Khayal is one of the most popular and widely acclaimed music of school. Owing to the fewer constraints and restrictions on the singers and allowing displays of virtuosity, this genre of Indian classical music is represented by a number of stylistically different schools called the Gharanas. Every Khayal Gharana has a some distinct features. Each of these gharanas exhibit a novel facet of their own which allows one to easily discriminate between the various styles. The elan of the presentation, the dash in the approach and the stylistic features of employing the tans, bandish and alaap makes each of the khayal gharanas aesthetic and matchless. Here are some of the most popular Khayal gharanas pertaining to the field of vocal music.
Gwalior Gharana
Gwalior gharana began its journey somewhere in 19th century. The earnest endurance of two devoted individuals — Nathan Pir Baksh and Nathu Khan introduced the form, features and style which gained popularity as Gwalior gharana. Their illustrious successors after moving to the darbar of the Lucknow maharajas, were primarily responsible for evolving the Khyal as it is heard today. Due to the obvious reasons of being the oldest, the largest and one of the most permanent of all the surviving gharanas, Gwalior gharana is universally acknowledged as the parent of all the gharanas.
Agra Gharana
Alakh Das and Malukh Das were the founders of Agra gharana. But some people say that Haji Sujan (son in law of Tansen) was the originator of this gharana. Whatever the stories be, Agra gharana came into limelight due to the populairty of Ghagghe Khudabaksh. Ghagghe Khudabaksh is thus viewed as the main promoter of Agra gharana. Closer in style to dhrupad with nom-tom type alap and other elements, rhythmic play, frequent use of tisra jati in teentaal, emphasis on voice culture to achieve wide range and powerful throw of voice, bol-baant, bol-taan, rare use of sargam, slower taans and repertoire of traditional and self-composed bandishes render eminence to this style of music.
Kirana Gharana
The main founder of this gharana was Nayak Gopal. The gharana gained its popularity owing to the versatility of Late Abdul Karim Khan and Abdulvahid Khan. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan was having there own unique style of presenting the vocal music. Slow-tempo raga development, emphasis on melody, long and sustained pitches, usually traditional ragas, use of sargam, very little bol-baant and clarity of text pronunciation are some of his traits which gained prominence as Kirana gharana..
Bhendi Bazaar Gharana
Chhajju Khan, Nazeer Khan and Khadim Hussain Khan founded this gharana .The main structure of this Gharana include emphasis on breath control to be able to sing long passages in a single breath, use of merukhand for extended alaps, use of gamak taan and sargam alon with use of some Carnatic ragas.
Jaipur Atrauli Gharana
Late Ustad Alladiya khan was the main founder of this gharana. The main features of this gharana are — repertoire of rare and complex ragas based on Agra gharana, heavy use of teentaal, rupak, jhaptaal and ada-chautaal, rhythmic play, use of bol-baant and bol-taan, rippling taans and an overall emphasis on taans.
Patiala Gharana
Bade Fateh Ali Khan and Ali Baksh Khan were the founders of Patiala gharana. The main features of this gharana are — emphasis on voice development, roughly similar emphasis on melody and rhythm, bol-baant-like sargam, occasional use of bol-taan, variety of taans and fast sargam and taan patterns.
Rampur Sahswan Gharana
Initiated by Inayat Hussain Khan, the grand-son of Haddu Khan from Gwalior gharana, the Rampur Sahswan gharana was highly influenced by Gwalior as well as Agra school of music. However during the 20th century with the innovations and style aspects of Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan, the features of this gharana underwent certain improvisations which rendered an entirely diversified look. In spite of Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan been tutored under the influence of dhrupadi form of rendition, his style is heavily resonant of darbari and khandani style of khyals. The speciality of this gharana is that every legend from this school of music is extremely adept in their technical details along with recitals, making it even more exciting and mesmerizing experience for the audience.
Indore Gharana
Ustad Amir Khan was the founder of this gharana. In mid 20th century Ustadji caame up with a style which was categorized by the following features — slow-tempo raga development, improvisation mostly in lower and middle octaves, tendency towards serious and expansive ragas, emphasis on melody, judicious use of pause between improvisations, bol alap and sargam using merukhand patterns, sparing application of murki, use of kan swaras in all parts of performance, controlled use of embellishments to preserve introspective quality, rare use of tihai, careful enunciation of text, may or may not include antara, use of multiple laya jatis in a single taan, mixture of taan types in a single taan, known for ruba’idar tarana (considered similar to chhota khyal). These qualities added to the essence of the Indore gharana.
Delhi Gharana
The Delhi gharana was founded by the singer and composer Miyan Achpal in the 19th century. The legendary Tanras Khan was tutored by him. In the 20th century the Delhi gharana is represented by three singers, who are all related by blood — Late Ustad Chand Khan, his nephew Late Nasir Ahmed Khan and his contemporary exponent Ustad Iqbal Ahmed Khan. Ahmed Khan’s lyrical and agile khyal renditions and his dazzling taans rendered unique identity to this gharana. Presently the legacy of Delhi gharana is being carried forward by Iqbal Ahmed Khan.
Mewati Gharana
Mewati gharana came into prominence during the second half of the 20th century. Owing to the popularity of its most feted singer, Pt. Jasraj. Ghagge Nazir Khan, who hailed from the Mewat region in Rajasthan (presently in Haryana) this gharana came into the limelight. Jasraj’s style is highly ornate and lyrically polished. He pays painstaking attention to the words in the bandish, their meaning and poetic content and arouses their dominant moods using the framework of the raga. Jasraj is also an excellent singer of Vaishnava bhajans and slokas. He, more than anyone, brought the haveli sangeet sung in many Vaishnava temples in North India to public attention through his resonant voice.
Benaras Gharana
The Benaras Gharana has produced many outstanding vocal, instrumental and dance performers. Emerged as one of the six most common styles of playing of Indian tabla it eventually evolved as one of the famous vocal gharanas as well. Apart from producing some of the greatest tabla maestros, shehnai and sarangi players of the 20th century, efforts of Bade Ramdas Misra ji (a singer in the court of Nepal) gave prominent identity to the Benaras khyal as vocal music. The style gained eminence owing to the well-deserved popularity of the duo, Pt. Rajan and Pt. Sajan Misra. Though originally from a family of sarangi players, the Misra brothers enriched their style with the best features from other idioms and styles.
Sources: Wikipedia, IndiaNetZone
