Tansen

For other uses, see Tansen (disambiguation).

Mian
Tānsen
Portrait of Mian Tansen, c. 1585–90[1]
Portrait of Mian Tansen, c. 1585–90[1]
Background information
Birth nameRamtanu
Bornc. 1493
Gwalior, Tomar Kingdom
(modern day Madhya Pradesh, India)
Died26 April 1589 (aged 96) [2]
Gwalior, Mughal Empire[3]
India
GenresHindustani Classical Music
Occupation(s)Musician, Instrumentalist, Vocalist, Music Studies
Years activeTill 1562: Raja Ramchandra Singh, Rewah
After 1562: Emperor Akbar

Rāmtanu (c. 1493 – 26 April 1589), popularly referred to as Mian Tānsen (lit. 'the Learned One'), or Sangeet Samrāt (lit. 'Monarch of Hindustani Music'), was a Hindustani classical musician.[4] Born into a Hindu Gaur Brahmin family in Gwalior,[5] he learnt and perfected his art in the northwest region of modern Madhya Pradesh. He got his first break as musician and composer in the court of Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior and spent most of his adult life in the court and patronage of the Hindu king of Rewa, Raja Ramchandra Singh (r. 1555–1592), where Tānsen's musical abilities and studies gained widespread fame.[4] This reputation brought him to the attention of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, who sent messengers to Raja Ramchandra Singh, requesting Tānsen to join the musicians at the Mughal court. Tansen did not want to go, but Rāja Ramchandra Singh encouraged him to gain a wider audience and sent him along with gifts for Akbar. In 1562, at about the age of 60, the Vaishnav[6] musician Tānsen joined Akbar's court, and his performances became the subject of many court historians.[4]

Numerous legends have been written about Tānsen, mixing facts and fiction, and the historicity of these stories is doubtful.[7] Akbar considered him one of the Navaratnas Nine Ministers (the nine jewels) and gave him the title Mian, an honorific, meaning learned man.[8]

Tānsen was a composer, musician and vocalist, to whom many compositions have been attributed in northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. He was also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved musical instruments. He is among the most influential personalities in the North Indian tradition of Indian classical music, called Hindustani. His 16th-century studies in music and compositions inspired many, and he is considered by numerous North Indian gharana (regional music schools) to be their lineage founder.[9][10]

Tānsen is remembered for his epic Dhrupad compositions, creating several new rāgs, as well as for writing two classic books on music, Sri Ganesh Stotra and Sangita Sara.[11]

  1. ^ Stuart Cary Welch; Metropolitan Museum of Art (1985). India: Art and culture, 1300–1900. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 171–172. ISBN 978-0-03-006114-1.
  2. ^ Abul Fazl. Akbarnama. Translated by Henry Beveridge. Asiatic Society of Bengal. p. 816.
  3. ^ Susheela Misra (1981). Great masters of Hindustani music. Hem Publishers. p. 16.
  4. ^ a b c Bonnie C. Wade (1998). Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India. University of Chicago Press. pp. 108–110. ISBN 978-0-226-86841-7.
  5. ^ "Tansen, Famous Hindustani Classical Singer Tansen". indiaonline.in. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  6. ^ Edmour J. Babineau (1979). Love of God and Social Duty in the Rāmcaritmānas. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-89684-050-8.
  7. ^ Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy (1995). The Rāgs of North Indian Music: Their Structure and Evolution. Popular Prakashan. pp. 19–20. ISBN 978-81-7154-395-3.
  8. ^ Davar, Ashok (1987). Tansen – The Magical Musician. India: National book trust.
  9. ^ Andrea L. Stanton; Edward Ramsamy; Peter J. Seybolt; et al. (2012). Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-4522-6662-6.
  10. ^ Bruno Nettl; Ruth M. Stone; James Porter; et al. (1998). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent. Taylor & Francis. pp. 376–377. ISBN 978-0-8240-4946-1.
  11. ^ Bonnie C. Wade (1998). Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India. University of Chicago Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-226-86841-7.