Kirana Gharana’s Widened Roots in Karnataka

Just a hundred years ago, there was no trace of Hindustani Music in Karnataka. But today Karnataka tops in the field of Hindustani Music. Most of the Hindustani musicians are from Karnataka, particularly Hubli, Dharwad, Belgaum and Gadag. Most of these are exponents of the Kirana Gharana. Great vocalists and maestros of Hindustani Classical music, like Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal, Mallikarjun Mansur, Basavraj Rajguru and Kumar Gandharva all hail from this region. Rambhau Kundgolkar, popularly known as Sawai Gandharv, who was the foremost disciple of Abdul Karim Khan, also hails from this region. The border region along Karnataka and Maharashtra is famous for the Kirana School of singing. It isinterestingthat theKiranaGharana,whichoriginatedfromKairanadistrictinUttarPradesh, spread their roots in Karnataka and thus imbibed many of the features of the Carnatic tradition also.

The primary objective of this study is to find out the lineage of Kirana Gharana that led this tradition to spread its wide most roots to Karnataka. The secondary objective of this study is to find out how the Carnatic Music centric region is a Hindustani Music bastion today and how this Kirana music tradition became influenced by Carnatic Music. For the study of this topic ,observational and analytical methods of research will be used. Primary and secondary sources will be used for the objectives to be achieved.