History:
The city of Gwalior became a center for vocal music during the reign of the Rajput Tomar king, Raja Man Singh. Later during the Mughal rule, the Tomar court was important as a continuous source of political and musical talent. Even the Scindias were significant patrons of art and culture in the 16th century.
The history of the framed Gwalior khayal tradition however began in Lucknow during the reign of Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah when Mian Ghulam Rasool seems to have evolved a genre of khayal by a synthesis of dhrupad and qawwali. This formed the basis of khayal as it is heard today and it is now unanimously agreed upon that all the other prominent schools of khayal namely the Agra, Kirana, Rampur, Jaipur and Patiala owe their origin to Mian Ghulam Rasool and his descendants.
Ghulam Rasool’s son Ghulam Nabi, who was also known as Shori Mian went to Punjab and imbibed the tappa, which later found a place in the Gwalior gayaki as also in other styles as a form of light classical music. Ghulam Rasool’s son-in-law Shakkar Khan and his brother Makkhan Khan who were popularly known as the ‘qawwal bacche’ migrated to Gwalior where the Lucknow tradition of Ghulam Rasool found a new identity as the Gwalior Gharana. While Shakkar Khan’s lineage included his son, the formidable singer Bade Muhammad Khan and his disciples, Makkhan Khan’s family had great luminaries of the Gwalior Gharana namely his son Nattthan Pir Baksh, his grandson, Kader Baksh and his two grandsons, Hassu Khan and Haddu Khan.
Unlike in most other gharanas where the family descendants have been able to carry forward the legacy of several generations, even to the present day, it has been rather the disciples and grand-disciples of Hassu and Haddu Khan who, in due course of time, have become some of the most important torchbearers of the Gwalior Gharana. These two Ustads generously taught students outside their family as well as from Hindu Brahmin families, which speaks volumes for the open-mindedness of the Ustads.
Hassu Khan, who died in 1859 at an early age, was a very popular musician and taught amongst others Basudev Joshi and Ramkrishna Dev. They both trained the famous Balkrishnabua Ichhalkaranjikar forming a lineage of some of the best-known singers of this gharana like Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, Anant Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Mirashi Bua and others. Haddu Khan’s lineage included his sons-in-law Bande Ali Khan (the famous beenkar) and Inayet Hussain Khan (of Sahaswan gharana) and a great number of disciples like Banne Khan, Basudev Dikshit and Vishnupant Chhatre to name a few.
The third branch of the Gwalior Gharana originated from Natthu Khan, an important court musician in Gwalior during Maharaja Jayaji Rao, who was also his student. Bade Nissar Hussain Khan, the adopted son of Natthu Khan succeeded his father as a court musician and later went to live with the Pandit family. He taught Shankar Pandit and his brother Eknath Pandit creating a legacy in the Pandit family, which is active to this day.
The Gwalior Gharana Gayaki:
Within the basic framework, the Gwalior gayaki, as we hear it today, has undergone major transformations. One factor has been the age of the Gharana, which takes it back to over 250 years. The other reason has been the presence of great personalities-their individual traits, which have formed offshoot styles. The Gwalior gayaki in its pristine form is perhaps present in the Haddu Khan-Bade Nissar Hussain Khan lineage i.e. in the Pandit family, the Poochwale family, etc.
Some of the basic traits of this Gharana include an open-throated voice, raga vistaar and bol vistaar, behelawa, bant, layakari, bol-taans and rhythmic taans also known as layabaddha taans.
The typical Gwalior voice throwing style has sometimes been described as attacking and forceful (especially in the Pandit family). It has also been noted for its sweetness and melodic appeal. In the slow vilambit, the Gwalior singers (especially the Pandit and Poochwale families) have preferred bol vistaar (using syllables of the lyric), establishing laya immediately. The progression is not made note by note as in swar-vistaar (a la Kirana) but develops around basic raga phrases and cluster of notes, which may be defined as raga vistaar.
Behelawa, which follows bol-vistaar, is the mainstay of this Gharana and an area where all the Gwalior singers are highly skilled. In the Haddu Khan lineage the behelawa is interspersed with tappa and taans and bhari larajdar taans. These taans are generally offbeat and end with descending sapaats. An important feature of bol-bant of Gwalior singers has been the emphasis on using all the words of the asthayee to make it meaningful. The lyric is kept undisturbed unlike in some other gharanas where the bant ends up in mere jumble of words.
Both in the vilambit and drut khayals, the taans that follow bol, bant, etc are largely rhythmic. The Gwalior exponents, especially in the drut khayal also prefer powerful sapat taans. Such linear taans are also often studded with heavy gamaks covering all three octaves.
As published in: Khayal Gharanas, Department of Academic Research, ITC Sangeet Research Academy, 2004