Dagar vani

The Dagar vani (or Dagar gharana) is a tradition of the classical dhrupad genre of Hindustani classical music spanning some 20 generations, tracing back to Swami Haridas (15th century), and including Behram Khan of Jaipur (1753-1878). For some generations its members were associated with the courts of Jaipur, Udaipur, and Mewar.

The main features of the Dagar vani is a sophisticated, subtle, serene and rigorous exposition of alap-jor-jhala, including great attention to microtonal inflection delineating the subtleties of raga often otherwise overlooked or lost.

Until the twentieth century, it was exclusively a vocal genre (at least as far as performance was concerned), but since the innovations of Zia Mohiuddin Dagar to the rudra veena, that instrument has found a place as a performance instrument, following closely the inflections and style of the vocal technique.

The genre was carried into the twentieth century by seven Dagar brothers and cousins: Aminuddin Dagar and Nasir Moinuddin (Senior Dagar Brothers), Nasir Zaheeruddin and Nasir Fayyazuddin (Junior Dagar Brothers), H. Sayeeduddin Dagar, and the brothers Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and Zia Fariduddin Dagar. Zia Mohiuddin (rudra vina) and Zia Fareeduddin (vocal) were largely responsible for training the current generation of practitioners, the most prominent of which include Ritwik Sanyal, Pushparaj Koshti, Wasifuddin Dagar, Bahauddin Dagar, Asit Kumar Banerjee, Uday Bhawalkar, and the Gundecha Brothers.