Tansen (musician)

Standing on the left, Akbar and Tansen in the middle are listening to the musician Swami Haridas.
Indian miniature around 1750

Tansen's tomb in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

Tansen (* around 1506 in Gwalior , India , † 1589 in Delhi ) was the court musician of the Mughal Emperor Akbar I. He is considered the father of today's North Indian art music and one of the most important Indian musicians at all.

Tansen was born into a Hindu family in the north Indian city of Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh). His father Mukund Misra was a poet. Tansen received music lessons from the well-known teacher Haridas Swami. He served first at the court of the Maharajas Ramachandra Singh of Rewa and then at that of the Great Mogul Akbar. On the latter he was honored as one of the Navaratnas, the nine jewels, and Akbar bestowed him the title Miyan , which is why he is now often called Miyan Tansen .

Some of the cornerstones of the repertoire of North Indian music have since been ragas by tansen: Darbari Canada, Miyan ki Todi, Miyan ki Malhar and Miyan ki Sarang; Tansen also wrote two important theoretical writings in Indian music tradition: Sangita Sara and Rajmala .

Practically every one of the various schools ( Gharanas ) still in existence today wants to trace their origins back to him - at least it is probable that the strict style of singing called Dhrupad goes back to Tansen and his teacher Haridas Swami. Both his two children, Bilas Khan and Saraswati Devi, as well as numerous subsequent direct descendants were famous musicians, most recently the Dhrupad singer Dabir Khan (1905–1972).

Web links

Commons : Tansen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Tansen. Cultural India