Sham Chaurasia gharana is a gharana

Gharana

In Hindustani music, a gharānā is a system of social organization linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and by adherence to a particular musical style. A gharana also indicates a comprehensive musicological ideology. This ideology sometimes changes substantially from one...

 (musical heritage) in Hindustani classical music

Hindustani classical music

Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...

, known for the singing of vocal duets, most notably represented in modern times by the brothers Salamat Ali Khan and Nazakat Ali Khan. The gharana is centered at a village of the same name in the Hoshiarpur

Hoshiarpur

Hoshiarpur is a city and a municipal council in Hoshiarpur district in the Indian state of Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the fourth century. In 1809 it was occupied by the forces of Maharaja Karanvir Singh and was united into the greater state of Punjab....

 district of Punjab (India)

Punjab (India)

Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...

; variant spellings include Shamchurasi etc.

History

The gharana is believed to have been founded in the 16th century by
Mian Chand Khan and Mian Suraj Khan who were contemporaries of Mian Tansen

Tansen

Mia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...

 at the court of Mughal emperor Akbar.
Successive generations of musicians in the gharana specialised in the dhrupad

Dhrupad

Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...

 form of
singing and evolved a tradition of duet vocal jugalbandi performances.

Mian Karim Bukhsh Majzoob, Ustad Ahmed Ali Khan, Ustad
Niaz Hussain Shami, and Ustad Vilayat Ali Khan were
some of the illustrious members of the Sham Chaurasi gharana.

The township of Sham Chaurasia (sham = evening, chaurasi =84) was named after a cluster of 84 villages which constituted a land revenue unit in the time of Ranjit Singh

Ranjit Singh

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...

. According to one legend, the founders were given a parcel of land here as a grant to them by Akbar.

Prominent exponents

Around the turn of the century, the gharana was represented by Ustad Vilayat Ali Khan, who was noted for his dhrupad singing. His sons, Nazakat and Salamat, were to become particularly well known for their duet singing.

Nazakat and Salamat Ali Khan

Some of the most memorable classical music of modern times have been sung by the brothers Ustad Nazakat Ali Khan (1920s-1984) and Salamat Ali Khan (1934-2001). Salamat showed an early genius for music, and apparently they performed on radio in 1942, when Salamat was only 8. At the age of 11 he travelled with Nazakat to Amritsar

Amritsar

Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...

 for a memorable concert:

When the performance started, it seemed like a feast of musical notes had descended upon us in the audience. Every member of the audience was amazed and in complete awe of the duo. It was almost unbelievable that boys of that age could give such a fine performance. When the drut portion started, the brothers gave a blazing display of taans, sargams and layakari, which left the audience stunned.:

After the partition, the family moved to Lahore

Lahore

Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...

 and emerged as one of the leading performers of Classical music in Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. Hameed Naseem of Radio Pakistan once remarked about them: Tansen issi tarah gata ho ga! (the legendary Tansen

Tansen

Mia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...

 must have sung like this).

A number of their recordings exist from their very fruitful partnership (until 1974). Subsequently, they broke up, and Nazakat was to die shortly, but Salamat Ali Khan continued singing along with his sons
Sharafat Ali Khan and Shafqat Ali Khan

Shafqat Ali Khan

Shafqat Ali Khan is a Ghazal singer.The youngest son of Salamat Ali Khan, Shafqat Ali Khan is a master of the Ghazal tradition of Indian classical music...

, who continue the Sham Chaurasia tradition today.