rendering.

 

Light music is a less-serious form of classical music, which originated in the 18th and 19th centuries and continues today. Light music was especially popular during the formative years of radio broadcasting, with stations such as the BBC Light Programme (1945–1967) playing almost exclusively “light” compositions.

Occasionally also known as mood music and concert music, light music is often grouped with the easy listening genre. Light music was popular in the United Kingdom, the United States and in continental Europe, but we focuses on Indian Light Music. Indian Light Music became popular through All India Radio and there were Light music lessons conducted in Radios which was very popular and had a huge listenership. Even now there it is a competition Item in the Youth festivals , Interzone and All India competitions.

Ever since the talkies arrived in India; the first being Alam Ara in 1931 (pictured above), film music quickly established itself as the music of the masses. Unlike in Western countries where audiences for classical and popular music, Indian film music had an appeal becoming a vital part of a collective cultural heritage.

In 80 years of film songs, musical styles changed numerous times, compositions varied widely and many gifted singers emerged. But Film music remained constant: films songs were loved and cherished for ones life time.

Films were very quick to draw on all the established genres of classical music, whether of Hindustani or Carnatic music  The lighter forms, notably thumri, dadra and ghazal were particular favourites of the early period, given that most of the singers of that time were formally trained in these genres. Some devotional genres, including qawwali and bhajan, also proved extremely popular.

The period from about 1939-1959 is known as the Golden Era of film music, when melody was king. There were scores of songs – given that several hundred films were being released every week, with the mandatory minimum of eight songs per film, and in one case, 42 songs in a single film. The great singing stars of that period included K.L. Saigal, Khursheed, Suraiya and Noorjehan followed by Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas, S. Janaki, P. Susheela, K. S. Chithra, MG Sreekumar, Udit Narayan, Amit Kumar, Alka Yagnik, Sujatha,Hemlata, Kumar Sanu, Armaan Malik, Sonu Nigam, Shaan, KK, Shreya Ghoshal, Arijit Singh, Mohit Chauhan, Javed Ali, Neha Kakkar,……etc.

The credit for the popularity of the film songs goes to the great composers like R. C. Boral, Harishchandra Bali, Pankaj Mullick, Anil Biswas. Naushad Ali, Khwaja Khurshid Anwar and S. Rajeswara Rao were noteworthy music directors of the 1940s. Rao, who scored the 1948 Tamil Chandralekha, the first all-India hit, continued music directing in Chennai until the 1980s. The 1950s and 1960s, included music composers like Shankar Jaikishan, S. D. Burman, O. P. Nayyar, Madan Mohan, Hemant Kumar, C. Ramchandra, Roshan, Vasant Desai, Kalyanji–Anandji and Khayyam in Hindi film music. K. V. Mahadevan, Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy, Laxmikant–Pyarelal, G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamoorthy and M. S. Viswanathan were active music directors for more than 35 years from the 1950s.

As Indian cinema segued into the 1960s and 1970s, pop artists like R. D. Burman, Bappi Lahiri and duos like Nadeem–Shravan and Jatin–Lalit gave filmi a stronger western flavor with composers Ilaiyaraaja and Raveendran who rose to fame during the 1970s and 1980s in Tamil and Malayalam film music. Major musical forces in the 1990s and 2000s have included A. R. Rahman, described by Time magazine as “India’s most prominent movie songwriter”,is widely accepted to be the most internationally recognized Indian musician. Many other great composers including Nadeem–Shravan, Pritam, Himesh Reshammiya, Harris Jayaraj, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Vishal–Shekhar, Vidyasagar, Ramesh Narayan, M. Jayachandran, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Deepak Dev, Johnson, Anu Malik, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Salim–Sulaiman, Devi Sri Prasad etc. keep this genre alive in the hearts of masses.

Indian classical music is believed to be a divine art form which originated from the Gods. The key elements are Sruti, Swara, Raga, Tala. “Manodharma Sangeetam” or Kalpana Sangeetam” (“music of imagination”).

The Benefits of Carnatic Music

Helps build positive state of mind

• Improves self-discipline and perserverence
• Improves cultural understanding
• Improves your creativity
• Develops vocal chord in children
• Sharper brain functions

Carnatic music, traditionally called “Karnataka Samgitam”, is an Indian treasure consisting of thousands of composers, ragas(tunes)and tala structures. Venkata Makhi an Indian poet and the musicologist of Carnatic music has formulated a structured pattern of studying the technical contents through the concept of “Melakartha system” i.e, classifying the main ragas. Geethams, varnams and keerthanas are some of the core products of these diverse ragas.