About Indian songs and Music
as well as on Robert Maycock's program note of Ravi Shankar's performance at the BBC Proms on August 3, 2005.
The Raga Sangeet system of Indian music has a history of some 2000 years. The roots of Indian classical music are religious and lay in the Vedic hymns of the Hindu temples. According to the traditional teaching, sound is God - Nada Brahma. Through music, human consciousness can be elevated to a degree which allows one to understand the eternal essence of the universe. Indian classical music has "an unbroken history of development, and above all it is a living tradition that still is in the process of evolution", specifies Ravi Shankar.
The Hindustani or North Indian style of music developed after the subcontinent was invaded by the Moguls from the 13th century onwards. In the Mogul empire, cultures derived from Persia and elsewhere merged with local traditions. The indigenous music of India, with its intricate systems of ragas and talas, continued uninterrupted and has become the Carnatic or South Indian style, dominant in the areas never conquered by the Moguls. Whereas in the North, musicians from Persia and India influenced each other and experimented with each others instruments.
