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Devotional Music

The term devotional music doesn't have a particular definition. The language and cultural variation in India is very vast and the interpretations of Devotional music leads to fantastic diversity. Often performed at gatherings, Devotional music is commonly described as "Bhajan" all over India. "Gurubani" in Punjab, "Keertan" in Bengal, "Dasara Sahitya" in Karnataka, "Tevaram or Tirupugazh" in Tamil Nadu, "Ram charit manas" in Uttar Pradesh etc.

Devotional Music are often a contribution to Gods and Godesses, or expression of feelings towards spirituality. The technical perfection of "taala" and "raga" are not mandatory in Devotional songs but the perfection increases the depth and evokes the spiritual feelings. It's said that pronunciation of the lyrics is of utmost importance. The contributions by Pandit Onkar Nath, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit D.V. Paluskar, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan created an aura when they performed Devotional songs in their concerts. Perhaps, their mastery in Classical Music played a part and created Master Pieces. Hence, Devotional music can also be known as Classically based contributions.

Any performing artiste can bring life to these devotional songs by understanding the saint composers feelings via the lyrics. So, in order to do that, a performer should have some knowledge about these composers. It will also help in understanding why the writings are still relevant and can never be replaced. All the saint composers have stressed the superiority of spiritualism over materialism and the need for "shraddha and Bhakti". Some of the famous Saint composers are:

Tulasi Das (1532 - 1623)

Sur Das (1483-1563)
Purandara Das (1484 - 1564)
Kanaka Das(1509 -1609)
Meera Bai (1498 - 1547)
Kabir (1440 - 1518)
Vyasa rayaru (1460 -1539)
sant thukaram (17th century)
They are a few saint composers who have given a glimpse of the great cultural heritage of India through Devotional Music. Their compositions are vast and a little portion of this rich literature has been utilised by us so far. For musicians like me, we can dive deep into this wealth of songs and bring them to the people at large.


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