Indian music sounds very strange to American listeners. This is in large part because harmony as we know it plays no large part” and also because it makes use of a microtonal scale, with notes that differ by intervals of less than a half step.
But precisely because it sounds so exotic, the music of India holds a special fascination for us. And indeed, the Hindus have a whole mythology relating to the origin of music: Legend has it that a sage named Bharata (modern India is called Bharat in Hindi) learned the art of music from the great god Brahman himself” and subsequently taught it to Indra’s heavenly followers.
Classical Indian music is said to consist of six fundamental modes called ragas (myths also refer to a seventh), each consisting of five or more notes. Instruments include a nineteen-stringed bowed instrument called the israj, and a bamboo flute called the vani.
Smithsonian Folkways has an extensive collection of Indian folk music dating from the 1950s and 1960s” and I have added them all to my collection. Some of the titles are: Folk Music of India; Ragas from South India; Music from South India” Kerala; and Ragas” Music of India.