Indian Musical Terms
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Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary.
half-step – See “semi-tone”.
hamd – An Arabic song in praise of Allah, usually found at the beginning of a qawwali.
hamir – A rag.
hamir ke filmi git – Film songs in rag Hamir. (more info.)
ham-radif – A ghazal which repeats the same words. (more info.)
hamsadhwani – (lit. “the sound of the swan”) – A common rag, originally from the South, but today popular all over India.
hamsadhwani ke filmi git – Film songs in rag Hamsadhwani. (more info.)
hamsakinkini – A rag.
hamsakinkini ke filmi git – Film songs in rag Hamsakinkini. (more info.)
hamsalol tal – An obscure tal of five beats.
hanuman tal – An obscure tal of 22 beats.
haridas swami – See “Swami Haridas”.
harmonium – A small hand-pumped reed-organ. (more info.)
harmonic – 1) A series of frequencies that have an integral relationship (2x, 3x, 4x, etc.) to a fundamental frequency in a musical tone. 2) The component frequencies of a musical tone. (more info.)
harmony – The musical effect (i.e., consonance / dissonance) of two or more notes being played simultaneously. (more info.)
hasya – The humorous or comical emotion, one of the Navaras (nine emotions) behind all art forms. (more info.)
hathodi – The small hammer used to tune the tabla.
haveli sangeet – Devotional classical songs of Vaishanava orientation.
helmholtz – Hermann von Helmoltz (1821-1895) Scientist who worked out the psychoacoustics of musical sounds. (more info.)
hem kalyan – A rare rag.
hem kalyan ke filmi git (more info.)
hemant – A popular rag of Bilawal that.
hemant ke filmi git – Film songs in rag Hemant. (more info.)
hemant kumar – see “Kumar, Hemant”.
hemavati tal – An obscure tal of 21 beats.
heptatonic – A scale composed of 7 notes. (more info.)
hertz – The number of vibrations-per-second. It is generally abbreviated to Hz. (e.g., 1Hz = 1 cycle-per-second). (more info.)
hexatonic – A scale composed of six notes. (more info.)
hijaz – A rare rag.
himangshu tal – An obscure tal of 15 beats.
hamsadhwani – A common rag, originally from the South, but today popular in the North.
hamsakankani – A rare rag.
hamsamanjari – A rare rag.
hamsashree – A rare rag.
hinch – A popular hemiola beat folk tal of Gujarat.
hindi – One of the two major groups of dialects of Hindustani, the other being Urdu.
hindol – A rag.
hindoli – see “Bhinashadaj”
hindustani – Pertaining to the region corresponding to today’s Pakistan and Northern India.
hindustani sangeet – North Indian classical music. (more info.)
hindustani sangeet paddhati – The multi-volume publication on N. Indian music published by V.N. Bhatkhande in the early 20th century. (more info.)
holi – See “dhammar”
hoonkar – Humming
hori – See “dhammar”
humnawa – A group of qawwali musicians.
hussaini kanada – A rare rag.
hz (Hz) – See “Hertz”.
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