Difference Between Hindustani and Carnatic

Just because the word music is not there, it looks like a comparison between Hindustani and people from Karnataka, isn’t it? The fact is, and music lovers all over the country know it, Hindustani and Carnatic are types of music that are not only different, they reflect the North South divide which is already apparent in all walks of life. However, for those who do not know, this could be a fascinating journey into a world of music. Let us find out the major differences between Hindustani and Carnatic music.

Indian classical music has a long history and westerners think of it as Hindustani music only which is not true. A different style of music has continued to evolve with Hindustani music in the South of India known as Carnatic music. Though both styles are similar in that one raga per composition is used and tala is also restricted to one, there are many differences that will be discussed here.

It is a common perception that Hindustani music has had a lot of influences from Persian music because of hundreds of years of Islamic rule in North India. But if one were to take into account a large Muslim population in south India, especially in Kerala, it appears that this is not a valid point to justify differences in the two styles of music that have become known as north and south India divide in the music world.

While both Hindustani and Carnatic styles of music are monophonic and make use of a tanpura to maintain the melody. The raga used in the composition is maintained using definite scales but in Carnatic music there are semitones (shrutis) to create a raga which is why we find a larger number of ragas in Carnatic music than Hindustani music. Not only ragas are different, there names are also different in the two styles of music. However, one can find some ragas with the same scale in both styles such as Hindolam comparable to Malkauns in Hindustani, and Shankarabharnam being same as raga Bilawal in Hindustani. Even if ragas are same, they can be rendered in totally contrasting styles in Hindustani or Carnatic music.

Another difference between the two styles of music lies in the fact that there is a bandish of time in Hindustani music which is not there in Carnatic music. Thaats, which are an important concept in Hindustani music is not there in Carnatic style where malkarta concept is used instead. Hindustani music does not give that much importance to the vocalist as is found in Carnatic music.

Carnatic music can be considered more rigid than Hindustani music as there is a prescribed style of singing. On the other hand, there is more than a single style of singing in Hindustani music known as gharanas in Hindustani music. Two of the most famous styles of singing are the Jaipur gharana and Gwalior gharana.

The source of Hindustani music is considered to be Sangita Ratnakara of Sarangdeva while Carnatic music has influences from various musical stalwarts like Purandaradasa, Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri.

If one takes a look at the musical instruments accompanying a vocalist in the two styles of music, there are some similarities as well as differences. While violin and flute are present in both, it is the use of tabla, sarangi, sitar, santoor, and clarionet that dominate Hindustani music whereas musical instruments that are commonly found in Carnatic music are veena, mridangam, mandolin, and jalatarangam.