Jono Oud N.Z
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 12-14-2009
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The oud, and other Near Eastern instruments in Mughal India
What happened to the music from the Mughal period in India?
Modern Indian classical music has evolved to it's current state only since the 1700s.
The late medieval and Mughal miniatures show these instruments alongside Indian instruments;
Oud (or something similar with a bent back pegbox)..
Nay.
Qanun.
Kamanche.
Jank (harp).
Panpipes (Turkish type?).
Riqq / daire.
Here are a couple of paintings:
These are hard to find by the way..
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urus
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 3-20-2010
Location: Cairo, Egypt
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Yes, sir, I was looking for that while living in the Northern India, too.
Can't seem to find any: just the miniatures and some theoretical articles on Indo-Iranian crossover traditions...
Would love to know.
The Oud and The Fuzz
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Jono Oud N.Z
Oud Junkie
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Hi.
Do you have many/any pictures of these miniatures?
I would be interested in any articles or information you have.
There are some miniatures in books at my University library, I will scan them soon.
It is amazing that this tradition and it's instruments have vanished completely.
I really love Indian classical music , but am very interested in how it sounded before around 1700.
These are also related areas:
1. Timurid music (Samarkand, Herat..)
2. There are many anonymous compositions by' the Persians' and 'the Indians' in the Cantemir collection.
It seems quite possible that some of these Indian composers and musicians were from Mughal india and/or Herat.
These pieces could well be a link to styles at the Mughal courts.
There are obvious connections between Indian modes and rhythms and maqam music; Rast Hindi (a form of Rast known in Iraq), Dawr Hindi etc.
Also, a you probably know, both Persian and Indian art music was previously called maqam, before the terms Dastgah and Raga replaced them
respectively.
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urus
Oud Junkie
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Yep!
But that'll take time - all the documents and the library we have access to are back home in Delhi, while I'm not there now. So possibly in the
beginning of May I'll get there and take the copies.
The Afghan tradition is well preserved in Delhi, and I had a chance to listen to some down-to-the-roots musicians - and sure, that was very
maqam-like.
The Oud and The Fuzz
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reminore
Oud Junkie
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Location: Binghamton, NY
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it helps to keep in mind that the mughals initially were a turkic clan descended from timur i lenk or tamerlane. babur, the first emperor of the
dynasty was himself born in andijan uzbekistan...his mother tongue was chaghatai turkic and his culture was highly persianized. his son homayun also
spoke chaghatai as his first tongue.
it isn't until akbar that the hybridization of cultures really began in earnest...akbar even sought to synthesize hinduism and islam which he called
his din ilahi or holy religion...i can only imagine that is was during akbar's reign that the court actively sought out hindu musicians with a full
knowledge of the raga system. until then i'm pretty certain that court life and music followed the persianized central asian norm.
it would help to have an accurate date for each of the miniatures before theorizing about the organization of musical bands...otherwise the endeavor
is rather a-historical...
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Jono Oud N.Z
Oud Junkie
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Hi.
Thank you for the info'
Very good points also.
I agree, the dates of the miniatures are crucial.
The top one here is dated 1685.
So are you saying that the music was more Persian at first and then fused with the Indian style?.
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Jono Oud N.Z
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 12-14-2009
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Here is another one from 1590.
This one shows what appears to be an oud and daff.
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