Mewati Gharana

The Mewati Gharana is a musical apprenticeship clan of Hindustani classical music founded in the late 19th century by Ghagge Nazir Khan of Jodhpur. With its own distinct aesthetic and stylistic views and practices, the gharana is an offshoot of the Gwalior Gharana and acquired its name after the region from which its founding exponent hailed: the Mewat region of Rajasthan. Mewati Gharana also known as Jodhpur Gharana.

The gharana gained visibility and following the latter-half of the 20th Century after the contemporary vocalist Jasraj revived and popularized the gayaki.

The musical ancestors of Ghagge Nazir Khan, the fountainhead of the Mewati Gharana, were exponents and descendants of the Gwalior Gharana. In seeking musical patronage, these descendants of the Gwalior style separated from their original clan and settled in what is now western and southern Rajasthan. Being isolated from the mainstream Gwalior musicians, the Rajasthan-based branch of the Gharana developed new stylistic forms and aesthetic principles as a result of separation. Eventually, these changes resulted in the Mewati gayaki and became distinct although reminiscent of the Gwalior style. It is for this reason that the Mewati Gharana is considered both musically and genealogically different from the Gwalior style.

Ghagge Nazir Khan passed on his musical tradition to his foremost disciples, Natthulal and Chimanlal. Natthulal passed the tradition onto his nephew, Motiram who shared this tradition with his brother, Jyotiram around the start of the 20th century. During this period, Mewati musicians were under monarchical patronage for their music.

Jyotiram later became a disciple of Rajab Ali Khan, bringing elements of the Jaipur and Kirana gayakis into the Mewati style. Motiram passed this tradition to his sons, Maniram and Pratap Narayan. After Motiram's unexpected demise, Maniram and Pratap Narayan were instrumental in grooming their younger brother, Jasraj, in the Mewati tradition after Jasraj renounced playing Tabla, his primary training at the time. Jasraj was initially influenced by the music of Amir Khan and Begum Akhtar but later developed a separate style. He introduced new stylistic elements into the traditional Mewati style, producing a more emotive, devotional, rhythmic-conscious, and lyric-conscious style.

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