david philipson - North Indian Classical Music

A photo from the first music conference
after India's independance (1948) (click on the above photo to view a larger image)

Front Row: 1. ? 2. Nissar Hussain Khan (vocal) 3. Ahmedjan Thirakwa (tabla) 4. Hafiz Ali Khan (sarod) 5. Mustaq Hussain Khan (vocal) 6. Omkar Nath Thakur (vocal) 7. Rajendra Prasad (first President of India) 8. Kesarbai Kerkar (vocal) 9. Allaudin Khan (sarod) 10. Kante Maharaj (tabla) 11. Govind Rao Bharanpurkar (pakhawaj) 12. Krishna Rao Shankar Pandit (vocal) 13. Manohar Joshi (vocal)

Second Row: 1. Gulam Mustafa Khan (vocal) 2. Altaf Hussain Khan (tanpura) 3. ? 4. Karamat Hussain Khan (tabla) 5. Radhika Maitra (sarod) 6. Ilyas Khan (sitar) 7. Bismillah Khan (shenai) 8. Kishan Maharaj (tabla) 9. Ataf Hussain Khan (vocal) 10. Ravi Shankar (sitar) 11. Ali Akbar Khan (sarod) 12. Vilayat Khan (sitar) 13. Narayan Rao Viyas (vocal) 14. Vinayak Rao Patwardhan (vocal) 15. D.V. Paluskar (vocal)

Third Row: 1. - 5. Bismillah Khan party 6. B.R. Deodhar (vocal) 7. Gyan Prakash Ghosh (tabla) 8. Rajyadaksh (vocal) 9. ? 10. ? 11. Nimkar Bua

david philipson / North Indian Classical Music


The tradition of Indian classical music traces its beginnings to the Vedas, the ancient Hindu spiritual texts. The Sama Veda describes Nada Brahma - the concept of music being the language and manifestation of the divine. This unique system of musical expression has evolved over 3,000 years to its present form - which is known as Khyal (imagination). The basis of north Indian (Hindustani) classical music are; raga - the melodic form, and tala - the rhythmic cycle. Beyond these formal components, each raga manifests its own mood and emotional expression, which the skilled artist evokes in performance. As a predominant portion of the music is improvised within these classical forms, it is living information, transmitted orally from teacher to student which maintains the fresh and vital quality of this remarkable musical tradition. For more information about Indian classical music access: 'Indian Music and Mian Tansen' the FAQ of rec.music.indian.classical South Asia Womens Forum - music archive the rec.music.indian.classical newsgroup other Indian music links				Saraswati - goddess of music and scholarship (Mewar School - 1750) A photo from the first music conference after India's independance (1948) (click on the above photo to view a larger image) Front Row: 1. ? 2. Nissar Hussain Khan (vocal) 3. Ahmedjan Thirakwa (tabla) 4. Hafiz Ali Khan (sarod) 5. Mustaq Hussain Khan (vocal) 6. Omkar Nath Thakur (vocal) 7. Rajendra Prasad (first President of India) 8. Kesarbai Kerkar (vocal) 9. Allaudin Khan (sarod) 10. Kante Maharaj (tabla) 11. Govind Rao Bharanpurkar (pakhawaj) 12. Krishna Rao Shankar Pandit (vocal) 13. Manohar Joshi (vocal) Second Row: 1. Gulam Mustafa Khan (vocal) 2. Altaf Hussain Khan (tanpura) 3. ? 4. Karamat Hussain Khan (tabla) 5. Radhika Maitra (sarod) 6. Ilyas Khan (sitar) 7. Bismillah Khan (shenai) 8. Kishan Maharaj (tabla) 9. Ataf Hussain Khan (vocal) 10. Ravi Shankar (sitar) 11. Ali Akbar Khan (sarod) 12. Vilayat Khan (sitar) 13. Narayan Rao Viyas (vocal) 14. Vinayak Rao Patwardhan (vocal) 15. D.V. Paluskar (vocal) Third Row: 1. - 5. Bismillah Khan party 6. B.R. Deodhar (vocal) 7. Gyan Prakash Ghosh (tabla) 8. Rajyadaksh (vocal) 9. ? 10. ? 11. Nimkar Bua Fourth Row: 1. ? 2. Vinaya Chandra 3. ? 4. ? 5. ? 6. ?