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.
a (A) – A pitch of the Western scale. Depending upon which octave one is considering, it may have the frequency of: 27.5Hz, 55Hz, 110Hz, 220Hz, 440Hz, 880Hz, 1760Hz, 3520Hz, or 7040Hz. See also “safed chhe”.
a# (A#)– See “A sharp”. See also “kali panch”
ab (Ab) – A-flat. See “G-sharp”. See also “kali char”
a=440 – This is a common convention stating that the A above middle C has the value of 440Hz. This is also referred to as “international pitch” because it was fixed by international convention.
a-flat – See “G-sharp”. See also “Kali Char”.
a-sharp – See also “kali panch”). A pitch of the Western scale. Depending upon which octave one is considering, it may have the frequency of: 29.14Hz, 58.27Hz, 116.54Hz, 233.08Hz, 466.16Hz, 932.33Hz, 1864.66Hz, 3729.31Hz, or 7458.62Hz.
aabheri – A rare morning rag in Aswari that.
aasa – A night time rag in Bilawal that.
aasa todi – A rare rag.
abhang – A style of devotional music common in Maharashtra.
abhiman – Arrogance, considered the major obstacle in one’s learning process. (more info.)
abhinandan tal – An obscure tal of 20 beats.
abhiram tal – An obscure tal of 24 beats.
abhog – A quaternary theme found in Dhrupad and other older vocal forms. (more info.)
abhogi kanada – A rag.
abhogi kanada ke filmi git – Film songs in rag bhogi kanada. (more info.)
abhyas – Practice, riaz.
achala swar – A note which is immutably fixed (i.e., Sa and Pa). (more info.)
accidental – A note which is occasionally used but not strictly contained within the rag.
ada pech tal – An obscure tal of nine beats.
adachartal – See “adachautal”.
adachautal – A common 14 beat tal.
adachautal ki laharen – Laharas in Ada Chautal. (more info.)
adana – A Hindustani rag of Asawari that.
adana ke filmi git – Film songs in rag adana. (more info.)
adarang – The nom de plume of Feroz Khan, a musician of the 18th century responsible for the popularisation of the kheyal.
adbhuta – The emotion of wonder or amazement, one of the Navaras (nine emotions) behind all art forms. (more info.)
addha tal – A tal of 16 beats.
adi lay – In a four unit time, one plays six units per beat. (i.e., 3/4 time, 1 1/2 time, or tisra jati). (more info.)
adi tal – A south Indian tal of eight beats, similar to both tintal and kaherava.
aerophone – Any wind instrument. (more info.)
agra gharana – A vocal gharana, said to be descended from Tansen via his daughter.
ahat nad – (lit. “struck sound”) Any audible sound.
ahir bhairav – A morning rag. (more info.)
ahir bhairav ke filmi git – Film songs in rag ahir bhairav. (more info.)
ahir lalit – A rag.
ahiri – A rare rag.
ajay tal – An unusual tal of 6 3/4 beats.
ajrada – A village near Meerat.
ajrada baj – A style of playing originating from Ajrada.
akal – (lit. “without time”) In tabla, a Lucknowi gat which ends before the sam.
akbar – Emperor at the peak of the Moghal empire who was known as a great patron of the arts.
akshar-kaal – An archaic unit of time. (more info.)
alankar 1) Tans based upon patterns of arrangements of notes. 2) Exercises based upon patterns of arrangements of notes 3) Ornamentations of the notes. (“alankar” can mean distinctly different things to different musicians.)
aksharkal – (archaic) (lit. “unit of time required to utter one short letter of the alphabet”.) In ancient times this implied a fundamental unit of measuring rhythm. (4 aksharkal = 1 matra)
alap – 1) A slow rhythmless elaboration upon the rag used by vocalists. (more info.) 2) A slow rhythmless elaboration upon the rag used by instrumentalists (more info.).
alapin – In the 22 shruti system, this is the 4th and last shruti of pancham.
algoza – A pair of flutes played in the folk music of North West India and Pakistan. (more info.)
alhaiya bilaval – A morning rag in bilawal that.
alhiya bilawal ke filmi git – Film songs in rag alhiya bilawal. (more info.)
ali akbar khan – A famous sarod player of the late 20th century. (more info.)
alladiya khan – (1855-1946) Vocalist of the Jaipur / Atrauli gharana.
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amad – 1) Introductory piece for a Kathak performance. 2) A class of tabla composition used to accompany a Kathak performance. (more info.)
aman ali khan – (1884-1953) Vocalist of the Bhendi Bazar Gharana.
amir khan – (1912-1974) Vocalist of the Indore gharana.
amir khusru – (1253-1325) Legendary musician during time of Ala-u-Din Khilji.
anagat (grah) – 1) The process of ending a composition before the sam. 2) An archaic term which means to start the composition before the sam (das pran). (more info.)
anagat tihai – A tihai which ends before the sam.
anahat nad – (lit. “unstruck sound”. A mystical sound which permeates the universe, but is not heard.
anakshar alap – An alap which is completely devoid of any meaning.
anand bhairav – A Hindustani morning rag.
anand bhairavi – A Carnatic rag of the 20th melakarta (Nata Bhairavi). This rag is not normally found in the North.
anand bhairavi ke filmi git – Film songs in rag anand bhairavi. (more info.)
anandi – A Hindustani rag. (See “Nand”).
anand bhairav – A rare rag.
anand bhairavi – A rare rag
anandi kalyan – See “nand”.
andelu – Small pellet bells of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. (more info.)
andhra natyam – A traditional dance form from the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. (more info.)
andolan – (lit. “swinging”). An ornament of song or melodic instrument which may be described as a slow shake. (more info.)
anhemitonic – A scale which does not contain any semi-tones (e.g. Bhupali).
anjni todi – A rare rag.
ang – (lit. limb, or section) 1) For the tal, it is a measure, or vibhag. (more info.) 2) For tal it can denote one of six different devisons of time (e.g., drut, anudrut guru, laghu, pluta, and kaka pada) (more info.) 3) For the rag, it is one of the two tetrachords which make a scale (e.g., purvang= Sa Re Ga Ma, uttarang=Pa Dha Ni Sa). 4) A style (e.g., thumri ang, tappa ang)
anil biswas – See “Biswas, Anil”.
angulastan -The fingerboard of a musical instrument.
angushtana – In tabla, a style of tukada or rela which concentrates on the fingers.
anibaddh – A style of music without any perceptible tal or structure.
anima tal – An obscure tal of 13 beats.
ank tal – A rare tal of nine matras.
anoushka shankar – Noted sitarist and daughter of the illustrious Ravi Shankar. (more info.)
antarakrida tal – An obscure tal of seven matras.
antara – A secondary theme in vocal styles. (more info.)
antara marg – The process of introducing a prohibited note into the rag for a particular effect.
anti-nautch movement – A movement at the turn of the 20th century to abolish all forms of classical dance by females. (more info.)
anuddata – One of the three notes of the Rigveda (more info.).
anudrut – 1) Ultra-high speed (see “ati-drut”). 2) An archaic unit of time equal to two chaturbhag. (more info.)
anupallavi – A secondary theme in Carnatic music comparable to the antara.
anuvadi – A note of the rag which is neither emphasized or deemphasised. (more info.)
apaswara – A note which out of tune. See also “besur”.
apsara – A celestial nymph.
apurna – (lit. “incomplete”.) Any rag which does not contain a full seven notes.
ara chartal – See “adachautal”.
ara choutal – See “adachautal”.
arangetram – The first performance of a musician or dancer marking their transition from student to full fledged artist. See also “rang pravesham”
ardhya tal – An obscure tal of 27 beats.
arj – A rare mid-morning rag in Bhairav that.
arjun tal – An obscure pakhawaj tal of 20 beats.
aroh – 1) The ascending structure of the rag. (more info.) 2) In tabla, the first half of a lom-vilom gat. (more info.)
arohana – Ascending structure of rag. (more info.)
arti – A type of worship which is performed by waving a burning lamp in a circular fashion around the idol.
arya tal – An obscure tal of 16 beats.
aryun tal – An obscure pakhawaj tal of 24 beats.
asavari – A rag, similar to darbari kanada. (more info.)
asavari ke filmi git – Film songs in rag asavari. (more info.)
asavari that – A mode composed of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Så. (more info.)
asavari todi – A rag.
asha bhosle – See “Bhosle, Asha”.
ashadi jog – Guru purnima.
ashtamangal tal – An obscure pakhawaj tal variously described as being 11 or 22 beats.
ashtapadi – A poetic form based upon 8 verses, the most well known being the “Geeta Govinda” of Jaidev.
ashvini tal – An unusual tal of 11 1/2 beats.
asthai – See “sthai”.
ata – Whole wheat flour which is use as a temporary application to the left side of the pakhawaj or mridangam.
at tal – An obscure pakhawaj tal variously described as being of 10, 12, 14, 18, 22, and 24 beats.
ath – See “at tal”.
ati komal – A note which is flatter than normal (e.g., the ati komal Ga found in rag Darbari Kanada).
ati drut – Ultra-fast tempo. (more info.)
ati mandra saptak – A register which is two octaves below the middle register. (more info.)
ati vilambit – Ultra slow tempo. (more info.)
atit (grah) – In tabla, the process of ending a composition after the sam. (more info.)
atit tihai – A tihai which ends after the sam.
ati tar saptak – A register which is two octaves above the middle register. (more info.)
atrauli gharana – See “jaipur gharana”.
audav-audav – A rag which has 5 notes in the ascending structure and 5 notes in the descending structure. (more info.)
audav bilawal – Another name for rag bhinashadaj.
audav bilawal ke filmi git – Film songs in rag audav bilawal. (more info.)
audav devgiri – A very rare rag which is very similar to bhupali.
audhav jati – A rag composed of five notes. (more info.)
audav-sampurna – A rag which has 5 notes in the ascending structure and 7 notes in the descending structure. (more info.)
audav-shadav – A rag which has 5 notes in the ascending structure and 6 notes in the descending structure. (more info.)
augmented 4th– The interval corresponding to Sa-tivra Ma.
augmented 5th – An interval corresponding to to the distance between Sa and tivra Pa. (Tivra Pa does not exist in mainstream Indian musical theory, but it is a concept which is sometimes found in academic discussions.)
avanaddh – A membranous percussive instrument (e.g., tabla, dholak, mridang, etc.)(more info.)
avap – (Archaic) A style of timekeeping that does not make sound (marg nishabd kriya).
avaroh – 1) The descending structure of a rag. (more info.) 2) The second half of a lom-vilom gat. (more info.)
avarohana – Descending structure of rag. (more info.)
avarta – See “avaratan”.
avartan – A cycle of the tal. (more info.)
avrutti – See “avartan”.
aurangzeb – Sixth Moghal emperor who ruled at the turn of the 18th century.
awadi – An Eastern dialect of Hindi.
azan – The Islamic call to prayer.
aziz mian – (1928-2000) A popular qawwali singer.
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