Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Two distinct styles of classical music exist today in India. In the North, Hindusthani has become the standard for classical music, while in the Southern Plateau (Carnatic) Region, the karnataka sangeeta has remained accepted since the sixteenth century. Both types of music still have many similarities but the exposure of the Northern music to Persian and Muslim influences has made it distinct from the relatively uninfluenced music of the Carnatic Plateau. India is a subcontinent cut off from the rest of Asia by jungles, deserts, and the Himalayas. For this reason, Chinese influence has not, in any considerable amount, affected the classical music of India. Instead, the Muslim invasions of 600 A.D., as well as some Persian influences, account for the majority of differences in Northern Hindusthani music from the Southern karnataka sangeeta. And although British Colonialism introduced clarinets, violins, and trumpets to Indian classical music, it did not change the essence of the music in any meaningful way. The Ivaraku Jucinadi, composed by Tyagaraja is a song that uses the sankarabharanam Raga. A raga, which means “That which colors the mind.”, is a set of notes like a Western scale that is used to define the emotions and