Hindi Music and its Journey Across the Ages

South Asia has the most varied music culture ranging from India all the way to Japan. India among all these cultures has the most diversity in terms of music. The 28 states of India have a distinct music culture. Most of the music in India is folk music and rotates around a theme, ranging from the birth of a baby to marriage and death. Every occasion in India has a song to go with it. Hindi music and the traditions and the cultures of India are interconnected and deeply rooted with each other.

Hindi music constitutes a large part of the musical traditions that exist in India. Hindi being the national language is widely spoken in various states regardless of the local dialect. The Hindi film industry is fondly known as Bollywood and it’s the second largest film industry in the world rivaling only Hollywood. Bollywood music is a form of music that has been largely popularized by the Indian film industry. It has its references in Indian culture and is sometimes inspired by western music and cinema. Many international artists have performed songs and composed background scores for the Indian film industry.

A. R. Rahman is one of the most famous Indian music celebrities and synonymous with his recent success internationally. Hindi music is also popularized abroad by Indians who live there. From north to south, every form of music in India has a distinct style and history behind it. Punjabi music has been very successful among the masses because of its unique style and the huge brand names attached to it. Their songs revolve around the festivities of the harvest and happy occasions usually. Music from Punjab is also getting very popular among Hollywood with many Hollywood films using it as their background score.

Apart from Hindi music, music from the southern states of India has influenced many cultures in the south east region of Asia. Indians who settled in Singapore and Malaysia took this form of music with them and developed it into something new. A. R. Rahman has his roots in Tamil music, and though he composes music for the Hindi film industry his style reflects that from South India. A lot of patriotic music was written in India before its independence. This form of music had one purpose only to unite the nation against foreign invasions.

The music that has emerged from every corner of India has inspired some or the other form of music in South East Asia. Bengali music is also unique and is quite popular in India. Bengal is the birth place of Rock music in India and it’s where it all began. This sudden burst of innovation started all because Bengal had a strong colonial presence even after independence. Rajasthani music or the folk music of Rajasthan in one form of music that has songs for every occasion and it’s been an integral part of the Indian film industry. You can purchase any Indian music or song CD within few clicks of your mouse.

Musicdhaba is the author of this article on gujarati music. Find more information, about malayalam music here