Dhrupad, vocal and rudra veena · Jaipur, Udaipur and Mewar; later Delhi, Mumbai and Bhopal
Dagar vani (Dagarbani)
The best-documented living dhrupad lineage, carried through one family across some twenty generations.
What the name refers to
Dagar vani is a lineage of dhrupad — the oldest surviving form of north Indian classical music — associated with one extended family and, in the twentieth century, with a group of brothers and cousins who took the form to audiences across India and abroad. It is a family and teaching lineage rather than a gharana of the khayal kind, and the word vani (or bani) historically named one of four broad dhrupad stylistic orientations, not a particular family.
How it grew
The family traces itself to Swami Haridas in the fifteenth century, and its earliest well-attested ancestor is Baba Gopal Das Pandey, a Brahmin who by family account was ostracised for accepting paan from the Mughal ruler Muhammad Shah Rangile after singing dhrupad; later generations adopted Islam while the musical line continued unbroken.
The style in its present form is generally credited not to that mythic descent but to Behram Khan of Jaipur, who learned music and Sanskrit outside the family from Kalidas Dagur in Banaras, served courts at Lahore, Alwar, Delhi, Suket Mandi and Jaipur, and built the elaborate, exercise-based system of alap teaching that still defines the lineage. He trained his own sons Saddu Khan and Akbar Khan, and — after a public quarrel with his nephew Mohammad Jan Khan — took on that nephew's sons Zakiruddin and Allabande Khan. The internationally known twentieth- and twenty-first-century Dagars descend from those two.
Seven brothers and cousins carried the line into the twentieth century: Nasir Moinuddin and Aminuddin Dagar (the Senior Dagar Brothers), Nasir Zaheeruddin and Nasir Fayyazuddin Dagar (the Junior Dagar Brothers), Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar, H. Sayeeduddin Dagar, and the brothers Zia Mohiuddin and Zia Fariduddin Dagar. Their European tour of 1964–65 introduced dhrupad to Western concert audiences, and in India they formed a Dhrupad Society open to exponents of all lineages. The teaching of Zia Mohiuddin and Zia Fariduddin produced most of today's leading practitioners, among them Ritwik Sanyal, Pushparaj Koshti, Wasifuddin Dagar, Bahauddin Dagar, Asit Kumar Banerjee, Uday Bhawalkar and the Gundecha Brothers.
What it sounds like
Performance centres on an extended alap–jor–jhala that dwells on microtonal inflection (shruti) and on the specific character of the raga rather than on rhythmic display. Teaching begins with long periods of technical exercise before repertoire. Until the twentieth century the lineage performed only vocally; after Zia Mohiuddin Dagar's work the rudra veena took its place in performance, following the phrasing of the voice closely. Sources disagree on Behram Khan's dates: Wikipedia gives 1753–1878 and Ritwik Sanyal writes of a 120-year life, while the dhrupad.info biography records only a death around 1880.
Documented teaching lineage
No teaching relationship in this lineage has been documented here yet.
Researched lineage
Musicians documented within this tradition by the archive's lineage research. Where someone has a page here, their name links to it; where they do not, the entry stays as text until a sourced profile can be written.
The earliest documented Dagar ancestor, a court musician at Jaipur.
No teaching relationship was proposed for this musician, so no relationship check was run; biographical research is still outstanding.
Sources: Dagar vani — Wikipedia · Dagar vani · Dagarvani & Dhrupad
With his brother Allabande, one of the two senior Dagar musicians of his generation.
Taught by Behram Khan
Relationship checking is complete against the source text read for this musician; wider biographical research is still outstanding.
Sources: Dagar vani — Wikipedia · Dagar vani · Dagarvani & Dhrupad
Father of the senior Dagar brothers.
Taught by Allabande Khan
Relationship checking is complete against the source text read for this musician; wider biographical research is still outstanding.
Sources: Dagar vani — Wikipedia · Nasir Aminuddin Dagar · Dagarvani & Dhrupad
Elder of the senior Dagar Brothers duo.
Taught by Nasiruddin Khan Dagar
Relationship checking is complete against the source text read for this musician; wider biographical research is still outstanding.
Sources: Dagar Brothers — Wikipedia · Dagar vani · Dagarvani & Dhrupad
The other senior Dagar brother; sang for decades as a duo.
Relationship checking is complete against the source text read for this musician; wider biographical research is still outstanding.
Sources: Dagar Brothers — Wikipedia · Nasir Aminuddin Dagar
Redesigned the rudra veena and made solo alap on it a concert form.
Taught by Ziauddin Khan Dagar
Relationship checking is complete against the source text read for this musician; wider biographical research is still outstanding.
Sources: Zia Mohiuddin Dagar — Wikipedia · Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar
A central dhrupad teacher, including at the Dhrupad Kendra in Bhopal.
Taught by Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, Ziauddin Khan Dagar
Relationship checking is complete against the source text read for this musician; wider biographical research is still outstanding.
Sources: Zia Fariduddin Dagar — Wikipedia · Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar · Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar Sangeet Gurukul – Dhrupad ...
- Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar1927–2011Dhrupad vocalNo page yet
Kept a strict version of the family's singing.
Taught by Nasiruddin Khan Dagar
Relationship checking is complete against the source text read for this musician; wider biographical research is still outstanding.
Sources: Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar — Wikipedia
Son of Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and a leading rudra veena player today.
Taught by Zia Mohiuddin Dagar
Relationship checking is complete against the source text read for this musician; wider biographical research is still outstanding.
Sources: Bahauddin Dagar — Wikipedia · Ustad Bahauddin Dagar
- Gundecha BrothersDuo or ensembleDhrupad vocalNo page yet
A performing duo or ensemble. Dates and teaching for each musician are recorded separately once each person is sourced on their own.
Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha, who taught dhrupad to a wide new audience from Bhopal.
Recorded as a duo or ensemble label. Individual identities, dates and teaching links must be established and separately sourced before any personal fact is shown. No teaching relationship was proposed for this musician, so no relationship check was run; biographical research is still outstanding.
Sources: Gundecha Brothers — Wikipedia · Gundecha Brothers
One of the most widely heard dhrupad singers of his generation.
Taught by Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, Zia Fariduddin Dagar
Relationship checking is complete against the source text read for this musician; wider biographical research is still outstanding.
Sources: Uday Bhawalkar — Wikipedia · Pandit Uday Bhawalkar · About Udayji
Sources for this research
Selected listening
A few performances by the gharana's most significant players, one each, to give the ear a sense of the style before reading further.
Start here
The Majestic Voice of Dhrupad
Saregama Hindustani Classical
Published on the label's own channel.
Raga Bhupali, private concert, New York 1980
Bhupali · Recorded 1980 · 30:29 · Subrata Chowdhury
A private house concert from one of his American tours, posted by a listener rather than by an official channel.
Raga Chandrakauns, Stockholm 1981
Chandrakauns · Recorded 1981 · 46:37 · rliesky56
A solo dhrupad recital from a European tour, posted by a collector rather than by an official channel.
Dhrupad — Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha (audio collection)
1:01:27 · Music Today
Label audio collection of the two brothers singing together.
References
- Dagar vani — Wikipedia
- Baba Behram Khan — dhrupad.info
- The Dagar Tradition (Dagarvani) — Naad Bindu
- Brief History of the Dagar Family, by Dr Ritwik Sanyal — Dhrupad Music Institute of America
Know this lineage better than we do? Corrections and sourced additions are welcome.
Continue exploring
- Nasiruddin Khan DagarA musician documented within the Dagar vani (Dagarbani).
- Nasir Aminuddin DagarA musician documented within the Dagar vani (Dagarbani).
- All gharanas & lineagesOther lineages, including those of different disciplines sharing a city's name.
- InstrumentsHear what the musicians of this dhrupad, vocal and rudra veena lineage play.