Thumri is the less rigid form of classical music and, therefore, enjoys popularity across all frontiers
THUMRI is one of the most important genres of contemporary classical music. It is supposed to be a form falling into the light classical music category because it is less rigid and austere in its use of melodic, verbal, rhythmic and ornamentational material and techniques.
The word Thumri has been defined as a small gitu i.e., a song with two movements and one antara. The other meaning given to the term is rumour or gossip. The root is most clearly thum or thumka, and denotes a trend of dancing or prancing associated with children. It also denotes an air of pride or conceit - (coquetry) (thumka). The suffix ri is used in the possessive sense of ‘pertaining to’.
Another meaning is small stature. The Thumri is also associated with Holi and the rasa lila of Radha and Krishna of Brij. The beats of the tala of Thumri - deepchandi - are almost in the same pattern as the dhamar or dance steps.
Thumri is thus a small song associated with dance and its delicate movements. These ingredients are generally prominently displayed in Thumri in all the three major schools of Thumri. The methods of treating or depicting the dance elements may differ but the song pattern’s focal point invariably is the same i.e., dance portrayal in all the angas.
The Thumris are based on the tals of North Indian music and most of the currently used tals are employed. But the selection of ragas is very limited. The Thumris are sung in chhota (small) ragas like Piloo, Jogya, Pahari, Khamach, Tilang, Des and various versions of Bhairvi like Sindhi Bhairvi, Punjabi Bhairvi. Jangla Bhairvi, Misri Bhairvi etc. These ragas are not employed to Khayal singers but are found in Dhrupad compositions. Ragas found to be appropriate for Thumri were left out of the Khayal arena as the Khayal singer would have found it difficult to satisfy an audience with the same melodic material using different techniques of handling. This can be demonstrated by the fact that a Shudh Bhairvi rendition seems bland in the absence of ornamentations and occidentals. Dhrupad having a different audience and time did not differentiate Bhairvi from Malkauns or Darbari in treatment. The repertoires of prominent Dhrupad singers still have technically brilliant and elaborate compositions in the contemporary Thumri ragas.
Another explaination for the use of certain ragas for Thumri advanced commonly is that these ragas are very obviously folk-derived and it is easy to use them for Thumris. Thumri is categorized to be a form between classical and folk forms of music and this makes classical ragas still having very obvious links with folk melodies more useful vehicles for the elaboration of Thumri themes.
The Thumri has two composed sections usually of two lines each in asthai and antara. The type of improvisation generally used is bol tan, the improvised melodic renderings of the words of the song. These improvisations are often forms of word-painting where the singer is attempting to portray through the melody the sentiments as well as the actions suggested by the words. This is most obviously a technique directly taken from Kathak, a form of dance which came into prominence almost at the same time as Thumri and is supposed to have influenced the Thumri a lot. The dancer in Kathak uses nrit bhava to depict and recreate subtle nuances of the action and the delicate movements of lovers and coquetry.
Professor Gautam states that until forty years ago, Thumris were being sung in classical ragas like Bhimplasi, Dhanasari, Jaunpuri etc but they were mostly bol-bant Thumris and therefore, not very different, from Madh lay Khayal.
Thumri begins virtually without an alap, especially in the case of an instrumental rendition of the genre. The text lines are repeated in the asthai antara sequence of the Khayal style. There is a considerable time gap between the movement from the asthai to antara, depending on the time of the over-all performance, which is utilized to dwell upon the portrayal of pictorial elements in the song theme in the tonal patterns and note structures continued with bol-tan technique. The deference to raga grammar is not great. Most often the raga element is reiterated only when singing the mohra or the bol. After elaborating sufficiently the asthai structure and building up tense expectations for the antara, the performer resolves the tension by getting into the antara region and towards the conclusion of the song. The performer returns to the first line repeating it while the tabla player who has been mostly keeping time till now, improvises at a considerably faster tempo. This section called leggi is generally in a time measure of 16 beats (tin tal) or 8 beats (kaharva). At the end of the improvisation, the musicians return to the original tempo and time-measure, at which point the song may be concluded or repeated in its entirety with new improvisations.
The accompanying instruments with the Thumri are mostly the tabla for rhythm and the harmonium, violin or sarangi for melodic accompaniment. Tanpura and sur-mandal are mostly used for providing a drone.
In present-day Northern Indian music, there are three major schools of Thumri alongwith a number of individuals who combine the elements of these three. The three major schools are Poorbi Anga (Banaras), Pachhami Anga , (Lucknow), and Punjabi Anga.
Differentiating the Banaras and Lucknow style, Dr P. L. Sharma says that the Poorbi anga is characterised by a certain grace, tenderness, sweetness and elegance of rendering and feasibility of tonal embellishments; the Lucknow anga is comparatively less tender and somewhat less elastic. In her elaborate thesis she shifts the home of Thumri from Lucknow Court to Shastras. Varanasi is associated with all such attempts at Sanskritising post-Vedic developments. She at least acknowledges a third anga, the Punjabi anga which is dismissed outrightly by Professor Gautam because “ its capability for restrained and deep emotional expression is rather poor.
“The Punjabi style of rendition can be mastered by a singer of any school. All that it requires is adequate facility over the notes and over the peculiar turn of phrases prevalent in the style. It has hardly any special literary element or any special musically aesthetic aspect worth mentioning. Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan was the best singer of this anga, but he blended a little of the Lucknow and Banaras styles into it”. Other masters are Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, Amanat Ali Khan, and Ustad Salamat Ali Khan. Does Professor Gautam visualize the Punjabi anga as a phenomenon essentially removed and different from these two previously existing schools?
Or is this anga a dynamic development in the Thumri which revitalized the genre by introducing and blending new themes with the previously existing ones to create a new style? It is difficult to substantiate Gautam views that a new anga can drop in without any trace from the previously existing ones.
Professor Gautam and Prem Lata Sharma both forward a similar theory on the origin of Thumri. Both set out by stating that it is a misconception to attribute the origin of Thumri to Wajid Ali Shah and that Shastras must be approached to seek an answer. For in “ studying any musical style and its characteristics, an attempt has to be made to relate them to the concept of musical forms as given in the Shastra.” Dr Sharma tries to prove that the Thumri is an ancient form of musical expression. She, however, fails to trace the development in a logical manner and fails to account for the long centuries in which the form went into hybernation and suddenly sprang up in the 19th century.
Forms like Dhruva have a somewhat traceable history since the time of Shastras but most of the Shastrani principles are difficult to relate to the musical grammar of the modern Dhrupad. In this situation, it is extremely difficult to trace Thumri’s origin from such vague quotation like “one which gives rise to colourful, delightly self-engrossing happiness ...” This research attitude is definitely a case of “the blessed ones who know what they are looking for because they shall certainly find it.”
Dadra is another form very close to the Thumri in form of mood and selection of ragas. The peculiarity of the form is its use of Dadra (a six-beat tala) from which it derives its name. Another noticeable difference is the rather complicated poetical composition. There is more poetical material in Dadra than in Thumri. It is therefore a form depending on verbal expression for its appeal more than the Thumri.
Thumri is the less rigid form of classical music and, therefore, enjoys popularity across all frontiers 
