Indian Musical Styles and Traditions

India is a geographically diverse country with hundreds of dialects, leading to music that is highly localized and regional.
Approximately $70\%$ of the population resides in villages where musical traditions often remain isolated and specific to a few hundred square miles.
Language and musical dialects are so varied that they can be confounding even to residents of different regions within India.

The Tabla is played differently depending on regional schools, known as gharanas.
Major schools include the Farukhabad School of Tabla, Punjab, Lucknow, Banaras, and Ajrara.
Styles differ by the emphasis on treble strokes (typical of Farukhabad) versus bass drum emphasis (typical of Banaras).

The Erika is an ancient drum from Kerala, used exclusively for temple singing known as Sopana Sangeetham and rhythmic ensembles called Panchavadhyam.
Panchavadhyam involves five instruments playing together in complex rhythmic cycles that decrease in length from hundreds or thousands of beats down to just a few.

Unlike Western classical music, Indian classical traditions are never written down and rely entirely on improvisation.
An ensemble typically consists of only three people, whereas Western classical music uses large orchestras.
Performances are based on the Raga, a melodic structure with set pitches (ranging from five to seven notes) and characteristic phrases. Examples include Rag Bhupali, Rag Durga, and Rag Darbari Kannada.
The music focuses on the melody and the specific performance rather than the composer.

Indian music has no harmony in the Western sense; instead, it is played against a constant drone.
The drone emphasizes the tonic, a single fixed note that remains constant throughout the piece.
Certain notes in a scale are designed to blend with the drone, while others create melodic tension against it.

Rhythm is organized into cycles called Tals. The most common is a $16$ -beat cycle known as Tintal.
Performers use specific clapping and waving hand gestures to keep time, accounting for both sounded beats and empty beats.

Specific Ragas are assigned to the eight quadrants of the day, as well as different seasons.
In communities like the Manganiyars of Rajasthan, songs exist for every life event, including birth, marriage, labor (such as pounding grain), and death.

Music is often a hereditary profession managed by specific communities like the Manganiyars, Langas, Dolis, and Haris.
Knowledge is passed down through informal absorption and observation rather than formal schooling.

Mass migration from villages to urban centers like Mumbai threatens the survival of local village work songs and traditions.
The Bollywood film industry, which produces approximately $900$ films annually, has introduced outside influences like rap, hip hop, and jazz to Indian music culture.