The classical music of North India is also commonly known as Hindustani Music. Hindustani music is also performed in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The roots of Indian music go back at least three millennia and there have been a few studies which have traced this history in one form or another to this time. Still our knowledge of its early development is incomplete. It is generally agreed upon that the ritualised Vedic chant was one of the early influences on Indian music. But it seems that there were also other influences that it acquired over the centuries.

It was at the time of the Afghan Lodi Sultanate in the fourteenth century that Indian music came into sustained contact with Persian music and musicians, and the music of North India started to develop on a different trajectory to music practised in South India. Hindustani music was born. The Persianised influence on Indian music continued in a separate stream of development under the auspices of the Qawwal Bacche silsila the hereditary lineage of musicians who trace their ancestry to the legendary Hazrat Amir Khusrau, one of the most influential musicians of the Lodi period.

Hindustani music went through another significant transformation in the 16th century under the patronage of the Mughals. This time the under the most influential musician was Akbar's court musician, Mian Tansen who is remembered today for having perfected new styles, instruments and ways of performing music. Dhrupad was the dominant musical genre of the time and Tansen is generally credited with having raised it to a level of sophistication that is still unmatched today. He was also known for the occult power he wielded through his music. His direct descendants continued to considerably influence the development of both Hindustani vocal and instrumental music over the next three hundred years.

Hindustani music developed in many different directions after the collapse of the Mughal empire in the mid-18th century and regional centres such as Gwalior, Lucknow, Jaipur and Rampur became important centres of patronage for Hindustani music. In the nineteenth century khyal started to displace dhrupad as the dominant vocal genre and style. It was being developed within the Qawwal Bacche silsila all this time and started to spread throughout all of North India. The brothers Haddu and Hassu Khan who were patronised by the Gwalior court are the two figures most associated with its dissemenation.

During the period of colonial rule many musicians were forced to relocate to the growing metropolises such as Calcutta and Bombay. Music underwent a great change as institutions sprang up to teach and otherwise propagate the music. The style and types of music that we are most familiar with today have their most immediate origins in the innovations and directions that Hindustani music developed during this period. This is perhaps arguably more so in the case of instrumental music than vocal music.

This very brief overview is intended as a basic overview and has not able to describe the many other types of genres and community of musicians that have been crucial in the development of Hindustani music. Contemporary vocal and instrumental music are both characterised by a stunning diversity of styles and performance practices that is a testimony to the syncretic culture of Hindus and Muslims from which it evolved.

To find out more about the resources that deal with the history and culture of Hindustani music go to the bibliography section in the links menu.