Variation of singing styles within a particular Gharana of Hindustani classical music A nonlinear multifractal study

TL;DR

This study uses nonlinear multifractal analysis to quantitatively examine how singing styles evolve across generations within the Patiala Gharana of Hindustani classical music, revealing the influence of tradition and globalization.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of multifractal analysis to study the evolution of singing styles within a Gharana over generations.

Findings

Multifractal spectral width varies across generations.

Analysis indicates changes in complexity of singing styles.

Results support the influence of tradition and globalization on musical evolution.

Abstract

Hindustani classical music is entirely based on the "Raga" structures. In Hindustani music, a "Gharana" or school refers to the adherence of a group of musicians to a particular musical style. Gharanas have their basis in the traditional mode of musical training and education. Every Gharana has its own distinct features; though within a particular Gharana, significant differences in singing styles are observed between generations of performers, which can be ascribed to the individual creativity of that singer. This work aims to study the evolution of singing style among four artists of four consecutive generations from Patiala Gharana. For this, alap and bandish parts of two different Ragas sung by the four artists were analyzed with the help of non linear multifractal analysis (MFDFA) technique. The multifractal spectral width obtained from the MFDFA method gives an estimate of the complexity of the signal. The observations from the variation of spectral width give a cue towards the scientific recognition of Guru-Shisya Parampara (teacher-student tradition) - a hitherto much-heard philosophical term. From a quantitative approach this study succeeds in analyzing the evolution of singing styles within a particular Gharana over generations of artists as well as the effect of globalization in the field of classical music.