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Dhrupad is believed to be the oldest genre of North Indian classical vocal music that is performed today. Since the 15th Century, a musical form of this name has been cultivated by temple singers, ascetics, and court musicians. But it is not easy to describe dhrupad in a few words: it is at the same time a type of song, a style of singing and playing, and a philosophy of musical performance.

As its name suggests, dhrupad is a short poem for singing (pada), in 2 or 4 rhyming lines, of which the first line incorporates a refrain (dhruva). A wide variety of subjects can be found in dhrupad poetry, including hymns in praise of Hindu and Islamic deities or saints, and philosophical reflections on music; a highly serious tone is typical. Each dhrupad poem is set to music in a melodic mode (rag) and a metrical cycle (tal); the rags are the traditional melodic modes of North Indian classical music, but the tãls of dhrupad are different from those found in other genres. Performance of a dhrupad composition is accompanied on the horizontal barrel-shaped drum pakhavaj, which, with its long historical pedigree, associations with religious music and deep tone, is considered more suitable for dhrupad than the lighter-toned tabla, which accompanies other genres of vocal and instrumental music in North India.

In concert performance the dhrupad composition may be preceded by an alap, a more or less extended improvisation on the rag. Here the singer strives to elicit the unique aesthetic flavour of the chosen rag, enhancing it by a variety of melodic, tonal and rhythmic devices in successive stages of the alap. As there is no metrical structure in alap, the pakhãvaj remains silent until the composition is introduced. This is sung, at first, in a comparatively plain style, in order that the words be clearly heard. The pakhavaj accompanies; but unlike the tabla, whose function in other genres is to mark time with a repeated pattern of strokes, the pakhavaj plays comparatively freely, embellishing the metrical cycle with innumerable variations, and obliging the singer to mark time for himself with a conventional pattern of hand-gestures. The dhrupad composition completed, the singer may also embark on improvised variations (upaj) using the words of the poem, periodically returning to the refrain: in his improvisations the singer must keep within the constraints of rag and tal, and the pakhavaj player must follow the singer's rhythmic manipulations as closely as possible. Together their improvisations breath fresh meaning into the poetry of the composition.

As a style of singing, dhrupad avoids many of the embellishments that are typical of other genres. It has its own typical ornaments and other stylistic devices, chief of which is the smooth glide (mind) from one pitch to another; other devices, few in number, vary according to the singer's stylistic tradition (bani). The most familiar bani in current usage, and that represented by Indian Voices artist-in-residence Ritwik Sanyal, is the Dagar bani, associated particularly with the Dagar family of dhrupad musicians (see below).

Dhrupad is traditionally performed not primarily for entertainment or monetary gain but as an expression of certain philosophical values. "This ancient art is not for your entertainment, but only for the delight of God, who is inherent in both the singer and the listener" (attrib. Fariduddin Dagar). This reference to the God within is reflected in the meditative, introspective alap, where it seems that the resonance (anuranana) of each note emanates from the singer's inner being and evokes a response in that of the listener. The mystical effects of dhrupad performance depend, however, on the singer's highly disciplined mastery of the structures of rag and tal; every phrase, every note must be intoned and timed judiciously to have its proper effect. Lavish ornamentation as cultivated in other genres would be out of place here, but a gradual increase in tempo and rhythmic complexity, in the alap and again in improvisation on the composition, can heighten the intensity with which the inner deity is invoked.

Since the early 19th Century at the latest, dhrupad has been eclipsed by more flamboyant, romantic and virtuosic styles of vocal and instrumental music. By the 20th Century dhrupad had become the preserve of a very few musical families, who alone were able or willing to safeguard its songs, style and philosophy. Since the mid-1970s, and as part of a broader re-evaluation of the cultural heritage within Indian, a revival of interest in dhrupad has begun, and with the help of younger members and disciples of the Dagar and other families, dhrupad is now reclaiming its position at the centre of the Indian musical tradition.

The Dagar tradition
The Dagar family, who have become literally synonymous with dhrupad in the present century, trace their origins to one Bahrãm Khan, a singer and vinã player at the court of Jaipur in Rajasthan, who was famous for his knowledge of rãgs and of musical theory. According to various accounts he derived this musical theory from his ancestors, who may have been Hindu temple singers or Muslim musicians at the Mughal Court, or from a Hindu sage, one Kalidas Baba. Though a Muslim, he must have imbibed (and contributed to) the atmosphere of fervent Hinduism cultivated by the Maharajas of Jaipur. As befits a dhrupad singer, he is believed to have lived in saintly poverty, and obliged his pupils to do likewise. His musical tradition was transmitted by his descendants, many of whom found employment at Jaipur, Udaipur and other courts of Rajasthan and surrounding regions in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Whether Bahram Khan sang the Dagar bani - one of four traditional styles of dhrupad - is not certain, but by the 1940s this had become so strongly identified as the family style that "Dagar" was adopted as the family surname. Moinuddin and Aminuddin Dagar - the so-called "Elder Dagar brothers" - together with their younger brothers and cousins, established a world-wide reputation as bearers of the dhrupad heritage during the 1960s and 70s. Unlike their predecessors, for whom this was a family heirloom, they ensured the survival of dhrupad by teaching it to disciples from outside the family as well as to their own family members.

In each generation one or two members of the family have specialised in playing the vina, a plucked stringed instrument of impressive size, antiquity and sonority. The late Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar was a master of the instrument, on which he achieved an unrivalled purity of tone and subtlety of inflection. He transmitted the art to a number of younger musicians, including his son; in addition, he and his brother Fariduddin have also trained a number of successful dhrupad singers, among them the notable Indian Voices artist-in-residence Ritwik Sanyal.

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