My Science School

The great poet-composers and creative musicians or Vaggeyakar’s Sadarang and Adarang are credited with the emergence and popularity of the ‘khayal’ style of Hindustani classical music. The story goes back to the court of Mohammed Shah ‘Rangila’ in the mid eighteenth century. There, a Dhrupad singer and a been (flute) player Niyamat Khan –“Been Nawaz” as he was called was apparently asked to accompany a Dhrupad singer. He took affront at this insult and left in a huff. But he could not resist the temptations of courtly life and returned adopting the nick-name Sadarang. The musical wars between the been-players and the dhrupad singers led to the evolution of the khayal which broke away from the abstract patterns of the Dhrupad. Sadarang’s disciple, nephew and son-in-law Adarang added his own compositions to further popularize and enrich this style of music.

Although this musical tradition is more than 300 years old and many new composers have added to the field, Sadarang and Adarang’s compositions in praise of nature, god, love etc. continue to resonate even for contemporary audiences. Their vocal and instrumental compositions are not bound either by language or gharanas; both of them composed in various languages - Punjabi, Braj, Arbi , Farsi and Rajasthani and vocalists from all gharanas sing their compositions, some of which were transmitted in written form while others have been passed down through the vocal tradition.

Picture Credit : Google