Indian Music-2

Raga and Associated Places

As with time and season ,so too with place. Geography has a lot to do with Raga ,and how they are played.Many Ragas take their names from places.For Examples:

Raga            Region
Sinhavi        Marwar
Maru            Marwar
Tilang            Telengana
Sorath            Saurashtra
Jaunpuri        Jaunpur
Kanada        Karnataka

Not just the Raga,but how it is played can also depend on geography. This is where  the concept of Gharana comes in .Different Gharana can be different in interesting and basic ways.Take vocal Gharanas :-

Gwalior Gharana singers concentrate on aam or well known ragas.They also do not like to sing the low or deep notes.

Agra Gharana singers insist on being grammatically perfect and sing very low.Most of them are men.

The Jaipur Gharana takes great pride in doing rare and unusual ragas.Since the ragas are difficult,they keep the tala simple.

Some Tabla Gharanas:
Delhi Gharana tabalchis use only two fingers.
Ajrada Gharana players use the thumb on the left drum constantly .
 Lucknow Gharana players use the open palm a lot.