Indian Classical Music

Indian classical music is the art music tradition of the Indian subcontinent, divided into two major systems: Hindustani in the north and Carnatic in the south. Both rest on raga, a melodic framework governing which notes may be used and how they are approached, and tala, a cyclic rhythmic framework counted in recurring beats. Performance is largely improvised within these frameworks, unfolding from slow exposition toward faster, virtuosic interplay between soloist and percussion, and its leading exponents, from *Ravi Shankar* to *M.S. Subbulakshmi*, are trained through long guru-disciple lineages.