In Hindustani (north Indian) classical music a gharana (from ghar, house) is a lineage of musicians linked by family or by teacher-student descent, and above all by a shared musical style: its ornamentation, its way of improvising and its sense of rhythm. Gharanas took their names from the places or courts that nurtured them after musicians moved from Delhi to princely courts in the late 1600s.
Key facts
- Ten prominent khayal gharanas include Gwalior, Agra, Kirana, Patiala and Jaipur-Atrauli, differing in ornamentation, improvisation and rhythm.
- Dhrupad traditions include Dagar, Bishnupur and Darbhanga; thumri, the lighter romantic form, has its own regional styles, the Benares and Lucknow styles being the best known.
- Six tabla gharanas are widely accepted: Delhi (the oldest), Lucknow, Benares, Punjab, Farrukhabad (the youngest) and Ajrada.
- The word comes from ghar, 'house'; lineages grew from hereditary families into chains of disciples (silsila) under the guru-shishya tradition.
Why exams ask about it
Which singer belongs to which gharana, who founded it and where, and which drum goes with which genre are the usual questions.
Pakka yaad trick
Gharana means house: the name is the address. Kirana, Gwalior, Patiala, Agra, Rampur are all towns.