indian songs

Indian songs are one of the oldest forms of music in the world. The Indian songs have their roots and origins in diverse areas. These areas are the ancient religious vedic hymns, the chants of the ancient tribals, the devotional music of the temples, and the folk music.

The Indian songs are very melodious in nature. On the contrary the Western music is generally harmonic in nature. Another most important point to note and remember is that the movements in Indian songs are on a one-note-at-a-time basis.

This one-note-at-a-time progression of the patterns of the sounds along the simultaneous movement of time is the most important and significant contributor to the tune and rhythm of the presentation of the Indian songs.

Indian songs are now divided into the two major classes:

- Hindusthani (Northern Indian)
- Karnatak or Carnatic (Southern Indian)

The origins and the fundamental concepts of both of these song types are more or less of the same nature. Of course what's different is the form of presentation both the classes of the music.

The fundamental concepts about the Indian songs that need to be understood right at the outset are those of swara which means the musical note, the raga that is the melodic concept, or scale of notes and the tala which means the beats of timing or rhythm.

The basic theories underlying all the possible forms of the Indian songs are the very same as have already been described. Of course what varies is probably the styles of presentation, which may differ from one region to another. The styles of presentation may also differ from one family or gharana of musicians to another.