I attended a Dhrupad concert, and it pained me to see such a wonderful performance only being attended by a handful of people. I believe in the larger scene of Indian classical music (which itself is a bit neglected), dhrupad goes somewhat unnoticed. I don't claim to be an expert on Dhrupad - far from it. I am just a beginner listener who happened to fall in love with this form, and want to share this with other people - to show them a glimpse of what it is like.
But the first question - what is dhrupad?
>Dhrupad is the most ancient style of Hindustani classical music that has survived until today in its original form. The Dhrupad tradition is a major tradition of Indian culture.
>The nature of Dhrupad music is spiritual. Seeking not to entertain, but to induce feelings of peace and contemplation in the listener. The word Dhrupad is derived from DHRUVA the steadfast evening star that moves through our galaxy and PADA meaning poetry. It is a form of devotional music that traces its origin to the ancient text of Sam Veda. The SAM VEDA was chanted with the help of melody and rhythm called Samgana. Gradually this developed into other vocal style called βChhandaβ and βPrabandhaβ with introduction of verse and meter. The fusion of these two elements led to the emergence of Dhrupad.
>The language of Dhrupad changed from Sanskrit Brij Bhasha some time between the 12th and the 16th century. About six centuries ago, Dhrupad came to be patronised by the royal courts and its complex rendering became intended for highly sophisticated royal audiences. The compositions became more secular. Some were written in praise of the emperors; others elaborated on music itself. However the pristine nature of Dhrupad survived and even today we hear this majestic form of music performed like it was more that 500 years ago in the royal courts of the emperors and kings of India.
I don't want to make this too long, and you can read more about it online easily.
But the most important part - status of Dhrupad in India right now.
Here is what Ustad Bahauddin Dagar, from the Dagar gharana and who plays the rudra veena, has to say about Dhrupad's future in India, taken from here
>Meanwhile, audiences back in India have steadily dwindled, with material support proving hard to come by for such decidedly irreducable, non-commercial music. The resulting geographical disbalance led the late vocalist Ustad Sa
... keep reading on reddit β‘For all the music fans and emerging starlets, here's your chance to learn, discuss and ask Joel about the ins and outs of music industry in India.
He will go live on Monday, but let's hear some questions to get things started!
So this article states what the whole story is but I could not understand what is going on with the different licenses. Explain in simple terms what the situation is.
https://youtu.be/xpp0w0c6R3c
Iβm currently travelling in the US and I was waiting till tonight to listen to the album. Thankfully I went on Reddit and got to listen earlier π
