Dr Sumitra Ranganathan, Associate Professor of Music, SIAS gave the inaugural talk for the annual seminar series of the Forum for Research in Indian Music (FRIM) on June 27, 2026. The talk titled ‘Beyond structure and style: the baṇis of Dhrupad as aesthetic forms’, presented an in-depth analysis of the Dhrupad baṇis, an esoteric musico-aesthetic concept in north Indian classical music composing and performance.
Based on collaborative analysis done with musicians of the Bettiah tradition, and recordings done between 2006 and 2016, the talk proposed a working definition of the baṇis as emergent aesthetic categories by demonstrating how Dhrupad compositions fall into distinct varieties or “types” in Dhrupad, with recognisable aesthetic effects which go beyond structure, and style. The talk explored the kinds of sensibilities, musical judgments and compositional techniques which go into stabilising the baṇis as coherent aesthetic categories, providing models for musical thinking in composition and performance.
