Punjab Gharana is a particular style and technique of music that evolved in the Punjab region. The Punjab Gharana has been now split into Pakistan and India. The Punjab Gharana is regarded as the oldest of the six Tabla Gharanas. The others are the Delhi, Ajrara, Farrukhabad, Lucknow and Benares Gharana. Among the different gharanas that developed in Punjab few of them were original while others were just the off shoots. These could not establish themselves and either faded away or merged with some other popular gharana. In Punjab six prominent gharanas of vocal classical music came into existence. These have been described below:
Talwandi Gharana
Talwandi Gharana is said to be the oldest gharana of Dhrupad. The followers of this gharana assert to be the descendants of the two Dhrupad singers, Syuraj Khan and Chand Khan. Thus this tradition dates back to the time of Emperor Akbar. Both the brothers Suraj Khan and Chand were the disciples of Swami Haridas.
Sham Chaurasi Gharana
The name of Sham Chaurasi Gharana is attributed to a place called Sham Chaurasi in Hoshiarpur District of Punjab. Like the artists of Talwandi Gharana, the Sham Chaurasigharana also claim their association with the founder of Talwandi Gharana, Ustad Suraj Khan and Chand Khan alias Sudhakar and Diwakar, who were the disciples of swami Haridas. Though the roots of these two Gharanas were the same, yet they developed into two different streams.
Haryana Gharana
Hariyana Gharana is said to have been created by Swami Haridas. Haryana is a small village located in the Hoshiarpur district. Swami Haridas who belonged to this village is said to have trained Chhajju Ram Bhagat who is regarded as an eminent artist of Hariyana Gharana. Chhajju Ram Bhagat was a proficient Dhrupad singer. Another well-known singer Ram Vasudev Ragi alias Gujjar Bhagat was trained under Chhajju Ram Bhagat. Ram Vasudev earned a lot of fame in Dhrupad Gayaki. The credit for popularizing Hariyana Gayaki is attributed to Gujjar Bhagat who maintained the high standard of the Gharana.
Kapurthala Gharana
The Kapurthala Gharana owes its evolution to the two famous brothers, Suraj Khan and Chand Khan. Even Sain Ilyas Khan is also considered as the founder of Kapurthala Gharana. Sain Ilyas Khan had received training from one of the prominent artist of Kapurthala Gharana and later settled in Kapurthala. He is credited with developing a school in Kapurthala.
Kasur Gharana
Kasur Gharana evolved in the 19th century but it had faded away by the mid of the 20th century. Irshad Ali Khan is regarded as the founder of this gharana. He belonged to Kasur and he remained as the court musician of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh. As he belonged to Kasur his family came to be known as kasuriye.
Patiala Gharana
Patiala is considered a branch of the Delhi Gharana. Though essentially a sarangi gharana, the Patiala style achieved its all-round distinction and excellence in the hands of its greatest and yet-to-be-surpassed genius, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (1901-1969). The founders of this gharana were the brothers Ali Baksh (1850-1920) and Fateh Ali (1850-1909), popularly known as `Aliya-Fattu`. They had learnt music from Miyan Kallu, a well-known sarangi player in the Patiala court, who also taught them dhrupad.
