What is a Ghazal?
The Ghazal, an ancient form, spread from Persia into South Asia in the 12th century through the influence of Sufi mystics at the courts of the new Islamic sultanates, coinciding with those early Islamic Sultanates in India.
A ghazal commonly consists of five to fifteen couplets, which are independent, but are linked – abstractly, in their theme; and more strictly in their poetic form. Ghazal "Gayaki", the art of singing or performing a Ghazal in the Indian classical tradition, although very old, is not well recorded. It was with only after Begum Akhtar and later on, Ustad Mehdi Hassan, that classical rendering of Ghazals became popular in the masses.
Classical ghazals are difficult to render because of the varying moods of the "shers" or couplets in the ghazal. Some of the well-known ghazal singers are Amanat Ali Khan, Begum Akhtar, Talat Mahmood, Mehdi Hassan, Abida Parveen, Jagjit Singh, Farida Khanum and Ustad Ghulam Ali, and Moinuddin Ahamed.
A ghazal commonly consists of five to fifteen couplets, which are independent, but are linked – abstractly, in their theme; and more strictly in their poetic form. Ghazal "Gayaki", the art of singing or performing a Ghazal in the Indian classical tradition, although very old, is not well recorded. It was with only after Begum Akhtar and later on, Ustad Mehdi Hassan, that classical rendering of Ghazals became popular in the masses.
Classical ghazals are difficult to render because of the varying moods of the "shers" or couplets in the ghazal. Some of the well-known ghazal singers are Amanat Ali Khan, Begum Akhtar, Talat Mahmood, Mehdi Hassan, Abida Parveen, Jagjit Singh, Farida Khanum and Ustad Ghulam Ali, and Moinuddin Ahamed.
