COMPOSITIONS IN HINDUSTANI SANGIT - KHAYAL Khayal is the most popular genre of compositions sung or played in Hindustani classical music. History - It is a well known fact that to trace back the history of any aspect of our music, one has to depend largely on hearsay and anecdotes. So some Legend, some commentaries and some speculation lead us to the fact that Khayal was introduced in the 14th century by the poet musician Amir Khusro , who with the help of Gopal Nayak prevailed upon the Qawal - Bani Khayal by blending Qawali with one of the Banis of Dhrupad - another genre of compositions. Khayal’s origin may have been attributed to Khusrau because of the fusion of Perso-Arabic and Indo musical systems during his lifetime. This form got subdued later till in the 18th century, in the court of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah Rangile, the court musicians Nyamat Khan (Sadarang) and his son Firoz Khan (Adarang) composed khyalas through which this genre revived and became very popular. Characteristics - Khayal literally means imagination, thought or fancy. This genre gives its performer the greatest opportunity as well as freedom to display the depth and breadth of his musical talent and skill. Yet the performer has to maintain the framework of the Raga and Tala of the Khayal. The performer uses types of improvisations such as alap, taan, boltaan, sargam and nom-tom. Vistar or exposition of the Raga is done using the words of the composition. The Khayal composition is called a Bandish or Cheez. The text has two parts - Sthayi the first stanza that is used to dwell on the lower octave and the middle octave of the Raga movement, and Antara the second stanza which is used for the exposition of the Raga in the higher octave. The languages used are Braj and Hindi with Persian and Urdu. Khayals are also being composed in the other Indian languages like Marathi. Types - There are three types of Khayals based on the speed at which it is sung. These are - Vilambit Khayal - also called Bada Khayal which is of slow tempo, Madhya laya Khayal - middle speed and the Drut Khayal or the Chota Khayal which is of faster speed. Tals - Tals used are Ektala, Rupak, Jhumra , Tilwada, Teen tala, Jhap tala, Ada Chautala etc. Accompaniments - The accompanying instruments are Tanpura, Tabla, Sarangi - which is being replaced by the Harmonium today. Gharanas - The gharana concept came into existence only in the nineteenth century when the royal patronage enjoyed by performers weakened. They were then compelled to move to urban centres. To retain their respective identities, they fell back on the names of the regions they hailed from. Therefore, even today, the names of many gharanas refer to places. Some of the gharanas well known for singing khayals are : Agra, Gwalior, Patiala, Kirana, Indore, Mewati, Sahaswan, Bhendibazar and Jaipur. The concept does not restrict itseld to vocal music but exists in instrumental music too like Tabla and Sitar. A gharana also indicates a comprehensive musicological ideology. It directly deals with the thinking, teaching, performance and appreciation of music. Musicologists and musicians have accepted a gharana if it has existed for at least three generations either within the family or through the guru-shishya mode. Listen to this Khayal rendering: youtu.be/8UzWjZh7XJo
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 04:26:04 +0000
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