Indian Music is one of the oldest unbroken musical traditions in the world. Despite India`s vast area and many cultures, its musical traditions are linked by distinctive central threads. With the spreads of religions that orginated in India, Indian music has broden its horizon even abroad. It is believed that the origin of this system go back to the Vedas and Upanishads. Many different legends have grown up concerning the origins and development of Indian classical music. Such legends has shown the importance of music in Indian culture. The earliest texts of Indian music are the Natya Shastra, Dattilam, Brihaddeshi, and the Sangita-Ratnakara.

The Indian music includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, and classical music. India`s classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and, developed over several eras, remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as sources of religious inspiration, cultural expression and pure entertainment. India is made up of several dozen ethnic groups, speaking their own languages and dialects. Alongside distinctly sub-continental forms there are major influences from Persian, Arabic and British music.

Indian music can be described as having been inaugurated with the chanting of Vedic hymns, though it is more than probable that the Indus Valley Civilization was not without its musical culture, of which almost nothing is known. There are references to various string and wind instruments, as well as several kinds of drums and cymbals, in the Vedas. Sometime between the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD, the Natyasastra, on Treatise on the Dramatic Arts, was composed by Bharata. This work has ever since exercised an incalculable influence on the development of Indian music, dance, and the performing arts in general.

The earliest source is a 5th century book on theater that includes sections on music and dance. A system of 22 divisions of the octave, from which two basic seven-tone scalederive, was by then already in place. Indian music is based on Rag and Tal which was first discussed in detail in the Brhaddesi of Matanga. In the 13th century, the theorist Sarngadeva, author of Sangitaratnakara, listed 264 ragas. Some Historian credited the advent of classical Indian music as of now to Amir Khusro. Muslim rulers and noblemen freely extended their patronage to Indian classical music. In the courts of the Mughal emperors, music is said to have flourished in a popular way. Composer-musician Tansen was one of the jewels of Akbar`s court. Though songs had traditionally been composed in Sanskrit during that period, by the sixteenth century they were being composed in the various dialects of Hindi -- Braj Bhasa and Bhojpuri among them -- as well as Persian and Urdu. The lyrics of Surdas, Tulsidas, Kabir and Mirabai made Indian music and bhajans, or devotional songs immensely popular. Another musical form tal (rhythmic forms) is also very complex and popular with the people. In Tal many common rhythmic patterns exist which revolve around repeating patterns of beats. The interpretation of the rag and the tal is not the same all over India. Today there are two major traditions of classical music. There is the north Indian and the south Indian tradition. The North Indian tradition is known as Hindustani sangeet and the south Indian is called Carnatic sangeet. Both systems are fundamentally similar but differ in nomenclature and performance practice.

The advent of modern historical and cultural research has given us a good perspective on the field of Indian music. This has shown that Indian music has developed within a very complex interaction between different peoples of different races and cultures. It appears that the ethnic diversity of present day India has been there from the earliest of times.

In the 1960s, classical Indian music entered a new phase with emergence of Ravi Shankar, along with other well-known musicians like the Sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan. Satyajit Ray, the world famous Indian director, also brought classical Indian music to the attention of Westerners. Ravishankar composed music for some of his early films.

In India, however, music is most commonly associated with film music and pops. Popular Indian films, whether in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, or any of the other Indian languages, are most often described and understood in the West as "musicals. Though popular film music is not entirely synonymous with Hindi film music, Hindi film musics are usually seen as adequately constituting the "essence` of commercial Indian cinema. Indian pop songs now sell records in many countries, while world music fans listen to the roots music of India`s diverse nations. The other highly popular forms of music are Ghazal, Qawwali, thumri, dhrupad, dadra, bhajan, kirtan, shabad, and gurbani. Shubha Mudgal is one talented classical singer famous for performing the Thumri & Khayal forms of music along with the Bollywood form of music, encompassing the fusion of Sufi and pop.

History of Indian Music
Many different legends can be found from the Vedas, which concern the origins and development of Indian classical music. Such legends have showed the importance of music in defining Indian culture, since the ethnic diversity of present day India has been there from the earliest of times.

Traditional Indian Music
Traditional Indian music, has been a part of India`s culture since many centuries. It is an art and a way of expressing various emotions like joy, sorrow, desire, solidarity, community, humanity or even of just any thought that comes to mind. Its practitioners too are not all artists in the strict sense. Some of them are professionals who do this for a living, whereas many of them just sing for the joy of participation.

Bollywood Music
Though popular film music is not entirely synonymous with Bollywood music, Hindi films are usually seen as adequately constituting the "essence` of commercial Indian cinema. A number of characteristics of Hindi film music and song compel attention. Firstly, Bollywood music has borrowed unabashedly from all known styles and genres of music and secondly, they even refuse to acknowledge the of "copyrights". Thus, the inspirations is taken from Indian classical, folk, devotional music, and also from Japanese music, Persian music and from Western music.

Indian Classical Music
The origins of Indian Classical music can be found from the oldest of scriptures, part of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas. Indian classical music has one of the most complicated and complete musical systems ever developed. It has the same aspects of Western classical music, as the 8 basic notes. The two main traditions of classical music have been Carnatic Music, which has been found in the peninsular regions and Hindustani Music, found in the northern and central parts. While both traditions claim Vedic origin, history indicates that the two traditions diverged from a common musical root since 13th century.

Indian Musical Instruments
Indian Classical Music refers to the music of the highest class. This music was developed during the latter half of the 18th and the early 19th centuries, which was something different than the traditional Indian Music or folk music. Thus, it refers to the based on ancient musical traditions, which have evolved through several thousand years. It is a part of the Hindu religion as well as Indian culture. And technically, general broad terms, Indian classical music can be defined by two basic elements - it must follow a Raag and a specific rhythm or Taal.