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10,000 BCE
Ancient Music 10,000 BC to 300 AD
There was nothing written for us to see if there were music back in that time, but there was evidence of it such as musical instruments that include: flute, whistles, and harp. There were paintings on rocks that showed that music existed back during this time. On the rock was people singing, acting, dancing and using their musical instruments. -
1500 BCE
Vedic Music 1500 to 1000 BCE
Sama Veda is the earliest form of music that we know of. Mostly sung or chanted by the people of India. The musical notes that were used for this were Arcika, Gathika, Samika, and Svarantara. Soon, more notes were added such as Krsta, Prathama, Dvitiya, Trtiya, Caturtha, Mandra, and Atisvarya. After all of these were added, they were all put in a group and were called Svara-s.
References to musical Instruments were seen in Veda-s, a large body of religious texts. -
1500 BCE
Indian Folk Music 1500 BC
Folk music reflects the way of life in almost every region in India. Because India is rich in cultural diversity, it helped contribute to different forms of folk music. Folk music was closely associated with farming, however, traditional celebrations today are never complete without the good old roots of Indian folk music. They can still be heard at these celebrations. -
1100
Ghazal 1100 - 1700
Ghazal isn't really music, it is actually just a poetic recitation. Ghazal was a popular form of music in India and Pakistan. In fact, Ghazal can be found written in classic Arabic Poetry. It was introduced in Arab countries but was later imported into India from the 1100's to the 1700's. -
1200
Hindustani Music 1200 - 1300 CE
The Hindustani music era separated to become what is known now, as Carnatic classical music. This era of music held dhrupad music, ghazal music, and others in it. It also was the era where the ideas of the sarod, tabla, and sitar where formed. -
1200
Qawwali Music 1200's
In the 13th century, Sufism became popular in the Indian Subcontinent. Sufism is a Muslim belief in which they seek to find the truth love and wisdom through direct personal experience of God. Qawwali is Sufi devotional music that is high pitched, fast paced singing style for Sufism. Qawwali also stands for "philosophical utterance" in Arabic. -
1300
Dhrupad 1300's
Dhrupad is the oldest living form of Hindustani music vocal music. Dhrupad also means "refrain" and is also a form of poetry that is sung. The Dhrupad songs can last up to an hour before the melody of the song even begins. -
1500
Invention of the Sarod 1500
The sarod is a musical instrument that has 4 to 6 strings and no frets on its neck. It is also common to the Hindustani music era of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The neck of this instrument has a metal face and is very broad which helps make sliding pitches.
Listen to this video to hear what a sarod sounds like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvuDTeelP3A -
Invention of the Sitar 1700's
The most well known instrument of India, and was played in the Moghul courts for hundreds of years. It is a string instrument with a long, wide, hollow wooden neck and frets. It also has five melody strings and 13 sympathetic strings beneath the frets. Listen to this video to hear what a sitar sounds like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUuv-eet71Y -
Karnatak (Carnatic) Music 1700's
Karnatak (Carnatic) music is the south Indian classical music. Karnatak is one of the gems of world music because of it's rich history and traditions. Purandardas was known as the father of Karnatak music. He was well known for the codification of the method of Carnatic music. -
Invention of the Tabla 1700
The Tabla is a pair of small drums One is higher pitched and the other is lower pitched. The right hand is supposed to play the higher pitched drum and the left plays the lower pitched drum.
Listen to this video to hear what a tabla sounds like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEjL2ArncGw -
Bhangra 1900's
Bhangra was a dance that Muslim men and Sikh in the Punjab region. The dance was associated with the spring harvest festival Baisakh. These dances consist of short songs, kicks, leaps, and bends of the body. -
Kalbelia Folk Songs and Dances of Rajasthan 2010
Kalbelia Folk Songs and Dances consist of women in flowing black skirts, dancing and swirling around while men accompany them by playing the khanjari and the poongi. Khanjari being a percussion instrument and the poongi being a woodwind instrument. The dancers also wear traditional tattoos, jewelry, and garments that are covered with small mirrors and silver thread. -
Sankirtana, Ritual Singing, Drumming and Dancing of Manipur 2013
Sankirtana, Ritual Singing, Drumming and Dancing of Manipur is hweere 2 drummers and 10 dancers perform in a hall or courtyard. The dancers perform a narration of the lives and deeds of Krishna. Their performances often moves their audience to tears. -
T-Series Founded in 1983 (most popular in 2019)
T-series was founded on July 11th, 1983 in Delhi, India. Gulshan Kumar is the founder of this company. This company began as a fruit seller but led to a pirated music seller to no a seller of their own music. They eventually made a YouTube channel where they gained 140 million subscribers as of January 2019. The reason that this happened was because of their "battle" between Pewdiepie and them, challenging each other on who could get the most subscribers. This is still happening today.
