Darbar believes in the power of Indian classical music to stir, thrill, and inspire. Explore our YouTube channel or subscribe to the Darbar Player to watch extended festival performances, talks, and documentaries in pristine...
The Sikh Gurus have contributed an enduring legacy to Indian classical music, which consists of singing the Sikh scriptures, a genre known as shabad-kirtan (literally ‘word-song’). Shabad-kirtan is the main communal worship...
To touch, or tug at one or both ears, is a visible sign of repentance in South Asian cultures. But one often notices that Indian musicians, as well as their disciples, perform...
Three 18th-century composers – Shyama Shastri, Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar – form what is known as Carnatic music’s Trimurti, meaning ‘The Trinity’. Their work forms the bulk of today’s South Indian classical...
The Thanjavur or Tanjore Quartet of the early 19th century consisted of four brothers who made an enormous contribution to South Indian classical dance. In so doing, they also left a permanent...
Author: Jameela Siddiqi Amir Khusrau Dehlavi (1253-1325) Variously spelt Khusro, Khusrou, Khusraw – was India’s first Muslim musicologist, and has become an iconic figure in the history of Indian culture. He made...
Author: Jameela Siddiqi One of the 20th century’s greatest musicians, the widely influential Sufi master Inayat Khan (1882-1927) was born into a family of famous musicians in Baroda. Yet his name has...
Author: Jameela Siddiqi A distinguished lineage of instrumentalists descends from India’s most renowned classical music maestro of the 20th century, Ustad Allauddin Khan, affectionately known as ‘Baba’. He reportedly lived to be...
Swami Haridas, a mystic-musician and renowned guru of the early 16th century, is thought to have had an innate knowledge of classical music gained through numerous spiritual and devotional practices. Born around...
Ustad Imdad Khan (1848-1920) was a sitar and surbahar (bass sitar) player born in Agra as a fourth-generation musician. His family’s musical tradition would, thanks to his efforts, become known as the...