[sn41]

Classical in the sense that this is a tradition of sufficient vintage, backed by a theory of music. There are at least 2 distinct systems of Indian music which are called classical.

1. Carnatic - the south Indian classical music. Traditionally Purandara Dasa is supposed to be the originator, from around the 13th century. This came up in the Vijayanagar empire. But there are older composers like Vyasa Raya whose compositions are still popular.(1)

2. Hindustani - the north Indian classical music, origins attributed to Amir Khusro, around 12-13 century.(2)

There are older musical systems, for example, Sopana system in Kerala. (3)

Moreover, instruments like the Veena (the Indian lute) are much older, as can be attested from Gupta era paintings (6th century A.D.), so it is possible that a lot of the history is now lost. (4)

The ragas are arranged in a combinatorial manner, roughly, out of 12 notes, how many harmonious combinations can be made? (5)

Related: combinatorics was used in prosody, in addition to music: One of the earliest occurrenc of the Pascal's triangle is in Indian prosody. (6)

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnatic_music

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani_classical_music

(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopana_Sangeetham

(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veena

(5) https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/journals/JIS/VOL5/Balasubramanian/ba...

(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_triangle#History

[vatkhrt]

Origins of north Indian classical are much more complicated than attributing to any single person. There is the Samaveda of antiquity with its puritanical emphasis on metre along with a simplistic sense of melody. Dhrupad sung in the courts of Delhi during the Mughal times can probably be regarded as the next attested continuation in that tradition. During the 17-18th century Dhrupad underwent another renaissance and the form of Khayal emerged. One which gave the musician more creative freedom of expression. A large part of what is considered mainstream North Indian classical music today is Khayal.

P.S: Amir Khusrao's role in development of Qawwali, Tarana and other forms of Islamic Sufi music making sounds plausible. Anything beyond that is venturing into speculation.

[croh]

There is also a semi-classical genre evolved from musical dramas. Sadly it is not mainstream anymore.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangeet_Natak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdlLqzs9LKk

There is an interesting form of performance called Jugalbandi where different artists perform duet (mostly without rehearsal).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugalbandi

Another rare video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk60ObnbIOk

[sn41]

In a very old interview, Eduard Artemyev, one of the pioneers of electronic music, says how Jugalbandi inspired his soundtrack of the sci-fi movie Stalker (1). I think it is the Stalker meditation theme, which distinctly has a Persian oud/tar like effect (2).

(1) https://youtu.be/xjVT7MlE5rY?t=629s

(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP1QXKbhqr4

[jjdredd]

I didn't expect to see Artemiev mentioned here. Great soviet composer and his "Meditation" is a very fitting track for the movie. Amazing blend of electronic and eastern traditional music. I didn't watch the whole video, but I don't think he mentioned Jugalbandi. The musician he asked to play for this track used to play mugams according to Eduard's words, perhaps that's why they say it resembles a certain mugam: Bayat Shiraz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrfGR70Y_YY

Edit: The use of this mugam by Artemiev is mentioned in the wikipedia page https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B0%D1%8F%D1%82%D1%8B...

[bovermyer]

Thank you for that. I learned something.

[wavefunction]

Thank you for this excellent post.

[cpgonzalez]

wow