Sikh music

[1] Musical expression has held a very important place within the Sikh tradition ever since its beginning, with Guru Nanak and his faithful companion, Bhai Mardana.

[1] Angad's successor, Guru Amar Das, institutionalized the practice of ending kirtan performances with the Ānand ("Bliss") composition.

[1] According to popular Sikh tradition, Guru Arjan was a player of the sarandā (waisted bowed lute) and is also remembered as the inventor of the upright jọṛī (drum pair), which he had derived from an older instrument known as the mridang.

[1] The five sittings of kirtan that were established by him are as follows:[1] In a case of mythology interacting with history, various instruments' origin is credited to Sikh gurus.

[1] After the death of Banda, the Sikhs had to disperse to places of safe haven during state persecution and thus their established musical institutions could not easily be sustained whilst they were fighting for survival.

[1] This was accompanied by a decline in the usage of traditional Sikh instruments, especially stringed-instruments (such as the rabab, saranda, and tāūs [bowed fretted lute]) which were mostly supplanted by the introduced harmonium by the early-to-mid-20th century.

[5] The next push for the revival of Sikh traditional music was in 1991 during the Adutti Gurmat Sangeet Sammellan at Gurdwara Gur Gian Prakash, or the Jawwadi Taksal, in Ludhiana.

[5] The Jawwadi Taksal sought to bring back traditional instruments that the harmonium had supplanted and revive the usage of raga metres and modes.

[5] It has been argued by Amandeep Singh (dilruba player) that the harmonium distracts the congregation whilst the traditional instruments help create a meditative experience.

[1] The Punjabi University of Patiala conducted work in 1979 for this purpose, analyzing the musical traditions practiced by the eleventh-generation familial ragi brothers, Gurcharan Singh and Avtar Singh, eventually publishing their study of 500 shabad executions plus the notations by the two brothers under the title Gūrbāni Sangīt: Prāchīn Rīt Ratnāvalī.

[1] A later and updated edition of the Gūrbāni Sangīt: Prāchīn Rīt Ratnāvalī provides the views of the late Bhai Avtar Singh Ragi on the subject of autochenous Sikh raga traditions and styles.

[1] The Adi Granth compiled by Guru Arjan and completed in 1604 included musical verses from fifteen bhagat saints who belonged to varying religious backgrounds, along with his own works and that of his predecessory gurus.

[1] The central Sikh sacred text, the Guru Granth Sahib, contains 6,000 shabads, with most of them arranged methodically to music and authorship by their title, known as the sirlekh.

[1] A later Muslim rababi who performed kirtan at Sikh shrines, including the Harmandir Sahib, was Bhai Sain Ditta, who flourished during the early part of the 19th century.

[1] Bhai Sham Singh is renowned for his long service as a ragi at the Golden Temple, serving as a kirtan performer for some 70 years around the later 19th and early 20th century.

[1] Traditional Sikhs attempting to revive the more historical expressions of their music, such as by playing instruments like the rabab, saranda, and taus, are referred to as the gurmat sangīt genre of kirtan.

[1] According to the late Bhai Avtar Singh, a preeminent ragi of his time, the most important criteria for becoming a good kirtankar was first living a life in-line with the principles set-out in the Guru Granth Sahib, and then an education in its prescribed ragas.

[1] No discourse occurs during this sitting and its time length is usually between two and three hours but it may be longer depending on how many other compositions were included to be interspersed between the hymns of the Asa ki Vaar.

[1] It is also said to be the sitting that is most inductive of producing a meditative experience for the participants, due to the combination of the early morning hours (amritvela), uninterrupted performance, and long lengths.

[1] Another kind of session is known as Raiṇ sabāī (all night), which occur annually as events with various musicians taking part and ending with an Asa ki Vaar performance in the early morning-time.

[1] At the principle Sikh shrine, the Harmandir Sahib, kirtani sittings occur continuously all-day and all-night, from the beginning of dawn to past midnight, and are arranged based upon the time of day and season.

[1] During major life events (sanskaras), such as birth (naam karan), death (antam sanskar), marriage (anand karaj), and other ceremonies, kirtan performances are also held.

[1] Amateur performances of Sikh music tends to occur as part of a Nagar Kirtan procession on-foot, which occurs outside of gurdwaras' central darbar (court) hall, typically happening around the gurdwara complex or the local neighbourhood, where participation by the general Sikh public in singing the hymns as part of the ceremony is highly encouraged.

[1] Some displays of amateur Sikh music have qawwālī-like characteristics, with a notable genre sharing features with the aforementioned being the Akhanḍ Kīrtanī style.

[1] The goal of the Akhand Kirtani style is to ignite a "ecstatic fervor" amid members of the participating assembly, which is accomplished by sudden or gradual changes in tempo, rhythm, or volume.

[1] It is characterized by influences and adoptions of prevailing and popular tunes, trends, styles, and intricate instrumental accompaniment not observable in Sikh musical performances at gurdwaras.

[1] The Guru Granth Sahib states:[1] ਧੰਨੁ ਸੁ ਰਾਗ ਸੁਰੰਗੜੇ ਆਲਾਪਤ ਸਭ ਤਿਖ ਜਾਇ ॥dhan su rāg surangaṛe ālāpat sabh tikh jāi Blessed are those beautiful rāgs which, when chanted, eliminate all desire.

[1] The table below covers the seventeen Ghars found in the primary Sikh scripture (Guru Granth Sahib):[10] Taals have a vocalised and therefore recordable form wherein individual beats are expressed as phonetic representations of various strokes played upon the tabla.

[1] The concept of the hymns within the text producing a specific emotional and psychological reaction or state upon the listener or performer is known as ras (aesthetic experiences).

[1] Within this concept, there are three prevailing categories known as shabad surat (shabad-attuned consciousness), sahaj dhyān (serene contemplation), and har ras (beyond other aesthetic delights).