definition for: #dhrupad

What is Dhrupad ? An insider to Indian Classical Music may partly know the answer. For a layman, an elaboration is required. Is it only a vocal genre, a dhruva (fixed, specific, refrain) + pada (song - text) with a specific musical structure, meaning and context ? Not just so. Is it the oldest, finest and purest living Art-Music Tradition of North India ? Not just so. Is it only a rare and obsolete musical tradition has labeled be a few music critics, musicologists and the general musical community ? Not just so. To be able to understand and realize Dhrupad, a complete musical perception of this living art is necessary. Of the many distinct styles of classical vocal music performed today in North India, Dhrupad is believed to be the oldest of these styles, olden than the better known khayal and thumri, and it has contributed much to the development of the younger vocal styles and to he parallel traditions of north Indian instrumental music. Historically also it forms a link with the music of Mughal and Pre-Mughal times, and with musical forms of South India. So to understand the history of musical art of South Asia and it present practice, it is necessary to understand Dhrupad. Dhrupad, however, had remained a less popular art form, known and appreciated mainly by connoisseurs and a few dedicated performers. In the 20th century it became less demanding, until in the last quarter of the century, a revival of interest in the genre, both in India and in the West, stimulated a renaissance of the style of dhrupad. To call Dhrupad a `style' is however, an oversimplification. Dhrupad is a complex musical genre comprising many complementary elements, including style, repertory an ideology. These elements are formed and manifested through performance. `Tradition' is a concept of prime importance to dhrupad musicians. The tradition of dhrupad includes a body of musical knowledge, comprising a repertory of melodic types (raga) and compositions, and a particular style of rendering that repertory in performance. It also include the methods by which this body of knowledge is transmitted orally from generation to generation, and the families and other communities of musicians through which this transmission has taken place. Finally it includes the ideology by which such communities represent dhrupad to themselves and to the world. According to this ideology the dhrupad tradition is a body of spiritual and mystical knowledge, and its performance is an act of devotion or prayer rather than (or as well as) an entertainment for the audience. The performance of Dhrupad is thus not separate from the tradition, but a part of it. It is the window through which the outside world can glimpse the glory of the tradition. It may be, but need not necessarily be the means of livelihood of the artist. Since the tradition is not conveyed in writing, but is taught orally , its performance is an act of re-creation, in which traditional elements are spontaneously re-assembled and re-combined in unique ways. The study of performance thus encompasses what in the west would be called `improvisation'. Also performance always takes place in context, and the contexts of dhrupad performance have perhaps changed more than any other factor over the last century or so. As a result, nether performance nor traditions are static: both are continually evolving in response to changing situations. How does dhrupad differ from other genres of Indian Music ? How do we recognize it? These are no easy questions to answer. Although a dhrupad performance can instantly be recognized as such, there seems to be no one feature that consistently and unequivocally distinguishes dhrupad from other genres. What we recognize as 'typically dhrupad' is a combination of traits, including aspects of musical structure, and poetry. The performer's task is to achieve a judicious balance of these diverse aspects of the dhrupad style. A balance must be achieved between the three fundamental domains of vocal music: melody (svara), musical metre or beat (tala) and text (pada). This balance is most obviously reflected in the large-scale structure of the performance, in the individual components of melody, rhythm and song-text, in the instruments accompanying dhrupad and the importance of the people who performed and taught dhrupad in the past and who do so today with the principal lineages of dhrupad performers past and present. But no realization of dhrupad would be complete without talking into account the world of ideas, the philosophy or ideology that inspires dhrupad singers and players to cultivate the art and to cultivate it in particular ways. For some, dhrupad is not only a musical but a way of life. DHRUPAD PERFORMANCE The complete performance begins with an improvised exposition of a chosen melodic mode (raga) the alap sung in unmetred rhythm and without percussion accompaniment. In modern practice this can be the most extended part of the performance, lasting anything between ten minutes and an hour - an emphasis that reflects the primary place accorded to melody in the Indian Classical tradition generally. Neverthless an element of rhythmic urgency in the form of a pulse of gradually increasing tempo, becomes progressively more prominent in the unfolding of the alap. The composition bandish in which the poetic texts is set to the same raga and to the rhythmic cycle or taal, is then sung to the accompaniment of the pakhawaj. The composition normally takes no more than few minutes to sing, but it may be followed by further, more or less extended improvisation, in which the singer sets the words of the poem to intricate rhythmic patterns in cross rhythm against the taal ; this type of improvisation is known as layakari. The structure of the whole performance maintains a balance between the melodic development or expansion of the alap and the rhythmic exuberance or intensification of the layakari; the composition itself - in which the three elements of the melody, rhythm and text are in equilibrium - occupies the central position.http://***