Music and Dance of Hyderabad

Hyderabad has a rich legacy of music and dance. Since ancient time, performing arts have been given much importance in the city of Hyderabad. It was major form of recreation and entertainment for the Nizams during their era. Slowly, it developed into a tool of meditation and preaching God's teachings. One of the most important forms of music in Hyderabad is the Carnatic music. It also spelt as Karnatic music.

Like all forms of art of the Indian culture, Carnatic Music is believed to have a divine origin - Carnatic Music is said to have originated from God. Its natural origins come from ancient discourses that describe the correlation of the origin of swaras (musical notations) to the sounds of animals and birds, the sound emanating from a bamboo reed as air passes through its hollows, and man's keen sense of observation and insight that attempted at stimulating these sounds. These sounds were arranged in a manner that it produced melodious tunes synchronized with time, pitch and talam (beats).

Carnatic music has ancient ragas, which are said to invoke the divine energy. The 3 main gurus of Carnatic music belong to the state of Andhra pradesh. They are saint Tyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri. Though it is losing its appeal among the current generation, there are people who still practice this ancient form of music, which is an absolute delight to the ears. Apart from the traditional music, Hyderabad rocks to the music of popular film numbers in Hindi, Telegu and Tamil. International music is also becoming a rage among the masses with Pop and Hip-Hop being the most popular.

Hyderabad is well known for its varied forms of classical dance. Kuchipudi, a mixture of abhinaya (acting) and music, is the most unique and ancient kind of dance of this area. Perini, a different form of Shiva Taandavam (dance of Lord Shiva) also hails from this state. It had its origin as a warrior dance and is almost always performed by an all male group.