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Kirana Gharana
Provenance:
Though many musicologists believe to have
originated much earlier and one of the oldest
schools of Indian Classical Music originated
probably in the late eighteenth century, yet
primarily shot into fame from the North Indian
Town of Kirana -in Haryana, near Kurukshetra,
birthplace of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan (1872-1937).
Founder & Genealogy:
Though Ustad Bande Ali Khan is said to be the
source of the Kirana elegance, yet it was Ustad
Abdul Karim Khan who can be termed as the founder
of its modern day style. The gharana"s ancestors
go back to many generations before him, the most
notable predecessor being the legendary Beenkar
Ustad Bande Ali Khan and Rehman Baksh Khan (the
grandfather of Faiyaz-Niaz Ahmed Khans).
Essentially they were vocalists and Beenkars, but
after Bande Ali Khan, the successors took to
sarangi and vocal including Abdul Karim Khansaheb.
Meanwhile, Abdul Karim Khansaheb’s descendants
were his daughters Hirabai Badodekar and Saraswati
Rane and son Sureshbabu Mane all three having
trained under Wahid Khan. Another brilliant singer
was Roshanara Begum who died recently in Karachi
and had learnt from both Karim Khan and Wahid
Khan. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, founded a school in
Dharwar, Karnataka : Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai
Hangal and Kumar Gandharwa all came from that
school.
Genre:
Another notable feature of this gharana is
that it is one of the few that includes the "thumri"
(a light classical vocal form) as part of its
khayal performance. However the Kirana Thumri is
different from the ‘purabi’ (north Indian) style
of the thumri, as it does not use the concept of
‘laggi’ or doubling of the tempo, in course of the
thumri. Purists therefore feel that the Kirana
Thumri lacks the lilt and emotive appeal of the
north Indian thumri as it lays relatively less
emphasis on laya.
The Peerless & Illustrious:
Ustad Wahid Khan, Abdul Karim Khan, Hirabai
Barodekar, Dr. Gangubai Hangal, Sarwaswati Rane,
Bhimsen Joshi, Vasantrao Deshpande, Basavaraj
Rajguru, Pandit Channulal Mishra, Sawai Gandharva
,Roshanara Begum, Prabha Atre, Phiroz Dastur are
some of the great exponents of this gayaki.
The Torchbearers:
Rasiklal Andharia, Saraswati Rane, Jitendra
Abhisheki and Nachiketa Sharma, Child prodigy
Arshad Ali.
Anecdotes and Comments:
Presence of this gharana noticable in the Deccan
plains of Maharashtra and Karnataka, as Abdul
Karim Khansaheb migrated as a young musician to
Baroda, from where he moved to Mysore.
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